With the Daimyō's official approval, Yoru's appointment as the Fourth Mizukage was all but finalized. Ministers from the Land of Water began publicly promoting the title of "Fourth Mizukage," and preparations for an auspicious succession ceremony were already underway.
Of course, these matters have little to do with Yoru himself. He has far more important things to attend to right now.
Like rebuilding Kirigakure from the ground up—implementing a new administrative structure, reforming policies, overseeing village logistics, and unearthing the secrets left behind by previous Mizukage, along with all classified information and contingency plans of the village.
It was a monumental task, one that would take time, patience, and persistence.
"These scrolls contain our most restricted archives—banned techniques, forbidden jutsu research, confidential planning left by former Mizukage, even internal clan dossiers and intel networks from the outside world..."
The Third Mizukage led Yoru into a secure archive beneath the ruins of the Mizukage Tower. He picked up a scroll and sighed. "Though calling it 'classified' now feels laughable. After all, I was under genjutsu for years—who knows how much of this was already compromised."
"But for understanding the state of the village, this knowledge will still serve you well."
"No doubt. Learning from the past is the first step to securing the future. To me, this entire archive is a treasure trove."
"Water Clone Jutsu."
Yoru formed hand seals, summoning several water clones to begin sifting through the mountain of information.
Seeing Yoru's unceremonious approach, the Third Mizukage smiled and shook his head. "While using Water Clones to absorb information is good, taking in too much information at once might put too much strain on your mind... Never mind, with your power, my words seem meaningless."
"There are also some human experimentation and bloodline research materials within the village. You were already aware of these when you were in the Anbu. The specific intelligence is inside, but it requires a higher-level hand seal to access."
"No problem."
As the clones diligently combed through the vault, the Third Mizukage continued guiding Yoru through the depths of the compound. "So, tell me—what's your first move going to be? Announce the rise of a new Kirigakure to the world? Or to seek greater gains on the still chaotic and unfinished battlefield?"
"Neither," Yoru replied without hesitation. "Seeking gains is definitely something I'll do, but for the village's development, the most important thing I need to do next is... increase the population!"
"I don't care what methods we use or what relationships are involved. Love, hate, arranged pairings—I'll do whatever it takes to rebuild our numbers."
"Population, huh…"
The Third Mizukage muttered with visible guilt. He understood exactly what Yoru meant.
"I recently reviewed the registry. Including all combat classes—Genin, Chūnin, Jōnin—we have just over five hundred active shinobi. Of those, almost all are front-line fighters. Our numbers of intel specialists, strategists, medics? You can count them on one hand."
"And it's not just the shinobi. The civilian population of the village has dropped to just over ten thousand. That's terrifying. Not to mention the smaller shinobi villages, even a slightly prosperous small town probably has more people than this!!"
Yoru's words were heavy, and the data left the Third Mizukage visibly shaken.
"Population is the foundation of everything. Without enough people, there's no military, no industry, no future."
"…To think the village has fallen so far."
The Third Mizukage bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, Lord Fourth. I've left you a mess."
"See? That's how a normal Kage should behave. When you were under genjutsu, you had us keep sending troops to the frontlines despite all this. That's how I knew something was wrong with your chakra."
Yoru shrugged. "Anyway, once Konoha finalizes peace talks, we'll funnel all the reparations into rebuilding. Methodical, step-by-step progress. That's all we need."
"Then why did you act so aggressive with Minato?"
The Third Mizukage was genuinely puzzled. "Weren't you afraid Konoha might go all-out against us?"
"People value their lives, Third," Yoru said with a smirk. "Especially Konoha, with its bloated infrastructure. If they push for mutual destruction, they lose more. They're already locked in a brutal fight with Iwagakure. Peace with us is their only option—and I'll use that leverage to squeeze out every advantage I can."
"You truly are the right man to wear the hat, Yoru…"
"Lord Yoru!"
A voice called out. It was Hiromi.
Yoru turned and gave the Third Mizukage a wave. "Excuse me."
"Go. You've got a village to run."
With that, Yoru vanished alongside Hiromi in a swirl of mist.
The next instant, they reappeared in a shadowy underground facility.
"Is everything prepared?" Yoru asked.
"Yes, Lord Yoru. We've repurposed the old Kekkei Genkai research lab near the Anbu southeast quadrant. It's better equipped and easier to relocate materials to."
"Well done."
Yoru opened the invisible barrier before him with a special jutsu, then pushed open the door.
Immediately, a world filled with jars, bottles, and various organ specimens appeared before Yoru's eyes. Two figures identical to Hiromi were inside, processing something.
Don't misunderstand; they weren't clones, but Water Clones.
Water clones worked similarly to shadow clones, though they were more fragile and required a humid environment—like Kirigakure's constant mist. Perfect conditions.
"The artificial soul (Gikon) and artificial body (Gigai) technologies you gave me are the most intricate and groundbreaking frameworks I've ever seen. Separating chakra, analyzing and researching the human body and soul individually... This is the peak of scientific ninjutsu."
Hiromi led him to a tank, where one of her clones was calibrating controls on two nutrient vats. Inside each floated a curled-up adult-sized body, asleep like newborns.
The key detail? They were identical.
"For stability, I avoided using bloodline clans for the first run. These are cloned artificial bodies based on a Jōnin from the Momochi clan."
"With your techniques, I recreated his tissues one-to-one—two artificial bodies. One infused with chakra, the other with natural energy."
"They're developing perfectly. Physically, the body cultivated in natural energy is slightly more resilient. But we haven't performed the soul experiment yet, so we can't determine which one is more compatible."
Yoru nodded, pleased.
He had told Hiromi to explore the intersection between chakra, natural energy, and physicality—and she had clearly listened.
"Next comes the soul experiment."
Hiromi continued to lead Yoru further inside. Soon, Yoru saw a light blue glass bottle.
No, it wasn't light blue; it was a transparent glass bottle, influenced by the substance within, emitting a faint blue glow!
Most importantly, from that faint blue glow, Yoru sensed a power he was all too familiar with
Reiryoku.
"You managed to stabilize a soul in the physical world? How far did you get?" Yoru asked, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Apologies, Lord Yoru. While I was able to preserve the soul using your notes, I couldn't get it to synchronize with any of the artificial bodies."
"No resonance at all?" Yoru frowned.
"None. I even tried a body infused with both chakra and natural energy, but it grew unstable and failed to connect. That body became unusable."
"I believe that having only body and soul is insufficient. A third element is required—a kind of... lubricant."
"A lubricant…" Yoru muttered. "Of the Four Forces… 'the Self.'"
"Exactly," Hiromi nodded. "Ancient records say people once communed with nature through meditation. Today, strong willpower can influence chakra or even draw natural energy. But extracting that 'self-awareness' is the current roadblock."
"I used specific experimental methods to materialize his soul, but even with materialization, I couldn't activate the self-power hidden within it..."
"To activating the Self…"
Yoru stared at the glowing soul sealed in glass. Then, with a quiet breath, he stepped forward and drew Hyōrinmaru.
Hiromi blinked in confusion. Then, her eyes widened.
Yoru's chakra… vanished. Suppressed to its very core.
In its place, an immense pressure radiated from him—a force Hiromi had never felt before.
She dropped to her knees instantly.
"Apologies, I usually don't use this power. At most, I use it to stimulate chakra."
The power called Reiatsu covered his entire body, making Yoru appear as if he was enveloped in an invisible glow.
Due to the unique nature of this world, all souls were stored in the Pure Land, which meant that besides using "Reiryoku Training Cards" (obtained from mysterious gift boxes), Yoru couldn't find any other way to train his soul.
He simply couldn't absorb Reishi!
This meant that even after more than ten years, Yoru's soul strength wasn't significantly higher than that of an average person (he didn't have enough points to open gift boxes, and the drop rate wasn't high). Therefore, in daily battles, Yoru had always fought using chakra, at most using Reiryoku to boost his chakra and avoid genjutsu.
Let alone something like directly overwhelming people with Reiatsu, like Conqueror's Haki; he simply didn't have the conditions for that!
His hand, covered in Reiatsu, slowly broke through the glass protection layer and rested on the faint blue soul body. Yoru's Reiryoku made contact with the soul body in an instant. The faint blue soul body seemed to be stimulated, and began to tremble continuously.
Seeing this, Yoru's eyebrow raised slightly, and a hint of joy appeared on Hiromi's face.
Soon, the soul body's trembling grew more intense, and its entire form began to noticeably change with the trembling, gradually shifting from an irregular, amorphous blob into a humanoid shape.
It was as if data stored on a USB drive was being read out.
A moment later, a figure nine parts similar to the person in the nutrient tank slowly floated before Yoru. Its appearance was indeed that of the Jonin from Momochi clan!
"…What is this?"
The soul blinked, dazed. "You're… the Anbu prodigy, Yukiy…"
He never finished the sentence.
Before the words were fully spoken, the Jonin's soul body suddenly shattered, like a water droplet hitting the ground, instantly breaking into countless tiny Reiryoku particles.
More than half of the soul was directly pulled by an invisible force, flying towards the heavens, then vanishing completely from the world. Only a small portion of it merged into Yoru's body.
"…Lord Yoru!" Hiromi gasped.
"…Yeah. It failed," Yoru muttered.
This guy's soul shattered!
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin