Mizuki and the others returned to the Land of Birds. Fushigakure's ninja team expanded from six people to nine.
He invested even more money, hired more workers, and sped up the village's construction. Before long, the first building of the Phoenix Ninja Village was completed.
The Fushikage Building!
It was an Eight Trigrams tower. From an aerial view, the building was a perfect, regular octagon, with a black-and-white Yin–Yang symbol at its center. The tower stood thirty meters tall, had a circumference of one hundred and ten meters, contained thirty-six large rooms and seventy-two small rooms, and had one hundred and eight windows.
Mizuki wasn't an architect, but he had designed this Fushikage Building himself. He wasn't chasing any particular aesthetic; he simply packed it with everything he wanted — especially anything with meaning in this world, like Yin–Yang or the Eight Trigrams.
Whether it was practical or not didn't matter. As long as he could sit inside a building like this, it made him feel good.
Beneath the Eight Trigrams tower, the nine of them stood there, staring at the magnificent, oddly shaped building before them. Mizuki examined it carefully as well. The more he looked, the stranger it felt, yet he couldn't quite say what was strange.
It wasn't just him — the others seemed to feel the same way.
Naruto looked utterly puzzled and said, "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I keep feeling like this house makes me feel… really at ease. Really calm. Especially when I close my eyes, it's like I'm lying on soft grass, enjoying a gentle breeze, and all my worries just disappear."
When he said that, Mizuki immediately realized it was exactly that kind of feeling.
The others seemed to feel it too. Even Gaara — who was always brimming with killing intent and had a ferocious gaze — actually closed his eyes, and his face softened.
No one understood what was happening.
Inside Naruto, within the sealed space, the sleeping Nine-Tails suddenly opened its eyes.
"This is…"
The instant the Nine-Tails made a sound, Mizuki abruptly turned around and looked toward Naruto's abdomen.
In the next moment, his spiritual body appeared within the sealed space, standing outside the bars.
"Nine-Tails, you know what's going on, don't you?"
Seeing the three tomoe in Mizuki's left eye, the Nine-Tails roared in anger, "Damn Uchiha! Even if I know, I won't tell you."
Mizuki smiled, "Nine-Tails, I have no grudge against you, and I don't mean you any harm. You don't need to be so angry. Also, I'm not from the Uchiha clan."
"Nonsense. If you're not Uchiha, why do you have the Sharingan?" the Nine-Tails snarled, "I can sense that powerful, evil ocular power clearly — it's the same Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan as that guy Madara."
Mizuki's smile barely changed, "Then look at my right eye."
As he spoke, his right eye activated the Rinnegan.
"T-This… this… how is that possible? How do you have the old man's eyes?" Kurama's mouth fell open in shock as it stared at him in disbelief.
"I'm different from everyone else. I don't mean you any harm. So tell me — what exactly is happening outside?"
"Hmph!" Kurama snorted, closed its eyes, and lay down as if going back to sleep.
It clearly had no intention of answering.
Mizuki: …
Just then, Naruto came in as well.
"Mizuki-sensei, why are you here?"
Mizuki said, "Oh, it's nothing. I just came in to chat with this big fox."
Naruto frowned, "It's so fierce — what's there to chat about?"
"It's been locked up for so long. Being a little fierce is normal." Mizuki said lightly, "Actually, it's pretty cute."
Kurama couldn't take it anymore and opened its eyes to roar, "Shut up! You're so noisy!"
Mizuki shook his head and withdrew from the sealed space.
The Nine-Tails definitely knew, but if it wouldn't talk, there was nothing he could do. If something could shock it, then there had to be a huge secret behind this. He needed a way to make it speak — this could be extremely beneficial to Fushigakure.
After thinking it over, it would still have to rely on Naruto.
If he told the boy about the Nine-Tails' past and had Naruto persuade it, that would be the most effective approach.
Fushigakure's construction continued. The village's layout was also designed by Mizuki, and it kept following an Eight Trigrams arrangement.
Hospital, school, market, residences, parks, lakes, training grounds… each had its own place.
After the Fushikage Building was completed and its interior arranged, Mizuki invited the daimyō and officials of the Land of Birds. Many commoners also came to watch the excitement.
With everyone as witnesses, the establishment ceremony of Fushigakure officially began, and Mizuki would be formally conferred as the First Fushikage by the daimyō.
In truth, Toki (the daimyō) was unwilling, because only the leaders of the Five Great Ninja Villages were qualified to receive the title of "Kage".
If the leader of a small village in a minor country received the title of "Kage", it would become a joke.
For example, Hoshigakure in the Land of Bears had a "Hashikage". Because of that, the Land of Bears became the laughingstock of the ninja world, and its daimyō couldn't hold their head up in front of neighboring countries' daimyō.
Now, that tragic situation was about to happen to the Land of Birds. Toki's mood was easy to imagine.
But not conferring the title wasn't an option either. After all, news that Mizuki had killed the Third Hokage, the Fourth Kazekage, and Orochimaru had already reached the Land of Birds.
From the daimyō down to the officials, everyone feared him. Someone this powerful could probably wipe out the Land of Birds with ease.
With such a brutal figure insisting on becoming a Kage, how could the daimyō and officials dare refuse?
Besides, other countries' ninja villages all existed by relying on the daimyō. Without military funding, a village couldn't develop and would gradually decline.
But Fushigakure, established by Mizuki, didn't need the daimyō to provide money at all — he had even invested a huge sum into the daimyō's manor…
So, strictly speaking, Mizuki's title of Fushikage was self-proclaimed.
Even though the entire Fushigakure had only nine ninjas altogether, that didn't stop Mizuki from calling himself a Kage.
Someone disagrees? Then I'll beat them until they agree!
"I now announce that Phoenix Ninja Village is officially established, and Lord Mizuki will take office as the First Fushikage of Fushigakure. Under Lord Mizuki's leadership, may Fushigakure become a powerful ninja village. And may the people of the Land of Birds live in peace and prosperity under Fushigakure's protection, free from the suffering of war."
Mizuki walked onto the platform. At this moment, he was already wearing a black ceremonial robe, with the five characters "初代鳳凰影" (First Fushikage) written on his back. He also wore the Kage-exclusive hat, with the characters "鳳凰" written on it.
"I was never an ambitious person. I once thought I would live in Konoha forever, until I died in battle — or died of old age. But heaven did not grant my wishes. The Third Hokage suspected I wanted to defect and, without any evidence, repeatedly ordered Danzō's Root to assassinate me. Even my fiancée died under the Third's schemes. With no other choice, I left Konoha and became a missing-nin.
"Establishing Fushigakure is not to satisfy my desire for power, not to take revenge on Konoha, and certainly not to dominate the ninja world. I only hope that no one will suffer oppression again. People say ninjas are tools, but what I want to say is that ninjas also have flesh and blood and emotions. We are absolutely not tools to be driven around at will by ambitious schemers.
"From today onward, we will unite — to protect ourselves, protect friends, protect comrades, and protect every person around us."
The short yet passionate speech ended, and thunderous applause erupted around them.
After the ceremony, the daimyō and officials left, and the commoners gradually dispersed as well.
Standing on the platform, Mizuki's gaze was suddenly drawn to the backs of two women in the crowd.
One had light-yellow long hair tied into twin ponytails, a voluptuous figure, and a domineering gait. Especially eye-catching was the huge character "Gamble" (賭) on her back. The other had short black hair and a tall figure. She seemed to be holding something in her arms as she followed behind the twin-ponytailed woman.
Tsunade and Shizune are actually in the Land of Birds, and they even came to watch my ceremony as the First Fushikage. How interesting!
Watching Tsunade's twin ponytails swaying as she walked, three words unconsciously popped into Mizuki's mind: Increase attack speed!
"Cough, cough…"
Too evil. Too evil.
{T/N: If you didn't get it… grabbing the ponytails helps a lot when it's time to speed things up in the waist movement more firmly…}
Come to think of it, could I bring Tsunade into Fushigakure?
Mizuki felt it would be difficult. After all, Tsunade was the First Hokage's granddaughter, and her feelings for Konoha were not something an ordinary person could compare to.
It's difficult, but I should still try. Even if it fails, there's nothing to lose.
And what if it succeeds?
"Tsunade can wait. Now that I've become a Kage, it's time to promote Naruto and the others to Chūnin."
With the system, his strength was increasing quickly — but it could be even faster. The key was the number of disciples. For every additional disciple, he would gain three more chances each month to grant and receive returns, and his power growth would accelerate greatly.
System, when disciples are promoted to Chūnin, how do the disciple slots increase?
[For each Genin disciple promoted to Chūnin, Disciple Capacity +1!]
Mizuki frowned. Only one!
[For each Chūnin disciple promoted to Jōnin, Disciple Capacity +2!]
By that calculation, if Naruto became a Jōnin, Mizuki could gain three additional disciple slots.
"In that case, I might as well promote Naruto, Sasuke, and Daisuke all to Jōnin. Then I can immediately gain nine disciple slots." Mizuki smiled, feeling that the future looked bright.
But at that moment, the system interrupted his dreams.
[For reasonable disciple training, the system requires that a Genin be promoted to Chūnin only after passing the Chūnin exams!]
"Motherfu****, you fu***** piece of s***…"
Mizuki cursed outright.
I'm already a Kage, and I still can't just promote Genin straight to Jōnin? What kind of bullshit logic is that?
[No cheating!]
Mizuki: "…"
"Fine. It's just the Chūnin exams. I'll hold one myself.
"I'll hold it tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow they'll all be Chūnin."
[No cheating!]
[This system's purpose is to strengthen the host's power, but it does not wish the host to become a trash person who will do anything to achieve their goals.]
[Therefore, please train your disciples with care!]
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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