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Five days later, Yūshin arrived within Kikyō Castle's sphere of influence, choosing to make temporary camp at a location where they could observe the city from afar.
Kikyō Castle's overall structure perfectly matched some of Yūshin's preconceptions... The outermost perimeter consisted of low city walls, within which lay a somewhat chaotically arranged castle town, while the city center housed the keep where the noble rulers resided.
This city was built at the foot of a mountain, giving it an overall semicircular shape backed against the highlands—a defensive layout that could be considered reasonably well-constructed, making good use of the terrain.
Yūshin settled the others and prepared to enter Kikyō Castle alone first to gather intelligence.
Regardless of whether a city maintained an open attitude, infiltrating it posed no difficulty whatsoever for Yūshin.
After merely wandering around for an hour or two, he confirmed from civilian conversations that the local lord was indeed recruiting ninjas.
Yūshin breathed a sigh of relief—at least they hadn't made this trip for nothing.
Since the other party had posted job openings, Yūshin decided to submit his "résumé."
He wrote a letter briefly introducing their background, deliberately exaggerating their numbers to fifty ninjas, added some polite phrases about "your sincere recruitment" and "my humble self-recommendation," then sealed it in an envelope.
Though he'd learned about the application process, he had no intention of following conventional routes—otherwise, how could he demonstrate his capabilities?
After nightfall, Yūshin quietly infiltrated the keep.
This wasn't the era of "one country, one ninja village"—the daimyo's castle had no barriers installed.
While ordinary barriers couldn't stop the Mayfly Technique anyway, having none was still better than having some, as no protective barriers meant no possibility of unexpected complications.
The daimyo's quarters were easy to locate—the highest room in the keep.
Yūshin originally planned to slip his job application directly into the daimyo's room, but reconsidered, thinking this would be too impolite... That wouldn't be demonstrating strength, but intimidation.
So he settled for the next best option, silently placing the job application in a lavishly decorated room on the second-highest floor near the center.
This room also housed a "big shot," and Yūshin's letter should provide quite a surprise.
...
At dawn, a young man awakened in this excessively ornate room.
With maids attending him, he arranged his hair, donned a peculiar crown, layered on robe after robe, stepped into wooden clogs, and only then fully came to consciousness.
For this nobleman, this should have been an utterly ordinary day, yet as his eyes casually swept the room, he spotted an envelope conspicuously placed on his desk.
"Who entered my room last night?" he asked with some suspicion and uncertainty.
When something unfamiliar suddenly appears in an extremely familiar place, many people become paranoid... Clearly, this nobleman had good memory and high vigilance.
However, he could only receive negative responses from the maids.
The maids understood the boundaries between superior and subordinate—regardless of their intelligence, they would never cross the line.
The young man temporarily suppressed his alarm and anger, walking step by step to the desk with slight unease. After staring at the envelope for a while, he finally reached out and picked it up.
After brief hesitation, he chose to tear open the envelope and unfold the paper inside.
Upon reading the letter's contents, he understood what had happened... Just an ordinary matter presented in an extraordinary way, which made him secretly relieved.
Immediately afterward, his emotions surged and he became furious.
These barbaric ninjas had silently infiltrated his room.
He understood this was the other party demonstrating their power—both self-introduction and subtle threat.
Absolutely audacious, showing no respect for hierarchy.
"Wild monkeys!"
He cursed through gritted teeth.
Yet this voice unconsciously carried a hint of false bravado. The young nobleman felt offended, but after calming slightly, couldn't help feeling some fear.
Ninjas, for daimyo powers, seemed controlled yet actually uncontrolled—one careless moment and they'd become a double-edged sword that harmed both user and target.
Back at camp, after delivering his "job application," Yūshin only needed to patiently await the other party's response.
He wasn't anxious—given his current profession, mastered skills, and proper delivery method for the "job application," he believed he wouldn't encounter being "read but ignored."
Regardless of whether the employer's attitude was positive or negative, they would definitely respond quickly.
Masterless ninjas wandering into someone's territory were basically equivalent to plague gods—lords had to respond swiftly to their "employment applications."
Either hire them immediately, escort them out as quickly as possible, or ruthlessly eliminate them completely.
Most ninjas weren't skilled at productive activities but were particularly adept at destroying productive activities.
So Yūshin could patiently wait while seriously conducting ninjutsu research.
His project of referencing Water Release techniques to imitate, improve, and micro-innovate Fire Release ninjutsu had already made substantial progress.
Regarding ninjutsu research, Yūshin discovered that while he couldn't compare to Tobirama Senju, who could casually produce forbidden techniques, compared to ordinary ninjas, he still had considerable development capabilities.
No choice—ordinary ninjas hadn't attended school at all, while Yūshin had at least received higher education in his previous life. Though knowledge from different worlds was extremely incompatible, the thinking, logic, and creative abilities cultivated through education couldn't be stripped away by world barriers.
But then again, Yūshin's clever brain could only support small-scale research. Once involving advanced chakra theory or matters concerning this world's fundamental power operations, he conversely couldn't match true "natives."
At this moment Yūshin appeared somewhat obsessed, sitting on a collapsed low wall with a scroll covered in illegible scribbles on his lap.
However, his attention wasn't on the scroll.
Yūshin's gaze was focused and serious—sometimes raising his left arm to examine his left hand, sometimes looking at his right hand disguised as injured. After a while, he pressed his palms together gently in front of him.
It looked like he was imitating the "Whatever You Want Technique."
From his earnest attitude, it seemed the technique he might use next wouldn't be "True Several Thousand Hands" but at least "Hundred-Style Guanyin."
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
Yūshin released his hands, vigorously shook his arms, showing a somewhat frustrated expression.
Apparently no progress.
...
As the saying goes, treating others with sincerity brings rewards. Yūshin's behavior of eliminating middleman markup by directly delivering his résumé, as he expected, quickly received positive response from Kikyō Castle.
He'd left an address on the letter, and that very afternoon, people from Kikyō Castle arrived at the location.
The group emerging from the city wasn't large—two guides in front, followed by a small palanquin carried by two stocky bearers that was barely larger than a vegetable basket, then five or six attendants behind.
Additionally, someone completely shrouded in a black hooded robe accompanied the palanquin on one side.
Though the palanquin was extraordinarily miniature, it was exquisite and luxurious—all four walls and top panel bore beautiful lacquered surfaces, with complex birds and flowers drawn in gold lines on elegant black backgrounds. Anyone would evaluate it as "high-class."
However, Yūshin couldn't help thinking it looked like a certain type of box.
After the group stopped at the camp entrance, an attendant stepped forward several paces, positioned himself to the front side of the palanquin, and loudly announced:
"Lord of Kikyō Castle, Guardian of the Land of River Source, nephew of Daimyo Date Toyosaka, Date Kamitani, acting State Administrator, has temporarily arrived at your location. Please, ninja lords, come forth to welcome him."
In Yūshin's view, Kikyō Castle's delegation looked rather shabby with just a few people, but he understood this actually represented high-level treatment... He glanced at the black-robed figure, sensing through intuition that this person possessed considerable strength.
Titles like "state lord" and "state administrator" were just for listening—Kikyō Castle's daimyo's sphere of influence only extended to the city and surrounding areas. The highest ruler here was at most equivalent to a county magistrate.
However, Yūshin still understood the other party's words—Kikyō Castle's daimyo was named "Date Toyosaka," and the person in the palanquin was the daimyo's nephew, named "Date Kamitani."
This person sounded like someone with decision-making authority. According to their prior agreement, Yūshin signaled Gorō Fūma to step forward.
Yūshin had already decided that when making external contact, they wouldn't use the Ashes organization's name, but rather the Fūma Clan's name.
Compared to the obscure Ashes organization, the Fūma Clan had some reputation in the shinobi world.
This was roughly equivalent to going public through a borrowed shell.
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