Ryosuke stayed in the Land of Snow for two more days.
When the officials from the Land of Water finally arrived, he left behind part of the Anhilation Army to maintain order. Then Ryosuke, Sasuke, and Kamihara Hayato bid farewell to Her Majesty Queen Kazahana Koyuki and boarded the Explorer to return to Kirigakure.
Traveling with them were also the two "craftsmen" from the Land of Smithing, professional scammers who moonlighted as artisans.
After "inviting" the two back, Ryosuke checked their memories.
Sure enough, they weren't good people. They were skilled in deception, selling dreams, and transferring funds.
But to say they were unforgivably evil, that would be exaggerating. Their crimes weren't worthy of death.
If bragging, overpromising, and scamming were punishable by death, then all those startup CEOs from Ryosuke's past life who duped investors with PowerPoint presentations would have been wiped out already.
From their memories, Ryosuke gained some information about the Land of Smithing.
They were experts in crafting ninja tools and armor, maintaining contact with various major forces across the shinobi world. They roamed between nations, selling high-end military equipment for profit, essentially, the ninja world's arms dealers.
Every time a great ninja war broke out, the Land of Smithing would make an absolute fortune. They were one of the few countries that welcomed war.
As for these two smith-nin Ryosuke captured, he had originally planned to extract their memory disks, erase their memories, and let them start over. But after some thought, he decided to bring them back to the research institute.
After all, when it came to development-oriented talent, memories were never as valuable as creativity itself.
That much was especially clear from his experience using Orochimaru's memory disk.
———
[Above the Sky]
The sky battleship lifted its mist concealment and cruised through the clouds.
It was around four in the afternoon, dinner time. The crew rotated shifts and began their meal.
Ryosuke had no appetite. He brewed a cup of hot tea, sat in the lounge, and watched through the window as the sunset sank beyond the western horizon.
The lounge door opened again, and Sasuke walked in.
His eyes were red and puffy, clearly, he had just been crying.
Many people saw him, but no one went to ask or comfort him.
Not because they were cold-hearted, but because they were used to it.
Sasuke had heard somewhere that awakening the Uchiha clan's Sharingan required intense emotional stimulation.
To put it bluntly, his best chance to awaken it should have been on the night Itachi slaughtered the clan.
If Ryosuke hadn't appeared, Sasuke might have already awakened his bloodline limit long ago.
To trigger those emotional surges, Sasuke tried all sorts of methods. Lately, he had been watching piles of horror movies, thrillers, and emotional dramas, holed up in his room with videotapes.
Sasuke was an emotional person. The more he cried, the redder his eyes got, but still, there was no sign of his Sharingan awakening.
Kamihara Hayato tossed him an apple.
"Crying again? Want me to find you a big sister who's good at comforting fragile little hearts like yours?"
Sasuke angrily bit into the apple.
"How can it be called crying when it's part of my training? That's called emotional resonance."
Then he started rambling about stuff no one could understand, "Mangekyō Sharingan" this, "spiritual depth" that.
No one followed what he was saying, but everyone laughed anyway. The lounge was filled with cheerful laughter.
Ryosuke laughed too.
But as he looked down and saw his reflection in the tea, he suddenly remembered, he was an Uchiha as well. His smile froze on his face.
He cleared his throat, pretending nothing happened, and continued watching the sunset, eyes unfocused. In truth, he was mentally sorting through the gains from this mission.
The most direct one, Soul Fragments.
[Killed Kazahana Dotō. Gained 550 Soul Fragments.]
And that was Kazahana Dotō at his peak, wearing chakra armor, filled with hatred, body and chakra both at their strongest.
'Still… far too weak.'
Ryosuke shook his head.
It couldn't be helped.
1,000 Soul Fragments marked a threshold, those worth more than that were usually tailed beasts, Jinchūriki, or Kage-level masters.
A luxury-grade existence like the White Snake Sage, worth 3,000 fragments, was one of only three in the entire ninja world.
Extremely rare.
Still, this trip wasn't without its rewards.
First, his daily Soul Fragment income had risen from 80–90 to 85–95.
A small difference day to day, but over time, every point added up.
Second, the Golden Spiral and Sky Battleship had both undergone real combat testing.
Especially the battleship, thanks to Kazahana Dotō's attacks, they'd discovered weaknesses in its armor plating.
Lastly, there was the strategic impact.
News of Ryosuke's conquest of the Land of Snow had spread across the entire ninja world within two days.
Every major nation now knew about the existence of the sky battleship.
But no one knew exactly what it could do, or how much power it could bring to the battlefield.
"From what I know of the great nations," Ryosuke said, "they're cautious. Before they figure things out, they won't act rashly."
Oda Ieyasu replied over the comm line, "I don't really understand why, but since you said we need time, this should buy us about one to two months."
Ryosuke checked his system account.
[Current balance: 10,790 Soul Fragments]
Still far from the safer goal of 30,000.
But if they truly had two months to prepare… Ryosuke thought to himself. Still, he wasn't going to pin everything on a limited-time draw.
He only wanted to stack as many cards in his favor as possible. Because...
"I can't afford to lose."
Perhaps because the pilots were now more experienced, the return trip went much faster than the outbound one.
Around two in the morning, Ryosuke, Kamihara Hayato, and Sasuke descended from the sky battleship and returned to Kirigakure.
The rest of the crew would take the ship to the research institute for repairs, inspection, and further upgrades.
Kamihara adjusted his hat, watching the battleship depart. Then he turned to Ryosuke.
"Just to be safe, I'll ask ahead of time, do you still need anything from me? Don't rush to answer. Think about it carefully."
"Probably not… Why? Where are you going?"
He raised his wrist and pointed at his watch.
"At this hour? Of course I'm going to find love."
"Love?" Ryosuke and Sasuke tilted their heads in unison.
Kamihara straightened his collar.
"Born when the bell rings, gone when it fades, love that can only follow me to the elevator… You wouldn't understand."
Ryosuke rolled his eyes.
Just say you're going to a bubble bath parlor, no need to make it sound poetic.
After Yagura's regime was overthrown, most of Kirigakure's red-light establishments were shut down.
Still, there was always a market for such things, and a few voluntary businesses remained.
Ryosuke shook his head and waved him off, signaling he wouldn't interrupt his "love."
Sasuke went home to keep watching his videotapes, while Ryosuke couldn't sleep.
He decided to find a place to train for a while, but as he passed by the Mizukage Building, he noticed that the lights in the Mizukage's office were still on.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰