The founding of Konoha and the appearance of the title "First Hokage" had undoubtedly brought unimaginable change to the ninja world.
The fastest to act was the Land of Lightning, northeast of the Land of Fire.
Near the Valley of Clouds and Lightning in the Land of Lightning, a Lightning Style ninja named A received the full support of the Land of Lightning's daimyo. He gathered more than half of the ninja clans within the country and began constructing a ninja village there called Kumogakure.
After that, the Land of Earth, the Land of Water, and the Land of Wind each showed the rest of the ninja world what the mobility of a great nation looked like.
The names Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure were confirmed one after another, and the villages entered construction at an astonishing speed.
The ninja clans within those countries, which had originally still been fighting each other, unconsciously began drawing closer together. Under the immense pressure of the Land of Fire and Konohagakure, they were forced into cooperation and alliance.
Although it was forced, as long as they successfully gathered together, they would have the chance and the time to take the next step, to adjust, to integrate, and eventually become true parts of their ninja villages.
Faced with the actions of the great nations, the small countries were completely lost.
They neither possessed the enormous foundations of the great nations, nor did they have powerful ninja within their borders who could decide everything with one strike. The ninja clans refused to submit to one another and instead began fighting among themselves first.
Some ninja clans looked at the system of the Land of Night and felt that ninja becoming daimyo was not impossible either.
Becoming the leader of a ninja village was good, but becoming the ruler of a country offered even broader possibilities.
Subconsciously, the thought appeared in their hearts: if he can become a shogun, then I can become one too.
And so, the daimyo of a small country near the Land of Lightning was killed. The head of a ninja clan rose to power and called himself shogun.
As a result, because his rule was too brutal, his politics were a complete mess, and his orders changed from morning to night, the entire country eventually erupted into rebellion. The ninja clan head who had called himself shogun was killed, and the whole country became ownerless land.
Bandits, nobles, ninja clans, samurai, and all kinds of shady characters gathered there. Even greater chaos caused the country's economic and political order to collapse completely.
In the end, even the daimyo of the Land of Lightning could not bear to watch anymore. Feeling that the people living in that small country were suffering too much, he tearfully annexed it.
Just as Yayoi had expected, the great nations sat back and watched, calmly sorting out a new order.
The small countries, meanwhile, became a parade of chaos. All kinds of mind-bending absurdities emerged, the sort that made people scratch their heads and wonder how anyone could even come up with them. It was truly a spectacle of human brilliance in all the wrong directions.
As one of the countries that could sit calmly with the great nations and watch the show, the Land of Night continued to develop and move forward with exceptional stability amid the storm of the era.
Although some wandering ninja and samurai forcibly broke through the Land of Night's borders, before they could create chaos, Yayoi immediately dispatched ninja and samurai units to suppress them.
The one who acted was Kakuzu. During this operation, he also obtained the heart of a Water Style ninja as a trophy and fused it into his forbidden jutsu, Earth Grudge Fear.
There had also been a previous group of wandering ninja from outside, but they had been honest. They had truly come as refugees.
Through Kurobee's mediation, this group of more than one hundred ninja successfully joined the Land of Night.
Although there were no kekkei genkai ninja among them, some were survivors of clans with secret jutsus, which gave Yayoi quite a few pleasant surprises.
Within the military system of the Land of Night, the number of ninja had now exceeded one thousand.
In addition, the education department would soon begin operating. A group of talented children from the Land of Night would soon become new blood, injected into the national system.
Within the next ten years, Yayoi felt that the official ninja population of the Land of Night could expand to at least more than four thousand.
Of course, the incorporation of samurai was also proceeding at the same time.
Although the average strength of samurai was inferior to that of ninja, they were still a powerful force and could be called one of the foundations of the Land of Night's national defense. Yayoi valued them as well.
Only, for the moment, training ninja had higher priority. After all, in the current era, ninja were the mainstream. Existences such as samurai, monks, and shrine maidens would inevitably begin walking downhill.
Heavy snow covered the grand and majestic city of Yomi Castle. Large numbers of geothermal devices had been installed underground, releasing streams of scalding steam throughout the city and bringing springlike warmth to this bitterly cold winter.
On the neatly planned roads, some figures appeared that had not been seen before.
They were armed personnel wearing standardized white combat uniforms and carrying swords.
On their fitted combat uniforms, the pattern of the red spider lily was uniformly engraved.
Following planned routes, they patrolled every street and corner of Yomi Castle in shifts, maintaining 24-hour patrols without interruption.
These people shared one common name: members of the Police Force.
The Police Force was a newly established public security department in the Land of Night.
On the eastern avenue of the Shogun's Residence stood the headquarters building of this new department. It had six floors, a large plaza of its own, and a broad area of land assigned to it. A logistics base and training base closed to the public had been built there.
Although the members of this department were selected from ninja and samurai within the military, unless necessary, they would no longer shoulder national defense duties. Instead, they would be responsible for domestic security, civil disputes, and similar fields.
Because manpower was insufficient, Yayoi decided to first conduct a one-year trial in the capital, Yomi Castle.
If the results were good, then once there was enough manpower in the future, it would be promoted throughout the entire country.
It was not only the newly established Police Force. Yayoi was also reorganizing and restructuring some original departments, making more detailed adjustments and strengthening operational efficiency.
In order to avoid conflicts of responsibility between certain departments, Yayoi also needed to gradually draw clear boundaries in areas where their functions overlapped. Otherwise, over time, conflicts between two departments could easily be triggered.
By the time he properly arranged this recent series of matters, it was already early March.
Since one month ago, Yayoi had gradually set aside his busy official duties and begun training in the private training ground of the inner court.
This training ground in the inner court was a large field nearly five hundred meters long and wide, located behind the main residence.
Many pieces of equipment used for simulated training were placed there. In order to better allow people to conduct practical combat training, the materials used for the field were also specially made.
Trees had even been planted, giant obstacle boulders had been placed, and water storage ponds had been dug out, making the training ground's environment more complex.
It could be said that within the inner court, this training ground occupied one-third of the area. That alone showed how much thought Yayoi had put into it.
In the past, after handling official business, he would come here to train himself and improve his strength.
It was only because the latter half of the previous year had been especially busy that, starting from then, the time he had for training each month had suddenly decreased.
At this moment, Yayoi stood on the sandy ground at the center of the training field and took a deep breath. An aura like that of a fierce beast spread out in every direction with him at the center.
Visible streams of blue air swirled and erupted around him like a vortex. This was materialized chakra produced after release.
His black hair also floated upward unnaturally within the chakra currents.
The materialized chakra condensed in a heavy and solid manner, forming a flowing substance like water that clung tightly to Yayoi's tough body.
"Hmph!"
Yayoi gave a heavy muffled grunt as a tremendous force suddenly pressed down on his body.
This pressure did not only weigh on his body. His inner bones, flesh, and blood also felt a stabbing pain and pressure.
After several seconds of adjustment, the violent and chaotic aura around him slowly became calm.
The released materialized chakra began to condense into a layer of chakra armor. Like flowing azure flames, it flickered around Yayoi like misty tongues of fire.
Yayoi did not hesitate. The instant he equipped this layer of solid chakra armor, his body shot forward like a released hare.
His figure blurred in place, leaving behind a blue afterimage. A blue flash tore through the air and rushed dozens of meters away in the blink of an eye. He punched straight out.
Boom!
A hard boulder several meters tall exploded instantly, scattering into countless fragments smaller than fists that shot in every direction.
Where the explosion occurred, a shocking crater appeared.
It was the wound left on the earth at the instant the boulder shattered and the impact erupted, when the ground could no longer withstand the force.
Then Yayoi arrived beside another giant boulder. He wrapped both arms around it and easily lifted the massive stone weighing more than ten tons.
The scene looked like a child swinging a greatsword as large as an adult.
Thud!
A dull sound rang through the air. The boulder, even larger than Yayoi himself, was launched straight into the sky.
After reaching a certain height, the boulder's upward speed grew slower and slower, as if it had touched the peak of its ascent. Then it suddenly fell, its speed increasing more and more, even forming a thin layer of airflow around it as it broke through the atmosphere.
Yayoi stood directly beneath it, looking up. Facing the giant stone that suddenly came crashing down, he did not dodge. He merely silently calculated the time and distance in his mind.
Suddenly, he bent his knees slightly. The ground cracked, spiderweb fractures spreading across it. Using the earth as a springboard, he exerted force through his feet and launched his body into the air like a cannonball.
Boom!
The falling boulder, like the previous one, exploded into countless small fragments that scattered in every direction, raising a cloud of smoke and dust in the air.
That was not ninjutsu. Yayoi had simply relied on his physical body to shatter the falling boulder, which carried terrifying weight and force, and made it explode.
Yayoi landed steadily on the ground, descending from the sky like a soft feather. He did not generate the slightest impact, nor did he crush the ground beneath his feet.
One minute later, the core area of the training ground, several hundred meters long and wide, no longer had a single intact spot.
It looked as if it had been ravaged by some giant beast. The entire place was full of pits and holes. Tall trees had been uprooted by the shockwaves of explosions, and none of the enormous stones left on the field remained intact. They had all been severely damaged.
Some areas of the ground had even tilted, with cracks spreading dozens of meters away.
It looked as if someone had used a powerful, high-level Earth Style ninjutsu to forcibly destroy the integrity of the land, cutting the earth into uneven fragments of different sizes.
However, this destruction had not been caused by ninjutsu.
It had been caused by taijutsu.
And this was already the result of Yayoi restraining his power.
Standing on a half-meter-high block of earth that had been forcibly raised from the ground and remained relatively intact, Yayoi was wrapped in blue flame-like chakra that flickered like mist.
Although it looked like flames burning around his body, it was not Fire Style, nor had he infused any chakra nature transformation into it. It was merely a layer of highly concentrated materialized chakra. Because it had been compressed to the extreme, the unnatural leakage simulated the shape of burning flames.
This chakra armor itself did not possess burning power, nor did it have the temperature that flames should have.
"It has more or less stabilized. The burst speed exceeds the speed of sound. After charging power, both speed and destructive force can be further improved. The chakra consumption is also bearable. Only my muscles still ache slightly. It seems I need to strengthen my body further..."
Yayoi quietly evaluated his current state.
The jutsu maintaining this state was an idea Yayoi had formed when he first came into contact with chakra knowledge. However, because completing this jutsu was too difficult, only now had he barely turned the idea from something on paper into reality.
Every strike could create destructive power comparable to a ninjutsu attack, and the defense was also quite impressive. At the very least, ordinary destructive ninjutsu could be completely ignored. A jutsu like Fire Style: Great Fireball could be directly ignored in this state and scattered with a punch.
As for things like kunai and shuriken, if they were not infused with nature-transformed chakra, no matter how many came at him, they could not break his defense.
"Kichō, can you infuse chakra into a ninja tool and slash me?"
Yayoi turned his head toward the edge of the training ground. His wife Kichō, wearing a simple and elegant purple-white kimono, had appeared there at some point.
"Oh my, does my husband have some unusual taste for being hurt? Since my husband has said so..."
The girl teased him with a smile, but her movements were not slow.
She walked to a nearby weapon rack and picked up a ninja blade. Materialized chakra as thin as a blade easily wrapped around the weapon.
The quality of this ninja blade was better than standard ninja blades. The chakra metal fused into it reached thirty percent. Ordinary ninja blades contained less than ten percent chakra metal.
Therefore, after being infused with chakra, its sharpness became terrifying. Ordinary ninja tools would likely crack after only a few clashes with it.
"I am coming, my husband."
The instant her voice fell, Kichō moved at extreme speed, flying toward Yayoi like a dancing butterfly.
The ninja blade infused with chakra had reached the limit of sharpness that the weapon could achieve. She aimed at Yayoi's chest and swung hard.
As expected, even the chakra-infused ninja blade failed to cut through the chakra armor on Yayoi's body.
Kichō was even forced to retreat several steps from the recoil transmitted through the blade.
"Oh my, that defensive ability really is..."
Kichō's small mouth opened slightly, surprise showing in her pure white eyes.
However, whether in bed or on the battlefield, she was not the sort of person who admitted defeat easily, even if the person before her was her own husband.
So she dropped the ninja blade in her hand, and another blade slipped from the sleeve of her kimono.
It was the spiritual blade Spider-Cutter. Its blue hilt matched the kimono on her body very well.
This blade was forged entirely from extremely rare special chakra metal. Without a doubt, it was a ninja tool on the level of a divine weapon.
Kichō gripped the hilt and drew the blade.
The gleam of the blade was dazzling. Merely touching the air with its edge made it seem as if the air itself would be cut apart.
Then she took a deep breath. The veins around both of her eyes bulged, and deep within her white pupils, a faint rainbow color appeared, releasing an extremely pure white light.
Kichō's figure once again flew over like a butterfly, paired with the purple-white kimono on her body, making Yayoi feel as if he had fallen into a genjutsu.
Pfft.
Spider-Cutter's sharpness was clearly far above that of the standard ninja blade from before. It easily cut open the chakra armor on Yayoi's body.
Blood began spraying from Yayoi's chest. After cutting open the chakra armor on his body, it also slashed through the flesh over his chest.
After the blade left, white steam began rising from the wound on Yayoi's chest. In the blink of an eye, the wound closed together.
In this state, not only his explosive power, but also his recovery ability had been enhanced.
"How exaggerated, my husband."
Kichō maintained her Byakugan. It was unclear whether she was sighing at the defensive power of Yayoi's chakra armor or at his abnormal seal-less self-healing ability.
But whichever it was, as long as a ninja possessed just one of them, they could be called powerful.
Kichō could not imagine what kind of despair an enemy would feel after finally breaking through Yayoi's chakra armor, only to see Yayoi's strange constitution begin healing itself without any medical ninjutsu.
Do not forget, this husband of hers was also a top-tier puppet master of the current era.
Think the puppets are his trump card? No, the real trump card is taijutsu.
Think taijutsu is his final trump card? No, behind that is chakra armor that can even punch ninjutsu apart.
And after finally breaking the chakra armor, what the enemy sees is a body that starts healing without even using medical ninjutsu.
How cruel.
"The exaggerated one is you. You actually used Spider-Cutter and activated your Byakugan before suddenly slashing at me."
Yayoi looked speechlessly at his petite wife.
Every part of Spider-Cutter was forged from special chakra metal, using lost craftsman techniques. It was the crystallization of the efforts of top ancient craftsmen.
If an ordinary standard ninja blade touched Spider-Cutter, it would be cut apart.
What was even more excessive was that Kichō had activated her Byakugan and directly seen through the chakra flow pattern of his chakra armor, easily finding its weak point.
If he had not stepped back slightly, the bleeding from his chest would not have been limited to this amount.
Although it would not have formed a fatal wound, it still hurt.
"Ah, this is Kichō's love for my husband."
Kichō defended herself that way.
Yayoi decided that tonight, he would teach her a harsh lesson. Even if she begged for mercy, he would make her roll her eyes.
Mm.
Even if she did not roll her eyes, they were already white.
"Speaking of which, my husband, this jutsu feels rather like a tailed beast."
Kichō put away Spider-Cutter, but she did not deactivate her Byakugan. She carefully observed the chakra armor on Yayoi's body and saw some clues.
"After all, it is a jutsu I developed by imitating the tailed beast cloak of a jinchūriki. This mode pushes the chakra inside my body to the highest level of activation, then releases it outward to wrap around me. It can greatly strengthen defense and destructive power, and it comprehensively enhances taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu."
Yayoi nodded.
The inspiration for this chakra armor did not come from the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Style Armour, but from the tailed beast cloak formed when Uzumaki Naruto released the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Thinking about it carefully, the active chakra he refined was similar to a tailed beast in many ways.
Even Irori, whom he had created, had life characteristics close to a chakra life-form like a tailed beast.
With the Byakugan, it was expected that Kichō could see this.
"It is a very good idea, but the burden on the body must be heavy. Also, releasing chakra on such a large scale should consume a lot of chakra."
Kichō evaluated it accurately.
Such high-density chakra would kill an ordinary ninja the moment they wore it.
Only a ninja with a body as strong as Yayoi's could control it.
"The burden is not a big problem. If I improve my physique a little more, I can perfectly control this jutsu. As for chakra consumption, no, this jutsu is the thing most suited to me. My chakra evaporates extremely slowly. Even after being released outward, it can be preserved for a long time."
Yayoi explained.
After Yayoi pointed this out, Kichō immediately remembered the scene from before, when Yayoi had released clusters of chakra to wirelessly control puppets.
Generally speaking, once chakra was released, it would quickly evaporate into the air.
To use Yayoi's chakra armor, one would need to continuously release high-density chakra outward.
In that case, an enormous amount of chakra would be required to maintain that consumption.
For example, the Lightning Style Armour passed down in the Land of Lightning created lightning-natured chakra, forming lightning armor around the body.
One needed to continuously release chakra to maintain the operation of the lightning armor.
Only someone whose chakra quantity approached the level of a tailed beast, or someone who truly possessed tailed beast-level chakra, could freely use that kind of Lightning Style mode.
A ninja in the Land of Lightning named A was the strongest in this path, possessing a vast quantity of chakra on the scale of a tailed beast.
His Lightning Style Armour was said to allow him to send tailed beasts flying with his fists, and he could even beat tailed beasts down in hand-to-hand combat.
However, Yayoi was different. His chakra evaporated very slowly. As long as the armor formed, it could be maintained for a long time, and he did not need to constantly release chakra to keep the chakra armor operating.
In other words, once the chakra was released, as long as it was not offset by the enemy's attacks, it could be preserved for a long time without additional loss.
So even without tailed beast-level chakra, Yayoi could maintain this state for a very long time.
Kichō quickly understood this point.
Just as Yayoi had said, this jutsu was the move most suited to him.
Compared with the Lightning Style Armour of the Land of Lightning, it leaned closer to a jinchūriki's tailed beast cloak.
But these two types of chakra armor reached the same destination through different paths. Both used high-density chakra to turn one's body into a dangerous weapon that combined offense and defense.
"Actually, this jutsu still has room for further development. That would be injecting chakra nature transformation into it to increase the destructive power of the jutsu."
Yayoi answered.
Just like the Rasengan, Yayoi's jutsu was a foundational jutsu that could continue to be extended.
The high-density chakra wrapping his body was different from Lightning Style Armour. It did not contain any chakra nature transformation.
If he injected nature transformation into it on this foundation, it would be no different from wearing Wind Style: Rasenshuriken on his body in battle.
At that point, the power and difficulty of the jutsu would surpass Lightning Style Armour.
However, for now, Yayoi did not dare attempt completing nature transformation.
The power of the basic jutsu already exceeded the Rasengan. If nature transformation were added, the power would naturally also exceed Rasenshuriken.
And Rasenshuriken was already an extremely risky ninjutsu.
If he wore a ninjutsu with power above Rasenshuriken on his body, not only would it fail to kill the enemy, it would cripple him first.
"Uh... Just hearing it sounds dangerous."
Injecting nature transformation into such high-density chakra armor made Kichō shiver just thinking about it. A drop of cold sweat slid down her smooth forehead.
Chakra infusion itself was already a high-level chakra control skill that required a certain standard from a ninja. Adding nature transformation on that basis would cause both the difficulty and risk to increase geometrically.
"I will probably only be able to attempt injecting nature transformation after my body and chakra undergo a new qualitative change."
After all, Rasenshuriken was held in the hand, while his jutsu was worn constantly on the body. The difficulty and risk level were simply not on the same level.
"Then does this current jutsu have a name?"
Kichō asked curiously.
Naming one's own original jutsu was also one of the pleasures of being a ninja.
Yayoi stroked his chin, thought for a moment, then raised his head and looked at the sky, his gaze becoming deep.
"This jutsu... shall be called Chakra Armament Mode. One day, this jutsu will become famous throughout the ninja world together with my name."
Yayoi gave the original ninjutsu he had completed its official name, and he looked forward to the day it would become famous across the ninja world.
Although his name was already spreading through many nearby countries, that was not enough for him.
His small goal of becoming famous throughout the ninja world was to reach the same level as Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.