The development of Konoha Village was in full swing.
The other four great nations were also actively preparing, drawing back the curtain on the era of “One Village per Country.” It was believed that before long, the other four Ninja Villages would follow in Konoha Village’s footsteps, taking root and sprouting on the lands of the great nations.
At this moment, in the Land of Night.
Yomi City, General’s Mansion.
On Yayoi’s desk lay an express invitation sent from the Land of Fire.
Yayoi finished reading the contents quickly; it was brief, and a few glances were enough to take it all in.
The meaning was clear: Konoha Village had decided through a meeting that Senju Hashirama would serve as the Village’s First Hokage, and the official title would be conveyed to all parts of the Ninja World through the mouth of the Land of Fire’s Daimyo.
However, although the meeting had passed, the ceremony had not yet been held.
Perhaps feeling that such an important event should not be glossed over, the Land of Fire’s Daimyo and the Ninjas of Konoha Village decided to send invitations to the high-ranking officials of various nations, hoping they would come to Konoha Village to witness the grand ceremony of the First Hokage’s inauguration.
The ceremony was scheduled for the middle of January of the following year, which was not too tight, allowing each nation a buffer period to prepare in advance.
“First Hokage…
is that the title for the leader of a Ninja Village?” Irori was also watching the invitation from the side, softly murmuring the term “Hokage,” which had never appeared before.
This was a title exclusive to the leader of Konoha Village, and by naming it with “Fire,” it also indicated a close connection with the Land of Fire.
“Then, Father, are you going to attend the ceremony?” Irori asked for Yayoi’s thoughts.
“It wouldn’t hurt to go and see; after all, some things need to be witnessed personally to have meaning.” Yayoi gave his inner thoughts without hesitation.
Konoha Village, Hokage…
The era of “One Village per Country” from his memories had officially begun.
Therefore, he didn’t want to miss such a meaningful event; he wanted to witness the official birth of the Hokage with his own eyes.
Irori nodded, her expression becoming much more serious.
“In that case, leave the security arrangements to me when the time comes.” By then, Konoha Village would inevitably be gathering many powerful figures.
Although the Senju and Uchiha would be presiding, it could not be completely guaranteed that no trouble would occur.
There were simply too many foolish people who had no regard for their own lives and could not see the gap in strength.
As the General of the Land of Night, Yayoi was subjected to no fewer than dozens of assassination attempts every year.
In Irori’s view, the strength of some of these assassins was quite laughable.
She couldn’t understand how they dared to attempt an assassination with such little power.
Therefore, one cannot underestimate human stupidity.
Some idiots truly could not see the gap and believed they were invincible.
“Ah, I’ll leave it to you.
However, Irori, don’t worry too much; Konoha will surely handle the security work well when the time comes.” It’s not like someone would want to pull off some kind of “Konoha Crush” plan at a time like this, right?
Yayoi dared not imagine such a thing happening.
That would be too absurd.
For the current Konoha not to be launching a “Ninja World Collapse” plan, one should be grateful for Senju Hashirama’s high moral character.
Without him suppressing Uchiha Madara, the Ninja World would really be doomed.
“Speaking of which, Irori, your strength should have stabilized recently, right?” Yayoi was concerned about Irori’s physical condition.
She should have absorbed a large amount of Tailed Beast Chakra and made it her own.
Combined with Irori’s own originally powerful Chakra, one could say that in terms of Chakra volume alone, Irori was already approaching the Tailed Beast level.
Combined with her Ice Release power, soloing a Tailed Beast was definitely not a difficult task.
Of course, the Nine-Tailed was an exception; he remembered that the Nine-Tailed in its four-tail state had beaten Orochimaru to the brink of death.
The Nine-Tailed in its eight-tail state could not even be suppressed by sealing techniques like Chibaku Tensei.
And that was just the four-tail and eight-tail state of half of the Nine-Tailed.
Yayoi felt that the Nine-Tailed and the other Tailed Beasts seemed like two different species.
“Yes, the Chakra has stabilized; if I enter combat, there won’t be any more risks.” Feeling the vast, stabilized Chakra within her, a confident smile appeared on Irori’s face.
At the beginning, she really wasn’t used to this powerful Chakra, and it placed a significant burden on her body.
But after several months of adjustment, this Chakra was like flesh and blood, becoming a part of her body.
It was no longer a burden, but a stronger boost.
If she were to fight the Seven-Tails again, even the complete Seven-Tails, she could take it down alone.
The power of a Tailed Beast was strong, but its abilities were too singular, and its size made it an easy target; as long as one had methods to restrain it, Tailed Beasts were actually not difficult for her to deal with.
If it were a Jinchuriki who could skillfully borrow the power of a Tailed Beast, they would actually be harder to deal with.
“It’s a pity that there is no second Tailed Beast within the Land of Night.
Now that the borders of all countries are locked down, if I were to go and capture a Tailed Beast, it might cause considerable trouble, doing more harm than good.” Yayoi sighed with regret.
Most importantly, most Tailed Beasts were distributed within the borders of the great nations.
If they were in small countries, he would have already gone to capture a second Tailed Beast.
But the great nations…
were too dangerous right now.
There were too many powerful Ninjas there, and there was no shortage of Ninjas eyeing the power of the Tailed Beasts.
Although Irori was strong, she was still not enough to run rampant within the great nations.
“That said, without corresponding methods, Tailed Beasts are actually very difficult to utilize; most importantly, they are very difficult to tame.” Irori did not feel it was a pity; it was difficult for the Land of Night to control a second Tailed Beast right now.
Containing a Tailed Beast required very high-level techniques; Yayoi containing one Seven-Tails was already the limit.
He did not have enough energy to contain a second Tailed Beast.
Even if he were to perform a sealing and create a Jinchuriki…
the difficulty lay in the fact that not just any Ninja could become a Jinchuriki.
Most Ninjas would die immediately if a Tailed Beast were sealed inside them.
Even if the sealing were successful, the Tailed Beast would cause trouble from time to time and go on a rampage.
With immature technology, the power of a Tailed Beast was a heavy burden, not a boost.
“If only I had the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki Clan…” Yayoi couldn’t help but feel envious.
The sealing techniques obtained from the Hagoromo Clan and other small, destroyed Ninja clans were of too low a grade.
His current method of containing the Tailed Beast was a combination of sealing techniques and physical containment, and he also had to periodically weaken the Seven-Tails’ power to ensure nothing went wrong, which drained a lot of his energy.
If he had high-level sealing techniques, it wouldn’t need to be so cumbersome.
“I wonder if they would accept a political marriage…
However, the position of the main wife is already taken.” Yayoi thought about the path of political marriage again.
Exchanging techniques through political marriage was something he had already tasted the sweetness of with the Hyuga Clan.
He had once obtained the corpse of an Uzumaki Clan Ninja on the underground black market and had conducted research on this clan’s Chakra.
Like his own, the Chakra of this clan’s Ninjas possessed strong vitality.
It’s just that, in terms of the degree of activation, it was far inferior to his own Chakra.
“If it were an activation technique, perhaps I could attract some help.” Yayoi’s foundation for standing tall was that his Chakra was born with super-strong vitality.
This Innate vitality was difficult to teach to outsiders, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t conducted research on his own special Chakra.
A long time ago, he had created a Chakra activation technique through his understanding of his own Chakra.
This degree of activation couldn’t compare to the vitality of his own Chakra, but it could be applied to others, and outsiders could also learn it.
This was a basic technique; if one were flexible enough, more techniques could be derived from it.
Just like Rasengan, it could be extended in many directions.
It had always been regarded by him as one of his trump card techniques.
Even when marrying into the Hyuga Clan, he hadn’t given away this technique.
In his view, this basic technique of active Chakra was more important than the incomplete Yin-Yang Release.
The higher the degree of Chakra activity, the more it meant that the three fields of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu would be improved in all aspects.
If practiced for a long time, it might even extend one’s natural lifespan.
“No, thinking like that is a bit presumptuous; the potential of this technique far exceeds the value of a political marriage, so I cannot only focus on the present.” Yayoi abandoned this thought.
Such a basic technique with a certain degree of universality, which could also bring improvements in the three fields of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu, would be very dangerous if exposed.
Yayoi regained his composure, but he still longed for the powerful sealing techniques of the Uzumaki Clan.
“Irori, you take over handling the affairs here; I’m going down to the underground level.
Also, have Kakuzu come over; calculating the time, that ‘thing’ should be finished.” Yayoi patted his face, letting Irori take charge here to handle official business in his stead.
This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened.
Irori’s importance was self-evident; when he was away, her authority was equal to his own.
Although it had only been a few short months, anyone could see that Irori was the acting General of the Land of Night.
“Yes, Father.” Irori diligently performed her duties, handling official business on behalf of Yayoi.
The underground space of the Tenshukaku.
The depth here far exceeded the height of the Tenshukaku above ground.
It was not just the depth; the width was also something a mere Tenshukaku could not compare to.
There were many entrances and exits here, leading to the outer court, the inner court, and even secret passages leading outside the Shogun’s Manor.
The defensive forces stationed here were also the most rigorous and powerful.
Furthermore, there were various mechanisms and traps, along with many dangerous, high-powered explosive devices; if an unfamiliar person were to break in, they would surely be left without a corpse.
Guarding this place were not only Ninja and Samurai, but also a type of incredibly mysterious, special humanoid Puppet that only Yayoi could create.
They maintained a basic humanoid shape, with smooth, bare bodies.
The important joints of the human body were replaced with circular lubricated bearings, and their smooth, rigid skin could resist blades and withstand minor Ninjutsu bombardments directly.
Most importantly, in addition to their inherent hardness, these humanoid Puppets were clad in heavy armor and equipped with blades, further enhancing their defensive and offensive capabilities.
They were floating and drifting in the air of the underground space in a strange posture, like ghosts, conducting twenty-four-hour uninterrupted patrols.
Because of this characteristic, these Puppets were named ‘Ghost Puppet’ by Yayoi.
Without Chakra threads or any other method of manipulation, they just wandered around like this.
The pair of eyes beneath their helmets glowed with a greenish light.
It was as if they were truly a group of ghosts from the underworld.
Quiet and silent.
Yayoi was already accustomed to this scene.
This place was the most important facility within the Shogun’s Manor.
The Ninja and Samurai were merely one checkpoint; these Ghost Puppets, vast in number to the point of being astonishing, were also a powerful line of defense.
However, it was only within this place that the Ghost Puppets could move flexibly in a ‘wireless’ mode.
The inspiration came from the Six Paths of Pain Puppets of the Rinnegan, which used special signal-receiving devices to remotely transmit Chakra for control and movement.
He did not possess the abilities of the Rinnegan, but in the field of Puppetry, his active Chakra had more advantages, making this technology very easy to replicate.
Otherwise, how could Irori alone have earned the title of ‘Puppeteer’?
Although she also had other titles like ‘Puppet General’ and ‘Hell Ghost’.
During the founding war of the Land of Night, although Irori was already able to engage in combat, her abilities were far inferior to what they were now.
The reason she was able to sweep through the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Iron back then relied mainly on her own Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, as well as her massive army of Puppets.
She could even use Chakra threads…
to manipulate enemies while they were alive, making them kill each other.
Her most famous battle was when she, alone, caused a Samurai castle of a thousand people to collapse overnight, leaving rivers of blood.
There, she staged a living Puppet drama, creating a horrific Hell where not a single soul was left alive.
Thus, the title of ‘Hell Ghost’ began to spread.
The limit for a Puppeteer is ten fingers, and Yayoi indeed had ten fingers.
But after his Chakra was thoroughly activated, each finger could release dozens of Chakra threads to perform precise operations on the Puppets.
The activated Chakra could even allow the Puppets to move with agility; this was a technology unique to him.
After all, no one had decreed that a finger could only release one Chakra thread.
He was the strongest Puppeteer of this era; he would define what a true Puppeteer was.
Stepping into a lower-level space.
There were fewer and fewer Ninja and Samurai, with only troop after troop of Ghost Puppets floating in mid-air.
Deep within the chamber, there appeared a steel device the size of a two-story house, resembling a human brain, which constantly radiated slight Chakra fluctuations outward and was protected by layers of thick, hemispherical glass covers.
It was soaked in a large amount of solution, and bubbles were being released one after another, as if this steel brain were also breathing.
The glass cover was inscribed with numerous incantations and plastered with a massive number of Talismanic Incantations to further strengthen the defensive capabilities of this device.
This was the core master brain that controlled the Ghost Puppet army in the underground space.
It would spread activated Chakra twenty-four hours a day without interruption, connecting to the Chakra signal devices inside the Puppets to wirelessly control the Puppet army in the underground space.
The advantage was that it could control over two thousand Puppets without the need for manual operation.
In other words, there were over two thousand Ghost Puppets responsible for guarding this place.
However, the disadvantage was also very obvious: it could not exceed the range of the Shogun’s Manor.
Once they exceeded this range, the Ghost Puppets became dead objects and could not move.
Yayoi glanced at the steel creation in the glass cover that resembled a human brain, smoothly checking the situation here.
This steel brain was essentially also one of Yayoi’s Puppet creations.
Unlike Irori, its body was mainly made of steel, supplemented with many precious Chakra metals, and then a Chakra core for concentrated consciousness was fabricated to finally complete it.
This steel brain Puppet had no name, only a code name—Zero.
It also did not have very high intelligence, only a mechanical consciousness, coldly following Yayoi’s instructions to maintain the operation of the underground Ghost Puppet army.
Of course, as Yayoi’s highest-level creation, Irori also possessed command authority here.
This was a control-type Puppet weapon born purely for the purpose of creating large-scale armies to wage war.
“The situation is intact, and its performance is much more stable than in the past; if I want to upgrade its performance in the future, it will be much more convenient.” After checking this steel brain, Yayoi gave his assessment.
According to his earliest vision, the ‘Zero’ brain Puppet would be able to freely control over ten thousand Puppets and expand the operational range of the Ghost Puppet army to the entire Land of Night.
It was just too difficult to achieve this; both in terms of strength and technology, it could currently only exist in theoretical imagination.
“Lord Yayoi, I have arrived.
Do you have any business with me?” Footsteps came from behind, and the black-masked Ninja—Kakuzu—appeared not far behind Yayoi, interrupting his thoughts.
“Apologies for interrupting you at this time.
However, I have called you here because there is something very important to hand over to you; calculating the time, it should be finished by now.” Without offering an explanation, Yayoi walked toward another direction, signaling for Kakuzu to follow.
The steel-made passage, although enclosed, was not small in space; even large Summoning Beasts could pass through here.
“Before…
I don’t think I have ever been to this place.” Kakuzu paid attention to the surrounding environment.
He did not often come to the lower level of the Tenshukaku, knowing only that many dangerous things were kept here.
The last time he came here was when he delivered the Seven-Tails here to be sealed.
As far as he knew, the severely injured Seven-Tails was trapped by Yayoi in a certain closed cell in this underground space.
“Because I keep many dangerous items here, touching them carelessly would lead to terrible things happening.” Yayoi explained briefly.
Finally, the two arrived and stood in front of a huge iron door.
The iron door was plastered with large Talismanic Incantations; Yayoi simply pressed his palm against it, and the incantations immediately detached from the iron door and floated down.
The iron door slowly opened, and purple fluorescence shone through the opening of the door.
Behind the door seemed to be another world, revealing an atmosphere that was cold and mysterious.
“Come in.
I think you should be able to master that thing perfectly.” Following Yayoi into the room, Kakuzu was curious about what Yayoi wanted to hand over to him.
The space behind the iron door was incredibly large; it was hard to imagine that there would be such a large artificial structure one hundred meters underground.
Rows of large cylindrical glass containers were filled with green solution, storing many strange creatures or artificial items; they were breathing consciously, releasing bubbles.
The gurgling sound of bubbles was the only sound here.
Quiet, dead silent.
Arriving in front of the last glass container, Kakuzu saw clearly what was inside.
That was something different from the previous items; it was a mass…
of threads?
No, that was not right; it was a mass of tangled, black tentacle creatures that seemed to still be breathing.
They were tangled together in circles, pulsating like a heart.
A living tentacle heart.