After Li Tetsuhiro returned to Taiji Hall, he convened the first national assembly on schedule.
He formally proclaimed the founding of the Ten Thousand Worlds Ninja Nation!
He renamed Daimyo City Pangaea Castle and crowned himself the Emperor of All Creation.
Using the Byzantine Empire as a model, he established corresponding offices and departments, appointing suitable people from the village to fill them.
Konoha would become a shinobi training base. Shinobi would no longer serve as regular troops, but instead form special operations units.
Thanks to the Senju Clan's recruitment efforts, samurai from the Land of Iron would become the nation's main fighting force! Commoners could enlist as well.
Dressed in black dragon robes, Tetsuhiro sat on his throne, gazing down at everyone with imposing dignity.
"I hereby declare war on the other four nations of the world, effective immediately!"
His words sent an uproar through the hall.
Sarutobi Sasuke immediately stepped forward. "Your Majesty, please reconsider! Peace has only just arrived, and our clansmen are unwilling to go to war again."
Tetsuhiro spoke slowly. "Madara sent word that after killing Anpei Minghui, he pursued the Daimyo into the Land of Earth. He decided to conquer it while he was there."
"What?! Lord Hokage is being far too reckless. We must send support immediately!" Chaos broke out below.
"Rest assured, Tobirama and the others are assisting him. Next, I will personally lead the campaign against the Land of Wind. Shu Mao will oversee the nation, with Sarutobi Sasuke, Mito Uzumaki, and Shimura assisting."
Before everyone could once again be stunned speechless, Tetsuhiro shook his head.
"Many more things beyond your imagination lie ahead. You must learn to adapt quickly.
"Now, report on the matters assigned to each of you."
The clan representatives below exchanged glances. In the end, Sarutobi Sasuke was the first to step forward.
"Your Majesty, the city is indeed controlled by those great families. They monopolize the economy and resources, and their marriages tie them together in a very complicated web. It will be difficult to deal with them quickly."
"Difficult to deal with?" Tetsuhiro said gravely. "You simply don't want to use force, do you? Do you think sparing them will make them grateful to our nation?"
"You could not be more wrong! They will do everything in their power to overthrow us and welcome the Daimyo back. Hear my command-the entire Stealth Force and Imperial Guard are to mobilize!
"The relevant departments will cooperate. Once evidence is found, immediately confiscate their estates and arrest them. Kill anyone who dares resist!"
"As you command!"
Sarutobi Hizayama immediately stepped forward to report. "Your Majesty, Yamagami Hiroshi has confessed to everything, including his family's illegal enterprises, their training of suicide operatives, and their persecution of commoners."
"Good! Use that evidence to make an example of the Yamagami Family first. Eliminate the leading families, and we can deal with the rest gradually.
"At the same time, nationalize the land. All land belongs to our Ten Thousand Worlds Ninja Nation! Anyone who dares claim private ownership will be charged with treason! Distribute the land equally among the commoners, then reduce taxes by twenty percent so they can make a living.
"Then divide a portion of the confiscated assets into three shares: one for the commoners, one for the treasury, and one for education and healthcare! Finally, I have some good news for you."
Everyone immediately fell silent.
"Before that, I might as well tell you this. According to Tobirama's secret letter, our decapitation operation was exposed not only because of the onmyoji's special abilities, but also because Senju Hara and two other elders betrayed their clan by secretly colluding with the Daimyo."
The entire Taiji Hall fell utterly silent...
"Heh. Those remnants of the old era disregarded the interests of their clan and village. To satisfy their own desires, they caused the deaths of a full one hundred and fifty-nine members of the Assault Squad!
"Arrest all three elders and everyone involved immediately."
After giving instructions on the remaining matters, he ended the meeting and went to the Hall of Two Principles.
There was important business to attend to there as well. His queen was still waiting for him...
The door creaked as he pushed it open and entered. Mito had been waiting for some time.
Her flushed little face was adorable. Her loose white underclothes could not conceal her alluring figure, and there was not a trace of excess flesh on her slender waist.
Standing beside the bed, she slowly raised her hand.
Tetsuhiro instantly came to his senses. So this was the so-called surprise.
"Sorry," he muttered softly before walking inside...
The palace doors were shut tight.
A sudden downpour began beneath the sky. Glittering droplets slowly seeped out, pattering onto the ground.
Judging by its intensity, this storm might last several hours...
The next day, at the hour of the Tiger-five in the morning!
Although Tetsuhiro had spent the entire night training without sleep, he felt refreshed. After bidding farewell to an equally radiant Mito,
he selected five guards and three hundred Senju clansmen and set out for the Land of Wind!
Along the way, however, the clansmen's morale was low, as though they were marching to their deaths.
"Relax, all of you. How about this? I'll stop speaking as your emperor for now. Just like before, I'm still your clan leader!"
Tetsuhiro's words immediately caught their attention. "Some of you may never have witnessed my strength, so you're worried. But would I gamble with my own life?"
He patted his chest with a self-deprecating air. "All you need to do is supervise and reassure them after they surrender. Each of you will receive credit for your service.
"But you must not violate the laws I have established. If you do, there will be no pardon!"
Hearing that they could earn merit lifted their spirits a little.
"That's more like it. Show some spirit!"
"Yes!" they all answered.
Speed was essential in war. After reassuring his clansmen, Tetsuhiro went on ahead.
Once he passed through the dense forest along the Land of Fire's border, the landscape changed abruptly. Yellow sand filled the sky, and parched desert stretched as far as the eye could see.
"People actually live here?" he wondered aloud.
"No wonder they keep attacking the Land of Fire in the future. Anyone would do the same!"
Yet the sight suddenly gave him another idea, one they would be unable to refuse.
That could wait until later, though. For now, Tetsuhiro strode openly into the desert. Using the Kagura Mind Technique, he quickly located a border outpost.
"Who goes there?" A sensory shinobi quickly detected him, but in the next instant, darkness swallowed the man, leaving him unable to see anything. Every one of his comrades nearby suffered the same fate.
Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!
Tetsuhiro swiftly knocked them down one by one without taking their lives, then continued deeper into the country.
He repeated this until he realized his movements might have been exposed. Only then did he prepare to take a detour.
Boom!
"They certainly have plenty of traps." Tetsuhiro's body was encased in Wood Release, with a thin wisp of smoke rising from it.
Explosive tags, shuriken, and plenty of puppets. Sunagakure isn't doing too badly these days.
Tetsuhiro dodged the traps as he thought.
Clack, clack, clack!
Another group of puppets appeared before him.
Wood Release: Piercing Stakes Technique!
As he completed the hand seals, more than a dozen sharpened wooden stakes shot from his palm, easily piercing the puppets.
"Come out. Your chakra threads gave away your position."
Clap, clap, clap! "As expected of the Senju Clan's leader. Such extraordinary strength, and at such a young age. Impressive!"
As the speaker appeared, his shinobi filled the desert.
Tetsuhiro estimated their numbers at a glance. There were at least a thousand!
"Would you tell me why you have come to the Land of Wind? Unless you explain yourself, we will regard this as a deliberate provocation by Konoha! We will lodge a joint complaint directly with the Land of Fire's Daimyo and demand an explanation!"
Tetsuhiro found that rather amusing. "First, you are mistaken. I have founded a nation and become its emperor. The Land of Fire has been renamed the Ten Thousand Worlds Ninja Nation, and I am the Emperor of All Creation!
"I have come personally to conquer the Land of Wind and unite the world!"
"Arrogant! Utterly ridiculous!"
"Kill this madman!" Every Sand shinobi around him either seethed with anger or sneered in contempt.
But the corners of Tetsuhiro's mouth lifted slightly. "Second, you suffer here in this desert. I have come to save you and the future of this world! Submit to me, and I will bring you prosperity and happiness!"
Before they could react, Tetsuhiro immediately unleashed his technique!
Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!
"Enemy attack!"
"Stop him!"
Sunagakure's shinobi had only just readied themselves when they discovered that the roots avoided everyone, spreading outward until the desert within a radius of one hundred had become a forest...
"Well? Are you willing to submit to me?"
The First Kazekage, Reto, laughed for a long while before catching his breath. "Everyone says Hashirama is naive. I never imagined you would be this ridiculous!"
"If solving the Land of Wind's plight were really so easy, why would we need you? Hahaha! Go on, try all you like."
Tetsuhiro glanced in confusion at the dense forest around him, unable to understand why the man held him in such contempt.
But a moment later, he noticed that the trees' color seemed wrong. His Wood Release, renowned for absorbing chakra, had actually grown a little duller.
As time passed, the trees gradually withered, and the people of Sunagakure laughed ever more brazenly.
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