Ruling by the Book: Chapter 5: Fallout (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5: Fallout

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- Kazuya -

I lay on my bed, surrounded by several people who had come to see me.

“Are you sure it was them? They could be other Shinobi disguised as Mogami and the other servants.” The Stairs Daimyo tried to defend although his sweating made it clear that he was nervous.

“Really? Because I am pretty sure I know of no techniques which could allow even dead bodies to be disguised. Is the dead ninja not one of your envoys?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. The man wisely kept his mouth shut when pointed to the obvious flaw.

The awkward silence was broken by a very calm voice which terrified everyone in the room. “I want answers, Fujimoto.” Grandpa spoke.

I knew he was angry.

No, he was beyond angry at this point.

I had no memory of him being this angry.

But then again, for him, his only family had almost gotten murdered. Of course he will be angry. I will have to explain everything to him when he is alone.

“O-obviously. I will investigate everything and give you a satisfactory answer.”

“Kensho.” He called out.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Put a bounty on the head of all the criminals with the crime of attempted murder and theft. I want their true identities on my desk as soon as possible.” He ordered.

“It will be done, Your Majesty.” He answered seriously. Man, even Kensho was pissed.

They left the room after a while, leaving only Grandpa in the room with me.

He sat on a chair beside me, looking blankly at me.

“I will cancel this engagement.” He said after a while, breaking the silence in the room.

“No. Don’t do that. This marriage is an opportunity which our Land cannot lose.” I interrupted him. Seriously, the reserves of natural gas alone made it something we cannot leave.

“Why are you stopping this now? You weren’t interested in this from the very beginning. What has changed now? Your life is in danger and you still want to pursue this marriage?” He asked, a bit angry.

“I will be fine, Grandpa.” I closed my eyes and sensed for any presences around me and found no one except my own people so I looked at him. “Don’t worry. Everything is under control.”

“You are lying on the bed, a stab wound on your shoulder and you say everything is under control. How is this...being under control!” He shouted.

I stilled for a moment. This was the first time I had seen him shouting. In fact, this was the first time he had ever shouted at me.

“Kuina.”

“Yes.”

“Open the bandages?” I commanded.

“Your Highness?”

“Do it?”

“Kazu-kun, what are you up to?” Grandpa was broken from his anger in a moment and suddenly looked at me worried.

“You said I had secrets of my own, right?” I asked. Seeing him not answering, I just continued. “I am just showing you a few of them to assure you that I will be fine.”

Kuina opened my bandages and I summoned one of the Red Potions.

The appearance of the potion surprised Grandpa but his eyes soon moved to my injuries and got stuck there.

“Grandpa, the ninja who was pretending to be the attendant of Princess Kasumi indeed attacked my warehouse but she was not able to steal anything. I and my subordinates captured everyone...without any injuries.”

“What! But this...”

“Is something I had to do to myself to not let our enemies know about the real situation.” I drank the Red Potion and the wound started to heal in front of his eyes.

His eyes widened as he saw this while I passed the rest of the potion to Kuina for Saitō to heal.

“They were sent by the Medicine Daimyo to steal the secrets of our place and got caught in the trap. The woman did try to attack and kill me but wasn’t able to do so. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you but we had no time to tell you everything as we were running on the clock. I was planning to tell you everything once they left.”

“You!...do you have any idea...” He breathed.

“I am sorry, Grandpa.”

He took a deep breath.

“Kazu-kun, no amount of land or property is more important to me than you. You don’t have to put yourself in danger for the sake of the Land of Stairs.”

“It’s not that simple, Grandpa. The thing which the Land of Stairs has, is something which can make us richer than all of the five big nations combined. It can simply change the fate of our Land. It’s something which I have to try. Moreover, hurting myself was not for that. It was to find a reason to blame the Medicine Daimyo and create a rift between him and his ninja.” I explained my whole plan to him except the summoning part.

“Trust me Grandpa. Just give me a few years and you will see the results of my plans.”

He took a deep breath and I could see several thoughts running through his head.

“Promise me something first.”

“Hmm?”

“Promise me that you will not endanger yourself, that you will not die in all this.”

My eyes softened at his words. “I promise.”

He left the room after this, leaving me with my subordinates alone.

_________________________________x____________________________________

The Stairs entourage left the same day and Grandpa wasn’t kidding.

He destroyed them, even pushing the date for the marriage back till everything was cleared up. He knew I wanted time and gave me just that.

Even the Medicine Daimyo was sent the complaints and Grandpa said that he would have to reconsider their alliance if he couldn’t give us an appropriate answer in regards to the actions of the Kodon Clan.

Till then all trade was suspended between the two Lands. Such a move during a war was a death sentence for the Medicine Daimyo as we were their major food provider.

He will give us an answer soon enough.

As for the Stairs Daimyo, that guy was one step ahead of everyone. He talked to grandpa and left his Granddaughter here as a political hostage to show their sincerity while outwardly claiming that he did so to give us some time to get to know each other.

Seriously, even as someone who hated his guts, I had to praise his move.

He got away with so many things in this one move. One he managed to give Grandpa a good enough reason to not doubt his sincerity and two, he managed to throw the Granddaughter he didn’t want here, eliminating any chance of her knowing anything about his plans.

Even now, the girl herself was staying in the palace, feeling guilty for the whole thing despite having no hand in any of this mess.

I had ordered everyone to treat her with respect and show her no hostility. The least I could do was give her a chance at a normal life here.

A week had passed and I was finally released from medical care officially.

During this time, the princess had visited me several times. In fact, she used to come here everyday, bring flowers, sometimes cut fruits for me, small things like these.

The very first day, I checked the information about her in the book to see what she was planning but it turns out that she was actually blaming herself for everything and was trying to make it up to me so that we don’t start a war with the Land of Stairs due to this whole mess.

Now I felt bad for the girl.

At least here she was making some friends in Kanae.

Seraphim on the other hand, was difficult.

The girl was extremely rude, although she followed her orders and was extremely competent too so there was not much we could do.

She at least explained why because her clan was at war for over a hundred years at that point and they were always thrown into wars, which made her the way she is.

Vampire Ninjas apparently used magic for their ninja techniques. The downsides of this was that she would need to drink blood if she used up her magic in a fight.

Currently, Kanae was teaching her how to use Chakra and she was picking it up very quickly. We also observed that using chakra didn’t weaken her.

She was a solid Chunin level ninja.

My old subordinates were progressing quickly too.

Saitō showed why he was one of the strongest in his world. After recovering from his injuries, he went ahead and opened the Third Gate.

Kanae was able to open the Second Gate as well but it left her exhausted.

I was able to learn Water Breathing, although only the basics. As for the Gates, my stronger physique allowed me to open one and I felt like I could open the second one too but I didn’t want to push and mess things up.

My main focus was on Fuinjutsu for now.

The actual MVP was actually Kuina, who could also open the Third Gate and was even progressing in her Water Breathing at an incredible pace.

Her One Piece World Physique was really showing its power. Her swordsmanship when using Gates was insane.

Too bad none of the swords we had could bear it.

I was planning to search for the Kusanagi Blade for her or try summoning something good for her when I could.

All of them were strong, well in the Chunin level in their base form and even reaching Tokubetsu Jōnin while using Gates.

Unfortunately, the opponent we were up against was something even Jōnin level ninjas wouldn’t casually face.

And that’s why I had to prepare.

Today was the day I was planning to do the next ritual.

In the last week, Saitō had been extracting information from the ninjas who had attacked me.

We only got some basic information. The Jōnin didn’t say anything at all.

The rituals were getting far more complicated than before.

For example, this ritual needed an entire day to complete. It could only be done on the night of a full moon.

This made me wonder what would have happened if someone wanted to do this ritual before Kaguya was sealed?

Gotta thank the Sage of Six Paths and his younger brother for this.

The sacrifice of seven chunin level ninjas to open a portal to summon the Shinigami and get its power to strengthen my soul.

While the Uzumaki had only been able to summon the Shinigami with the sacrifice of the user, if one wanted to summon it with the sacrifice of others, the number of sacrifices increased. Moreover, each of them needed to be at least at a minimum level of strength, that’s why chunin.

I placed a hand on my Grimoire and began the ritual and all of a sudden, the entire area cooled down.

I could even see my breath becoming misty.

I concentrated and sure enough, a figure manifested in front of me.

It was a translucent, gaunt spectre with a demonic visage, much larger than an average human, possessing long, shaggy, white hair, from which two red horns protrude, as well as purple-hued skin. It was draped in a large white kimono and carried a set of prayer beads. It had a tanto in its mouth.

Just looking at it gave me a pressure on my soul like never before.

It removed the tanto which revealed its mouth which was full of jagged teeth and a long purple tongue. Then before I could react, it unsheathed its sword and twirled around in a dance-like move, reaping the souls of all seven ninja in one single attack and devouring them all.

Then it turned towards me, staring at me with its dark bottomless eyes and suddenly stabbed me in the chest with its sword.

I felt the world go white all of a sudden and lost consciousness.

The next morning, my eyes opened due to the sunlight greeting my face.

Opening my eyes, I looked around and found myself laying in the courtyard of the warehouse. I had warned my people to not come in until I called them personally as I had no idea what the Shinigami could do.

Around me were the bodies of the seven chunin whom I quickly stored in my Grimoire before I began cleaning everything.

I had kept everyone waiting outside and didn’t want them to wait any longer.

While doing this, I checked my own body and found out that my chakra had increased by at least four times at the very least.

Soul strengthening’s effects were not directly visible but showed when my body increased in strength.

It also gave one an affinity with Yin Chakra, Genjutsu as well as made one resistant to genjutsu. A very less known fact was that someone with a stronger soul could control their chakra far better.

With this ritual, I was pretty sure that my soul was far stronger than the souls of most of the shinobi who have ever walked this world. There were more rituals for the soul but I couldn’t do them any time soon.

They required the souls of demons to be sacrificed permanently for the next stage. The only place which even had the rumours of demons was in the Land of Demons but I had no clue about it so there was no way I could get anywhere with it.

But that didn’t mean I could progress anywhere. In fact, now that the soul rituals were done for the time being, I could begin with the body and mind.

That said, my chakra reserves were comparable to that of the Jōnin we had captured and would only grow more in the future.

In fact, there were even rituals to increase chakra reserves and the first ritual for that was quite easy as well.

I had already collected all the materials for it and just needed to wait till my body adapts to my current chakra level.

At this rate, I was sure that I could get to Elite Jōnin level of chakra in the next few months, before we go for Rōen.

That kind of strength with the Eight Inner Gates could give me some confidence to keep my people safe from at least the smaller nations.

One step at a time and one day, not even the big five will be able to push us around.

When I walked out, I was greeted by the worried faces of my subordinates.

“Did you faint again?” Kuina asked, looking slightly worried.

“Yes. This ritual was a lot harder than the last one. Took too much out of me.” I let out a sigh remembering the Shinigami.

This world...it was really far more than what was shown in the anime or manga. Then again, disclosing all the secrets of the whole world in just one story is absolutely impossible.

“I told you, he would be fine. Bugs have an incredible capacity to survive.” My thoughts were broken by the sudden comment and I looked at the speaker with a deadpan.

Seraphim...

This girl was...sigh...

“What? That’s a compliment.”

I still had no idea how to deal with her.

So I just smiled. “Why thank you, Sera.”

I saw her eyes twitch at the nickname while Kanae just giggled at the situation. Kuina and Saitō rolled their eyes.

Two can play at this game.

- Rina Uzumaki -

“And that’s all for the reports, my lord.” She bowed. Her sister was already on one of her knees, waiting for their next command. In front of her was the Uzukage, Shiroyasha-sama and beside her sat her husband, the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools, Hiroki-sama and between them sat their daughter...Princess Tamami Uzumaki.

The Land of the Whirlpools was unique in the way that both the Kage and the Daimyo were from the same family.

This helped them keep a focused decision making body at their head and keep their clan out of unnecessary wars unlike the other countries who were forced to go to war by their Daimyo.

In those countries, the Daimyo always tries to keep the powers of the Kage restrained which is not the case with Uzushiogakure and the Land of Whirlpools.

“Iwa, Kumo and Mizu working together behind the scenes is indeed big news if it is true. Recently, the war has been in a very...unnatural state. The three sides are pushing Konoha but they are not using their full power anywhere. It seemed that they were trying to play a game of attrition with them, which is a decent strategy when it is one against three, forcing Konoha to give up and make a settlement in a long term war, maybe gain some of their territory or just monetary gains but at no point have they shown any hints of an actual alliance. If that’s the case then they must be plotting something big.”

“Did the prince of the Land of Flowers tell you himself?”

“Yes, Uzukage-sama.”

“Did he tell you anything else?”

“He asked us not to reveal that it was him who disclosed the news and gave us a scroll.”

Mina handed over the scroll to the Uzukage.

She opened the scroll and read the contents, her eyebrows raising at one point.

“What is it, dear?” Daimyo-sama asked.

“A job commission, two actually.” She answered before looking at them. “What kind of person is this Prince of the Land of Flowers? What can you tell me about the Land of Flowers right now?”

“The Prince, Kazuya-sama is a very dedicated and honest person. He single handedly developed a new method of agriculture which can increase the production of crops in the Land of Flowers by 50%. And he didn’t just keep it to himself but actually distributed the method among his people. Due to this the people of the Land of Flowers are still in a relatively good state even during this war.” She reported.

“He is also training hundred or so children to raise them as samurai to establish a police force which he intends to expand throughout his country to improve the security of his people. In fact, he himself trains with them. The people of his land love him a lot.”

“An agricultural method to increase production by 50%?” Daimyo raised an eyebrow. “And he distributed it to everyone? Isn’t he afraid of the method being stolen by others?”

The answer to his question came not from them but rather his own daughter. “That guy just doesn’t care. I had asked him about this too and he said that if the method is spread in other countries, they would grow more food and would at least stop bothering them for food. So he actually wanted everyone to actually find out. His actual goal is to improve the lives of his people. Having plenty of food will make everyone’s lives better. That guy is really dumb at times, ya know?”

“Oh! You seem to know him quite well?” Daimyo asked.

“Hmm, I do. Can you believe it, that guy actually learned basic Fuinjutsu by himself and was even teaching it to the kids training to be Samurai? It was so basic that anyone could have walked through those seals in minutes.”

“Yes. He did write about it. He even thanked you saying that you were an extremely great teacher.” Uzukage-sama said with a smile at her daughter.

“I just taught him the basics about Fuinjutsu. He had only memorised some seals but knew nothing of the art itself. The guy was dumb, I tell you. He was older than me and still at the basic level. Even children in Uzushio are better at Fuinjutsu than him.” The Princess just huffed.

“Oh, and yet this so-called dumb person identified your disguise and you didn’t find out?” The Uzukage joked, making her go red.

“I apologise, Uzukage-sama.” She quickly apologised. It was after all due to their failure that put them in such a position.

“You don’t have to apologise, Rina. You people already did a great job bringing her out here alive. This is more than I can ask knowing the danger you encountered in the mission. By the way, what do you know about this prince’s fuinjutsu skill?

“I investigated and found out that the Prince had only started learning about chakra slightly over a year ago. If that’s the case then he is extremely talented in Fuinjutsu, reaching Intermediate level in just a year mostly without any guidance except the one week under Lady Tamami.”

“He reached intermediate level, did he? I guess he really liked Tamami’s teachings that’s why he has given us a contract for large scale warding and security seals for the Land of Flowers. Moreover, he has requested for a teacher to guide him with Fuinjutsu. He is willing to pay equivalent to an S Class Mission every month for the guidance. The second request is obviously left to our discretion but he promises his friendship if we agree to it.” Uzukage said making them freeze.

“The request for the warding of properties is not bad but teaching Fuinjutsu, even if we only teach them basic knowledge, is a big deal. It is similar to establishing an alliance between the two countries and especially with a place like the Land of Flowers which doesn’t even have a ninja village. Moreover, can he really represent his country in proposing the alliance?” She asked.

“This...the Prince is the only descendant of the current daimyo and the previous daimyo. With his popularity, it is all but decided that he will be the next daimyo.” She replied.

“What do you think we should do, dear?” The Uzukage asked Daimyo-sama.

“Hmm. How about accepting the request for warding and observing them first? If things are good, we can talk with them about establishing an alliance. Maybe send a girl from the clan as a concubine to the Prince, further strengthening the alliance. After that, teaching him to an Advanced level or even Expert level would not be a loss. If the guy is really as good as they say, he will reach there by himself in the future. So doing this will only serve to help build more trust.” Daimyo-sama replied after a moment of thought.

“Very well. We will send a team there to complete the request made by the Prince. You two will be the ones leading the team. You also need to investigate the Prince and his political inclinations for the alliance.”

“Yes, Uzukage-sama.”

As they were talking, there was suddenly a knock on the door.

“Enter.”

A Jōnin entered looking worried.

“What is the matter? Why do you look so worried?”

“Uzukage-sama. We have just received urgent news...”

- Stairs Daimyo -

“How dare that bastard! He wants me to give him an answer?” He watched as the Medicine Daimyo, Wakui Yoshiki, threw the glass in his hand, smashing it on the wall and the pieces shattering all over the place.

The man then looked at him. “How did it come to this? You said they didn’t have anyone who could fight a Jōnin.”

“They don't. Apart from the three Samurai there were no other strong guards. This is something verified by the shinobi you sent too. They are the ones who messed up the mission and even failed to hide their identities. All this has put the entire plan in jeopardy.” He sighed.

“Is he doubting you?” Wakui asked.

“Obviously he would doubt me. I took those shinobi as my own people. I was able to calm that bastard with great efforts, even leaving that girl there as a supposed political hostage to assure him that I wasn’t planning anything bad. What kind of incompetent shinobi did you send? They couldn’t even knock him out.” He complained. “And now you say they ran away with all the information.”

He didn’t regret leaving that girl there.

If anything, it assured that she would not find anything about the plan. She was just an expendable...the daughter of a dead concubine of his son. Unfortunately, both of them died in an ambush during a trip to the Land of Vegetables, leaving her alone.

Well, he was glad he didn’t send her away to her mother’s family who were just a bunch of businessmen who traded weapons made in the Land of Stairs with other Lands. At least now she could be of some use.

“Those were the best of the Howling Wolf Village’s shinobi or so they said. I even paid them a hefty sum of money. They must have run away and defected to sell the information to other people for a greater sum. Those damn traitors. I gave them shelter when they needed it and now they are betraying me. Truly, these shinobi can never be trusted. I will put a reward on their heads and see them brought to me on their knees.”

“What should we do with the demands of Katsuyoshi? He wants strict actions against the Kodon Clan and an explanation from us or he will put the alliance on hold. We cannot lose this alliance or all our plans will go to waste.”

“Oh he won’t back down. I don’t need to give them any explanation. All we need to do is send some people and burn the crops in his country. Just because the brat has developed some new things and is growing more crops, they think they can dictate terms to us? Let them lose their crops for a year and suffer a bit to learn a lesson.”

“Would that be a good idea? What if Kumo or Iwa intervenes? They depend on them for food.” He tried to dissuade the guy.

“Hmph, those barbarians are busy in their own war. They can’t even take down one Konoha, let alone have time to think about a small country like the Land of Flowers.” The guy snorted.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Father! Something big has happened.” Came the voice of his son-in-law and the Prince of the land of Medicine.

“Come in.”

The door opened as the boy bowed towards them.

“What’s the matter? Why are you so worried?” Wakui asked.

“Father. The Land of Sky, Konoha has destroyed the Land of Sky and its hidden village.” He said, making them freeze.

“What?!”

The Land of Sky was a country which was far more advanced technologically than any other country. Their shinobi could even fly with the machines they had created.

Such a country...how could they?

“Why? And how did this happen?” He asked.

“The reason given was that they had challenged the sovereignty of the Five Great Ninja Villages and were destroyed for that reason. Neither of the four other villages or even the Daimyo of those Lands spoke anything about this indicating that it was done by their agreement. Father, what should we do? Would they?”

The boy was sweating and so were they. An entire village was just razed to the ground...just the words chilled their hearts.

Challenging the sovereignty...in simple words, they were becoming too strong for the liking of the bigger villages.

He looked at Wakui and spoke. “We cannot take any action against the Land of Flowers. If Kumo or Iwa caught even a hint of our involvement, we would be ruined.”

Wakui also seemed to have broken from his trance and nodded.

“This was a warning...from the big five to the smaller countries.”

“Yes. We...we should probably reduce the number of ninjas to show that we don’t mean to challenge them. Didn’t Katsuyoshi want answers? Tell him the members of the Kodon Clan will be exiled from the Land of Medicine. That should give him an answer and even satisfy the big five villages?”

“Are you really going to exile them?” He asked surprised.

“Obviously not. I will at best relocate them. In fact, you should keep them in the Land of Stairs, away from the heat as civilians. It would also teach them a lesson for betraying me.” Wakui said, wiping his sweat as his mind worked quickly. “And this will set an example for the rest of the Clans in the Howling Wolf Village to remain within their limits. Yes, this is a good plan.” Wakui nodded to himself.

“Hmm, yes. That should keep Katsuyoshi satisfied.” He agreed. Maybe he could even sway those Kodon Ninja to his side and establish a Ninja village in the Land of Stairs? That way, he will have more cards in the future. He thought to himself.

They discussed the plan for the rest of the night.

A country was destroyed.

The coming days were sure to be full of chaos.

- Kazuya -

The destruction of the Land of Sky hit hard even when I knew what was coming.

Challenging the sovereignty of the five Great Ninja Villages...

The reason alone made me clench my fist in anger. So those bastards could do whatever they want, rampage in other people’s lands but no one else was allowed to do so?

No.

There was no use in getting angry.

It was better to use this as motivation and become stronger. Only by becoming stronger can I break through this endless loop.

“What do you think our next action should be, Kazu-kun?” Grandpa asked as he drank his tea.

“We proceed as we were. They will only take action against us when they see us as a threat. Right now, we are nothing like that.” I replied.

“Good, then so be it.” He nodded.

Ever since that day in the hospital room, he had left all these decisions on me entirely.

“Did you get any reply from the Medicine and Stairs?” I asked.

“No, but I expect a positive reply soon enough. They wouldn’t dare take any actions after the Land of the Sky incident.”

“I can only hope so. By the way, how is your health? Are those medicines working?”

A smile came to his face soon. “Yes. They are working far better than I had expected. Dare I say we can get a great market for them if we sell them.”

“No. We are not going to even reveal them let alone sell them. Those medicines are very essential for our samurai.” I denied.

“Well, your decision then.”

“Don’t worry, Grandpa. I have some plans for establishing industries in our country.” I reassured him.

“As I said, it’s your decision. You probably don’t realise your popularity in the people. When the news about the attack on you came out, the Stairs Daimyo’s procession received glares from people on their way back till they were completely out of the country. I am afraid if our people were not escorting them, they could have been attacked on their way back. Even some of the notoriously cowardly nobles wanted the Stairs guy to be detained until this matter was solved.” He said with a smile, making me sweatdrop. “At this rate, even if I were to make you a Daimyo today, no one would raise a question. They would even welcome it.”

“I am not yet ready for the responsibilities, Grandpa. I...my efforts are needed in research right now. I think I can contribute more to our people that way.” I shook my head.

Right now, I am using every moment of my time to train or research. I didn’t have any time to concentrate on governance of the country.

“Then take your time and do what you want.” He nodded. “All I want is a great grandchild.”

Ah...there he goes again.

“By the way, the princess of Stairs is quite a great girl herself. I seriously think she would make for a great wife for you.”

“Grandpa!”

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t think she is pretty?”

“That’s not the issue.” I protested. On the side note, Kasumi was pretty.

“Then what is? Aside from her scheming family, she has no flaws at all. I don’t get you sometimes. Other princes your age all have several lovers. Even the ones who had no chance to inherit the throne are the same. And yet, here you are, not showing any interest in other girls. No, that’s not true.You do have three beautiful girls in your subordinates but I never hear any news about you going anywhere with them. I am getting old, you know. I really want to see the face of my great grandchildren before I die.”

...

...

...

...

I merely deadpanned at him.

“I am not ready to be a father right now, Grandpa. Give me some time. You will have your great grandchildren.”

“Well, as long as that happens, I have no problem.”

...

“By the way, I saw the information given to us by the Stairs Daimyo about the Princess. It is said that she is the daughter of the fourteenth concubine of the Stairs’ Daimyo’s son who died along with him in the ambush but I know for sure that Princess Kasumi’s mother was not his concubine.”

This was something which had struck me when I was reading everything.

“Really?” He asked, confused.

“I am pretty sure she wasn’t a concubine.”

“Must be another lie that bastard made up then. Well, what does it matter who her mother was? In fact, it’s good if she is not related to that bastard’s family. The girl is good. You should spend more time with her. I have seen how she takes care of you and I have no problems with her either.”

“Alright, don’t go in that direction.” I stopped him from going off into his great grandchildren drama again.

“Okay okay, sheesh. Can’t an old man state his wish nowadays?”

And thus continued our banter.

_________________________________x____________________________________

Today was the day that the information about Rōen was completely gathered.

I looked at all the information and got to know what Rōen is and how strong it is.

Apparently, it wasn’t some kind of Tailed Beast like being. It wasn’t a chakra construct either. It was just a mutated monster which could absorb the chakra of other beings and live almost eternally.

It was as strong as a tailed beast, but only One Tails. That would explain the five months time needed to extract the information about it.

That means, I cannot use it repeatedly like I had wanted to like a tailed beast.

Dammit, that changes many things.

I will have to come up with another method.

Still, it was not something I could let go.

Even without that, it could still serve as a sacrifice for a ritual to use in a summoning and that kind of power could be used to summon someone strong.

It might just be the deterrent we need to keep away people with bad thoughts. It also reduced the difficulty of the whole mission as I just had to sacrifice the wolf instead of seal it inside me. That’s something far easier to do. I just needed some practice for something like that.

Maybe this time I will use that Jōnin as a sacrifice to summon someone stronger?

Until now, I had been saving stronger shinobi prisoners for the previous soul ritual. Now, I had no such needs.

Still, with Rōen being a failure, I will have to find other targets for my experiment.

Another very important thing which had happened recently was the Grimoire getting charged for World Travel.

It had enough energy to send me to another world and bring me back once. I could have gathered this energy far faster if I had been using my own energy but I have been using my own energy for training and summoning everyday. I barely had any extra energy to spare for this.

I still couldn’t control the world I was travelling to but each world gets recorded in the Grimoire and a return trip to that world would only take half the energy next time.

I had to make some preparations before doing so, like preparing enough funds if I wanted to buy something, all in Gold and precious jewels, mastering basic genjutsu to avoid problems. I already knew the transformation technique but some genjutsu will always be more helpful.

__________________________________x___________________________________

I stood in front of Kuina, facing her once more.

“Start!” At Kanae’s instructions, we both shot from our places, clashing in between, sending shockwaves around us.

I felt the weight of her attack and twisted my sword, letting her attack slip by as I took a step forward, intending to strike her with my next move.

She was however one step ahead and quickly rotated her body in a dance-like motion, getting behind me.

I quickly dove forward, dodging her attack before kicking the ground and using the force to turn around and attack.

She faced me head on, clashing with me.

“Don’t forget to breathe, Kazuya-san. Breathe!” Kanae shouted from the side and I realised that my breath had faltered and picked it up again.

Total Concentration Breathing was hard, especially during fights.

Kuina however was not giving up her attacks and continued pursuing me.

The clashes got faster and we separated before suddenly releasing the first gate at the same time and rushing at each other again.

Our clashes continued before I felt my boost from the opened gate fading away and used all my strength to attack. She replied in kind, the resulting clash shattering the swords...again.

“Dammit! This is the fifteenth sword.” She complained looking at the shattered sword in her hand.

Yeah.

This was becoming a problem for us.

“Chakra blades are stronger but getting them is not easy. I have already told Kensho to get us some but it will take some time. I will try to find the location of the Kusanagi Blades. It’s just that those blades are very famous and might attract the eyes of some unscrupulous ninja.”

“You need to man up a bit. We need to stop being so afraid.” She huffed but didn’t pressure me anymore.

I sighed.

RIght now, I was using all my summoning attempts to summon precious metals and jewels for trade in other worlds after world travel.

I could understand her frustrations though.

The lack of good swords was holding her back. In fact, even in this fight, I was going full strength without any weights while she was wearing her weights even now.

Not to mention, I had told her about the kind of people she would have to face in her world and how strong Zoro becomes and thus she didn’t want to get left behind.

Kuina was very competitive.

“I will get something to solve this problem.” I promised.

She nodded and then left for training.

I sat there, regaining my breath. Even with my physique, opening the gate and fighting was hard.

Kanae handed me a towel and sat beside me.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, you know. We all know how hard you work but there is only so much one can do by themselves. In fact, Kuina is also feeling frustrated because she is not being able to help you out.”

“Hmm?”

“You two are friends, aren’t you?” She asked.

I nodded.

“And that’s why when she sees you working so hard and cannot do anything, she feels frustrated. Unlike you however, the only thing she can do well is swordsmanship but now even that is being hindered. It makes her feel useless.”

“But that’s not true. She is already the strongest one among us.”

“That she is...but she is not strong enough to protect everyone. Kuina is a very good girl. She wants to share your burdens with you. We all do...even Seraphim.”

“Sera? Hahahaha, yeah, she would sooner use me for her Tsubame Gaeshi training.” I laughed out loud.

“That’s not true, you know. In fact, did you know that vampire ninjas have a strange custom?” She asked, smiling mysteriously.

“What custom?” I asked, taking a bottle from my side and taking a sip of the water.

“If they kiss someone, they are considered married to them.”

I spat out the water immediately and looked at Kanae who was still smiling calmly.

“You are kidding right?” I asked, stunned. There was no way...

“No. I was told this by Sera-chan herself.”

“But that was an accident. You all saw it yourself.” I protested.

“Yes. But Sera-chan is very serious about it.”

“No way. She is the type to kill me and then kill herself rather than accept something like that.” I retorted.

“Sigh, you don’t know how a woman’s heart works, Kazuya-san.”

“That woman tried to kill me the first time she saw me, ya know. I am saying this from experience.”

“And your experience with women is...not very good, is it?”

...

Low blow, Kanae. Low blow.

This was something I would expect from Kuina, not you.

As the days passed, we were growing closer to each other.

Kuina, Saitō, Kanae and now even Sera, they have become my close friends.

I told them what I knew about their worlds, except Seraphim, whose world I knew almost nothing about.

The most I could remember from that world was the existence of a chainsaw wielding magical girl and sometimes a guy wearing the same magical girl costume...

I was pretty sure she would look at me like I was some kind of a pond scum if I told her this...that’s why we didn’t have much to share between us.

Still, we were getting closer. And now, I find this.

That night we gathered for another ritual. This time, the Kodon Jōnin was brought with us.

Preparing a ritual to assist with the summoning was a lot more complicated.

It took me several hours to get the ritual circle ready.

Finally, when everything was done, I threw the woman in the circle and stood outside it, summoning my Grimoire.

“Let’s hope this works.” I said to myself.

I want someone strong to help us with the Rōen mission.

And then I felt a drain in chakra.

Even my Jōnin level chakra went dry almost instantly and I fell to my knees, biting my tongue to not lose my consciousness.

A strange scene took place in front of us.

The body of the ninja in the ritual circle was compressed, turning into a ball of flesh and blood. It started spinning in the ritual circle, releasing a red light before slowly taking the form of a person. Slowly, the ball turned into the form of a man.

He was a tall, muscular man with mid-length straight black hair that reached to his ears. His eyes were green, and he had thin black eyebrows and a scar on the corner of his right lip.

When the process was completed, the man just looked at himself and muttered. “Huh, so that was not fake. I thought I was hallucinating due to blood loss.” He then looked at us and asked. “So, you all seem to be the people who summoned me for some help. What do you need?”

I stepped forward. “Hello. My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi. I summoned you to help us to help protect my country. May I know what to call you?” I asked.

“Protect your country? What happened, did Japan go to war again? I thought those days were left behind.”

“Umm, this is not Japan. You are in a different world.”

“...seriously?”

“Yes. I made sure you would know it when being summoned. Did you not hear?”

“...I was kinda bleeding out, being stared at by that white haired demon when I heard the voice. I accepted before I could hear anything else.”

...

“That’s...I am sorry I guess.”

“Don’t be. If I wasn’t here, I would be dead. Being alive feels better. So, a new world eh. That’s certainly something I haven’t heard of before. Oh, name’s Toji by the way. Toji Fushiguro.”

...fuck.

_________________________________x____________________________________

I looked at the guy who was devouring enough food for fifteen people with no care in the world.

This didn’t look like someone who was on the verge of dying and was summoned to a new world.

The first thing he did was ask for food and I provided him that.

While this was happening, I thought about this summoning.

Toji said he was dying so it must have been a fight with Gojo but there were no injuries on his body.

Did the sacrifice neutralise it?

Moreover, Toji would be equal to a taijutsu specialist jōnin or even elite level in terms of his physique but he still needs training in other aspects of chakra.

I am sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with when he learns the Eight Inner Gates technique.

In fact, the Eight Inner Gates fit him too well and even without that, just having chakra alone would make him far stronger. Maybe I could get my first Kage level fighter out of him if things go well.

The guy finished eating and looked at me. “So, now tell me what I need to do.”

...

“What? Why are you looking confused? Despite what you might think, I cannot read minds, you know.”

“No, no. I know that. I was just a bit surprised that you agreed so easily.”

“Well, I was dying and now I am here, suddenly healed and alive. I accepted the deal. I have lived enough to know these things don’t come for free. So, what do I need to do?” He answered with a shrug.

“I...”

I explained the whole situation to him

“That’s interesting. So, how strong would you say I am compared to these...ninjas?”

“A jōnin in terms of physique but you would die in a fight against one.”

He raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Really?”

I nodded. “I know quite a lot about you and your world, both past and the future.”

“Hoh, and what does the future hold?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” I asked.

“I have nothing to lose, so why not?”

“Very well, since you chose it, I will not hide.”

I went on to explain to him the future events of Jujutsu Kaisen and almost an hour later, the guy’s face was a sight to behold.

“Send me back, now.” He said in a no nonsense voice.

“I can’t.”

“Why?!”

“I am not strong enough. I could probably open a portal to your world but I am just not strong enough right now. Moreover, what can you even do if you go back? As you are now, Gojo would kill you either way.”

“I can take him on.”

“No, no you can’t. Not anymore. You had your chance and you lost it. Satoru Gojo is now forever beyond your reach.”

I saw him clench his fists and glare at me.

“I will send you back when I can and even help you out to the best of my abilities, this is a promise. But until then, you need to help me too. In fact, use this chance and become stronger. You can learn things here that will make you nigh invincible in your own world.” I convinced the guy over the whole night before he finally calmed down.

By the end of it, we had an agreement between us.

I will help him get stronger and send him back to his world, or at least summon his son and step-daughter here in case something happens to him and in return, he will help me to the best of his abilities.

When I asked him if he was fine with it, his reply was.

“I am used to being hired for this kind of work. This time I just have to work for something other than money. Something far more important.”

And so, I had Toji Fushiguro join the team.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

Hey guys, sorry for the delay.

I got a bad case of flu so no ‘Isekai Restaurant’ as promised.

Since I didn’t want you guys to be without any posts, here’s another chapter of ‘Ruling By the Book’, I had in reserve.

I will write again when I fully recover.

As you can see, Kazuya’s team is finally starting to form now.

We will see more in the future.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.