In mid-April of Konoha's first year. (Year 10 of the Land of Night.)
The construction of ninja villages in the four great nations outside the Land of Fire had largely been completed.
The Five Great Nations had officially ushered in the era of One Country, One Village, becoming the standard-bearers guiding the times.
Though this was a grand undertaking by the Five Great Nations, the Ninja World was a whole. The Five Great Nations were simply too large, and such a massive change would naturally affect the smaller countries as well.
"If only I had the Shadow Clone Technique. Then I could work and train at the same time."
In the office on the highest floor of the Tenshu Tower, Yayoi was handling official documents as usual.
Perhaps because he had been sitting for too long, and because processing documents was so tedious, he could not help thinking of the Shadow Clone Technique's usefulness.
Though he knew other Clone Techniques as well, none of them came remotely close to the Shadow Clone Technique.
The ability to accumulate experience alone—something even the Byakugan and Sharingan could not distinguish—made the Shadow Clone Technique the pinnacle of Clone Techniques.
Other Clone Techniques could not accumulate experience. Once they returned to the original body, they did not retain the clone's memories either.
If he used ordinary Clone Techniques to process official documents, then once the clones vanished, their memories of handling those documents would not be absorbed by the original body.
That could easily create chaos.
"I need to find another chance to visit Konoha and make a deal with Tobirama Senju."
Yayoi felt that such an opportunity would come again soon.
Once the ninja villages of the Five Great Nations had completely stabilized, the upper echelons of the five great ninja villages would surely gather again for talks.
"What do you want to trade for, Lord Yayoi?"
Irori entered while carrying a large stack of documents. She set the massive pile on the desk with a dull thud, then tilted her head at Yayoi.
"Ah, nothing. By the way, haven't there been more documents to process lately?"
Yayoi pointed at the stack of documents, more than twenty centimeters thick.
"After all, the international situation is tense right now, and many large-scale projects are being built across the country at the same time. It is only natural that there is so much to deal with. Also, the matter of the Land of Song has been resolved. The Land of Song's daimyo and his family have safely arrived in Nightview City. I had a residence arranged for them."
Irori brought up the matter of the Land of Song.
"Oh, that matter."
Yayoi recalled what had happened in Konoha several months ago. (If you do not remember, please refer to Chapter 16.)
He was not surprised at all. It was nothing strange for a tiny country too insignificant to even show up as a colored patch on a map to suddenly disappear. Perhaps no one would even notice.
Still, the outcome was fairly good. Under the protection of the ninja and samurai he had arranged, the Land of Song's daimyo and his family had safely reached Nightview City and planned to settle down here.
This was already the utmost benevolence Yayoi could offer.
"Take eighty percent of the fee for protecting the Land of Song's daimyo and his family, then divide it equally among all the ninja and samurai who carried out this mission. They have been out there for several months, after all. They deserve it."
Yayoi gave the order.
Though the fee was not small, it was still insignificant on the scale of a nation.
"Rest assured, Lord Yayoi. I already distributed it evenly."
"..."
Who exactly was the general here, her or him?
He had not even given the order yet, and she had already handled it herself?
Yayoi suppressed the urge to complain.
It felt like Irori had been taking matters into her own hands more and more often lately.
She even lectured him, her master, without holding back in the slightest.
"Has anything particularly noteworthy happened lately?"
Yayoi idly flipped through the documents. Most of their contents were much the same. Work was tedious like that; so many things repeated day after day.
Yet even those repetitive daily matters required his signature as general before they could be carried out. Otherwise, management would become chaotic, which would not benefit the country's stability.
"Yes. The ninja and samurai in the Military Bureau—although quite a few of them have already started families, a considerable number are still single."
Irori spoke with a perfectly serious expression.
"...That is indeed a matter of utmost importance."
Yayoi scratched his head, his expression growing slightly more solemn.
The greatest foundation of his rule in the Land of Night was this group of first-generation meritorious figures who had fought alongside him to build the nation.
For a ruler to govern a country for a long time, he had to find an interest group that stood in the same camp as himself.
These ninja and samurai were precisely such an interest group, and they were also the Land of Night's greatest armed force.
But these ninja and samurai would one day grow old, retire, and die.
Therefore, to ensure the stability of power, the direct second and third generations descending from these first-generation founders would become the nation's new foundation.
Then Yayoi saw the ninja listed at the very top, the one most urgently in need of settling down—Kakuzu.
As the head of the Combat Execution Division, Kakuzu was undoubtedly one of the Land of Night's upper echelon.
He was almost thirty and still had not started a family. That was indeed rather hard to justify.
After all, Kakuzu was not the rogue ninja from the original story, betrayed and utterly disappointed in the world, who only wanted to make money everywhere.
The current Kakuzu was still a young man full of optimism toward the world and overflowing with enthusiasm.
It was simply that his taciturn nature made him poor at expressing what was in his heart. He only knew how to work diligently and silently devote himself to the country.
Looking at it this way, he was practically an outstanding young man who could endure hardship and possessed exceptional ability.
"Are there any unmarried female ninja or female samurai of suitable age in the Military Bureau?"
Yayoi suddenly felt the urge to set Kakuzu up on a blind date.
"No. Director Keika of the Medical Division got married two years ago."
Irori mentioned Keika, the head of the Medical Division.
She was a woman a few years younger than Yayoi. She had joined Yayoi's group three years after Kakuzu, and aside from Yayoi, she was the most skilled practitioner of Medical Ninjutsu in the Land of Night.
She had also displayed remarkable talent for learning in the medical field. Yayoi had entrusted her with the heavy responsibility of leading the Medical Division, and she was currently working tirelessly on the front lines to train more medical ninja for the Land of Night.
"That makes sense. There are few female ninja and female samurai to begin with, so they must be highly sought after in the Military Bureau."
Moreover, because chakra existed, as long as they took care of themselves, ninja and samurai generally had appearances above average.
Those ninja who used special Ninjutsu and secret techniques that affected their figures and appearances were excluded, of course.
Yayoi had no choice but to drop the matter, but a new idea soon came to him.
"I remember the Land of Song's daimyo has several daughters of suitable age, doesn't he?"
Yayoi still remembered the scene when the Land of Song had come to Konoha seeking sponsorship, bringing several daughters along.
"Yes, it seems none of them are married yet. Lord Yayoi, are you planning to...?"
"Have someone bring photos of those girls to Kakuzu and let him choose one."
Though he could not remember their appearances clearly, Yayoi vaguely recalled that the Land of Song's daimyo's daughters had all seemed rather young and beautiful.
"Even so, I feel that Mr. Kakuzu does not seem like the sort of man who is particularly interested in romance between men and women."
Remembering Kakuzu's ever-taciturn attitude toward work, Irori offered her opinion.
"Irori, do not be fooled by that honest appearance of his. After he received his first commission payment in the underground Black Market, he spent an entire day and night at a brothel.
When he came out, his steps were unsteady, yet he lied to Kurobei and me, saying he had been attacked and gotten into a fierce fight. If Kurobei and I had not secretly followed him, he really might have fooled us."
Yayoi instinctively recalled the time he had started their enterprise with Kakuzu and Kurobei, when Kakuzu had secretly gone alone to a brothel.
Most infuriatingly, he had not invited Yayoi along.
Even now, Yayoi still did not know whether the girls in those brothels were gentle or not.
"..."
Irori felt that Yayoi had just revealed an utterly useless piece of embarrassing gossip.
So Mr. Kakuzu was actually that sort of secretly lustful man?
And his own superior had followed and monitored him, gaining hold of such shameful history.
Poor Mr. Kakuzu was completely being toyed with in the palm of Lord Yayoi's hand. Irori felt a little pity for him.
Before you continue