In the center of Yomi City, the General’s Mansion.
It is the gathering place for Ninjas and samurai who have mastered Chakra techniques, and it is also the residence of Yayoi, the General of the Land of Night.
Different from the Ninja village system of later generations, after eliminating the regimes of the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Iron, Yayoi implemented a shogunate system in the Land of Night and established the position of General.
If one must compare it to the ‘one country, one village’ system of later generations, one could perfectly regard Yayoi as a Daimyo who has annexed the military power of a Ninja village, completely dominating the nation’s will, and creating a comprehensive unification of politics, economy, and the military.
Among them, the Ninjas and samurai who hold the nation’s power of violence naturally occupy the leading position.
When Yayoi founded the Land of Night, he quickly established a national defense institution called the ‘Military Department’.
And under this institution, he established six departments.
Namely: the Executive Department, Logistics Department, Intelligence Department, Education Group, Research Department, and Medical Department.
There are over six hundred Ninjas and more than four thousand samurai distributed across the country.
Inside the General’s Mansion, there are two hundred Ninjas and one thousand samurai stationed year-round.
He divides these large numbers of Ninjas and samurai based on their individual ability characteristics into specific functions, ensuring that everything is put to its best use.
Compared to the redundancy of the Executive Department responsible for combat, the other five departments can’t be said to be operating normally; they are barely established.
After all, compared to the combat field, talent in other fields is what gives Yayoi the biggest headache.
Take the Medical Ninjutsu that Yayoi excels at; among the hundreds of Ninjas under his command, the number of medical Ninjas does not exceed ten, and half of them are only half-baked.
Once war breaks out, one can imagine how enormous the pressure on the Medical Department would be.
Much of the medical work relies on Yayoi alone to support it.
Without him as the General, this country would be finished sooner or later.
Fortunately, the most difficult times have already passed.
With the Alliance between the Senju and Uchiha, the Ninja World will welcome a period of relative peace in the years to come.
He must use this time to completely overhaul the national defense forces of the Land of Night.
In this, the Medical Department is not what concerns Yayoi the most; the establishment of the Education Department is the root of roots.
Therefore, since the founding of the Land of Night, the Education Department has been the field Yayoi focuses on the most.
The development of the other departments will depend on the blood transfusion from the Education Department in the future.
If it weren’t for this, there wouldn’t be over six hundred Ninjas under his command.
You must know that with this number of Ninjas, not to mention quality, just in terms of quantity, those powerful Ninja clans in the Ninja World could not possibly have this many.
Within a Ninja clan, the majority are still ordinary people who do not know Chakra techniques.
Even the powerful Senju and Uchiha Clan, at their peak, had no more than four hundred Ninjas within their clans.
Most of the time, being able to maintain three hundred Ninjas makes a clan a top-tier Ninja clan in the Ninja World.
Most Ninja clans struggle to even maintain one hundred.
Cultivating a Ninja consumes a lot of resources.
Ninja clans often engage in mercenary activities, and even if they consciously want to further strengthen the Family, they are limited by various reasons and find it difficult to grow.
Therefore, the ‘few but elite’ cultivation method is the most common development model for Ninja clans at present.
For example, the Hagoromo Clan, which was wiped out by Yayoi, even after their defeat and exile from the Land of Fire, maintained a Ninja count of around sixty, but among them, there were over ten Ninjas who reached the Jonin level.
At their peak, the Hagoromo Clan could only be ranked as first-rate in the Land of Fire, and among first-rate Ninja clans, they were not the strongest.
After their defeat in the Land of Fire, they fell to a second or third-rate Ninja clan.
Following this deduction, the proportion of Jonin-level Ninjas within the Senju and Uchiha, who are at the pinnacle of the Land of Fire and even the Ninja World, must be even more astonishing.
After reaching adulthood, it is likely that they can all grow to the Jonin level.
Because this era forces everyone to grow rapidly in an equal manner.
Being weak means death and elimination.
So, setting aside him as the General, the current Land of Night doesn’t even have the qualifications to step onto the stage; it would only become a background prop for those Ninja clans.
“Father, would you like to take a break?
You look very tired.” Irori, wearing a blue kimono and looking like a traditional Japanese beauty, brought a cup of hot tea to the table and spoke to Yayoi in a gentle tone.
Having worked from morning until afternoon, and only hastily eating two rice balls and drinking some water at noon, this made Irori very worried about Yayoi’s health.
Especially since this hasn’t just been for a day or two; ever since returning from capturing the Seven-Tails, Yayoi has been in a high-intensity work state for over half a month.
Working seventeen or eighteen hours a day, with the remaining time for rest and meals, has almost become routine, and staying up late happens every day.
“It’s okay; this level of fatigue is not worth mentioning to me.” Yayoi paused for a moment, then continued to work at the desk; various documents needed approval, and the future development plans of the country all required him, the General, to review them one by one.
It can be said that although this country can operate autonomously, Yayoi dares not have the slightest slack in controlling the general direction.
Yayoi also felt a bit amazed that he would work so hard; he never had this much motivation when working in his previous life.
Perhaps this is the difference between working for oneself and working for others.
Fortunately, the constitution of a Ninja is strong enough, and his special Chakra has, to a certain extent, provided him with immense vitality; he also takes good care of himself usually.
As long as he doesn’t encounter any accidents, living a healthy life until a hundred years old in the future is not a big problem.
As a leader, a healthy and long-lived body is more important than anything else.
Knock, knock.
Holding the hot tea Irori handed over, Yayoi took a sip, and a knock on the door sounded.
“Come in.” After Yayoi finished speaking, a man dressed as a samurai with his long hair tied in a single ponytail walked in.
Unlike the attire of a Ninja, he wore a dark-colored layered heavy armor that fully armed his body.
He looked to be in his thirties, with a katana with a black hilt at his waist; he himself was like a sword waiting to be unsheathed, with sharp eyes that only revealed a hint of respect when gazing at Yayoi.
“Lord Yayoi, I have returned.” “You’ve worked hard this time, Kurobei.
Did you encounter any danger on the road?” Looking at the samurai who had returned dusty and travel-worn, a faint smile appeared on Yayoi’s face.
Kurobei, like Kakuzu, is one of the veterans who followed him very early on.
He came from a renowned samurai Family in the original Land of Iron that had long since been wiped out.
He understands Chakra techniques, and his explosive speed is hard to match even by a Ninja’s Body Flicker Technique.
Powerful swordsmanship combined with Chakra attachment techniques allows him to easily split a ten-meter-high giant rock.
Moreover, his keen sense for the battlefield during combat is astonishing; during the war of the founding of the Land of Night, he killed hundreds of elite samurai of the Land of Iron in two years.
Although he is not a Ninja, his true strength even surpasses Kakuzu; he is the strongest person under his command.
Kurobei’s speed is too fast; many Ninjas are cut down by his blade before they can even perform a Ninjutsu.
Even if Kakuzu uses Earth Release to harden his body, he wouldn’t dare let Kurobei slash him.
“The journey was fine; although there were some twists and turns, the trip was generally smooth.
The Hyuga Clan has already agreed to Lord Yayoi’s conditions, the Aburame Clan is still hesitating, and as for the other Ninja clans…” Kurobei explained the results of this trip to Yayoi in detail.
Yayoi just listened quietly to Kurobei’s account, occasionally frowning and occasionally nodding.
Due to some ideas, Kurobei was dispatched by him not long ago to go to the Land of Fire to handle some matters.
Namely, to win over some Ninja clans in the Land of Fire to join the Alliance.
There is no way around it; this is an era of Ninja clan hegemony.
Even if he refuses to admit it, Yayoi must acknowledge this iron-clad fact.
Even though he let Irori act independently and obtained the Seven-Tails, which greatly increased the military power of the Land of Night, Yayoi did not have the guts to challenge this rule.
If he didn’t know the vastness of the world, he might have had the idea of challenging the great trend of the era.
However, after witnessing true great power, many of his little clever ideas were stillborn.
Facing this surging tide of the era, honestly accepting the status quo is the only way to survive.
But because of this, Yayoi had many new ideas.
Since the trend of the ‘one country, one village’ era is unstoppable, then he must ensure the maximization of benefits.
Taking advantage of the founding of Konoha and the concern of many Ninja clans about the Alliance between the Senju and Uchiha, he also needs to accumulate enough capital to ensure he can stand in the Ninja World of the future.
Thus, there was Kurobei’s trip to the Land of Fire.
First, the most important thing is to establish a connection with the Hyuga Clan—to carry out a political marriage with the Hyuga Clan.
Then, to win over Ninja clans that pass down secret techniques to join the Land of Night.
As for why the marriage with the Hyuga Clan was put first, besides needing the help of the Hyuga Clan, he also needs a stable order of succession on his side.
Different from the future Ninja village model of selecting the Five Kage, the shogunate system he established in the Land of Night is still an autocratic monarchy system linked by blood.
Therefore, whether he has a blood heir is an extremely important matter for the succession of the Land of Night, and it is also the key to stabilizing people’s hearts.
Moreover, any ruler needs a solid and stable team to consolidate their rule.
This team can be the veterans who followed him from the beginning, or the descendants who have a blood connection with him.
After much consideration, the Hyuga Clan fell into Yayoi’s view.
As for whether the Hyuga Clan will agree…
honestly, Yayoi is not too worried about this.
A previous Daimyo of the Land of Lightning once promised the position of a concubine, taking the daughter of the Clan Chief of the Chinoike Clan as a concubine to achieve a political Alliance.
Although this political Alliance later went bankrupt due to some events, and the Chinoike Clan went into decline, it also shows that the Daimyo of a nation has a significant political status in the eyes of Ninja clans.
Because Ninjas need to hone their strength and have a closed system, they are extremely weak in economic and other fields, but on the other hand, they must communicate with the outside world, so the Daimyo or great nobles who rule the country become the best partners.
Yayoi’s status naturally cannot compare to the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, one of the Five Great Nations, but he is currently the lord of a country and controls a not-so-small territory.
Under his management over these years, the Land of Night can be described as thriving, and he believes that the Hyuga Clan will also collect this intelligence and can have a clear judgment of the situation.
Moreover, the marriage he wants does not require the daughter of the Hyuga Clan Chief, but rather a woman from the Main Branch.
And unlike the concubine position the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning gave the Chinoike Clan, the position of the main wife he is offering is more sincere.
You must know that the Chinoike Clan, which lived in the Land of Lightning for generations, before their decline, their overall strength was not necessarily weaker than the current Hyuga Clan.
“In other words, the Hyuga Clan has already decided to choose a daughter of an Elder to marry into the Land of Night, is that right?” After Yayoi learned of this result, his heart relaxed slightly.
As he expected, this marriage with the Hyuga Clan can be considered accomplished.
“Yes, but they still need to discuss which Elder’s daughter will be married off.
The Aburame Clan also has an inclination to join the Land of Night, but there are still some voices in the clan opposing it, not wanting to leave the Land of Fire.” Kurobei explained one by one.
As for the remaining Ninja clans, their attitude is obviously quite firm; they will not leave the Land of Fire.
Even if the Senju and Uchiha unite, and the situation in the Land of Fire is more dangerous than ever, they have never taken a step back.
Holding the thought of ‘at worst, we’ll sink the Land of Fire,’ they continue to stay in the ancestral land of the Land of Fire where they have lived for generations.
“The Aburame Clan side still needs more bargaining chips; it just so happens that the Seven-Tails was captured by me, and there is basically no dangerous existence in the Black Steel Forest.
Afterward, you continue to go lobby the Aburame Clan; if they agree to join the Land of Night, I can let them establish a stronghold in the Black Steel Forest to cultivate their insects.” Yayoi thought for a moment and decided to use the Black Steel Forest, which he had just cleared of danger, as a bargaining chip to invite the Aburame Clan to join the Land of Night.
The Black Steel Forest is an unexploited primeval forest with very abundant resources, especially since there are many species of rare insects there, which is an irresistible temptation for the insect-controlling Aburame Clan.
Although the Land of Fire has abundant resources, there are too many powerful Ninja clans there; the resources occupied by the Aburame Clan are just enough, barely ensuring the operation of the Family.
To go further, they need to develop new resource points, but other places have long been claimed.
The overall resources of the Land of Night are far inferior to the Land of Fire, but there are many undeveloped areas here, and the weak Ninja clans that did not submit were either wiped out by Yayoi or exiled to other countries.
As long as the Aburame Clan comes, the resources they will enjoy will definitely exceed those of the Land of Fire.
“Yes.” Kurobei accepted the order and went down, planning to rest at home for a few days before heading to the Land of Fire to negotiate with the Aburame Clan.
He believes that with these benefits given by Yayoi, the Aburame Clan will most likely agree and migrate to the Land of Night.
Whether to occupy a small resource point in a strong country or a larger resource point in a weak country—as long as they discard the boring self-esteem that hinders the development of the Family, this multiple-choice question is not difficult to answer.
“Father, will I have an extra mother in the future?” After Kurobei left, a look of curiosity appeared on Irori’s face.
“Ah, yes, I hope she will be a woman who doesn’t cause me trouble.” Yayoi hoped so.
As for appearance, he believes the Hyuga Clan will not find an ordinary woman to fool him.
He is not only the monarch of a country but also a Ninja who has mastered powerful strength.
In this era, strength is the only criterion for being respected.
Besides this, his only requirement for his future partner is regarding character.
As long as she doesn’t cause trouble or drag him down, his requirements are not high.
He won’t demand god-like companions, so he doesn’t need pig-like teammates.
Afterward, Yayoi called Kakuzu and asked him to go to the Hyuga Clan to be responsible for discussing the marriage, and at the same time see what betrothal gifts the Hyuga Clan needs, so he can prepare in advance.
With the development over these years, the wealth he has accumulated is quite substantial.