Ruling by the Book: Chapter 9: Horrors of War (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9: Horrors of War

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- Kazuya -

I left Kazumi’s bedroom in the morning, having accompanied her for the entire night only to find Mira outside.

“Lord Daimyo has requested your presence for the breakfast.” She reported.

“Very well. We shall be there in a moment.” I replied and walked towards my room.

On the way, I saw several of the Palace maids throwing looks at me and then blushing and looking away.

While this had been a regular thing since the Charm Ritual, it was even more today.

Just what was going on in the minds of these girls?

I reached my room and took a bath, got dressed up and came out to find Kuina standing outside, looking at me with a deadpan. I couldn’t help but ask. “What’s with that look? Are you Sera henge’d as Kuina?”

“What were you doing in Kasumi-chan’s room the whole night?” She asked.

“Eh? I… well, you know, I… told her about everything.”

“Huh?”

“I told her about everything we found out from our investigation about the Stairs Daimyo’s plan.”

“The whole night?” She asked and it was then that I realised what she was asking.

“She was crying and I just sat there consoling her, you know. Just what goes on in that mind of yours?” I protested.

“It’s not what goes on in my head, it’s what the maids in the palace are talking about. The Prince stayed the night at the Princesses’ room. Just open your ears for a moment and you will hear it yourself.” She replied, embarrassed.

“… so that’s why they were throwing those kinds of looks towards me. Dammit, what kind of overactive imagination do these people have?”

“They are making assumptions which any normal person would.”

….

She let out a sigh. “I know you two are engaged and all but you still aren’t married. People could spread rumours and that would be bad for both of you, especially for Kasumi-chan. She already has it hard. Just keep it in mind.”

I nodded.

We walked to Grandpa’s room while talking.

“The five hundred kids for the new batch of trainees have been gathered. The last batch arrived yesterday.” Kuina reported.

“Oh, when did they come?”

“Late last night.” She replied. “Kensho didn’t want to stop in any other country during war time and brought them over as fast as they could.

“I see. Have they been provided with food, clothing and residence?”

“Yes. All of them were moved to the new lodgings. They will be checked for any diseases and introduced to the teachers tomorrow. The seniors are guiding them.”

“Hmm.”

We had made arrangements for one of the senior students from the previous year to stay with five new students.

They will be able to guide them in their starting phases, helping them with smaller problems and facilitating their learning.

There are many people from other countries right now and don’t really have feelings for the Land of Flowers. It can also help foster some bond between the kids at an earlier stage and increase their loyalty towards their comrades and the country.

We reached the room and Kuina waited outside while I went ahead.

Grandpa was sitting as usual in the room with a large smile on his face.

“What is it? Did something good happen?” I asked, looking at his happy face.

“Obviously, something good has happened. I heard you spent the night with Kasumi-chan. When should I expect my grandson?”

“Aghh, not you too.”

“What? What’s bad about that?”

“Nothing happened alright? We were just talking about things. I found out about Kasumi’s mother and told her about everything. She was crying and I stayed with her consoling her.”

“And then you consoled her properly, didn’t you?” He asked, putting a lot of stress on the ‘properly’ word.

“No! Didn’t you listen? She was crying. And we aren’t exactly married yet. There will be rumours everywhere. Even now the maids have been throwing me embarrassed looks everywhere.” I complained.

“Sigh… sometimes I wonder if you have gained anything from me and your father? What kind of Daimyo is worried about such dumb things? You are my only descendant. People hope that you would do such things. No one would spread any rumours as long as you don’t go kidnapping and forcing yourself on the unwilling. The maids of the palace know that more than anyone else. Their lives depend on it. They were throwing looks at you to actually entice you, you dumb moron.”

….

“Wha…?” I found my mouth open at his words.

“When the maids are hired, some actually expect to gain the favour of royalty while some are hired to take care of the needs of royalty. Sometimes even lower noble families send their daughters to the palace so that they could gain the favour of a prince or the daimyo and their family can rise. The Daimyo allow this to ally themselves with other houses through marriage.”

“But we don’t have any…”

“No. No we don’t have any in your generation as I had them sent back after your father’s death. Mira in fact is from the house of a noble incharge of Ajisai town.” He explained calmly. “In fact, it’s not exactly bad to have such small bad rumours about yourself.” He added in the end, making me confused.

“Huh?”

“Sigh, with your progress, I sometimes forget that you are still a kid and need to learn the usual stuff in politics. You see, whatever you do, there will always be bad rumours about you in the world. This will remain true even if you were to become the King of the world. There will always be people who will spread bad rumours about you. The thing you must keep in mind is to not let those get out of hand. Tell me, do you think the common people of the land would care if they found that you have taken twenty lovers?”

“I… it wouldn’t look good.” I replied unsurely.

“True but they wouldn’t care. It doesn’t directly affect them. As long as you don’t go publicly kidnapping girls from public places like a tyrant, the general populace doesn’t care. What they would however care about is the new technology you provided them and the increase in their income. They will care about the security you can provide them and increase the prosperity of the nation. Sure, some might talk, laugh but they wouldn’t do anything truly harmful.”

“But…”

“Why even let that happen?” He asked, already anticipating my question and I nodded. “Why very simple? People are wary of perfect people. Success begets jealousy. It doesn’t matter if someone does honest business and gets rich, people will always think they are doing something bad in the background, always choosing to believe that others have flaws to ignore their own. If you appear flawless, they will look closer to find a flaw. You have secrets and don’t want people to look closer so why not give them some flaws to satisfy themselves? That way, you will be the one in control, showing them what you want. Understand this Kazuya, fear not what you can see but that which you cannot.”

“I… understand.” It did make sense, in a weird sort of way but still, it did.

“Good. Now what was that about Kasumi-chan’s mother?” He asked.

“Ah… that’s.” I explained the situation to him and his face became serious again.

“Tobirama Senju, that man… he was far more dangerous than his brother. In fact, I personally think he was more dangerous than even the Shura, Madara Uchiha. And it was not due to his strength but rather his brain. To think he would have done such a thing. Do you know where other Senju tribe people have been scattered? Do they have any in our Land or God forbid, our court?” he asked, looking tense.

“They were cut off from the village when they were sent out and now after Tobirama’s death almost no one knows where they are. I can always try to find out but it will take some time.” I replied.

“At least find any in our land. They might not be a part of Konoha anymore but they might still have loyalty for that village. It could be dangerous at a later time.”

“Yes Grandpa.” I hesitated a bit before speaking again. “I have designed a way to increase the vitality of people. Right now it’s not that much but I might be able to increase it further in the future. Do you want to test it?”

“Hmm? Another one of your experiments? Sure, as long as you think it’s all good.”

“Everything is completed. I assure you that the results will be great.” I hurriedly said with some excitement.

Increasing his vitality will ensure that he can live longer. Although I have been giving him medication to make sure of it, rituals are much better.

We talked about a few things and I left for my warehouse to work on my new project.

I needed mutated chakra beasts for many of my rituals and getting them was not easy. So… I decided to find a way to make them for myself.

After all, chakra beasts were animals mutated by chakra, gaining the ability to use chakra like ninken or some insects.

I needed to emulate the process and give them the ability and this could be done through medications and rituals.

Both the methods have their pros and cons.

Medications are more stable and require less cost but are slower. It could take something from a month to a whole year to complete the transformation.

Rituals on the other hand are almost instant but its effects on the minds of the beasts are not good.

Generally when the beast develops the ability to use chakra, its intelligence rises overtime until some can even communicate in human language.

In case of ritual induced mutations, the process is completed instantly and it overwhelms the beast’s minds.

While this doesn’t affect their utility for further rituals, it does make them unusable for other purposes such as using them as ninja beasts or for other works.

The ritual for vitality I had designed for others, needs the sacrifice of three animals to increase the vitality in a person. This can be done up to three times with three, five and seven beasts respectively. The stronger the vitality of an animal, the better the results.

I was planning on using the ritual as a reward for promotions. We had decided on keeping the levels of Samurai basic. Apprentice Samurai for Genin, Novice Samurai for Chunin, Veteran Samurai for Tokubetsu Jonin, Expert Samurai for Jonin and Grandmaster Samurai for Kage level.

For the promotions, everyone has to pass strict strength, leadership as well as loyalty tests. My plan was to reward the three animal rituals for Apprentice, five for Novice and seven for Expert level.

This would give a chance for more loyal and hardworking members to increase their strength even if they lacked more natural talent.

As for how to get so many animals… I had collected data with some animals and found a simple solution.

Using livestock animals as sacrifices. Using chakra beast versions of livestock animals was even better.

Even goats and pigs had enough vitality to complete the ritual and while the immediate increase might not be too great, their vitality could increase the overall potential of the person, making sure that each of them could be trained to a Chunin level chakra reserves easily, maybe even further.

One saving grace was that the offspring of the chakra beasts were also chakra beasts so I needed to start a breeding farm for these beasts somewhere.

For Grandpa and my subordinates though, I was preparing bears and tigers. I will change them to chakra beasts and then use them for sacrifice.

Currently, the dozen bears I had experimented on were ready so I was planning on using the ritual on Grandpa.

The best part was that the body of the animals weren’t destroyed in the ritual so they could be covered up as a livestock business and a butcher house.

Among my subordinates, Kuina and Toji didn’t even need the ritual with Kuina downright denying it.

Then again, with her One Piece physique, I doubted it would have any effects on her. Toji on the other hand wanted every advantage he could get so he told me that he would go through with the ritual. The ones who would gain the most would be Saitō, Kanae and Rose.

Sera is a vampire. Vitality is never a problem for her.

“Are you ready, Saitō?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s start this then.” I started the ritual.

The three bears roared at once as the ritual circle lit up, seals on their bodies stopping them from moving.

The light of the circle gathered in their bodies and slowly their movements slowed down until they fell down on the ground, lifeless, only three orbs of lights remaining above their bodies. The light orbs then floated through the circles and into Saitō’s body.

The man’s body convulsed but he didn’t make any noise.

I knew this was going to happen.

The ritual was apparently painful as I had found out when using it on the prisoners, the higher the vitality transferred, the more the pain and Saitō was using three Chakra Beasts. Obviously, it was painful.

I had even advised him to be sedated but he had denied it.

“The least I could do is bear the pain to achieve this strength.” was what he said. Sigh, the guy is too stubborn sometimes. But then again, that’s what makes him Saitō Hajime.

He collapsed to his knees and clenched his fists, blood seeping from his palms but still didn’t make any noise.

From my side, his face was gaining more colour, his slight wrinkles fading away. Overall, he looked a couple years younger.

The ritual was completed after just a minute and it left a heaving Saitō kneeled on the ground. My senses told me that his chakra had increased by almost twice, now at a Jōnin level. The changes take some time to settle and he will soon have an Elite Jōnin level chakra.

“It’s done. Do you need some time to rest?” I asked and he nodded. “Alright. Let me help you.” I helped him up and helped him to his room.

Leaving Saitō to sleep, I went to visit Kanae.

She was talking to Rose.

“How are your experiments going?” I asked, taking a seat beside her.

“Ah, I was just discussing the technique with Rose-sama and how we might reduce the side effects of the technique to a manageable level.”

Kanae was trying to find out ways to integrate chakra in her Breathing techniques to upgrade them.

In doing so, she came across a method which had a similar effect as the Eight Gates which can increase the overall power of the individual by a large margin in return of exhaustion later on.

With Rose’s inclusion, we could train the Eight Inner Gates technique much better since she just healed any exhaustion and damage so we could get a better feel of the technique and progress faster. Even though I had reached the fifth gate without much trouble, I still needed experience with it.

Still, since we were already teaching the Breathing Techniques, this method would be more suitable for them than the Eight Inner Gates with a common base.

It would also help us devise a method from something already existing in the Elemental Nations, something unique.

I had given her full support for this and now with Rose there to heal her up, she could push forward to more intense training.

“I will provide you with the fundings. Just do your best.” I assured them.

Both of them nodded, Kanae especially was enthusiastic about this.

“Grandpa has agreed to undergo the ritual and I just wanted Rose-san to remain with us to check up on him. He is of an advanced age and I don’t want to risk anything.”

Rose agreed and we discussed some things before she left, leaving Kanae and me alone in the room.

I checked for any people nearby and found no one and looked at Kanae with a smile before pulling her closer to me and picking her up in my arms.

“Kazuya-san!”

“Yes.” I replied, while walking to her bed and sitting there with her on my lap and kissing her neck.

“Mmh.” She bit back her moan. “S-someone might come.”

I made a hand sign and a shadow clone appeared, making Kanae yelp in surprise. He rolled an eye towards us and went ahead and locked the door.

“There. Now no one will come without asking.” I replied before burying my face in her neck again, gliding my lips on her skin, enjoying the smell of her hair.

I stopped for a moment, looked into her eyes and said. “If you don’t like this or anything, you are always free to tell me Kanae. I will never force you. I really like you and I wish to make this a serious relationship in the future so if you have any second thoughts, please never be afraid to tell me.”

“I… too.” She whispered out. “But Kasumi-chan… you were staying with her…”

“Is there no one who doesn’t know about that?” I deadpanned. A part of me thought Grandpa was pulling this to make the girls know that I was free to attack. Knowing him, he could certainly do so. I still explained. “Last night I told her about the Stairs’ Daimyo’s plans for us. She was sad and I was there accompanying her. As for this… she knows and is fine with it too. She likes and respects you all enough and actually wants to be family with you too. Her words, not mine.”

This wasn’t even a joke.

“Wha…”

“She’s quite a girl, isn’t she?” I asked, smirking.

“Hmph, you are not allowed to bully her.” She pouted.

“Ah, then whom should I bully? How about I bully you instead of her? Would you sacrifice yourself for your friend?”

Her face turned crimson at the words and she looked down. I held her chin and lifted her face to look at me and leaned forward.

She closed her eyes and leaned in too and I captured her lips.

Her lips were delicious.

Kanae’s clothes hid it but her figure didn’t fall behind Sera’s in the least. She was fit though. Her body was soft and yet there was strength in these arms of hers.

Chakra had really done wonders for her.

She wasn’t that old either, just eighteen years, the same age as Kasumi so she was still growing. She will only grow prettier in the future.

I am pretty sure that the rumours about her being my lover were the only things stopping people from showering her with gifts and love letters.

But she was mine and I am very possessive like this.

I pulled her into a deeper kiss, my tongue probing her lips before she opened them slightly, giving me the chance to enter her mouth and dance around with her tongue.

We separated after a minute as she breathed heavily.

“How was that?” I asked.

“It’s… amazing.”

“Good. Because we will be doing this everyday from now on.”

Her blush just made me pull her and repeat it once more.

__________________________________x___________________________________

I looked at Grandpa who opened his eyes and looked around.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

Although Rose had already checked him and there was nothing wrong, I still wanted to make sure myself.

He looked at hands which now lacked their previous wrinkles. If he could look into a mirror, he would have seen that it wasn’t just his hands but rather his entire body. He looked almost a decade younger.

“I feel… amazing. No pain in my joints, no problems in breathing, in fact, I feel full of energy right now. I don’t remember when I had felt this good before. Just what did you do to me, Kazu-kun?” He asked incredulously.

Unlike Saitō, Grandpa had no problem being unconscious, not that I gave him any choices. He was able to go through the entire process in his sleep and thus didn’t know any details.

“I used my newly developed method on you. Don’t worry, it’s completely safe.” I reassured him.

“I am not worried about my safety, Kazu-kun but yours. If news of this gets out, many people will be after you to get your secrets.”

“I have prepared for everything, Grandpa. As I told you before, just give me five years and not even the Five Great Nations will be able to do anything to us.”

“Good. Very good.”

We talked about a few more things and I left him to rest.

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Two weeks later, Toji returned with the last three blades, one of them being a surprise I wasn’t expecting.

The First one could disturb the senses of anyone it cut, basically casting a Genjutsu on them.

The second could store chakra and release a wave of sharp chakra. If the user could inject elemental chakra then those waves could have elemental properties too.

And finally, the last one… the Kusanagi… no, a blade so odd that it wasn’t even considered a Kusanagi sword anymore but something else entirely.

The blade used by Itachi’s Susanno, the infamous and the strongest among the Kusanagi swords, Totsuka no Tsurugi.

It looked like a jar of sake. The liquid inside was shaped like a sword when it was unsheathed. This blade could seal anyone it cut inside the jar, even kage level beings like Orochimaru, as long as the user had enough chakra.

With this and the fifth gate, I could totally fight a Kage level and even have a decent chance to win.

I couldn’t help but smile the entire day when I saw this.

Obviously I kept this sword despite Toji pouting but I know that the guy actually liked his one better.

We kept the last two for any new members we might get.

My sword was stored inside the Grimoire, the safest place available to me.

Today, almost a week later, we were all ready to leave for the Medicine Country.

My first big step in this world.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked as I looked at the group gathered around me.

Kuina, Saitō, Kanae, Sera, Toji, Rose and the three Uzumaki.

With us together, we had the confidence to even take down a kage.

“Yes!”

“Then let’s go.”

__________________________________x___________________________________

The first three days of our journey were relatively safe.

I was in a horse drawn carriage with Kazumi while others followed us from outside.

Grandpa had left the whole meeting on my head and I was to take Kasumi-chan with me as she was invited the last time Medicine Daimyo’s son had come to visit.

It was on the fourth day that we saw a horrible scene ahead.

People were relatively safer in the inner areas but these areas… they were worse than I had expected.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough soldiers to send everywhere.

People who couldn’t get food resorted to banditry and thus the increase in the number of bandits around this time.

We saw smoke coming from a distance, far more than was normal.

Toji was the first one to notice the abnormality and informed everyone.

I ordered half of them to go ahead and take a look. It’s just that… we were already too late. The village was in its final embers.

The sight was horrifying.

Burned bodies lay everywhere and the smell of charred corpses filled the air.

I walked inside the village, trying to sense any life inside but failed.

Suddenly, I sensed some movement beside me and jumped away and watched as a wall of a house collapsed beside me.

In the inside was a crib, burned and collapsed as the burned figure inside it rolled down and fell in front of me. It was a head… just the head of an infant.

I felt the bile trying to rush out of my stomach and sat down on the ground, the hollow charred head staring at me.

Why?

These people never did anyone anything?

All they did was work honestly to earn their living.

Then why…

Does their pain and suffering mean nothing?

Do their lives not matter?

I sensed some people approaching me. I didn’t move. I recognised the chakra already.

They witnessed the same thing I did and stopped before I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Kazuya-sama.” Kasumi’s voice was also quivering.

I didn’t say anything and just kept staring at that baby’s head.

Until now, I had just heard of these, only seen the sight of poverty among my people and that was enough to fill me with rage and determination to do something for them.

But this…

It felt as if something had broken inside of me.

The rest of the group had also returned, finishing their search around the village.

“We found the tracks, boss. From the traces, it looks like it’s Iwagakure. They haven’t been gone for long. We could still catch them.” Toji said.

I looked up at him and then turned towards the girls. “Kanae, Rose, Rina-san, could you three stay here with Kasumi and the rest and make sure the people here got a proper burial?”

“Yes.” They nodded without any question.

Turning towards the rest, I commanded. “Let’s go.”

- Kuina -

They rushed through the woods, following the tracks of the enemies, Toji being the one guiding the way.

She took a quick look at Kazuya and saw the same unfamiliar look on his face.

Kuina had seen him angry before this, when he found out about the plan of the Stairs Daimyo, when he talked about Iwa, he was angry. He never hid it in front of them but he always kept it in tight control.

This time however, she couldn’t see anything.

It was like seeing a blank person… and that worried her.

“I sense some people three kilometres in the north-west direction. A dozen ninjas. Two Jōnin and the rest Chunin.” Genshiro-sama said.

“Yes. It’s probably them. The tracks go in that direction too.” Toji confirmed.

A while later Genshiro-sama informed everyone. “They have sensed us, they are running. Hurry up.”

All of them increased their speeds following them.

“They are divided into two groups.” Genshiro-sama informed them again.

“Sensei, you, Mina and Saitō take the left one. The rest of us will handle the right.” Kazuya spoke and their groups separated in two directions too. She followed Kazuya.

They neared the targets.

“Get ready. They have stopped and are preparing to fight. Open the Third Gate, take them down at once.” Kazuya ordered.

The three of them Toji, Kazuya and her were the ones with the highest progress with the Inner Gates among their group.

Each of them could go to the fifth gate now. Opening the third gate was quite easy for them by now.

Instantly, their chakra rose and Kuina found the world slowing down around her as they rushed forward.

All of them unsheathed their blades and the next moment the figures of six ninjas appeared, weapons drawn.

They had the headbands of Iwagakure and wore their red uniforms.

“Kill!” Kazuya’s shout was almost a growl as he slashed forward with one of the Kusanagi blades, sending a huge chakra wave forward.

Unfortunately for the enemies, none of them were expecting this kind of attack and the amount of chakra shocked them and made them slightly late to escape, taking down half of them in one attack, all of them sliced right at their waists.

Kuina didn’t slow down either and slashed with her own sword, her chakra increasing the weight of the blade by dozens of times.

Her opponent tried to defend using a kunai but was taken aback by the unexpected weight of the attack, not being able to defend as the attack cut him in half right down the middle.

The blood spurted, covering Kuina’s face.

In her rush of adrenaline, she stepped on the ground again and looked around for the next enemy but by then Toji had already taken care of the last two.

They released the gates and their chakra calmed down. The exhaustion which came afterwards was negligible.

By now all of them had gotten used to fighting in the third gate stage so this much was nothing to them.

Kazuya didn’t speak. He just went and summoned his Magic Book, Grimoire or whatever it was called and stored the bodies inside his Grimoire before opening the book and reading.

In the meanwhile, Toji picked up the headbands of one of the shinobi. “These rock suckers really have some nerve. Their kage is on bed rest, their bases are being destroyed and here they are making more enemies.”

“They were not rock shinobi.” Kazuya spoke, still reading his magic book.

“Hah?”

“They are Konoha shinobi. They came here to destroy the outer villages to provoke a conflict between the rock shinobi and us so that we interrupt their supply of food, maybe even drag Kumo into the mess against Iwa. It would be a fatal blow since their Tsuchikage is already out of commission and make the rock give up faster, giving them more advantage in any after war negotiations.”

“Ah, sabotage. The ways of the so-called most peace loving village are really something. So what do you want to do boss?” Toji asked.

“Take the bodies.” Kazuya answered extremely angry.

“Okay.”

They repacked the bodies in scrolls and went back to the village where everyone was working on creating graves.

Rina-san had used Earth Jutsu to make graves for everyone and the rest were helping clean everything.

Kazuya and Toji created several clones and helped out too.

While they were doing this, the other team arrived too.

“They are taken care of, Your Highness. It was a team from Iwa. We found scrolls on them containing money and grains robbed from the village. They had come to rob for supplies.” Saitō reported.

“Well, apparently… they were not Iwa but Konoha pretending to be Iwa. Boss verified it himself.” Toji shrugged.

Saitō as well as the Uzumaki were taken aback.

“Did you get the bodies?” Kazuya asked.

“Yes.” Genshiro-san put forward a ninja scroll and unsealed the bodies.

Kazuya looked at them and commanded.

“Put them up on stakes around the village for everyone to see.”

Everyone was shocked by the statement and looked at Kazuya in shock. “Your Highness, will that be wise?” Saitō asked. “Wouldn’t that be directly challenging Konoha and Iwa?”

“No. Change their clothes before hanging them. Konoha and Iwa wouldn’t be able to do anything. Iwa will know they are not their ninjas so they won’t take any steps. Moreover, for anyone to take a step, they will have to accept that they were behind the pillage and massacre of the village. Ninjas doing that to countries especially without any provocation will ruin their reputation and turn their customers away. They will not be stupid enough to take the blame.”

His tone was completely cold, without any hint of his usual frivolous manner. “If we don’t set an example like this, attacks will continue. But if they know that their forces can actually die in these missions, they would think twice about doing such stupid things to not lose their precious forces during the war. So… get to work.”

They did just as instructed and within an hour, the bodies of the twelve ninjas were hung in front of the village gate with a warning for any who think of doing such a thing.

Kuina didn’t know why but she had a feeling that this day had changed something which will completely shape the future of this world.

- Kazuya -

We reached the Land of Medicine a bit later than expected due to the incident at the village. We sent some people back to the Capital to send a message to Grandpa to check on the nearby villages and provide support for them.

Still, everything took us two days more than expected.

I would have liked nothing more than to wait and investigate the area around us but this meeting couldn’t be pushed back anymore.

“Welcome Prince Katsuyoshi, Princess Fujimoto to the Land of Medicine. I hope your journey was pleasant.” I was greeted by the retainer of the Medicine Daimyo and we were led in.

“Yes. There were some troubles along the way. We will talk to Lord Yoshiki later.” I answered, making the guy shocked.

Although he didn’t ask anything. Probably having gotten the message that it was beyond his station.

Kasumi was guided the other way to visit her aunt while I had to go and meet the Medicine Daimyo. I left Kanae and Sera to guard her.

I saw the Medicine Daimyo for the first time. It was an obese guy with ostentatious clothes and a similar look on his face.

I didn’t need any kind of special senses to tell that he didn’t like me. That much was obvious at a close glance.

“The Land of Flowers is perhaps not taking this alliance seriously it seems. I can agree with your Grandfather not coming personally due to health issues but even you have arrived late. If this kind of attitude you have now then what will you do when it’s time to assist us?” The man asked, not holding back the bite in his words.

Ah, still salty about the Kodon issue.

Well, no problem. I was planning to address it too. I just didn’t expect this bastard to attack first.

“Our presence here is the biggest show of our seriousness Lord Yoshiki because after what we have encountered on our way, we were extremely tempted to turn around and head back to our capital and suspend this alliance entirely.”

“What! What are you talking about?” He asked, furious at my words.

I didn’t back down either.

“We are talking about your half hearted handling of the Kodon Clan, Lord Yoshiki. On our way here, five villages of the Land of Flowers were burned down. We encountered a group in the process of fleeing and our hired guards were able to bring them down and guess who we found there. The Kodon Clan.”

“That’s impossible.” He refuted.

“Oh, are you saying that we are lying? In that case, we also have proof of the whole thing. Saitō.” I commanded.

“Yes, Your Highness.” He bowed and brought forth a scroll and unsealed it in front of everyone. Inside were clothes and equipment of the Kodon ninja we had killed back then, including the Jōnin. I had kept it all to use to give a second push if the Medicine Daimyo didn’t take any action against them but he did, thus saving me these resources and what better time to use them than now. I needed proof to make the Daimyo move.

As expected, the guy was completely taken aback while I continued.

“These are the equipment and items we have obtained from that group. The reason we are late is because we were busy doing damage control and reporting to the Land of Lightning, asking them for help. As you know, we are allies.”

That poured cold water on the heads of the listeners.

“We would like to request Lord Yoshiki to help us in the investigation.”

“O-of course. We are not someone who promotes manslaughter of any kind. For this reason alone, we let those traitorous shinobi leave here as we didn’t wish to punish everyone for the crimes of one person but it seems our forgiveness was taken for weakness by them.” The guy so eloquently changed his tone instantly. “You have our full support in investigating.”

“In that case, I thank you, Lord Yoshiki and would like to ask you to permit us to go to the previous residence of the Kodon Clan right after this meeting to see if we can discover any clues there. We would also like to talk to some other residents of the Howling Wolf Village.”

“Very well. You may.” He agreed quickly.

“Thank you very much. Pardon me for making everyone hurry. You must understand how enraged we are by such a travesty of justice in our land.”

“Of course, of course.”

We continued on to the meeting next.

The topic was the rates of goods we were selling and the quantities.

“We have heard that the Land of Flowers has devised a new method of farming and is producing more crops than before. Then why is there no reduction in the prices?” The Medicine Daimyo asked, annoyed by the price I was putting up.

It was what Grandpa had previously discussed, a rate lower than what other nations bought our products for but this guy was expecting us to reduce our prices even more.

“Sure our income has increased a bit but so has our expenditures. We had to pay a larger tribute to the Land of Lightning due to the ongoing war.” A complete lie. “And Iwa hasn’t been paying normal rates either. While we would like to reduce the rates of products even more for our allies, we are forced to keep it as it is. The new method might yield more products but it also takes a lot more labour and investment. We cannot force our people to starve even after putting so much work in their fields.”

“Hmph, if you spoil those peasants so much, they will rebel against you someday. Give them an inch and they will take a mile.” The guy replied with a snort.

“We will leave such decisions to our Lord Grandfather.” I simply diverted the topic.

“The Land of Medicine needs more supplies this year. The war in the Land of Rain has been spilling over into our land as well and the damages are far worse than before. We demand an increase in the amount of supplies on the initial amount. After all, if the Land of Flowers cannot help us with what they are known for, then it would seem that we are on the losing end in this alliance.”

“Obviously the Land of Flowers will help.” I replied readily, making him surprised but then saw a hint of smile on his face. “In fact, we understand the monetary issues of the Land of Medicine during this war so we won’t demand money either.” His smile widened and I decided to stop it here. “But instead Lord Yoshiki can repay us for the extra supplies with Medicinal Herbs from the Land of Medicine.” I proposed and as expected the smile on his face dimmed.

The whole evening was filled with bargaining. We were arguing with even a single ryo of price because it would ultimately add up to an insane amount in the final calculations.

We did have to leave some concessions though but overall, we were in the profit.

The medicinal herbs I was importing were important for the medicines used to create chakra beasts.

It would go on to become the foundation of the Land of Flowers in the future so overall, I see the meeting as a win.

I walked out of the meeting hall, feeling satisfied with the meeting and headed towards our room, planning to visit Kasumi on the way.

Outside the room however I saw something which annoyed me to no end.

That bastard son of the Medicine Daimyo was bothering Sera.

“We have heard that you are just a guard under Prince Kazuya but we are offering you to become our concubine and become a part of the royal family. You will never get this opportunity again. Think about it carefully.”

…

I see what Sera and Kanae were saying about him last time.

“Not interested.” Sera replied, still holding back her anger, something I have to give her credit about.

Normally she would have told him to piss off to his face, despite it causing an international incident.

I was already angry and tired and honestly had no interest in this clown pestering us anymore so I forward and spoke. “We are afraid that we cannot allow that to happen, Prince Yoshiki.”

Both of them turned towards me and before that idiot could speak anything, I took Sera’s hand and pulled her to my side. “She belongs to us. You cannot have her.”

The man was taken aback by my statement and I saw a hint of rage pass by his eyes but he controlled it quickly and smiled back.

“We apologise. We had asked about her and were informed that she was just a commoner working as your bodyguard. We weren’t told that she was your lover.”

“We don’t like to advertise our relations to the public. Now, if you will excuse us, we are in a hurry right now. We apologise for not being able to accompany you for a cup of tea. We hope we will be able to catch up with each other at a later time.”

His smile fell for a moment again but he nodded. “In that case, please don’t let us keep you back.”

“Thank you, Prince Yoshiki.” I nodded and walked into the room with Sera and shut the door behind us.

Inside the room, I turned towards Sera who had been exceptionally quiet in this whole ordeal, much to my surprise.

“I am sorry if I did something unnecessary but you looked like you were getting annoyed there.” I apologised. She just stared at me for a while and then replied.

“I was thinking on where to attack him first, his eyes or his privates.” She replied, making my eyes twitch.

Yeah, totally guessed it.

Not that I blamed her but there was only so much we could push them, especially when we were in their territory.

“Thank you for holding back, Sera. I know it must have been quite difficult seeing how much of an ass that man was. Good news is that we don’t have to stay here for much longer. We are leaving in an hour for the Howling Wolf Village.”

“Kazuya-sama, we are leaving already?” Kasumi asked, surprised at the news. “Did something happen?” Behind her, Kanae also looked worried.

“No, not really. I just have some work nearby. I will be back in a day or two.” I had started speaking to her in an informal tone similar to others since I had opened up more to her.

“I see.”

I went ahead and gave her a slight hug. “Wait for me, alright.”

“Yes.” She nodded and I kissed her forehead lightly before backing away and looked at Kanae. “We need to prepare to leave. I will be leaving Kuina here to guard Kasumi.”

Kuina wasn’t that good with Fuinjutsu and we needed someone to accompany Kasumi.

She wasn’t thrilled but she agreed nonetheless.

In an hour, our entire team gathered and left for the Howling Wolf Village.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“This is the Howling Wolf Village, Your Highness, Prince Katsuyoshi.” The person sent by the Medicine Daimyo brought us to the village.

It was two days away from the capital city of the Land of Medicine. It would have been a shorter distance had we travelled by ourselves but I had to take a horse drawn carriage so it was delayed.

The man went on to introduce us to the current head of the village, although calling it a Hidden Village would be a bit of a stretch as there were only a couple hundred people here, including the non combatants.

They didn’t even have a Kage. In fact, many small villages didn’t have Kage so it wasn’t a surprise really.

I had researched this much about them already.

“He is Koga Kumanoi, the current head of the Kumanoi Clan, the largest clan of this village. He will be able to assist you in anything you need.”

I looked at the man who bowed lightly. My chakra senses could tell that he was a Jōnin, at least in terms of Chakra reserves, stronger than the woman from the Kodon Clan. In fact, I had sensed around six other Jonins in the village and several dozen other lower ranked ninjas.

“We have heard that the Kodon Clan was exiled from this village. Unfortunately, they haven’t learned their lessons and We have found traces of them in attacks on the villages in the Land of Flowers. We wish to know their current whereabouts. Do you perhaps know where they have relocated to?” I asked.

“I apologise but none of us know their current whereabouts, Your Highness.”

I nodded. “Then would you please guide us to the residence of the Kodon Clan? Anything belonging to them?”

“Most of their properties have been taken over by other clans and their belongings either taken away by them or sold. Perhaps the only thing untouched is the shrine outside the village.”

That’s the shrine where Rōen was sealed.

“Then take us to the Shrine. We will investigate there.”

“Are you sure you want to do that right now, Your Highness? It’s already late.”

“We are already inconveniencing the Medicine Daimyo and the Howling Wolf Village with our request. We cannot impose further on you all.”

“That’s not a problem, Your Highness.” The man denied but I continued.

“Moreover, this matter is one which directly relates to the safety of our people. We cannot delay this matter any longer because of our pleasure. We have remembered your hospitality so you do not need to worry yourselves with us anymore.”

They agreed and I took my entourage to the shrine.

The outer building was basic, just a large hall with the inner building containing a large slab of stone, the place Rōen was sealed in.

We decided to stay at the shrine.

The people brought food for us. Fortunately, none of them contained poison either.

It was nighttime when we were finally alone that I addressed the Uzumaki Trio.

“We expect you have questions for us?” I asked.

Genshiro-sensei hesitated but shook his head. “Shinobi don’t question. They just follow orders, Your Highness.”

“Sigh… We thought we were closer than that, sensei?”I sighed. “Please understand that this mission is of great importance to us and the Land of Flowers. Just set barriers which can completely isolate detection from outside and make them strong please.”

“How strong are we talking about, Your Highness?” Rina asked.

I looked at the girl with dead seriousness. “Tailed beast level strong.”

As expected, their faces were drained of all colours instantly.

“Your Highness!”

“You don’t have to worry about anything. Just maintain the barrier outside. Leave the rest to us.” With that said, I walked towards the inside of the shrine where my subordinates had gathered.

Rose was waiting nearby to assist in case we needed help.

It was time to tame the wolf.

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Author’s Note:

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

Some things happened in this chapter. Kazuya got the first hand experience of damage wars can cause.

Finally, we are to the point where they are capturing Rōen.

Things are picking up pace now.

Butterflies will flap their wings and plots will change in the future chapters.

In the next ten chapters, the plot will be completely derailed.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.