Ruling by the Book: Chapter 8: Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 8: Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi

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- Kazuya -

“Good. Just like that. Concentrate on the leaf.” I instructed Kasumi as she tried to stick a leaf on her forehead.

It had been a few days since she had begun her training.

The first thing I did was feed her the medicines which helped strengthen her body to make up for the lack of physical exercises. It’s not like people with low physical abilities didn’t have chakra or even high chakra pools. It’s just that, in those cases, more often than not it harms them more than it does any good.

She was starting her physical training under Kanae but it will obviously take more time for her to get anywhere due to her age.

I have to work on rituals for her to catch up.

The Grimoire only provided rituals designed for me and they cannot be used for other people. I can however develop rituals for them, something which I have been working on for a while now.

I am almost done with the first set of rituals to increase the physique, chakra control, mind and spirit of a person for now.

The materials needed are relatively cheap and easy to get except for a few herbs which I need to grow on my own. In fact, there are more than a few herbs I need to grow on my own.

I have already set up a herb garden in my warehouse but I was planning to expand more later on.

The first batch of students have almost reached Genin levels and we were ready to expand the academy.

Currently, our main problem is numbers. We needed more people in our army.

The war had left many people orphans and Kensho had been finding and taking in many children.

All of them will be trained in different fields.

I didn’t intend to create a mercenary organisation in the country but rather a proper military under the control of the Daimyo.

The main problem with the ninja village system was that while Daimyo did fund it, they had to earn most of their money from missions.

The Daimyo didn’t want to expend all the costs needed to upkeep an army so they threw everything on the Kage’s head.

The exception to this rule was the Iron Country who had their samurai and they never participated in any wars.

I intend to do something similar and make my own Samurai forces.

This time, I had asked for five hundred children to be recruited. The previous generation will be training as well as working to upkeep peace of the land as a part of the police force, starting from the Capital City. Saitō will be training the old batch and organising them into a police force.

Apart from that, I am planning to make a Fuinjutsu division now that I can get the cooperation of the Uzumaki Clan.

This division will mainly be responsible for maintaining the barrier around the city and warding off different places. They will also produce items for sale like Storage Scrolls and Exploding Talismans to generate income for the country.

The third division would be the Spy Division but I didn’t have any people who could train the students in that art except the Uzumaki ninja.

While Saitō was something of a spy he would be caught in seconds in this world.

The fourth division would be the Research and Development Branch.

The fifth branch would be the Medical Ninjutsu Branch.

While the ninja villages never paid too much attention to medical ninjas, I want to make a whole department dedicated to it. They will not only serve in the army but provide services to the entire country in hospitals.

In fact, I am planning to make this into an industry later on.

The seventh branch would be the Finances Branch to manage all the monetary matters of the military.

As for earning money, I had already gotten several plans for establishing a food products industry, a perfume and cosmetics industry, healthcare products industry and a medicine industry concentrating on treating diseases instead of war injuries.

One step at a time.

I will make the Land of Flowers both an economic and military power so that no one can take advantage of us.

Kasami’s concentration finally broke and the leaf on her forehead fell down.

“Very good. You are making very good progress, Kasumi.” I wasn’t even lying. She did have talent for it.

In fact, now that she was starting to use her chakra, I could see that her reserves were higher than normal.

Nothing too much but still far higher for a normal untrained girl.

This made me all the more curious about her mother’s identity because this was surely her mother’s genes at work.

I would get her mother’s identity in two more days.

“Thank you.” She replied shyly at my praise.

“Let’s rest for some time. It’s almost time for breakfast. You have training with Kanae after this, don’t you?”

“Yes. Kanae-sama and Kuina-sama have been helping me.”

“Good. Even if you wish to just learn Medical Ninjutsu, you would need chakra and to increase chakra, you would need both a strong physique and mind. Practise the Leaf Concentration Exercise everyday. We will arrange for something to help you out later.”

“I will not disappoint you.”

“You will never disappoint me.” I smiled as I put a hand on her cheeks, making the girl lean into my palm.

Seriously, the Stairs Daimyo was a dumb moron for not caring for this girl.

We had dinner and later I left her with Kanae to meet the Uzumaki Trio.

Since their Uzukage had said she would be leaving them under my command, I had already started preparing identities for them. Since the Uzumaki will be disappearing from this continent, they couldn’t be an Uzumaki anymore or they will always be in danger. Their red hairs and chakra were hard enough to cover for now.

“Your Highness.” Genshiro-sensei bowed as he sensed me entering. The guy had been nervous since it was exposed that he had been spying on me.

“You don’t have to feel nervous, sensei. You were following orders. We are not angry at you.” I reassured the guy.

“Your Highness is very kind.”

“Sigh, please don’t start acting like those sycophant courtiers and nobles, please. One of the main reasons We are delaying taking the crown is to avoid dealing with them. Please don’t make this boring too.” I complained, making his lips twitch.

In our time together, I had figured out some characteristics of the Uzumaki people.

They were quite open minded and frank people. Easy to get along with but at the same time, easy to anger and when they get angered, they can be a bit of a savage in their fighting style too.

“Have you found any talented students among the hundred?” I asked as I took a seat on one of the cushions.

“The group you had selected at first can be trained. The others unfortunately are not suitable for learning Fuinjutsu.” He replied politely.

“Ah, unfortunate.”

Rina looked like she was going to say something so I looked at her.

“The young girl, Konan. She is talented. I think she can become a very talented shinobi in the future.”

I raised an eyebrow at her words. “Yes. We know of her talents. If trained well, she has the talent to become a Kage Level shinobi in the future. It’s one of the reasons why she was recruited by us.”

In fact, she was not the only one I sent to be recruited.

Even Yahiko’s parents were found but they had rejected the offer, preferring to stay in their land till the end.

I didn't force them either.

Since they were so loyal to the land of rain, let them stay there.

“Very well. We have sent our subordinates to recruit more people for the new batch of students. You can choose from them and see if anyone has talent for the art.”

They nodded.

“By the way, the war in the Land of Rain has become even more intense.” I informed the group and they nodded too.

“Yes. We have caught wind that the Hokage has sent his three students to fight against Hanzo the Salamander.” He agreed.

“Those three huh.” So it was already that time.

“Does your Highness think they have a chance against Hanzo?” Rina asked.

“Chance of winning? No way. They will get beaten to the ground but Hanzo will not kill them.” I shook my head.

“Why?”

“Because if he did then Sarutobi would come down on him with the full force of Konoha. That’s not something Rain can bear. They are just pushing to get reparations from Konoha because Konoha is stretched out wide and cannot afford to concentrate on them. Once they die, all that would go down the drain.” I replied. 

After all, Hanzo was not soft hearted enough to leave his enemies, especially those who were guaranteed to become Kage level in the future, alive.

It was his way of saying that he was willing to take back a step if Konoha takes back a step as well.

And by doing this, he can have his dignity intact.

“So he will just let them go?” Mina asked.

“Yes. Probably give them some fancy title or something, like who knows… the sannin.” I laughed at the inside joke.

Seriously, that title itself was the single biggest insult in the history of the world. Hanzo flexed on them by giving them a title which would run with them their entire lives… for losing against him.

Sannin meant ‘Three Legendary Ninjas’... more like Three Legendary Losers. I mean really, all three of them… had terrible luck. None of them managed to achieve what they wanted to.

Orochimaru couldn’t get his immortality, Jiraiya couldn’t get Tsunade or bring Orochimaru back to Konoha and the less said about Tsunade the better.

“We just wanted to know if you three are planning to reveal your whereabouts to the Konoha shinobi should they come here by any chance?” I asked.

“No. We are under orders to not reveal ourselves to anyone, even Konoha during our stay here.” He replied curtly.

“Very well. So be it.” I brought out some identities from my sleeves and handed it over to them. “Here are your new identities as the citizens of the Land of Flowers and my retainers. Use these while you stay here.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Each of them took the ids and kept them.

We talked about a few more things and I left.

Today I had more work to do.

It was time to summon people.

I had a shinobi we had captured brought over for the summoning ritual.

Last time, it was due to using a sacrifice that Toji’s wounds were healed when he was summoned or I doubt we could have fixed him up with just potions.

The strongest prisoner I had right now was just a Tokubetsu Jōnin but my chakra reserves have grown immensely recently.

It should make up for the deficit.

This guy was actually someone who had been sent by the Rock on a suicide mission but ran away and deserted. I wouldn’t have been mad at that but he then went on to start a gang of bandits in my land and started looting people… the Uzumaki had been the ones to bring him and his group down.

Just like usual, my subordinates had all gathered around me and we started the ritual.

I need a healer, probably someone who can train my people.

With this thought, I started the summon and the ritual magic circle lit up.

The ninja’s body disintegrated and started quickly spinning into a ball of flesh before slowly taking the form of a person. A few moments later the form became clear and the light dimmed down.

Finally, we were able to see the person who had appeared.

It was a tall woman with long wavy emerald green hair and brown eyes. She wore a white uniform complete with white gloves.

She didn't look surprised, instead just looked around calmly. “Is this what a Hero Summoning feels like?” She asked.

Hero Summoning?

“Excuse me, Miss. Could you please introduce yourself?” I asked.

The woman looked at me. “Are you the one who summoned me?”

“Yes. My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi, the Prince of the Land of Flowers. May I know your name please?” I asked, again, politely.

“I am called Rose. Knight Commander… or rather former Knight Commander of the Llinger Kingdom. Why have you summoned me here? Do you have any problems with Demons too?”

Problems with Demons? Hero Summoning?

Also, Knight Commander?

I asked for a Healer.

“Umm, I wanted a Healer who could train my people. My country is…” I then went on to explain the whole situation to her in detail.

“I see. I can indeed use Healing Magic but I had never thought of a dedicated Healing Squad. Perhaps if I did, I would be alive instead of dying while trying to save the lives of my subordinates.” She sighed.

“Healing Magic?” I asked her, and she began to explain things about herself.

She was the Knight Commander of her Kingdom who had awakened Healing Magic. They had encountered a group of Demons in their territory and engaged in a fight.

The Demons had gone suicidal on realising they were on the losing end and had killed two of her subordinates when Rose went berserk and was able to take down their leader and two more of their people. Unfortunately her injuries were too much and she was already exhausted in the fight and trying to heal her subordinates so she was dying. That’s when she got the summoning call and accepted the request to live.

Her world also had Hero Summoning Rituals and she knew about these things. It was because of this that she accepted the summoning so easily.

“You can serve as a healer but I don’t think people of my world can use Magic. Here we use something else called Chakra instead of Magic.” I then went on to explain about chakra to her and the ways it could be used.

“That’s understandable. Even the Heroes we summoned rarely knew about Magic. They had to be taught from scratch. You say that I am capable of using this Chakra too. Then teach me how to use this. I can master Medical Ninjutsu too.” She answered, unbothered entirely. “As for not being able to train your people, that’s not entirely true. I have experience of training people. I think I can do this much more easily. Even if not in chakra then at least their physical abilities.”

Hmm, that’s understandable.

Maybe she can train people in first aid or something like that.

I nodded.

“Very well. I will let Kanae explain everything about the world to you.” With that said, I left the room as Kanae and the rest took Rose with her.

That’s certainly a new thing.

None of my previous subordinates had magic or were from magic based worlds.

I need to get more information about Medical Ninjutsu.

Will put that next in line for information to be searched after I get the identity of Kasumi’s mother later.

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“What the hell!” I explained, attracting the attention of Kuina who was swinging her sword in front of me.

“Something wrong?” She asked while I was still looking into my Grimoire, trying to reread the information about Kasumi’s mother, Yuka… Senju.

I quickly read all the information about her and understood the story properly.

Yuka Senju, the daughter of Tōka Senju, a very prominent member of the Senju Clan was sent by Tobirama Senju as a spy/sleeper agent to infiltrate the Land of Stairs.

This was done for two reasons. First was to act as sleeper agents and second was to spread the members of the Senju Clan into other nations so that the Senju Clan blood doesn’t die out.

It turns out that Tobirama anticipated the current state of the Senju Clan from the changes in the world after the death of Hashirama and started to prepare countermeasures to face it beforehand.

The guy was far ahead in this aspect compared to the Uzumaki Clan.

All people who were sent out were officially declared to have passed away in the line of duty and all traces of their original identity was erased.

It was a perfect plan.

Fun thing was how Yuka actually fell in love with the Prince of the Land of Stairs and actually got pregnant with his child. It’s just that the guy completely refused to accept the child as his own.

But her troubles were far from over. She was soon diagnosed with a terminal illness and she became desperate.

That’s when the news of the fourteenth concubine being pregnant came out.

Yuka was actually a part of the entourage of the Prince as she was a doctor or at least that’s what she was posing as. She had given birth and had gone there to convince the man to accept the child at the very least.

He denied again and told her to leave after returning back to the Land of Stairs.

But her bad luck was far from over.

When the entourage of the Prince was going back, they were attacked. Many people died in that and Yuka was also seriously injured while defending her daughter.

In that attack the Prince and his concubine had also died along with their newborn child.

Yuka knew that she would die and thus exchanged her child with the dead child of the Prince and let the people who had come to the rescue discover them.

It was for this reason that Kasumi survived that ambush.

The Daimyo kept her but actually blamed her for the death of his son as they had visited the home of the fourteenth concubine to deliver the baby. He always thought that if not for her, his son would not have fallen into the ambush and would still be alive. She was called the cursed child for this reason.

Obviously, no one in the public said that. It was something nobles said behind closed doors. In fact, the girl wasn’t even abused openly. She was just isolated… which was in ways far worse. No wonder she got so attached to me in such a short time.

People in grief can be extremely unreasonable. It was nothing new.

This shit was right out of a novel.

Suddenly, many things became clear and even more questions arose.

What of the other Senju Clan members who were sent as spies to other Lands?

If someone like Yuka Senju could slip into the Land of Stairs carrying the child of the Royal family, then what are the other spies doing?

Were there any other spies in our land as well?

Another thing to search and I was pretty sure this information would take a long time to be uncovered… but it would be worth it.

If I could find the location of the Senju Clan members or their descendants, I could possibly recruit them into the Land of Flowers, having a strong force along with the Uzumaki people.

Another thing was that I could technically use the Ritual on Kasumi and gain the Senju Clan bloodline too.

In fact, I could use other rituals to help increase the power of her bloodline too.

With her insane advantages, she could be a healer rivalling or even surpassing Tsunade Senju when I am done.

Now… how and to break the news to her?

“... uya, Kazuya!” My thoughts were interrupted by Kuina.

“Yeah.”

“Did something happen?” She asked.

“Ah, well… it’s nothing.”

“You sure?”

“Hmm. Just some things. Don’t worry about it. By the way, how is Rose doing? Is she acclimating well to this world?”

“Yes. She was surprisingly quick on the uptake and was very agreeable too. According to her, the Heroes who were summoned to her world by her Kingdom did their best to help too and it would be dishonourable of her to not extend the same courtesy to us. I like that woman.”

She has been quite cooperative.

Even Kanae said the same thing and she got along with Saitō too.

Now I have gathered a basic team.

Still need a good strategist and a research expert.

Until now, I have been playing both the roles by myself but I am not a very good strategist and I need a dedicated researcher for the team.

I wonder what Toji is doing right now?

- Toji Fushiguro -

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the trees around him passing by in a blur.

The feeling of air on his face was exhilarating.

Chakra was truly a magical power. Just having some in his body made him faster, stronger and sharper than before.

He wondered what those arrogant Zenin bastards would do if they knew he had access to a power far more versatile than their cursed techniques could ever be?

Beg him to come back?

Nah… they would probably declare him as an elimination target of the highest order.

Can’t have anyone look down on them, can they?

Oh how his life had turned around in the past few months.

Just one moment, he was dying from that white haired demon boy’s attack and the next moment he was in another world entirely, summoned like those isekai manga characters.

The new boss was nice, although a bit inexperienced and the colleagues were fine except for Saitō Hajime.

Who would have thought that he would be working side by side with the Saitō Hajime…  or that he would be such a straight laced asshole.

Nothing like the Zenin though, so he could live with it.

The Boss was also an enigma. He knew everything or rather had access to something which gave him information about everything.

For someone in Toji’s profession, that was a weapon far surpassing anything. Thankfully, the guy wasn’t an asshole or he could have the whole world under his boots in a year.

It was also because of this that Toji was willing to follow the man because he knew that the guy would not break his promise of sending him back to his world to prevent his son from getting possessed and then dying. Apart from this, he had promised him something which Toji didn’t even know was possible but was willing to dedicate his life for it.

As he ran past the forest, he dove into a river directly and swam underwater to get out of the area.

Now, how exactly did he get caught in his situation out of nowhere?

He had been on his mission to collect the Kusanagi Swords as planned. He had even collected five of these fine babies and was on his way to collect the sixth one when he saw a battle going on.

The forehead protectors gave their identities. They were from the Village Hidden in the Stones.

He had a strict order from the boss to not interfere in any fights but he was sure the boss wouldn’t mind if he took down one or two Iwa ninjas.

After all, he had no love for the rock headed fools.

Still, Toji wasn’t a fool who would put his life on the line for his pride. At least not anymore. The fight with that Gojo brat had taught him that much and this world had monsters far surpassing any from his own world.

That’s why he waited in the distance, and set up his rifle, watching through the scope and looking for the best opportunity to attack.

On the other side was Konoha Ninja, fighting against a platoon of Iwa ninja.

It looked like the Iwa side was losing and Toji considered if he should just wait till they died and then attack the Konoha side and finally rob whatever he could get his hands on but then he spotted someone. A lone figure, flying in the sky, was heading towards the group.

At first, Toji thought it was a bird but realised just a moment later that it was a human instead. The next moment, he remembered the list of names on the Bingo Book issued by the Bounty House.

The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki of the two scales, the man who was responsible for the Boss’ father’s death on the orders of the Earth Daimyo.

Boss hated the man.

Even with the usual funny and easy going facade he kept when talking about his plans, it was easy to see in his eyes whenever the Tsuchikage’s and the Earth Daimyo’s names were mentioned.

He wondered if he would be happy if he were to know that the Tsuchikage had an accident and died.

Oh who was he kidding, the guy would be elated.

Let’s bring him some happy news then.

He waited for the Tsuchikage to attack, knowing full well that the enemies would not stand a chance against the man.

A man is the most vulnerable right after he wins.

That is why he waited with a finger on the trigger, withheld breaths for the fight to end.

Boss had reinforced the gun with fuinjutsu to reduce recoil, reduce the sound, make the range longer and be able to fire two bullets without reloading. Even the bullets contained poisons of different types and had almost double the initial speed.

A hallucinogenic which would disturb the chakra flow in one’s body, a neurotoxin and finally a hemotoxin. Even getting grazed by it could put down a normal man.

He watched as the man gathered some kind of white light between his hands and suddenly a large cylindrical beam of light fell on the Konoha side, simply wiping out everything it touched.

Particle Style was really cheating.

The man stopped and then created another attack and Toji used this opportunity to fire.

Just as he did, he realised that he might miss his target due to a sudden updraft and fired the second bullet.

He didn’t stop to look at the result and quickly packed the rifle into his sealing scroll and ran away.

Two kilometres was not a huge distance for someone who could fly.

And that’s how he was in the current situation.

He swam almost three kilometres from the place and surfaced near a fishing spot used by villagers of the area.

Quickly finding a place, he changed his clothes, dropped his transformation jutsu, stored everything in a storage seal under his feet and left the place.

He did wonder if the bullet hit the mark.

- Sakumo Hatake -

“Captain, we have obtained some urgent information.” A ninja reported to him.

“Report.”

“Base number thirty one has been destroyed by the Tsuchikage, Onoki. There were no survivors.” He reported.

Sakumo clenched his teeth. The Tsuchikage was here. It was going to get far more dangerous.

Fighting against Onoki was nigh impossible due to his aerial advantage and particle style. All they could do was dodge and use long range attacks which were more often than not, no match for his Particle Style jutsu.

They could only hope to tire him out and dodge until he was out of chakra and left on his own. Either way, lots of soldiers were sacrificed. There was just no other way to stop the man. It was a reason why they hadn’t breached the border of the grass country yet.

The Tsuchikage stood as a wall who arrived whenever there was any danger and wiped out the opposing side and left.

“...ir, Sir.”

“Hmm?”

“One of the Hyugas on our side was able to capture the last scenes of the battle. It seemed as if the Tsuchikage was attacked just as the fight ended. He crashed from the sky and he was quickly carried off by other Iwa shinobi. We don’t know if he is alive or if he died in the attack. Unfortunately the attack came from the other side so we couldn’t find who the attacker was.”

Sakumo was taken aback by the information.

“Could you repeat that again?” He asked and his subordinate did. The news still didn’t change. The Tsuchikage was down.

“What should we do, sir? Could it be that it’s some kind of a trap?”

Sakumo thought about it and decided quickly. “Gather our forces. We attack with a small force of elites while the others remain on a standby. If we catch a whiff of the Tsuchikage, we retreat, if not, we take down the Iwa side completely.”

“Yes. sir.”

The mysterious attacker could be found later. First they had to take this opportunity and damage Iwagakure’s forces while their biggest player was out.

- Kazuya -

I slumped down on the couch, heaving to catch my breath.

The new weights were a bit harder to get used to.

My new enhanced body can take a lot of punishment but I need to unearth the full potential of the body. That's why I was pushing myself so far.

The healing factor took care of the muscle aches and helped me get used to the weights at a much faster pace, further increasing my speed of training.

“You lasted almost twice as long. That's incredible progress, Kazuya-san.” Kanae said as she lent me a towel.

“Probably because I have such amazing company.” I smiled, making the girl blush.

She really was low on the defensive side and I had a lot of fun teasing and flirting with her.

Even she was returning my advances nowadays and Kasumi had also accepted her so I didn't have to feel bad either.

I took her hand along with the towel and pulled her to me, making her yelp in surprise. “Kazuya-san!”

She crashed into my arms. I held her, preventing her from falling. “My bad. I couldn't control my strength and pulled too hard.”

I didn't let go however and made ourselves comfortable in that position. “Have some rest, Kanae.”

“I… “

“If you don't like this, you can tell me. I will never do anything to hurt you.” I said seriously, dropping the teasing for a moment.

“No, I… someone might see us.” She finally said after some hesitation.

My smile widened. “So it's fine if no one sees us, right?”

“Eh?!” Apparently she hadn't realised what she had said and I wasn't going to let it go.

“Don't worry. I have already checked the area. No one is nearby.” I replied, snaking my arms around her waist and pulling her into a hug.

Her breathing became quicker and I could feel her heartbeat against mine.

I didn’t push her further and just stayed there like that.

Time passed and she became relaxed too, resting her head on my chest.

“Tell me something about your life, Kanae.” I asked, after we had gotten comfortable.

“My life?”

“Hmm.”

She proceeded to tell me about her family, a relatively well to do family with her parents, her sister and herself. They were attacked by demons and her parents were killed while she and her sister were able to run away.

They encountered a Hashira and were taken in by him. There they trained and developed their own breathing styles too, finally establishing two new Pillars.

Later on they encountered and adopted another girl and named her Kanao. She even taught her Flower Breathing but one day, she had encountered Doma, the Upper Moon Rank Demon and was almost killed in the battle with him had she not been summoned here by me.

She told me about her family, things that I didn’t know from the few pages of manga.

We left after an hour but I was pretty sure we were closer than before.

Back at the warehouse, a surprise was awaiting us.

“Toji, when did you come back?” I asked, surprised at his visit.

We had expected him to take at least two more weeks for the job.

“Had some good news for you so I decided to drop by first and also deliver the swords before I went for the last three.” He said, before concentrating on the food in front of him.

We waited for him to finish eating.

“Man, that hit the spot. I was really missing the food from here.”

“How was your journey?” I asked. “You didn’t have any difficulties, did you?”

“Nah, it was easy. It was one thing hearing about the war and a completely different thing seeing it with my own eyes. It’s literal hell out in Rain and Grass countries. This place is heaven compared to that.”

I frowned at the information. “Did you encounter anything?”

“Oh yes, yes I did. I happened to pass by a fight between Konoha and Iwa ninjas and saw the third Tsuchikage fighting himself. That man is seriously a beast.”

“Did he see you?”

“Nope. He was more than busy whipping out some beatdown to the Konoha ninja. I observed them from over two kilometres away.”

I sighed in relief. It would have been trouble if he was discovered, especially with all those Kusanagi swords.

My relief was however short lived as he spoke again.

“But I did manage to shoot him once, probably twice. I didn’t wait to check.”

“What?!”

He looked smug at that moment. “Oh yeah, I got to test out my new sniper rifle. Let’s pray that the Tsuchikage doesn’t have poison resistance or there are no good medical ninja nearby and my first official kill in this world would be a kage. Would sound awesome on the resume, don’t you think? Toji Fushiguro, the Kage Killer.”

….

….

….

….

“You are not joking, are you?” I asked again, seriously this time.

“I don’t joke about my work, boss.”

“Did anyone see you?” I asked, my mind running at high speed, thinking about every possible result of this situation. If the Tsuchikage dies and if he survives. Both could have drastic changes on us.

“Nope. As I said, I didn’t even wait to see the result of the attack and ran away as fast as I could. I was in a henge when attacking and then went through two different countries and finally came here. Although I did hear that the Tsuchikage was injured and retreated. Konoha has taken that checkpost.”

“Anything else I need to prepare myself for?”

“Eh, nothing else. I was planning to go and see what the legendary Hanzo of the Salamander looked like but I don’t have good resistance against poison so I avoided that area. You think you could get me something to get poison resistance later? Anyways, here you go. Five swords. I will get the last three later on.” He threw the scroll towards me and I unsealed it to reveal five swords in front of us.

Just picking up one could give one the feeling of power in each sword. I summoned my Grimoire and stored all the swords inside to know about the information, even the knowledge about the previous owners of the sword and their abilities.

Each Kusanagi sword had a different ability and even the Totsuka no Tsurugi, the blade used by Itachi’s Susanno, was a variant of the Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

I checked the abilities of the swords. One of them was actually the sword used by Orochimaru, the one which could extend to great distances based on the chakra fed to it. Another one had the property to enhance elemental chakra. One had the property to cut through chakra. The fourth one had extreme durability and could change its weight depending on the chakra injected and the last one actually carried a special type of chakra poison which made the enemies’ body feel heavier every time they were cut by it.

All in all, they were all extremely great swords.

With these swords, we might have a chance against Rōen.

I was almost at the Advanced level of Fuinjutsu and all I needed to do was take a test, which I was pretty sure I would pass and I could be an Advanced Fuinjutsu user.

There was an invitation for us to go to the Land of Medicine with Grandpa to formally establish the alliance.

We were going to attack then.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“This is great! This sword is awesome, Kazuya!” Kuina jumped around like a kid on sugar high, swinging her blade and making craters everywhere.

She had taken the one which could increase its weight by injecting chakra.

Kanae took the chakra poison one.

Seraphim took the chakra nature one while Toji took the one which could cut through chakra as it reminded him of his Inverted Spear of Heaven and Saitō took the blade which could extend.

Rose didn’t want any for now as she was busy learning about chakra and Medical Ninjutsu.

I wasn’t left with any… sigh. I will choose from the ones next time.

At least they are happy.

“Don’t break this one, alright? Or I won’t know what to do.” I pleaded.

I really wouldn’t know what to do if she broke this one.

“I obviously won't break it. Just what do you think I am?” She rolled her eyes.

“Alright alright, my bad. How was training with Rose?” I asked. She had just returned from showing Rose around the training grounds.

“Rose-san is planning on putting everyone through a test and will select one hundred people from the five hundred for her team. She will then dedicate the next few years to training them.” She replied.

“Well, let her do what she wants.” I don’t know how her progress in Medical Ninjutsu was coming along but she was positively enthralled by the idea of everyone having the potential to learn Medical Ninjutsu, completely ignoring the fact that not everyone could achieve that level of chakra control. She said that she could take care of that herself.

I really had no idea what she meant by that.

Toji had left for his mission after resting for a day. He still needed to collect the last three ownerless Kusanagi Swords for the team and I was left learning Fuinjutsu.

“Alright, have fun. I am going to take the test for Fuinjutsu.” Today was the day I become an Advanced Fuinjutsu User.

I went to the Ritual room where Genshiro-sensei was waiting for me.

Uzumaki people traditionally had three Expert level Fuinjutsu users watch over a test of an Advanced User and only then were they given a certification.

It seems that the Uzukage had personally instructed them to give me the best possible treatment. Currently, my Grimoire was searching for information on the Uzukage, to know her future plans.

Two and a half months of time needed but with a deal this big, it wasn’t a problem.

My exam was presided over by Genshiro-sensei as the head examiner, Rina and Mina as his assistants.

I also found out later why the Uzukage had said all three of them could stay here.

Turns out that both Rina and Mina don’t have any other relatives and have been orphans since they were three.

Both of them were trained as ninjas and have served their village as Anbu. They don’t have many connections to the village and could easily start a new life here.

As for Genshiro-sensei, he had been a close aide of the Uzukage but he didn’t have anyone left in this world anymore. He was in a similar situation and could stay with us.

“That will be enough, Your Highness. You pass.” Genshiro-sensei said as I finished demonstrating my seal to them.

“Congratulations, you are now an Advanced Fuinjutsu user and probably the most prodigious student I have ever taught. To reach this height so quickly… sigh. It’s true that the new generation will surpass the older one. I am honoured to teach someone like you.”

“Please don’t embarrass us, sensei. It’s because you were such a good teacher. By the way, We wanted to ask you for a favour if you don’t mind. If need be, you can contact Uzukage-sama and take this as a mission.”

“We don’t need to do so. Uzukage-sama has ordered us to follow your instructions and assist you for any missions up to A Rank without taking permission from her.”

“She is too kind. We just wished for you to accompany us to the Land of Medicines. We have to go there to sign a treaty between our Lands but the ninja of the Howling Wolf Village have already attacked us once and we were lucky to survive. We just wish to take extra measures this time. We never know.”

“An escort mission will be no problem. We can accompany you.” He nodded.

“Thank you. We will leave in three weeks. If you need anything, you can inform us. Oh, by the way, you can inform Uzukage-sama that we have brought some time for her. The Tsuchikage has been injured by one of our subordinates and will probably not be participating in the war.”

I looked at their gobsmacked faces and walked away with a smile on my face.

- Shiroyasha Uzumaki -

Taking one last look at the letter, she kept it aside and took a deep breath.

“What is it? Is everything alright on their end?” Her husband asked.

“Yes. Genshiro has sent an update. Apparently, the little Prince is now an Advanced level Fuinjutsu user… the fastest one to have reached that level. He became one in just three months.”

“Three months? He became one in three months? I remember it took you…”

“Eleven months but I was fourteen. No excuses though. This boy has been learning about chakra for just a year and a half, not to mention his other talents. Sigh, he would have made a fine shinobi.” She sighed. “If I didn’t have his entire history in my hands, I would have doubted that he wasn’t descended from some Uzukami who had gone outside. This kind of talent is something I would have liked to nurture, even if we didn’t have such an urgent situation.”

“True. Now it seems that him saying that he didn’t want our knowledge was not just big talk.” Her husband said and she nodded.

“It does put more credibility to his words, yes. The boy was too confident the entire time. Even when I threatened him, he knew he had everything under control. Now I can see why. Did you know that the Tsuchikage has been severely injured and is out of commission? We just got some more time on our hands.”

“Injured? Onoki? How?”

“Attacked by Kazyua Katsuyoshi’s subordinate. If the news is indeed true, then I can see why he was so calm the entire time. Even if we could fight that Eight Gates technique of his, there were other cards in his hands back then.”

“Look at it this way. The better our ally, the better it is for us. Moreover, with Onoki out Iwa will be in chaos. If Konoha can pressure them a bit more, they will have less time to think about us, buying us more time. We need to hasten our preparations to move. How about the expedition sent to verify the map?”

“We have sent our fastest ship but even with that, it will take around a month, so around two weeks more for them to reach there. If they use summons to send the message, we can hope to get a verification sooner.”

“I see. I would have never imagined a distant continent to be a way for our salvation. Truly, a blind spot.”

“That’s because we didn’t even know it existed. How he knew about it is still unknown. That boy has too many secrets.” She replied.

“Who hasn’t? The fact that he was able to keep these secrets till now is the most commendable thing. Have you chosen a candidate to send to him as a concubine?”

“I was thinking of either Rina or Mina. Those sisters are too close to each other and their identities are almost unknown due to them being Anbu members since a young age. They have known him for a while now and can decide among themselves who among them wish to marry him, either one or both.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? Those sisters are very close to each other… very close.” She smirked slyly.

“My my. Luc… cough cough. That solves a problem on whom to choose then.” He quickly corrected his words on seeing her glare.

“Anyways, I will instruct Genshiro to start teaching him the next level of Fuinjutsu and we can send people to verify the news about Onoki.”

“Do it then.”

- Kazuya -

“Congratulations on passing your examinations, Kazuya-sama.” I smiled as Kasumi congratulated me.

“Thank you.” I pulled her into my arms and by now she was used to it as she easily settled into my arms and started feeding me.

Remembering something, I stopped her.

I guess pushing it back will only make it more difficult to disclose it later on.

“Is something the matter, Kazuya-sama?”

“Do you trust us, Kasumi?”

“Yes.”

She answered almost instantly, no hesitation in her voice.

“We are going to tell you something we recently discovered. Just keep calm and listen to us first. Do you understand?”

She nodded and I continued.

“When our marriage was decided, we investigated your background as normal procedure. You know this already, don’t you?” I asked.

She bowed her head and nodded, not meeting my eyes.

I raised her head up and made her face me. “Don’t look away. It’s not your fault. Anyways, recently, we have discovered something big… about your mother. What is your mother’s name?”

“My mother… Kureha Miyazaka.” She answered, confused.

I shook my head. “No. Your mother’s name is… Yuka Senju.” I went on to tell her about everything that had happened then.

She was shocked stiff from the information and I had to pause in between and reassure her in between.

“Your mother loved you more than anyone else in the world, Kasumi-chan. She went so far as to sacrifice her life so that you could have a good life. So, instead of feeling down, appreciate her sacrifice and become the best you can be. We are sure Yuka-sama would be happy in the Pure World to see you like this.”

I stayed with her for the rest of the day, cancelling my appointments for the day.

During this time I told her what little I could tell her about her mother.

I also informed her to never disclose this information to anyone or it might endanger us both.

People might come for her and the Stairs Daimyo might even try to execute her.

That guy was actually petty enough to do so too.

She did speak when she collected herself. “Do you…”

“Hmm?”

“I am the daughter of… I… am not the princess… I am not worthy of…” She started to speak but I put a finger on her lips and stopped her.

“That will be enough. We want to marry you because of who you are, not because of who your parents were. So never… ever bring this thought to your mind. That’s an order. You belong to us and we forbid you from ever having such inane thoughts ever again. Do you understand, Kasumi?”

“Y-y-yes.” She nodded with tears in her eyes.

I wiped her tears off gently and lifted her face, pulling her in for a light kiss.

Our lips touched and her eyes widened but she didn’t pull back and I slowly increased the force, taking her lips into mine.

She obviously had no experience so she accepted my advances, melting into my arms.

I didn’t push her further. This much was enough to reassure her.

That night, I didn’t go back to my room and stayed with her.

I even told her about the actual plan of the Stairs Daimyo and the Medicine Daimyo after our marriage and saw her face go pale.

By the end of the night, she was completely up to the latest news in the Land and on board with my plan.

The Stairs Daimyo and his family hadn’t treated her well and she had opened up to me that she actually felt that she was cursed, as the Daimyo called it, the one responsible for the death of her own father. It’s one of the reasons why she quietly accepted everything. Now, this new information had completely disillusioned her about that family.

“Isn’t that good? You will be taking my name soon enough so you don’t need to worry about them.”

“Yes.”

By the time this is done, the Stairs Daimyo will rue the day he put his eyes on my land.

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Ruling by the Book’.

Plans are progressing further.

Toji is always the wild card we can trust to do the unexpected.

We got a new healer and Kazuya is getting closer to both Kasumi and Kanae.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.