Chapter 294: Honest Chojuro Terrified—Is the Mizukage Planning a Coup?
"A necromancer can really be this strong?"
"I was speaking too loudly earlier… Turns out justice and evil aren't all that different. I kinda want to be a necromancer now."
Some players stared blankly at the image of Orochimaru in his Necrocurse Serpent form,
and immediately felt their own class was far too weak.
"In your dreams."
A more clear-headed player sneered. "You can't even collect the core skills of an Ice Mage, and you want to play necromancer?"
In the stream, Orochimaru looked glorious, dominating a corrupted lord-tier boss—
But that had nothing to do with necromancy itself.
Across the ninja and pirate worlds, with hundreds of thousands of players, there were at least dozens of necromancers.
Most of them were stuck at the bottom—arguably the weakest among their tier.
Why? One simple reason: poverty.
Unlike typical undead summoners who could pull skeletons from the underworld,
necromancers had to craft their undead manually.
Every single one cost hundreds, even thousands of Reward Points.
And if they got damaged in battle? You had to pay to repair them.
Orochimaru could fight like this
because the powerful Fire Empire backed him.
If you couldn't grasp that and still wanted to become a necromancer—
You were a fool.
"I can't beat him."
Mei Terumi, after a long silence, finally gave her honest assessment.
Though she didn't want to admit it—
Even when besieged by the four great nations, the Fire Empire could still support Orochimaru with such strength.
She summoned her right hand—
her loyal and hardworking deputy, Chojuro.
The one she trusted most.
"Mizukage-sama."
Chojuro, plain-faced and utterly ordinary, knelt on one knee.
Mei looked at him and rubbed her temple. Something felt off.
"Is it just me, or…?"
Chojuro, who was already average-looking, now looked even worse.
She didn't know how to describe it.
"It's because of a new skill I've been training."
Chojuro scratched his head sheepishly.
While hunting a commander-class monster, he'd acquired a rare rule-type item: [Skill Comprehension Stone].
For a limited time, it boosted skill mastery and gave a chance to unlock skill-specific attributes.
After using it, he focused intensely on his Blood Mist Sword Technique.
As a result, he unlocked three skill traits:
Lv.5 – Bone Shift Form Change,
Lv.10 – Skin Pull,
Lv.15 – In the Name of the Mizukage.
Due to these traits,
what was originally a blue-grade skill suddenly became stronger and more troublesome than most purple-grade abilities.
But there was a downside—
The precise energy control needed for these forms interfered with his facial muscles.
His features grew increasingly distorted.
"No worries. What matters most in a man is power. Looks can be… ignored."
Mei spoke against her own standards, trying to comfort her now-abstract-faced subordinate.
Of course, if it came to finding a boyfriend, she'd definitely judge by looks first.
She snapped her fingers.
The most luxurious suite in Stoneton City—one with a view of the plaza screen—was instantly sealed with an almost invisible flame barrier.
No sound could escape.
"Just to be cautious."
Mei stared at Chojuro and said, "Chojuro… what would happen if I founded a new ninja academy?"
No one could overhear this conversation.
Especially not the Mist Village players.
Chojuro hadn't caught on yet and nodded eagerly.
"Of course that would be a good thing. Any ninja who learns jutsu can earn Reward Points by converting their knowledge."
Even though most civilians had little talent and produced only tiny amounts of chakra,
they could still earn a few hundred points—enough to get started.
It would ease Mist's financial burden.
Mei continued slowly, "But what if… I wanted that academy to admit tens of thousands—maybe even hundreds of thousands—of civilians?"
She looked directly at Chojuro.
"That'd be great. The more civilians, the more pl—wait, WHAT?!"
Chojuro finally processed what she'd said and stared at her in shock.
"You mean to imitate Orochimaru and the Fire Empire?!"
Ordinarily, there was no reason to recruit tens of thousands of civilians into ninja training.
But as everyone knew—
Orochimaru had done just that.
He trained all civilians to be ninjas, who then turned around and supported the Fire Empire.
That radical, system-breaking model was why the Fire Empire became the common enemy of the entire ninja world.
They were powerful—
But always under threat of being crushed.
He never imagined that their own Mizukage would be thinking the same way.
"Didn't you see Orochimaru's power?"
Mei calmly gestured toward the projection outside the window.
Orochimaru, still a Tier-1 player, was overpowering a Tier-2 lord monster—his estimated value close to a million Reward Points.
That wealth had come directly from his radical reforms.
"But… Mizukage-sama, what about the clans?"
Chojuro pointed out the key issue.
"In the Fire Empire, Orochimaru eliminated the clans. They barely exist anymore. Only Hyuga Neji retained nobility status, and even he answers to the Empire."
The reason everyone rejected the Fire Empire was simple.
Powerful ninjas were almost always backed by clans.
Without clans, civilian-born ninjas were few.
They were treated as cannon fodder—or languished in the middle ranks until middle age.
The backbone of the ninja world… was the clans.
The Fire Empire's system had obliterated that backbone.
It raised the lowborn to the center of power, replacing the clans entirely.
Who could accept that?
Right now, Mist Village stood united—because it had a common enemy.
But if this plan got out…
Most clans would turn on them. Some would even disband or defect.
Just like what happened in Konoha.
At first,
Most clans didn't care about Sarutobi Hiruzen's fate.
Even the closest allies—like the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka—begrudgingly accepted Orochimaru as acting Hokage.
Why did they turn?
Because the Fire Empire's system spelled the end of their lineage.
That's why they stormed the prison and rescued Hiruzen.
"So, we'll need to make preparations."
Mei brought all this up now—
Because she wanted an ally. Chojuro was the perfect candidate.
The plan for a Mist Empire couldn't be made public yet.
For now, it had to be done in secret.
Once enough civilian ninjas were trained,
and clan influence began to fade…
Then, when the momentum peaked, it would be time to act.
In the past,
This would have taken years—maybe decades.
But with the Reincarnation Game?
With a precise plan, she could forge a [Mist Empire] within a year.
Continuing to maintain the current system of Mist Village—
Felt increasingly risky.
Mei feared it might become… the next Konoha.
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