Chapter 105: Development
Watanabe Musashi sprinted toward the epicenter of the explosion.
"Dog One, Dog One! Calling Dog One! Calling Dog One! Lord Leader, can you hear me?"
His voice was tinged with urgency.
Although he knew Kael had significant survival skills, the apocalyptic scale of that attack made him worry if Kael could survive it intact.
Less than two seconds after he sent the message, the bat mark on his chest glowed red, and Kael's calm voice sounded in his ear.
"I'm fine."
Then, Watanabe saw the massive Earth Dragon raise half its body about a kilometer away, instantly confirming Kael's location.
Watanabe rushed over to the Earth Dragon.
Getting closer, he found that neither Kael nor his summons had suffered significant injuries. Only the Void Mantis looked a bit weak, its body bearing scorch marks from lightning attacks.
To his surprise, he also saw a young ninja wearing a Konoha forehead protector. A quick turn of his mind told him this must be the genius Konoha ninja, Namikaze Minato.
"Did you see the Cloud brothers out there?" Kael asked.
"They ran!" Watanabe confirmed.
"Dammit!"
Kael cursed under his breath, his face darkening. He recalled the Explosive Flies he had scattered to search for the A-B brothers.
After all this effort, he still hadn't managed to keep the Raikage's son there, and he had forged a grudge with the Hidden Cloud. It felt like a loss no matter how he looked at it. But at least he had displayed his strength, which should instill some fear in those barbarians.
Kael could only comfort himself with that thought.
"Forget it, Kael. We underestimated the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki too much. Besides, to push them this far... I have to say, both the Hidden Hot Water and you, its Leader, have truly astonished me!"
Minato spoke calmly from the side, looking at Kael with admiration.
In a way, Kael had saved his life this time. Although Minato could have used the Flying Thunder God to escape the battlefield instantly, what frightened him in hindsight was that all his pre-placed Flying Thunder God kunai had been within the range of that final Continuous Tailed Beast Bomb barrage.
Without Kael, the best-case scenario for him would have been sustaining serious injuries.
Kael turned to look at him. His annoyed expression slowly faded, replaced by a distant look.
As his thoughts shifted, his summons seemed to sense something. They all turned to face Minato, assuming stances as if ready to attack at any moment.
"You want to kill me?"
Minato actually laughed, a bright, sunny smile on his face.
"I'm considering it!"
Kael looked at him without shying away and nodded.
In the Shinobi World, if you couldn't be friends, you were destined to be enemies.
And Namikaze Minato was undoubtedly the kind of ninja who would make any enemy feel threatened by his brilliance.
"You can try..."
Minato kept his gentle smile. Kael stood expressionless in silence for a long time, but he couldn't bring himself to give the order to attack.
After a long silence, Kael turned and walked away. His summons followed in his footsteps.
After two steps, he suddenly stopped.
He tilted his head slightly.
The morning sunlight illuminated the handsome profile of the young man as he spoke indifferently.
"I hope we don't have the chance to meet again..."
Minato looked stunned.
He didn't quite understand what Kael meant by that.
One week later.
Hidden Hot Water Village.
To completely change a ninja village's weakness, many aspects needed to be considered.
After holding Jade's funeral a few days ago, Kael immediately began implementing his long-prepared "Trilogy Plan."
Control the Feudal Lord — Expand the Village — Absorb more civilians!
The first step was already complete. He had secretly sent Hakuun, the village's only female Jonin, to the capital. She had already brought the Feudal Lord under control using spiritual energy. To put it plainly, she used her spiritual power to influence the Daimyo's brain, making him act according to her will.
Since there was no specific genjutsu for this, Hakuun remained by the Feudal Lord's side as a "guardian ninja."
Of course, that was just the official story for the officials. In reality, she had to "brainwash" the Daimyo every few days to keep him under control.
To truly make the Hidden Hot Water strong, education was always the top priority.
The academy had six grades but only six classes. Graduating thirty-something students a year was barely enough to maintain the village's ninja numbers, considering the number of retirees due to age and injury each year.
To Kael, this was pathetic.
If this were a large village like Konoha, Kael's massive restructuring might have faced all sorts of obstruction.
But in the Hidden Hot Water, a village without a single clan, Kael's word was law.
And now, his funds were more abundant than ever. The Feudal Lord naturally served as his ATM.
A willing, never-looking-back kind of ATM, much like a simp who had lost all reason for love!
Simping, simping! Simping until you have nothing left!
The Ninja War had already begun to break out, and Kael had made enemies of two great ninja villages. He had to accelerate his development.
Otherwise, once the war was over, there was no guarantee that the Hidden Cloud and Konoha wouldn't come looking for trouble once their hands were free.
Thinking of this, Kael called out to the door.
"Tanabe, come in for a second."
As his current personal bodyguard, Tanabe Kaze was always by Kael's side protecting him.
"Lord Leader, is something the matter?"
"There are no outsiders here, you don't need to be so formal..." Kael looked at him somewhat reproachfully.
Tanabe grinned, scratching his head simply. "I want to, but I'm afraid if Captain Watanabe hears, he'll hit me on the head again..."
This amused Kael. Shaking his head, he got down to business.
"Have all the refugees in the Land of Hot Water been settled into the village?"
Tanabe nodded quickly. "Our ninja were all sent out to search every town and village. We've transferred almost all the refugees we found to the village. Right now, half of them are living in temporary tents set up outside the village because there's no more room inside."
Kael nodded silently.
This wasn't a problem in his eyes. The village was preparing to expand, so settling all these refugees wouldn't be difficult.
"Next is the expansion of the Ninja Academy. To avoid disrupting the current students' classes, we'll just convert a few existing buildings into new classrooms; that will be faster. Then, screen all the children of suitable age in the village. Those with talent for chakra cultivation go into one class.
"Those 'biased' children—the ones good at only one thing—should also be recruited and put into a class. Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu... there's always a path suitable for them. In the future, I might even be able to mass-synthesize some devices similar to exoskeletons to greatly enhance the combat power of the village's ninja..."