Ruling by the Book: Chapter 6: Building Bonds (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 6: Building Bonds

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- Kazuya -

“Welcome.” I welcomed the group of redheads who had arrived at my palace today.

The group consisted of three shinobi. Two of them were the familiar twins while the last one was an elderly man who looked to be in his sixties, around Grandpa’s age.

“Thank you, Your Highness.” They bowed politely.

I guided them to one of the meeting rooms and asked Mira to bring us some tea for us as we took our seats for discussions.

“First of all, I would like to thank Your Highness for the help you provided our people during their time of need. Our Uzumaki Clan and the Land of Whirlpools will always be grateful for this.”

“We did what was expected of us. Our Land doesn’t hold any good feelings for Iwagakure after the previous war.”

They nodded and the old man pulled out a scroll from his bag and presented it to me.

I took the scroll and opened it, reading the contents. It was from the Uzukage herself and suddenly I froze at the information.

Tamami Uzumaki was the daughter of the Daimyo and the Uzukage...damn. She was essentially the princess of the Uzumaki Clan and the Land of Whirlpools.

No wonder Iwa was trying to capture and not kill her.

Both the Uzukage and the Daimyo had sent their gratitude and for this, they had decided to offer us a 75% discount in the warding costs. 

That was...a lot.

Uzumaki Seals were expensive so 75% would be absurd. Then again, it was their princess. If she had gotten captured, things could have been much worse.

As for the teaching part, they had decided to accept to teach me to the Advanced Level for now.

Genshiro Uzumaki, the old man who gave me this scroll will be the one to teach me or anyone else I want after the warding is finished.

We can discuss further deals after that.

This time however, she has requested me to keep the presence of the Uzumaki in my country a secret.

Hmm, did they discover the strange movements of Iwa, Kumo and Mizu and are starting to take measures?

Well, let’s see how that works for them.

Either way, I am getting free coaching for one of the most difficult arts in this world.

I kept the scroll aside and looked at the three shinobi sitting in front of me.

“Thank you for accepting our request.” I thanked them before they began to explain to me about warding.

The costs made my knees go weak. Damn, even with that 75% discount, it would take a lot of money to afford their services. I will have to redouble my efforts.

The Uzumaki Clan could do several types of warding. Starting from warding off a simple room to palaces or entire cities, like Konoha.

In fact, the Telescope Jutsu of the Hokage can only be used as it is connected to the barrier around the village.

I wanted them to ward my palace and the warehouse as well as some area around it for now. In the future, when I build a village or town for my soldiers and their families, kinda like a hidden village, I could have that warded later.

Such places required a squad of ninjas to power the wards at all times. I don't have such privileges right now.

One step at a time.

I told them the places I needed them to ward and they asked me to show them the places before they could say anything.

“Very well. Take some rest for today. We will take you to our Warehouse later in the evening. You must be tired from your journey.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty.” Genshiro-san bowed and I had Mira guide them to a room.

After they left, Kuina spoke. “Can we trust these people?”

“No. At least not completely right now. We will know soon enough.” I replied as I set a search on Genshiro Uzumaki to know what they were sent here to do.

14 days.

The guy must be strong, at the very least an Elite Jōnin.

I had tried to feel his chakra and it was massive.

Seriously, all Uzumaki have insane chakra reserves.

I had thought it would only be double or so at best and cases like Naruto were an exception but it turns out to be wrong.

Even the two sisters have several times more chakra than me, let alone the old man. I wonder how much chakra their Kage or any other kage must have?

If only I could get the Uzumaki Bloodline, I would have a much easier time with my summoning rituals.

We didn’t have the leisure to trust anyone.

It had taken Saitō and me a lot of time to unearth spies from my palace alone.

There were still nobles who had spies among themselves and while not many, there were enough to prevent us from making any overt moves.

It’s just that the stupidity of the Medicine Daimyo had given me a perfect excuse to remove every spy from my court.

After Grandpa’s permission, I had gone on and culled every person who had been colluding with other nations or passing information to them… even the ones covertly sent by our allies, the Land of Lightning.

They couldn’t even complain because the spies had been hiding in secret and we were not informed so their dying is not on our heads.

Entire court was shaken by what could only be called a massacre.

No one was expecting me to make such moves. Grandpa sure but not me.

I had the image of a research scholar in their minds and except for a select few, no one was aware of my training.

Now however, that image has changed completely.

The people who used to hide their contempt in their gazes didn’t even dare to meet my eyes now and with the people on my side, they couldn’t shake anything by themselves.

I had been planning for this for a long time.

Going on a one sided purge would just make me unpopular with the people and increase the chances of rebellion.

That’s why the first step was to increase my popularity among the people which I did by upgrading their cultivation methods. With increased income and a better standard of life due to it, even in this war, they were able to live relatively comfortably.

And when these people heard about the attack on me and the purge of traitors, it wasn’t me they blamed but rather the ones who were purged.

Finally, we had tightened the security to the best of our abilities, to avoid the same problem in the future.

Obviously, it’s impossible to completely prevent all spies from entering the country but I can at least train my own people against them.

With the high alert state of the Land of Flowers and the Capital city, most of the spies were either dead or chased away and the other countries hadn’t sent new ones so early.

They will probably be sending some a few months later.

Having the Uzumaki finish the warding till them is of utmost importance for us. That would make the security of the place reach another level.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“And this is all. We will make more orders when we wish to expand.” I finished as we showed them everything.

My Warehouse had been cleared of all materials and information.

We even had several prison cells built underground to hold prisoners. My plan was to use seals which can absorb their chakra and power the barriers around the Warehouse. At least that way, those prisoners can be of some use to us.

And finally, there were places for holding valuables as well as the granaries of the Capital City.

The three Uzumaki were taking detailed notes of the whole place, calculating area and physical features.

In fact, in some places, they even suggested some modification in the facilities to me for better results like the Ritual Room which I wanted to build in the centre of the Warehouse area was moved out completely while my lab was modified into a hybrid of both a ritual room as well as...a lab.

Their reasoning was that Rituals were intricate processes and could have destructive backlashes in case things went wrong. It would be better to keep them away from normal places.

“How long do you think it will take to get these places warded off?” I asked after they finished their calculations.

“Based on the requirements you want, especially for the Ritual Rooms, it would take at least two months even if we work day and night.” Genshiro-san said, putting aside the pen and paper.

“We assume that the lessons will start after that?”

“No. We can teach alongside. It would even help your studies to watch the seals as complex as these being made.”

“Very well, take your time. You don’t need to push yourself too hard. We look forward to your teachings. Take your time.” I reassured the three.

“Thank you, Your Highness.” The group bowed politely.

Two or three months should be enough for me to prepare for my first World Travel.

After leaving them with their work, I left to meet Grandpa.

He was sitting in the room, waiting for me already by the time I got there. I checked the room and found nothing in the room itself but still used a simple security seal to hide our conversation from outsiders.

“How did your work go?” He asked as I took a seat.

“Two to three months to complete everything.” I replied as I picked up the chop sticks and took a bite of my food.

“Uzumaki Sealing is very costly. Are you sure you can afford everything?” He asked, picking his own chopsticks and getting ready to eat.

“I have already prepared the payment. They offered me a discount because one of the people I had saved back then turned out to be the Daughter of the Whirlpool Daimyo.”

“...what?”

“Yeah, the girl was the whirlpool princess. She was disguising herself as a guy.” I chuckled remembering Tamami’s act.

“And Iwa knew her identity?”

“Probably. I can’t imagine them sending such a team to capture a no name trio of Uzumakis.” I nodded.

He frowned.

“It’s suspicious. Ninja villages never take direct action against anyone of the royal family of any nation. That’s one taboo no one breaks.”

“That rule is not exactly applicable to Tamami as she is the daughter of both the Daimyo and the Uzukage. She is a ninja so she is fair game.”

“So you are looking to ally with Konoha through Uzu?” He asked. “That’s a good plan considering the Land of Stairs is immediate neighbours to the Land of Fire and that might make us similar to Rain in the future…”

“We cannot become allies with them, Grandpa. Alliances only hold true when both sides have similar power. If one side is weak, they can only be pawns or tools of the stronger side and if they are equal in power…then a target for backstabbing. The Big five cannot be trusted.”

He nodded. “Then?”

“I am planning to ally with the Uzumaki instead. I am interested in Fuinjutsu and wish to learn more from them. The Wards will help us protect our products better. The last incident made me realise how easy our palace could be raided and important documents and research data stolen and I don’t want that to be the case.”

“Alright. Just take care. By the way, a message has come from the Medicine Daimyo. That’s the main reason I had to call for you. Do you want to come and meet him?”

“He sent a messenger? Sure, let’s go and see what he wants to say.”

“Probably apologise. He sent his son for this. The same guy who is married to the daughter of the Stairs daimyo.”

“That guy huh...” My eyes narrowed at the mention of the guy.

I hadn’t met him before but just the information about him made me mad enough to want to rip him apart.

“Don’t let your emotions show, Kazu-kun. That’s unbecoming of a Daimyo.” Grandpa said. “I know of your anger at them and believe me, I wish for nothing more than to have him beheaded right at this moment but that’s not how Daimyo’s work. We always have to keep the interests of our people in mind first. Our revenge is long and painful.”

I nodded at his comment and we went to the audience chamber together.

Kuina and Seraphim were waiting for me outside and followed us to the chambers. 

I had my chakra senses spread the entire time to notice any presences and noticed two presences among the people brought by the Medicine Prince.

Both had chakra levels lower than mine so Chunin or probably Tokubetsu Jōnin.

The Land of Medicine’s Howling Wolf Village…

They were a small village with several clans within, the Kodon clan being one of the stronger ones.

“Your Majesty, Lord Katsuyoshi.” The prince bowed before Grandpa and he nodded.

“You may rise.”

“We would like to sincerely apologise for the actions of the shinobi of the Kodon Clan. Those people have been punished severely for their actions. Our father has told us to relay that he doesn’t want this incident to become an obstacle for the relations between our lands.”

“And what punishment did Wakui give them?” Grandpa asked.

The Medicine prince looked solemnly and replied. “Their entire clan was exiled from the Land of medicine and the Howling Wolf Village. They will never be allowed entry in the Land of Medicine again.”

Well, I’ll be damned.

That fat piece of lard really wiped his hands off of the clan before we could even push towards it.

I rejoiced inside at the news. This makes things so much better for us.

“Lord Father has also sent the medicinal herbs you had requested the last time as a compensation for the injuries to the Prince to show our sincerity in this matter.” He bowed slightly towards me and his subordinates put forward a few scrolls and unsealed them in front of us, revealing over two hundred different herbs. Although most of them were common ones, there were some rare ones as well.

I signalled towards Kuina to receive the herbs and didn’t miss the way he stared at Kuina and Seraphim, especially Seraphim. Thankfully, the girl restrained herself well.

“Very well. We will resume trade between our Land and the Land of Medicine again. We apologise for the inconvenience and our doubts but the circumstances forced our hands.”

“No no. Lord Katsuyoshi is too kind.” The guy thanked Grandpa and then came the negotiations for the trade renewal.

___________________________________x__________________________________

“I didn’t like the guy. His eyes….felt disgusting.” Kuina said

“He had the eyes of a cretin. I have seen any of those before to know how to identify them.” Sera complained and while she was always complaining, this time the disgust in her voice….felt potent.

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to bear him for much longer. He will be leaving the place immediately.” I replied.

“That better be the case or I cannot guarantee that I won’t use him as a target to practise my new sword techniques.”

I sighed. The worst part was that Sera wasn’t even kidding. She would actually do such a thing if I allowed her to.

“That guy went to meet Princess Kasumi. Are you sure you shouldn't go there and accompany her?” Kuina asked me.

“Kanae is there, keeping an eye on things. Moreover, by relationship he is her aunt’s husband. There are no valid reasons I can give to prevent him from meeting her.” I sighed.

Kasumi was… as Grandpa had said, a kind and innocent girl.

In fact, I had asked around and it turns out that everyone knew her as the daughter of the fourteenth concubine of the Stairs’ Daimyo’s son.

Even the girl herself thought so and even carried a picture of the woman with her.

That’s something which had been bugging me for a while and I don’t know why.

I was planning to search for information about Kasumi’s mother to know what was going on.

“Where are the Uzumaki people?” I asked.

“They are starting with the Warehouse first. Saitō-san and Toji-san are keeping an eye on them.” Kuina reported.

I winced.

Toji and Saitō… didn’t get along well together. No, it would be fair to say that Saitō hated his guts and Toji never failed to provoke him either.

Saitō Hajime was someone who hated people like Toji Fushiguro, killers. He believed in exterminating evil without mercy. It was the same reason he hated and went after Kenshin Himura so much.

So, working with Toji was difficult for him.

They had finally found a middle ground by ignoring each other’s existence at all. Still, this was more than I could ask of them.

At least they were quite pleasant with the girls.

It also made me aware that all the people I summon might not get along well with each other and I will have to learn to deal with them.

My thoughts were broken by Kuina’s voice. “By the way, do you think they actually exiled the entire Kodon Clan from their lands?” She asked. “That seemed a bit odd if you ask me.”

“Ninja lives are always expendable. These kinds of things are not uncommon at all, at least in my world.” Sera said, a frown appearing on her face.

Just what kind of life has she been living all this time?

“I don’t know. I will check on them and see what I can find out about them.” I said, reassuring them both. I would have done so either way as I didn’t want to take any risks.

Still, the fact that he would go so far… kinda suspicious now that Kuina mentioned it. From what I had read about that guy, he hardly seemed like the guy who would let go of the power in his hands.

At least I got the herbs I had wanted for a while.

Some of these herbs could be used to make medicines which can increase the chakra capacity of people over time and give them some poison resistance too. Others were used to make antidotes of many common and even some rare poisons.

Shinobi Villages trained their ninja to develop poison resistance with the help of similar medicines and herbs.

Medical Ninjutsu was also something I wanted to train my people in but there was only so much I could do by myself and I had no time to learn everything by myself and teach others. That’s why I was planning on leaning more towards medicines which can easily be taught to other people.

I summoned my Grimoire and stored the herbs inside and all the information about the herbs appeared.

I sat down and both girls also sat behind me, taking a look at the Grimoire out of curiosity. Normally, the Grimoire wouldn’t allow them to read from it and they would just see gibberish or nothing at all but they could read the contents if I permitted them to.

The information I got also listed the best ways to grow the herbs and increase their productivity. Simply using them all at once would be foolish and growing them in my own land would be far better in the long run for me.

_________________________________x____________________________________

Toji was a beast.

This guy was keeping up with a Three Gates Kuina with his base strength, without even using Chakra.

The entire training ground had been ravaged due to the clashes between them.

Kensho had been able to get us some chakra blades today and both Kuina and Toji jumped at the opportunity to test them out.

The Daimyo of the Land of Stairs had found out that I was searching for Chakra Blades and as an attempt to soothe things over, he had sent over two dozen chakra blades from his side. The blacksmiths of the Land of Stairs were not the best at their art but they were not bad either.

On the other side, Kensho’s contacts had replied and brought me five high grade chakra blades from the Land of Iron, which were exactly the ones Kuina and Toji were using right now.

“Put your back into it, Kuina–chan. With the speed you are swinging your sword, I will grow old by the time your blade reaches me.” He teased, making Kuina angrier.

The fact that he had the privilege of actually teasing her while she was using the inner gates was even scarier.

I know for certain that he could do a lot more if he started using chakra as he had immense chakra reserves due to his physique. It wasn’t at the Uzumaki level but far above common jōnin… and growing.

At this time I felt something change in my Grimoire and checked the area around us first to see if anyone was spying on us.

Finding the area clear, I summoned the Grimoire and found out that the information about Genshiro Uzumaki had been updated.

I personally found the guy to be quite professional. He was stoic but honest and a good teacher too so I hoped there was nothing wrong with the information. Reading further, I found out that the reason the Uzukage had sent him here was to observe me and see if we were actually intending to become their allies or just trying to steal their knowledge or even working for Kumo or Iwa.

The Uzukage was actually disturbed by the news of Kumo, Iwa and Mizu working together. Especially with the sudden destruction of the Sky Village by Konoha, they had become wary of the whole situation and had secretly started spreading their people all over the elemental nations, especially in the smaller Lands.

It was also due to this that they wanted to see if I could become a true ally to them and shelter them if things went south and they had to flee everywhere.

They also had plans to send me a concubine to strengthen the relationship with the Land of Flowers behind everyone’s back.

….like holy crap.

All this changed from such a simple clue given by me?

If anything, I am surprised they didn’t go to Konoha directly.

Still, this eases my mind a bit.

At least now I could be sure that they were not here with ulterior motives although the guy is spying on us to know more about us, which means he knows most of our training.

I can do something about that, I guess.

Still good. If they want to send their people here, then I will arrange for a way to accept them in advance.

As for saving Uzushio, I am not an idiot to think I have or will have the power to do such a thing in the near future.

Getting even five Jōnin from Uzu would be a god sent gift for the Land of Flowers.

“You look quite happy. Did something good happen?” Kanae asked, noticing my happy mood. “Is it because of your date with Kasumi-chan?” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes internally. Girls and gossip are really inseparable.

“Why can’t I be happy because I am sitting here with you, Kanae-chan?” I smirked back, turning her attack on her. As expected, the girl was not as good with defence as she was at attacking.

“Eh?!”

Seeing her surprised look, I continued. “I am sitting here with a very pretty girl like you, it would be odd if I wasn’t happy, right?”

Blood rushed to her face at the comment.

I hadn’t realised it at first but the charm ritual had actually worked.

Whenever I went out among the public, I always drew attention but now, the looks in their eyes had changed.

Even the maids in the palace blushed when I passed by despite having seen me for years.

So when I flirt, I would assume it would have a much better effect than before.

“Y-y-you shouldn’t joke like that, Kazuya-kun. You are going to get married to Kasumi-chan. It’s not good to tease other girls like this.”

“Eh, I was just stating the truth, you know. We could go out and ask any person and they would tell you exactly what I told you.” I shrugged. “You should have more confidence in yourself.”

The girl’s blush reached her ears so I decided to throw the last attack.

“Moreover, as the next Daimyo and the sole guy from my lineage, I am expected to take more than one wife. This is something even Princess Kasumi knows.”

“Wha….”

Seeing her super flustered look, I couldn’t hold back and started laughing.

Kanae pouted. “You are a meanie. To make a joke like that…”

“Heh, I wasn’t making a joke, you know. If you don’t believe me you can go and ask Princess Kasumi. In fact, you should go and ask Grandpa. That man can think of nothing more than getting his great grandkids.” I rolled my eyes.

By this time, the spar between Toji and Kuina had finished and Kuina was approaching us. “What are you two talking about?”

“I was just telling Kanae that she is quite famous among the people of the capital but she doesn’t believe me. She thinks I am teasing her when I say she is pretty.”

Kuina rolled her eyes. “Kanae-san has a group of fans among the students of the academy and the people from the palace too.”

“See, I told you. You should have more confidence in yourself.”

The girl just looked at the ground embarrassed and nodded her head.

Seeing that she was not speaking anymore, I turned my attention to Kuina. “How about you? Do you think you are closer to opening the fourth gate?” I asked.

“Not yet. It will take some time for that or it might cause injuries.” She said as she sat down beside us. Kanae gave her a towel and she wiped off her sweat.

“Take it easy. We don’t want you to get injured.”

“Hmm.” She nodded. “By the way, don’t you have to go on a date with Princess Kasumi today?” She asked.

….

“Why is everyone so worried about this?” I narrowed my eyes.

Kuina shrugged. “We talked to Kasumi-chan and she was looking forward to it. We just didn’t want you to be late. That would make her sad.”

….

When did they talk to her?

“Alright alright, I will go and have a look. By the way, how is your sword?”

“Oh this is good stuff. I am just afraid that it might break if I go to the fourth or fifth gate. I can still use it for the time being.”

….

That sword was the most expensive of the bunch.

I really need to get one of those Kusanagi Swords.

The Kusanagi are a group of swords rather than just one.

These swords were made long ago and all information about how to make them was lost in time so no more of them could be made.

Each of them had extremely good chakra conducting abilities and they were extremely strong too. Currently, there are only eighteen known Kusanagi Blades out there.

Let’s see.

I summoned the Grimoire and ordered it.

“Location of the Kusanagi Swords and the identities of the current owners.”

Six months….

Nope

Let’s try something else then.

“Location of the nearest five Kusanagi Swords and the identities of the current owners.”

Two months.

I reduced the number to three swords and the time became one month.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out the methods of making the sword and it would take one year to search. I wanted to do so but right now, I don't have the privilege of doing so. I needed to search for other things.

Suddenly a thought came to my mind.

“Location of ownerless Kusanagi Blades.”

Two months.

Ownerless Kusanagi Blades were those which had been lost in time. Even if I found one, no one would know they were with me. These were the safest choices.

“There, done. I will get the information in two months. Happy now?”

“Why would I be happy about this? I want the sword in my hands first.” She rolled her eyes.

Seriously, this girl… not thankful at all.

“Now off you go or you will be late.” She shooed me, making my eyes twitch.

I took my leave from the group and left for the palace.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“Here is your order of dangos, Your Highness.” The waitress served us the order and bowed deeply before stepping back out of the room.

“Thank you.” I nodded at her and then looked at the girl in front of me.

“Are you sure, this is all you want?” I asked again.

“Yes. This much is enough for me.” She said in a soft voice.

“Alright then, give it a try. We have heard from Kuina that this place sells great dangos. It’s famous throughout the capital. We had been looking forward to trying them for a while.” I said as I picked up the dango stick and took a bite of the dumpling.

Hmm, she wasn’t lying.

“No wonder Kuina didn’t want to share these. These are really great.” I closed my eyes and enjoyed the delicious taste.

“Is Your Highness very close to Kuina-sama?” Kasumi asked.

“Close? Yes. She is our first friend as well as the first retainer selected by us. Due to this she holds a very special place in our heart.” I replied.

The girl nodded. “I have heard that Your Highness has lovers other than Kuina-sama and Kanae-sama. Could you tell me about them?” She asked, suddenly making me choke on my food.

I quickly slapped my chest and she gave me a glass of water to help push down the food.

“Lovers? No no. Kuina is more like a… well, brother to us than anything else.You should see us when we are squabbling. That girl doesn’t care about our status or wealth and could punch us in the face should we do something wrong. This is something… we appreciate. We don’t have anyone like that in our life.” I explained.

She smiled. “I am very envious of you for having such close friends.” She suddenly realised what she had said and her eyes widened and she apologised to me very quickly. “My apologies for speaking out of line.”

“You don’t have to apologise. You are not out of line.” I shook my head, making her look up at me. “We can understand your feelings. In fact, we have felt it too. Having people who only approached us due to our position and wealth and not having someone to open our hearts to is not a good feeling. Do you have any good friends, Princess?”

She didn’t say anything and just looked at the plate.

Ah, the wrong thing to say.

How could I forget after reading her file?

To salvage the situation I put a hand on hers, making her surprised and look up at me. “It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. Now you have us. Please feel free to open up to us and we will become your friend. To begin our friendship, how about you call us by our name?”

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth in surprise. “I couldn’t…”

“You will not be disrespecting us. This is our promise to you.” I reassured her.

Seeing that she was still hesitating, I took her hands in mine and looked right into her eyes. “Kasumi-san, we are engaged and are supposed to get married in a few months. But before that, we would like to know more about you. We know that you were kept here as an unofficial hostage due to that attack on us but please trust us when we say that we don’t blame you for that attack. After seeing you these days, we know that you are a very kind and caring girl and we truly wish to marry you. So please…”

“I… Kazuya-sama.” She spoke after hesitating a bit and a smile came to my face. I pulled her hand to my lips and gave her a kiss on the knuckles.

“Thank you for granting our wish, Kasumi-san.”

She just nodded still not meeting my eyes but the blush on her cheeks was reaching her ears by now.

We left the place after an hour and this time there was a little smile on her face as she held my hands while walking.

- Shiroyasha Uzumaki -

“My lady, Genshiro-sama has sent a message.” She watched as the Ninja Wolf, the summons of Genshiro, kept a scroll on the ground and one of the attendants on the side picked it up and handed it over to her.

While she read the document, her husband talked to the ninja wolf.

“How was the Land of Flowers?” He asked.

“Very beautiful. Despite the dangers and chaos caused by the war, that place is almost untouched. The people were quite happy and while there were occasional bandits and attackers, the rulers of the Land, especially the Prince, always made sure to take care of them at the fastest speed. It’s just that they still don’t have strong enough forces to take care of everything by themselves. The Prince is training a force but they are still young and will take some time to develop fully.”

“The samurai he is training?”

“Yes.”

“How strong would you say they are?” He asked.

“The children are all normal Ninja Academy Student level with a few of them getting to the Genin Level. They all practise a special style of Swordsmanship taught by some of the Prince’s direct retainers. Apart from them, the Prince has four or five personal retainers, each at the very least a Chunin level. The Prince himself trains and usually keeps his chakra hidden using some technique which even we cannot bypass. Moreover, we think he is a sensor as he never reveals any powers when any ninja is around him. Genshiro was only able to know about his true power because he used Kagura Shingan from halfway across the city and found out that the Prince had a Jōnin level chakra.”

“A Jōnin. That’s quite good for someone of that age and he is self taught?”

“Yes. We found no traces of any other shinobi with them but we did find some interesting news.”

“Oh?”

She had finished reading the document by now and decided to intervene. “The information about the engagement of the Prince with the Princess of the Stairs kingdom and how the envoy of the Princess turned out to be ninjas from the Land of Medicine who were there to steal the secrets of the Prince and even attacked them and escaped.”

“What!”

“The Prince survived and those ninjas escaped. It seems that the measures taken by the Prince to hide his power helped him out in the end.” She finished.

“The Land of Stairs and the Land of Medicine, isn’t the daughter of the former married off to the son of the latter?” Her husband asked.

“Yes. There was news about an alliance among the three Lands, the engagement being a part of that. The Land of Flowers had suspended any talks of the engagement till they got a suitable explanation from the Land of Medicines. The Daimyo of Stairs actually left the Princess as an unofficial hostage in that country to calm things down.” The summon explained.

“It seems that someone is trying to break the alliance between the three Lands.” Her husband said.

“Maybe. These are precarious times. We can never be sure who our allies are.” She said, recalling the information she had received from her spies about the movement of the five Great Ninja Villages.

The Five Great Nations might have fought among themselves for decades but they never break the balance or let a sixth power arise.

The Sky Nation was an example of this… and by the looks of things, they were planning to make the Uzumaki face a similar end.

Konoha would not make any moves if the Fire Daimyo was against helping them and if the Land of Whirlpools can be exchanged for the end of a war, it would be something which the Hokage would accept, after all, they might be allies but the Uzumaki were not exactly a part of Konoha. As the Kage, he would always choose his village’s wellbeing over the rest.

With the Senju Clan almost merged with the village or dead, Mito-sama at the end of her life and Kushina sent there as a replacement Jinchuriki, Konoha had no use of the Uzumaki Clan anymore.

They already had both the bloodlines and the knowledge of the Uzumaki, now they will try to cut their own losses from this war.

While some might say she is overthinking things, ninjas survived by being paranoid.

Moreover, the new higher ups of the village, the students of Tobirama Senju, weren’t like the Senju Clan because there was no way they didn’t know about the strange movements of the Kumo, Mizu and Iwa ninja, especially during wartime when they keep track of each and every movement of the enemies.

Even she could find and guess all these with just a month long investigation.

Those people must be expecting the attacking armies to suffer under the Uzumaki traps and cull their numbers. They are more likely to send people after they die and use the previous ties between the villages to collect the leftovers of their heritage.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do so late in the game. If such an attack happened, the destruction of the Uzushiogakure was more or less certain although she had started making sure they would bleed in case they attacked Uzushio.

The best she could do for her people was to make sure that the clan doesn’t perish and can make a comeback later on.

She had already started moving all their knowledge away from the Land of Whirlpool and slowly shifting people away from here too.

They were hiding as civilians in other lands, especially the smaller nations, preferably without any shinobi villages of their own.

This is where the Land of Flowers came in.

From the information she had read, the Prince of the Land of Flowers was an ambitious person and quite smart if he was able to develop so far.

If she makes an alliance with him, could he hide her people?

He would be in just as much trouble if he is found to be harbouring a Clan hunted by the big five nations.

“What does Genshiro say about him? Is he trustworthy?” Her husband asked.

She nodded her head.

Genshiro was her caretaker and one of the best shinobi of Uzushiogakure. The main reason she had sent him there was to see if the Prince was trustworthy.

“He has given his approval, but… can the young Prince take this responsibility?” Her husband asked.

“We can try to talk to him directly to know.” She replied and then brought out her brush and an empty scroll and started writing a reply to Genshiro.

- Kazuya -

Two months have passed and things have begun to move again.

Grandpa had removed the trade restrictions on the Land of Medicine and the Land of Stairs after the whole situation was cleared up.

Recently there was news that the war had become worse.

According to the rumours the infamous Gold and Silver brothers had died in an ambush set up by the Third Raikage. The two brothers had been declared rogue since their attempted coup in which they killed the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage.

Hanzo of the Salamander was butchering the forces from both Iwa and Konoha and Iwa had wisely stepped back and let Ame and Konoha fight it out, instead choosing to attack through the Land of Grass.

There were both good and bad things due to this change.

Good thing was with Iwa fighting only on one front, they didn’t need as many supplies as before and we could save things up for ourselves. Bad was the fact that with Hanzo being forced, he was sending people to neighbouring countries to rob.

The one facing the full brunt of this attack was the Land of Medicine, something which I wouldn’t mind if not for the coming alliance between our lands.

The alliance would mean even we would be dragged into the whole mess.

Not only him, even the Land of Grass was sending people into smaller countries to rob to feed their people.

Everything was becoming a clusterfuck.

We had even captured over a dozen or so Genins and six Chunins during these two months, with the Uzumaki Trio actually lending us a hand and capturing five of them.

Thankfully a few good things also happened during this time.

One of the higher ups of the Land of Whirlpools wanted to talk to me privately to discuss an alliance.

I had agreed and they were to arrive here soon.

Second good thing was that we had just found the location of eight ownerless Kusanagi Blades. Not one or two but eight.

Turns out that adding the information of the owner increased the time required as most of the owners were shinobi too and strong ones at that whereas ownerless blades didn’t have such a problem.

I had noted down everything about them and handed the paper to Toji to get them.

Kuina was the most excited one when I revealed this news, Toji himself being a close second. He was missing his own weapons from his world.

Third was the fact that the Genshiro-sensei actually knew about some things which I needed for some of my rituals. For example, while teaching me Fuinjutsu, he had told me about the places where several demons were rumoured to be sealed and who sealed them.

The Uzumaki were connected to many of these places too.

He also knew about the materials I would need for the next Poison Resistance Ritual and where to get them.

Lastly, the ritual room was finally ready and I could perform my rituals as well as summonings again.

The last two months I hadn’t summoned more people and instead focused on summoning items which had yielded me several good things.

I had a bunch of potions for healing. Some of them were from other worlds too such as the Skele-Gro Potion from the Harry Potter World which can regrow bones as well as Strengthening potion which can increase the strength of the user for a certain period of time. There were also several antidotes for poisons in case anyone got poisoned.

Apart from that, I had managed to summon something amazing.

A TAC-50 Sniper Rifle and 200 rounds. It had an effective range of 1800m and one could even shoot beyond the 2km mark with it.

Toji was over the moon when he saw it and since then has carried it in a storage scroll with him.

While killing stronger ninjas with it will be very difficult, it could take down even Jōnin if they were caught off guard and Toji would have enough time to hide or flee too. I even used Fuinjutsu on it to enhance it as much as I could.

The biggest haul however was not these things.

It was actually a plant.

Blood Orchids.

I managed to summon freaking Blood Orchids from the Anaconda movies.

These plants had the property of increasing the vitality of those who consume it. Higher vitality leads to longer lifespans.

A single flower can increase up to 1-5 years of life of an average human.

I had scanned it with the Grimoire and even found the ideal method of growing this plant. In fact, it can even be used in some rituals but I didn’t want to use this piece. I wanted to grow more of them first before using them. It took three years for it to grow but I was willing to wait that long.

The profits from this plant will be just that good.

The last but not the least was… an egg.

Yes.

I got an egg.

A Pokemon Egg.

A freaking Pokemon Egg.

I had to read the Grimoire twice before confirming that it was indeed a Pokemon Egg, and not just any Pokemon Egg but the egg of a Ralts.

An actual Ralts.

I hadn’t stopped smiling for the whole day when I summoned it. Ralts would be so good.

During this time, I had prepared several materials for the rituals.

I was planning to do all these rituals this month, specifically on the solstice which was just days later.

After all, I was planning to go after Rōen in a month and I needed every bit of power I could get.

Last but not the least, my progress with Fuinjutsu was going very well. Genshiro was a very great teacher, and a master of his field. As one would expect from one of the best Uzu shinobi. His lessons were easy to understand and my progress showed this. According to him, I could reach the Advanced Level in just three months or so at this rate.

I had already started practising the Seal used for Rōen and had a certain degree of expertise in it. I hope to completely master it by the end of the month.

My thoughts were interrupted by Kasumi’s voice. “Try this. Grandma Tsuyu from the eastern market road makes these mochi. It’s the best in the entire capital city. Kanae-san brought me some to try earlier.”

Looking at her, I saw her holding a mochi between her chopsticks and directly in front of my mouth.

The girl had opened up so much since our date two months ago.

Now she smiled more and not the polite kind she did in front of others, but rather a bright smile which could make a man’s day.

It also made me realise how alone she was all these years and how desperately she yearned for someone to be with. She latched on to me since that day. Every time I met her, her face lit up and I knew that she was not faking this.

These were her genuine feelings. 

I smiled and took a bit from the mochi before pulling her to my side, easily picking her up and placing her on my lap.

“K-kazuya-sama!”

“Hmm.” I hummed as I hugged her with my arms around her waist.

Today was her eighteenth birthday and we were here to celebrate it.

The Stairs Daimyo did send some gifts but they were mostly formality. Not a single person came from the Land of Stairs citing that the war was causing problems and they were very busy.

So I took it upon myself to organise a party for her. Only me and my retainers, Kuina, Kanae and Seraphim were invited.

Saitō politely declined although he did send a gift and Toji was still out searching for the Kusanagi Blades.

The three girls were still buying gifts for her and that left the two of us alone as we were early here.

“Kuina-sama, Kanae-sama and Seraphim-sama will be here at any moment.” She whispered almost inaudibly.

“So? Let them see how much we love our fiance.” I whispered back as I nuzzled into her neck. She gasped.

“B-b-but.”

She had never had any intimate physical contact before she met me, not any that she knew of. Not even her own mother’s love because she was too young when they died.

The maids treated her and brought her up and they too only did as much as they were instructed, keeping their distances.

So when I had first hugged her, she had completely frozen in shock and teared up. I was afraid that I did something wrong and apologised but she told me that it was actually the first time she remembered anyone hugging her. Since then whenever we were alone, I made it a point to spend time like this and she relished every moment.

Even the girls often came to her and accompanied her. Surprising thing was Seraphim actually being nice to her.

I wouldn’t lie and say that I didn’t like it. I am a healthy boy in puberty and I was constantly surrounded by stunning girls. It would be an utter lie to say I was not interested.

One thing about being a Daimyo that I didn’t mind was having a harem, especially with sweet girls like the one currently in my arms.

“Then is it okay if we do this when we are alone?” I asked, huskily making her stutter again. There was something about girls like her and Kanae that just made me want to tease her more and more.

“We were just joking. You look so adorable when you are like this that we couldn’t hold ourself back.”

Her blush went to her ears but she stopped struggling and started caressing her head lightly as she relaxed in my arms.

Finally, she too got used to the feelings and picked up more of the mochi and fed me.

It was a quiet private time we both enjoyed.

Around half an hour later, I sensed Kuina’s chakra coming nearer and picked her up and placed her back on her seat. “They are coming.” I replied at her confused look.

Her eyes widened as she quickly fixed her yukata, making me smirk at her actions.

The door opened a moment after she finished rearranging her clothes.

“Many many happy returns of the day, Kasumi-chan.” Kuina wished before stopping at the blushing princess and then looked at me with narrowed eyes.

I just shrugged and she shifted her attention back to the princess.

We got together to celebrate.

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Author’s Note:

Things are progressing.

Uzumaki are here and now they are not that trusting of Konoha.

What end are they going to meet this time around?

On the other hand, Kazuya is building a good relationship with Kasumi and Kanae, while Sera behaves like an awkward tsuntsun around him… and everyone.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.