“Welcome to our ranks, Clan Chief Orochi.
I had intended to greet you personally, but matters here have kept me exceptionally busy.
I hope you can forgive the oversight.” Yayoi received Orochi with a touch of warmth, guiding him to sit facing him at a nearby spot.
On the table between them lay a map of the Land of Night, marked with numerous annotations.
Irori prepared tea and placed it beside Yayoi and Orochi before taking her position behind Yayoi, standing like a loyal guard.
“Let’s dispense with formalities; there will be plenty of time for familiarity later.
Instead, let’s discuss what currently concerns you most, Clan Chief Orochi.” Yayoi got straight to the point.
Orochi took a sip of tea and nodded.
Just as Kakuzu had said, this was a person who preferred directness, disliking unnecessary dithering over important matters.
This was good.
He also preferred superiors like this—the clearer the instructions and divisions, the better, to avoid future hidden troubles and unnecessary disputes.
“This is the Black Steel Forest.” Yayoi pressed his finger onto a territory in the western part of the Land of Night on the map.
This area was the location of the Black Steel Forest, its land area comparable to some remote countries.
The forest contained abundant raw material resources and many new species of insects.
These were only what had been discovered so far; there were still many unexplored, unknown parts within.
After all, for such an uninhabited zone, if not for the arrival of the Aburame Clan, he likely wouldn’t have prioritized this forest for development within the next decade.
At most, he would have stationed a unit there, waiting to develop it in a more distant future.
“This is an untouched primeval forest.
Its value, as the Clan Chief of the Aburame Clan, I believe you are well aware.
The main force of the Aburame Clan needs to be stationed in Yomi City, under management, and cannot act freely.
However, you may establish a second base within this forest.
Whether you cultivate new insects there or engage in other activities, it will be entirely at the Aburame Clan’s discretion.” Pausing here, Yayoi continued, “However, let me be clear upfront: in the future, the state will also develop this forest; otherwise, its resources would be wasted.
Before that, it would be best for the Aburame Clan to delineate a core area as your Foundation.” “Acceptable.” Orochi nodded with satisfaction.
As per the initial agreement, the Black Steel Forest would be primarily managed by the Aburame Clan for a period of time.
This was actually sufficient.
This vast forest was more than twenty times larger than the territory the Aburame Clan had occupied in the Land of Fire.
It was impossible for a single clan to claim it all; the Aburame Clan wasn’t that powerful.
Not to mention, besides the Black Steel Forest, the Land of Night had several other primeval mountains and forests suitable for insect cultivation.
For the Aburame Clan, this would be a new beginning.
Though leaving their ancestral lands was painful, departing from them meant broader horizons, didn’t it?
“Additionally, I hope Clan Chief Orochi will assume the position of Head of the Intelligence Department.
The secret techniques of the Aburame Clan are well-suited for infiltration, investigation, and espionage work.
I recall that you, Clan Chief Orochi, are also a rare sensory-type Ninja.” “Understood.” Concise and to the point, Orochi agreed without hesitation.
After all, gathering intelligence and tracking targets were areas where the Aburame Clan excelled.
Immediately, at Yayoi’s glance, Irori retrieved a sealed document file.
“These are the Ninja I plan to later integrate into the Intelligence Department.
You can review them and decide which are needed and which are not.” Professional matters should be handled by professionals.
Yayoi wasn’t worried that delegating authority would lead to uncontrollable consequences.
Because a single Aburame Clan wasn’t worth his apprehension.
Irori’s Ice Release, capable of directly confronting even Tailed Beasts, was highly effective against the Aburame Clan’s insects.
Moreover, he already had ideas for the upcoming autonomous Puppets.
He only needed the Seven-Tails’ Chakra to recover, then make it endure a bit more hardship to complete them.
By then, his power would increase dramatically once again, and his rule would become even more solid.
Orochi silently accepted it, his face revealing nothing.
Next, Yayoi discussed further details, including the annual funding ratio allocated to the Aburame Clan.
“Are there any other questions, Clan Chief Orochi?” After speaking, Yayoi took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.
“No, none.
I am quite satisfied with this outcome, General.” Orochi shook his head as he said this.
Leaving the Land of Fire, the Aburame Clan had lost much, but what Yayoi offered far exceeded their losses there.
“Good.
Then let the Aburame Clan gradually integrate into the military side through the Intelligence Department.
Everything requires an integration process.
You just need to prepare and allocate personnel on your end.” Yayoi’s words calmed the previously somewhat anxious heart.
Yayoi had arranged everything for the Aburame Clan meticulously, down to the smallest detail, with preventive measures in place for both present and future matters.
Next, the Aburame Clan only needed to dispatch personnel to integrate into this new country.
Once the agreement was settled, Orochi chatted briefly before hurriedly departing.
The Aburame Clan had just settled in the new country, and many clan matters required his personal attention and presence as Clan Chief to prevent any chaos.
Yayoi did not detain him, watching him leave.
“Father, this Clan Chief Orochi is a person with a soft heart but not good at expressing it.” After Orochi left, Irori smiled and offered her assessment.
Although an artificial creation, Irori possessed her own independent personality and intellect, capable of forming her own judgments and preferences regarding people and things.
“Indeed.
After all, when the Aburame Clan faced crisis before, he was the first to resist on the front lines.” Yayoi had collected considerable intelligence regarding Orochi.
Combined with their recent interaction, he could roughly gauge what kind of person he was.
Subconsciously, he thought of Aburame Shino from the original story, who seemed to be a similar type.
Members of the Aburame Clan were generally delicate and thoughtful inside but not adept at expressing themselves with words, only silently guarding what they cherished.
Getting along with such a Ninja clan would lead to far fewer troubles in the future.
If it were like the Uchiha, who acted as if they were the center of the universe, constantly boasting about their Sharingan, that would be quite troublesome.
Afterwards, Yayoi did not continue with official duties but retired to the inner court to rest.
The wedding was approaching soon, and it was impossible to say he wasn’t nervous.
Having lived two lives, this was his first marriage.
Though not born of love and without having met the bride beforehand, he still felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation.
What kind of person would his future wife be?
Virtuous and gentle?
Or lively and cheerful?
Perhaps very rigid and serious in temperament?
Or fragile-hearted, prone to tears?
Standing on the corridor of a courtyard, gazing at the solitary moon in the night sky, he stared blankly, lost in thought.
Yayoi was sleepless.
◎ ‘Probably someone very traditional in her ways, doing things strictly by the book?’ In a clean guest room at the state guesthouse, the woman from the Hyuga main Family who would marry as the General’s wife—Hyuga Kicho—stood by the windowsill, looking up at the moon hanging in the night sky, lost in thought.
Like Yayoi, his future wife, Hyuga Kicho, also found it difficult to sleep.
She hailed from an ancient prestigious Family—the Hyuga Clan, flowing with the power of a Bloodline Limit, making them nobility among Ninja.
In recent years, although they hadn’t produced powerful Ninja like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, they remained one of the few strong clans beneath those two.
The power of the Byakugan allowed them to see through all enemy schemes, tricks, traps, and ambushes on the battlefield.
However, in Guidei’s eyes, this historically rich prestigious Family was filled with suffocating oppression and rigidity.
And even within such a rigid Ninja clan, her own Family was arguably the most rigid and devoid of human warmth.
Originally, there were seven children in the Family.
As the eldest daughter with good talent, she was naturally classified into the main Family.
The remaining younger siblings were all branded with the Caged Bird Seal, becoming branch Family members destined to shed their last drop of blood for the main Family.
Two of her younger brothers and one younger sister died protecting her in a battle.
She was eleven at the time, while the younger siblings who died for her were only seven and five.
Her father, Hyuga Shuzen, categorized these children into various grades of tools based on their talent.
Those with high aptitude were heavily nurtured and trained into excellent combat weapons.
For those with poor aptitude, his eyes held not a trace of emotion, as if looking at something else, treating his own flesh and blood as cannon fodder to attract enemies, setting traps to attack foes and secure battlefield victories.
Three died for her.
Two became her father Shuzen’s cannon fodder, luring enemy fire until their bodies were utterly destroyed, the youngest being only four years old.
This was the Family she was born into.
Radical clan members, younger siblings constantly dying.
Her father Shuzen had several women, but in his eyes, they were not women to be cherished and protected—they were merely breeding tools for cultivating his weapons.
When she left, two of the women in the household were pregnant again.
It was foreseeable that if the war didn’t end, those women’s children…
would either become her father Shuzen’s weapons or advance as cannon fodder, their bodies utterly destroyed.
So, leaving the old Family for a new one.
Would her future see a change?
She knew.
This marriage alliance was originally meant for another main Family daughter to wed, but it was her father who firmly proposed that she be the one to marry the General of the Land of Night.
Therefore, once again, she would serve as her father’s weapon to strike at the enemy, traveling to this unfamiliar country to marry a completely strange man.
Then, she would wait for the opportune moment, when he lost his value…
kill him, to seize more benefits for the Hyuga Clan.
“Looking closely, tonight’s moonlight is truly beautiful.
I hope I can continue to admire it in the days to come…” Slender, pale fingertips gently traced the windowsill as the Byakugan girl’s face bloomed with a pure, moving smile.
While gazing at the moonlight outside the window, she silently tightened her grip on the hilt of the knife in her hand, holding it firmly.
As if this was the only thing that could bring her a sense of security, now and in the future.