Night fell.
Inside the Shogun’s Manor, in the main bedroom.
The candle flame on the lampstand flickered dimly, its light akin to the dusk before nightfall, with only the area around the bedding barely considered bright.
However, kneeling and waiting for him on the bedding, which was brighter than the rest of the room, was not his beautiful wife Kicho, but two lovely young girls whose beauty was only slightly inferior to hers.
The girl on the left had long, raven-black hair tied into charming twin-tails with a blue ribbon.
The girl on the right had neatly combed, smooth shoulder-length hair.
These two beautiful young girls, brimming with youthful charm, were precisely Kicho’s maids who had accompanied her as part of her dowry—Hyuga Aoi and Hyuga Rinko.
The two of them were kneeling on the soft, comfortable white bedding in a posture of nervous unease.
They were not wearing their usual kimono-style maid uniforms, but rather kimonos with hems cut very short, barely covering their thighs.
The wide sleeves on their arms seemed absent, or were perhaps transparent like a layer of gauze, clearly revealing their snow-white, delicate arms.
Aside from that, the only other garment was a pair of pure white tabi socks worn by each girl.
The difference was that Aoi wore a blue kimono, while Rinko wore a pink one.
Despite their innocent and pure appearances, wearing these miniskirt-like kimonos…
Their delicate bodies, kneeling, trembled slightly.
Being as pure-hearted as they were, their minds were probably burning with shyness at this moment.
And the person who orchestrated this scene…
Yayoi tilted his head slightly.
A pair of soft, fragrant arms reached out from behind, gently wrapping around his neck, and a soft, sweet whisper laughed by his ear: “How about it, my lord husband?
Are Aoi and Rinko adorable like this?” “Adorable.” Yayoi stroked his chin and, almost without thinking, smiled and gave his honest answer.
When it came to facing his inner desires, he was not one to hide them much.
Whether it was Kicho, or Aoi and Rinko, they were all rare beauties.
To claim he didn’t like or appreciate them would be utterly insincere.
Upon hearing such an evaluation, the two pure-hearted branch Family girls felt welling up inside them—whether it was shame or something else, they couldn’t tell.
Their heads hung even lower.
“Gen…
My lord husband…
Please be gentle…” With their small heads bowed, the two spoke with trembling voices, unable to conceal their shyness and anticipation.
Clearly, they were prepared for their resolve to become the General’s concubines.
Rather, from the moment they stepped into the Shogun’s Manor half a year ago, they had been waiting for such a day.
“Go ahead, my lord husband.
Show them the determination of a serious campaign, and make them completely yours, both in body and heart.” From behind, came Kicho’s encouraging laughter, boosting his morale.
Yayoi also stopped being polite, his throat moving slightly with a hint of dryness.
He stepped forward, approaching the two bashful, budding young girls.
The weather in March was still chilly, but the room was warm.
In the past, Yayoi felt the weight on his shoulders was a heavy burden.
But now, Yayoi felt the burden on his broad shoulders was not only heavy, but also carried the futures of two young girls, along with the heavy responsibility of being a General.
Sigh, though it’s hard work, who told him he was the General?
◎ ‘Last night felt so embarrassing I could die…
but…’ Burying her head in the warm, comfortable quilt, after waking up, Aoi felt not only some physical fatigue and soreness, but more of an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
This heartfelt satisfaction quickly diluted the weariness in her body.
Subconsciously, she recalled the wonderful, heart-pounding pleasure of last night, which felt like ascending to immortality as a feathered being.
In the end, she didn’t know how long it lasted, only that she drifted off into a sweet, hazy sleep.
She somewhat understood why Kicho was so enthusiastic about’singing’ every night.
Peeking her head out from under the quilt, Aoi immediately met another pair of pure white eyes, clear yet tinged with shyness.
Rinko beside her had also woken up.
The moment their pure, shy gazes met, they immediately looked away like guilty thieves.
After all, last night, they had both witnessed each other’s dazed, humiliating states.
Now, suddenly facing each other was like exposing their most shameful moments completely for the other to see.
Even though they had already seen it, it still felt embarrassing.
“Rinko…” “Hmm?” A muffled voice came from under the warm quilt, belonging to Rinko.
“Are you awake?” Aoi felt she had asked a silly question.
Had her brain malfunctioned?
She regretted it as soon as she said it, her gaze shifting away.
“…I’m awake.
How is your body?” Rinko took the initiative to break the silence.
“Just a bit tired, otherwise fine.” Though not a powerful Ninja, Aoi considered her physical fitness to be quite good.
Not to mention, the Hyuga Clan trained in taijutsu from childhood, so the foundation was solid.
Rinko was the same; aside from some tiredness, she had no other adverse reactions.
“As expected…” “What?” Hearing Aoi muttering to herself, Rinko raised her head slightly.
“The Gen…
my lord husband’s Physique is very strong.
When he got up this morning, I took a hazy glance and couldn’t see any trace of fatigue on him at all.” Aoi whispered to Rinko as if carefully discussing some secret.
Rinko blushed slightly.
“Why are you talking about that?
It’s too embarrassing.” “It’s fine.
We’re proper adults now.
We’ll probably be cooperating often from now on.” After adjusting her emotions, Aoi quickly calmed the turmoil in her heart.
Even her shyness had diluted considerably.
“Adults or something…” “It’s the truth.
Alright, let’s get up quickly.
It’s almost nine o’clock.” Aoi climbed out from under the quilt and walked over to pick up a brand new, normal set of clothes to put on.
Rinko then got up and dressed as well, but judging by her flushed face, she was probably still feeling shy.
After getting dressed, the two tidied up the mess in the room.
Because the ‘battle’ last night was a bit intense, it took them a little longer than usual to clean up.
The two walked out of the bedroom.
Not seeing Kicho in the courtyard, she was likely at the training ground.
For the past two or three months, Kicho had long since shed the lethargy and laziness from when she first arrived, training her Byakugan and Gentle Fist almost daily.
Sometimes, after Yayoi finished handling official duties, or dumped them on Irori, he would also come to the inner courtyard training ground to Cultivate alongside Kicho.
In contrast, Aoi and Rinko did not have a particularly strong desire to become stronger.
Perhaps life in the Shogun’s Manor was too comfortable, making them forget the cruel, survival-of-the-fittest environment of the outside world.
Even so, Aoi and Rinko still hoped to contribute in their own way.
In terms of power, they might not be able to help Yayoi and Kicho, but they could compensate in other areas.
Though their personalities differed, neither girl was the type to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of others’ labor, nor did they like days of constant idleness, which felt like wasting time.
At their core, they were still diligent women aligned with traditional mainstream values, hoping to find things to do.
◎ [TN:This book will adopt the Konoha calendar.
Each country has its own calendar.
The reason for using the Konoha calendar is mainly for convenience in establishing the timeline.] First Year of Konoha, early April.
Yomi City, Shogun’s Manor inner courtyard.
Today, Yayoi was not handling official duties in the Tenshukaku as usual.
After getting up in the morning, he left the inner courtyard and went to the outer courtyard of the Shogun’s Manor, seemingly to take care of some matters.
Around eleven o’clock, he returned to the inner courtyard, carrying some items in his hands along with three pieces of paper bearing official seals.
“My lord husband, may I ask what these are?” In the corridor outside the bedroom, a gentle breeze blew.
The weather in April still held a chill, but it was gradually starting to warm up.
Yayoi called Kicho, Aoi, and Rinko over.
Looking at the three girls, each beautiful in her own way, Yayoi’s already good mood improved even further.
“These are Ninja headbands, and registration documents for the three of you as Ninjas.” Yayoi handed three headbands and three documents to their respective recipients.
The three took their respective headbands and registration papers, turning them over curiously in their hands as if finding them quite interesting.
After Yayoi’s explanation, they understood that the headbands were identification marks similar to a Ninja clan’s Family crest, used to distinguish Ninjas from different countries.
The Ninja registration documents were used to record a Ninja’s information, including their Rank.
Tasks would then be assigned based on each Ninja’s level.
“This System has been officially implemented in the Konoha Ninja Village.
Next, I plan to implement a similar System in the Land of Night to manage the country’s Ninjas and samurai more precisely.” Yayoi took out his own Ninja headband.
The strap part was black, while the steel plate of the headband was silver-gray, expertly engraved with a simplified pattern of a red spider lily.
Naturally, there were corresponding headbands for samurai as well.
The emblem on the samurai headband was the same as on the Ninja headband, only the strap was white.
After all, the Land of Night was a country with both Ninjas and samurai, so the headbands needed to be localized to distinguish between the two.
Corresponding Ranks also existed for samurai, equivalent to Jonin, Chunin, and Genin, though the classification for samurai was relatively more complex compared to Ninjas.
The reason was that in this era, samurai were not the mainstream and were gradually showing signs of being phased out by Ninjas.
Only in the Land of Night is it slightly better.
In many countries across the Ninja World, samurai have become legendary existences, gradually disappearing into history and losing the influence to compete on the same stage as Ninjas.
“In other words, I am a Jonin?” Kicho quickly understood the meaning behind Yayoi’s words, while simultaneously seeing the ‘Jonin’ title corresponding to her name on her Ninja registration form.
Then she noticed the Ninja registration number column: Ninja ID S-000003.
“Does this number mean that I am the third Ninja registered in the Land of Night?” Kicho tilted her head, slightly puzzled.
Kicho had no trouble understanding what the Ninja ID implied.
Naturally, the first and second Ninjas of the Land of Night were the General, Yayoi, and his close confidante, Irori.
However, although she was the General’s wife, her time in the Land of Night had been very short.
By comparison, she felt that Kakuzu, one of Yayoi’s trusted confidants, was more qualified to hold the third Ninja ID.
“Then I am the fourth, and Rinko is the fifth?” Aoi also glanced at her own Ninja ID, which was S-000004, while Rinko’s was S-000005.
“My Lord Husband, although we are your bedmates, there is no need to use privileges in this kind of place, right?” Kicho teased Yayoi.
In terms of seniority, she, Aoi, and Rinko shouldn’t have received such early numbers.
Since it had actually happened, it was clearly the result of Yayoi showing favoritism and operating behind the scenes.
“As for that…” Yayoi paused before continuing, “The numbers starting with the letter S are for Family members at my core; they are the only ones who can obtain them.
They were never meant for outsiders.
IDs starting with other letters are for the Ninjas and samurai serving under us.” “Oh, is that so?” After Yayoi’s explanation, Kicho suddenly realized.
At the same time, she understood why Yayoi made this distinction; unlike the leadership election System of Ninja villages, the Land of Night was a monarchy.
The General was both the leader of the national government and the representative of the strongest military force.
Because of this, the position of ‘General’ naturally carried a strong sense of hierarchy and inevitably had to be distinguished from others.
As Yayoi’s legal wife and concubines, regardless of their individual strength, Kicho and the other two were, by status, naturally the closest existences to the General himself, and thus also needed to be set apart from the others.
Compared to Kicho, who looked relaxed, Aoi and Rinko suddenly felt the pressure on their shoulders increase.
That’s right, they were already Yayoi’s women, no longer just maids here.
In other words, as Yayoi’s concubines, they had the responsibility and obligation to work together with their husband, Yayoi, to develop the Land of Night well.
But…
could the two of them really do it?
In terms of strength or intellect, they were not the type of exceptional talent, and they were filled with self-doubt.
“My Lord Husband, isn’t this ‘Chunin’ ranking a bit too high for Rinko and me?” Aoi pointed at the certification document, which showed that her and Rinko’s Ninja Rank was Chunin of the Land of Night.
This was the backbone force, second only to Jonin.
Were they truly qualified to hold such a position?
“Hehe, it seems that Aoi and Rinko, you two don’t know anything at all.” Kicho laughed at this moment.
Aoi and Rinko looked over, puzzled, not understanding what Kicho meant by these words.
Had they misunderstood something?
Yayoi shook his head helplessly and stepped forward to pat Rinko on the head, causing her to shyly lower her head, where one could barely see the tips of her toes.
“Don’t belittle yourselves.
In terms of Ninja ability, you two, Aoi and Rinko, have no problem serving as Chunin.
In fact, most Ninjas in the Land of Night are actually quite weak; seventy percent of them can only be rated as Genin.
As long as you two get serious, you can defeat any one of those seventy percent.” “Huh?” Hearing Yayoi explain it like this, Aoi and Rinko immediately widened their eyes, feeling it was unbelievable.
Are the Ninjas of the Land of Night…
really that weak?
As far as they knew, their Lord Husband was a powerful existence capable of capturing Tailed Beasts.
In his youth, he had even wiped out the regimes of two countries and built his own nation upon the ruins.
And Big Sister Irori, who was always by their Lord Husband’s side, could freeze an entire sea area in an instant with the Ice Release Ninjutsu she wielded.
Such powerful strength might not be enough to deter a Great Nation, but for a small country, it was an insurmountable chasm.
“Although Ninja villages have begun to appear, the era of Ninja clans…
has not completely passed yet.
The Ninjas under the Lord Husband are either very strong or very weak; this is the flaw of lacking a systematic teaching method.
After spreading the Chakra refining technique, most Ninjas in the Land of Night have relied on individual talent to grow.” While chatting and laughing, Kicho hit the nail on the head, piercing the biggest flaw of the Land of Night.
It was true; although Yayoi did not hesitate to spread Chakra refining techniques to those below him, there was ultimately no systematic teaching method, and various Ninjutsu resources were also severely lacking.
This meant that to become a truly powerful Ninja, one could only rely on talent.
Take Kakuzu, for example.
For the same Chakra refining, while an ordinary person would need several days or even longer, he only needed half a day or even less time to complete it.
He could even infer many things from a single instance and could Cultivate entirely on his own.
Or take Kurobei.
Although he could not use Ninjutsu, by relying on powerful Chakra control and emission techniques, he had honed his swordsmanship to the extreme.
What he relied on was also his superhuman swordsmanship and talent for controlling physical Chakra.
Even Yayoi was such a Genius.
After all, the wandering Ninja who took him in was only at the Chunin level.
As long as he mastered the basic Chakra refining techniques, he could quickly become stronger through this first pot of gold.
As for those with average talent…
it wasn’t that Yayoi didn’t want them to become stronger, but that it was simply impossible at the moment.
Without systematic teaching materials and methods, and lacking top-tier teaching talent, along with other various objective or subjective reasons, it resulted in nearly seventy percent of the Land of Night’s Ninja force being cannon fodder used to fill the lines.
Chunin in the middle were also very scarce.
Just like Jonin, the Chunin who currently represented the backbone of the Land of Night still consisted of a significant proportion of people from Ninja clans.
“I-is that so?” Aoi and Rinko looked at each other.
So, were they actually that powerful?
They could actually surpass seventy percent of the Ninjas in the Land of Night?
“That’s right.
You two have awakened the Byakugan, and your fundamentals in Gentle Fist are quite solid.
For a normal Genin, you are already an out-of-spec combat force.” Yayoi smiled with a sigh; this was the power of the Bloodline Limit.
Whether it was the upper limit or the lower limit, unless one was a Genius, it was hard to compare.
In the Ninja World, the reason the power of the Bloodline Limit was so strong was that as long as it formed a scale and no major mistakes occurred, the future of that Family was destined to maintain a prosperous posture for years to come.
In the Hyuga Clan, Aoi and Rinko were just miscellaneous cannon fodder used to fill the lines, but outside the Hyuga Clan, upon coming to the Land of Night, possessing the Bloodline Limit · Byakugan, they were honorable Chunin!
“So, Aoi, Rinko, you two can be a little more confident here.” Yayoi could see that compared to problems with their abilities, what these two girls needed more right now was sufficient confidence.
As for abilities, as long as they were decent enough, they could find a suitable position.
But once a person lost confidence, no matter how strong they appeared on the outside, they were just paper tigers, easily broken with a poke.
“Ah, yes, my Lord Husband.” Listening to Yayoi’s gentle words of encouragement, Aoi and Rinko were stunned for a moment.
As their fair faces couldn’t help but heat up, a look of determination slowly appeared in their eyes.
Before meeting Yayoi, when they were still in the Family, they were restricted by rigid Family rules.
Coupled with limited talent, neither their parents nor the other elders in the clan had ever spoken such heartwarming words to affirm their character and abilities.
They somewhat understood why Kicho was often glued to Yayoi like glue and lacquer.
“It’s not just that; in bed, you also need to be as full of confidence as I am and be able to let go.” Out of the blue, Kicho, who was beside them, let out such a teasing laugh.
“Waaaah!
Kicho-sama, what are you suddenly saying!
Don’t always tell these kinds of lewd jokes!” Aoi and Rinko’s faces instantly flushed red, and they screamed in panic, then rushed forward to quickly cover Kicho’s mouth to prevent her from saying any more shameful, lewd jokes.
Damn it, give them back the dignified and beautiful Kicho-sama they knew from the Family!
Ever since coming to the Land of Night, this Young Miss Kicho had completely let herself go.
In the end, Aoi and Rinko even put on straight faces and began to lecture Kicho, their ‘Sect Master’, relentlessly.
Things like ‘girls should be frugal in managing the household,’ ‘as the General’s wife, one should be dignified and elegant,’ and ‘if a Ninja indulges in pleasure, they will fall; one must learn to grow through hardship,’ and a series of other hard-to-understand words.
The courtyard was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.