Wrapping up in the Land of Birds

All was going according to Moso/Hoki's plans, but, at the moment he was, oh so righteously, announcing the crimes that were supposedly committed by Komei, everything changed.

The People started to move away from his position, guards included, while Komei was freed from his restraints and all of the Land of Birds' officials were glaring at the fake priest.

Moso/Hoki immediately figured out something was terribly wrong and his expression shifted to fear and resentment.

Since the preparations were so thorough, no amount of talking would be able to save him today, as such, the only path left to him was to flee.

However, the moment he tried, Shiki fell on top him like the wrath of the heavens, cracking the ground beneath them and pinning the fake priest under his foot.

"Sagi" then, came forward, took off his disguise, apologized to the citizens and officials for the deception and finally, listed all the crimes committed by Moso/Hoki and his subordinates.

At that instant, two battles were taking place.

Hoki's two Wandering Ninja subordinates were fighting the three genin. This was the job Shiki left to them, a trial by fire to help them grow and they had every intention of rising to meet his expectations.

By Shiki's instructions Neji was facing Hokushin, a fellow who was rather handsome and specialized in hiding techniques and jutsu. Although he was technically superior to Neji, with his greatest advantage neutralized by the boy's Byakugan, the fight was pretty equal.

On the other hand, Lee and Tenten were facing Nagare, a rather big man that used jutsu to assimilate rock onto himself and copy jutsu like those of Gaara and the Akimichi clan.

As the battle went on, Neji started to gain more an more advantages over Hokushin and Shiki's shadow clone that was watching over them deduced he would be able to grasp victory soon enough. On the other side however, things weren't going quite as swimmingly.

Lee and Tenten were putting up a good fight but Nagare who had used a jutsu called Assimilate All Creation Jutsu to assimilate the surrounding rocks and become a stone man, their attacks were not capable of dealing critical damage.

It seemed as if Nagare could endlessly recover from any damage caused by Lee's taijutsu and Tenten's weapons and explosive tags.

But there was no nervousness of the two genins' faces as they remembered Shiki's instructions clearly.

'My job is occupy the person in front of me for as long as I can!' lee said in his mind with zeal.

'My job is to support Lee and make sure he can maintain his combat effectiveness to delay the rock idiot in front of us!' temari sounded out in her mind.

As for why they were just doing their best to delay . . .

Seeing that he was starting to lose ground and on the verge of defeat, Hokushin tried to attack Neji's psyche in the hopes of creating an opening.

"Are you sure your friend don't need help? By now, they may already suffering untold torme-" But he was interrupted.

By trying to talk is way out of his situation, Hokushin himself revealed an opening, one that Neji's Byakugan wouldn't possibly miss and thus, his defeat was hastened by his own hand.

Neji on the other hand, also firmly remembered Shiki's instructions.

'Finally I've dealt with that fellow now then . . . "Your role is the key to the team's victory, the reason for that, is your Byakugan, defeat the enemy skilling at hiding first while Lee and Tenten distract his companion and then use your eyes to find his weakness" . . . Those were Shiki-san's instructions.'

And, just like he was told, by surveying the battlefield with his Byakugan, Neji detected the enemy's chakra being emitted from a nearby rock.

'So that's why Lee and Tenten's attacks aren't working, the enemy's real body is in that rock!' Neji deduced.

And so, with a gentle fist sneak attack, the battle was done and they two Watari Ninja were captured.

As they were feeling satisfied with their performance, the trio hear clapping sounds from nearby as they looked in the sounds direction to find Shiki.

"Well done!" He praised making the genin even happier.

"But there is really no need to capture them since the one Toki wants his just the leader."

With Shiki's words the team became a bit hesitant. While killing in battle was a matter of course for them as shinobi and wouldn't draw such reactions, they never had to execute an already defeated and helpless opponent.

"Worry not! Your performances were already quite good in my books. I'll deal with them."

In an instant, the two Watari Ninja disappeared. They would become test subjects for Mugetsu's experiments, a fate arguably worse than death but the three genin didn't know that.

After saying their goodbyes, the group started their return Journey but the Real Shiki stayed behind to continue his plans, now with Toki's full attention and cooperation.

"Thank you, Shiki-sama! Due to your help, the grudges I've held, the injustices I've faced, all of them have been washed away . . . As promised I shall serve you for the rest of my life!"

Toki swore with immeasurable sincerity in her voice as she bowed but some worries still remained hidden in her heart.

Shiki just held her face making the princess raise her head before speaking to her in a gentle tone.

"Worry not. The Land of Birds will only blossom with unheard of prosperity due to our arrangement and I swear no harm will come to it because of it."

Hearing the comforting words, Toki was incredibly moved, byond words even and her gaze carried more than sincerity and reverence, a shade of infatuation being added to it as well.

Since the Land of Birds was a small country with little resources and no hidden village, there were no direct gains to Shiki but, the simple addition of territory allowed him to expand his business greatly with production facilities for non strategic resources and expansion of trade.

Eventually, Shiki wanted the whole world to be linked and changes were already being applied to his territories with things like train tracks and telephones being slowly introduced, the latter not yet being available to the public.

Not only that, small countries tended to be ignored by the behemoths beside them due to their lacking military strength but in Shiki's hands, the could serve as garrisons and outposts for his troops in the event that a war may occur.

This way, even territories that hold not significant resource to exploit, still have their uses, with Shiki always looking for opportunities to subdue them with as little conflict as possible.

Moving on, since Toki had already sworn herself to his service and was even crushing on him, along with her position as a Daimyo, Shiki had her go through the enhancement procedure and officially become a part of the family, sharing a deep kiss with her before he left to seal the deal.

Back at his Desert Fortress, Shiki was trying to find ways to convert his resources into strength, not only for himself but for his subordinate as well.

For now though, he only had one short thing in mind and that was to meld Ranmaru's soul he had obtained and through the use of the Soul Transmutation Jutsu, fuse his Doujutsu with his White Eye of the Kagura for even greater power and versatility.

After a long and arduous process, the integration and fusion of the new doujutsu was successful and Shiki's White Eye of the Kagura became the Crimson Eye of the Kagura and was now difficult if not impossible to associate with the Byakugan.

His new doujutsu possessed a host of new abilities. Other than the penerative, long distance and 360º vions being greatly enhanced, the ability to see one's life force, read minds much more easily and capture any movement no matter how fast or covert were gained.

As a bonus, the Crimson Eye of the Kagura could also hamper the vision of other dojutsu users and even cast certain unbreakable genjutsu, even if limited to fooling one's perception in a limited manner like hiding one's signature or that of other and create false signatures to fool others.

With this done, other than his standard training, Shiki started drawing plans on ways to use his Soul Transmutation Jutsu to strengthen his subordinates by modifying their soul. Unlike his enhanced soul, the changes that could be made to others was quite limited.

So, he naturally had to think what exactly each of his subordinates needed the most and act accordingly. For now though plans were all he made.

And in middle of all his different projects, the third important mission he wanted to participate in came around, a request from Hoshigakure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.