NRaO Chapter 61 (Patreon)

I was deep in the center of the Earth Kingdom, in its capital, eating dango and seeing if there was any way I could convert or kill the current Land of Earth Daimyo. He was the next weakest, having several vices I could use to trick him under my control or his death. One of my clone spies just dispersed and gave me a nice little chunk of knowledge.

After I left Konoha every single ninja village, including Konoha, and many of the elemental capitals had my spy networks created with the upgraded puppet clones who could function with almost no input from me. They had their jobs and that was to gather information then they’d relay it to a snake clone who would disperse to give me any relevant, important, or time-sensitive information I needed.

The Tsuchikage was going to have an operation to have a mechanical puppet arm attached to replace the one I had taken from him while stalling them at the whirlpool attack. Thankfully he was still on the younger side, if he had decades of experience he wouldn’t have left himself so open, completely relying on his barriers to protect him as he did.

He was a piece I wasn’t sure I could fight evenly with, if I could kill him while he was unconscious having the surgery done that would be the best outcome. I couldn’t help but smile as he was waiting another three months which was just long enough for me to be able to consume another person without any adverse effects. With three months to wait, I didn’t need to rush over there right away but could still decompress the stored knowledge the snake clone sent me.

Besides the information with the Tsuchikage, there were also another two slave auctions, this time with far more security for those who purchased slaves as someone followed a group back and almost wiped them out. They even kidnapped the sister of the Tsuchikage (he didn’t know his sister was plotting an assassination attempt). I was half tempted to sneak into Konoha who ‘captured’ Kuro the Tsuchikage’s sister and turn her in for the reward before killing him.

She most likely had her baby by now. The updates from my Konoha spies didn’t give much detail about my own clan. It was more plans for dismantling the remaining clans who went against me and that did include old man Saritobi’s clan as well if he wasn’t selling out Konoha at every single chance we would never have gotten to the point where the Daimyo could bully us. To be fair it wasn’t just Hiruzen’s fault, it was all three of the previous Hokage.

We could have been the best village if the fucking moron who captured all the tailed beasts didn’t sell them and made everyone promise not to use them for war only for almost everyone to immediately use them for war. Then that fucking moron didn’t immediately take them back because they didn’t keep their promise of not attacking each other.

The second was one of the smartest ninjas to ever exist. He created more new ninjutsu than some entire villages by himself but he threw his life away to lead enemies away from himself. Enemies that the group itself could have most likely handled if they attacked them together as they were technically traitors from the village. The damage the second did was enough for Hiruzen to beat them by himself just a few years after.

Then Hiruzen was given the Hokage seat. He was the closest to a real leader but he cared more for his own clan than the entire village. Many of his decisions were made out of fear rather than conviction in the strength of the village. The village that had gone to war with multiple villages multiple times all because the Daimyo could supposedly wipe us out.

I have no doubt they could… Now! After he gave into them time after time, how many times did he let one of our enemies live while not protecting one of our allies? It was disgusting to me. He should have followed in his teacher's footsteps and got himself killed fighting the enemy unnecessarily, at least then we might have gotten a good leader… To be honest, I didn’t think any of the leadership deserved to be in their position.

From the start, I thought it was a bad idea to have the leadership role given to the strongest person in the village. I don’t even think that’s the case with Konoha anymore, I could most likely defeat Hiruzen and Granny Chiyo could have easily taken the Kazekage position but didn’t want it because it was a hassle. The true leaders wanted nothing to do with the power… Which is why I was most likely going to be leading everything from behind the scenes in the near future. Because everyone had proven unable to function without fighting.

The entire reason I was fighting was to get the fighting to stop. The only way I see that happening is if we crushed our enemies so they couldn’t fight which wasn’t going to happen with the hand pulling the strings behind the scene, or to become the hand behind the scene pulling the strings and making sure we stopped fighting under fear of destruction.

That had its own problems. It was clear that if the ninja population increased the fighting would just restart and possibly be even worse. That was for my successors to worry about. All I wanted to do now was make sure my children had a safe place to call home… And right now, Konoha isn’t living up to those standards. I trust the safety of the hidden village I made myself more than I did Konoha.

That was why I needed to kill and replace the Daimyo. That was why I needed to keep growing stronger. I couldn’t rely on anyone for protection, the leaders were far more focused on their own clans than protecting their allies or village. Most other villages were in an even worse state than Konoha as well with corrupt leaders straight up killing strong clans to stay in power.

I finished my dango and made my way towards the Earth Kingdom castle. At the very least I needed to take out the current Daimyo. That was the only way to push through change, killing the pact-making Daimyo and replacing them would make me the de facto leader of the entire world. It wouldn’t be that easy. I could feel several schemes being played in the background still that I would have to deal with once everything was settled.

If I was found out then I would most likely become a real missing nin and have to stick with creating my own village and moving my family there. Konoha wouldn’t be able to protect them from outside forces if it was discovered I was targetting the Daimyo. Evacuation plans were already in play and there was an underground tunnel network leading to several locations outside the village.

I knew I was playing with fire. A single mistake would end my second life and, at the very least make it much harder. That was why I was being so careful as I had been watching the guard routes and learning every bit of information I could about the guards in case I needed to impersonate them. Soon my plan would be ready and I would convert another piece on the board to my own.