Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

After he finished speaking, a hint of dejection appeared on his face, but he quickly concealed it again.

He casually placed the things he bought on the ground, then went to the bedroom, sat on the bed, picked up a photo frame from the bedside table, and stared blankly at the photo of a blonde woman with a bright smile on her face, his eyes filled with love.

He stood there in a daze for more than an hour.

"Rin, I will definitely avenge you. It's almost time. Danzo promised me that as long as I get rid of that brat, he will tell me all the real culprits who killed you back then."

"Mountain Clouds murmured, his face gradually covered with frost."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Hearing the noise, Shan Zhongyun reluctantly put down the photo, composed himself, and left the bedroom after reporting the incident.

After he left the bedroom, a white, transparent Kirito slowly appeared in the air. He looked at the photo of the blonde woman in the frame with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Chapter 69: The Land of Waves

"Things are getting interesting..."

Kirito's soul clone thought with a smile, "I originally planned to kill Yamanaka Kumo, but I've changed my mind now."

Kirito didn't linger; he was busy and had many things to do. He became invisible again, returned to the White Zetsu clone underground, and then used the Mayfly Technique to quickly leave.

The Mayfly Technique is an outstanding movement ninjutsu. It not only allows White Zetsu to move at high speed through earth, rocks, grass, and trees without any hindrance, but also allows them to completely conceal their aura and disguise themselves as earth, rocks, grass, and trees.

In the blink of an eye, the White Zetsu clone traversed hundreds of kilometers, and a few minutes later, he arrived in the Land of Waves.

The Land of Waves is the farthest place Kirito has recently reached using his White Zetsu clones.

This is a very small island nation located near the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, and is currently a vassal state of the Land of Fire.

Because the Land of Fire is currently at war with the Land of Water and the Land of Clouds, the situation in the Land of Waves is still very stable. With the advantage of being backed by the Land of Fire and its own superior geographical environment, it has become an important distribution center for the Land of Fire's resources and an important place for the Land of Fire to export and acquire resources from the outside world.

However, because the government of the Land of Waves lacks sufficient military strength to suppress the powerful merchants from various countries who come here, and because the government of the Land of Fire deliberately indulges them and a large number of nobles secretly manipulate the situation, this place has now become a paradise for smuggling.

Therefore, the small Land of Waves is now a gathering place for a large number of merchants, ninjas, samurai, and ordinary people from all over the world who come here to make a living.

Here, various forces are mixed together, and the order is relatively chaotic.

But precisely because of this, it's a great place to gather intelligence, as merchants and ninjas from all over the world bring information from various countries.

In this era of frequent wars, intelligence is a vital resource. It can give nations an advantage in war, allow merchants to find lucrative business opportunities, and enable countless ninjas and samurai tracking bounties to find clues about wanted criminals.

The White Zetsu clone finally stopped at a large mansion near the Daimyo's residence, and then emerged from under the master's bedroom.

The next moment, his appearance changed, and he became a young man wearing a kimono.

The young man had bright eyes and white teeth, was handsome, and possessed an air of nobility.

Gojo Makoto, that's the name of the boy that the White Zetsu clone transformed into using the Disguise Technique. He's a complete idiot ninja with no genin strength whatsoever.

Gojo Makoto's true identity is a local nobleman in the Land of Waves. His ancestors were related to the daimyo of the Land of Fire. He was once a prominent nobleman in the Land of Waves, but now he is just a fallen nobleman. He has fallen so low that only Gojo Makoto remains in the main line. Not long ago, the original owner of the body was assassinated and poisoned.

The murderer was Gojo Makoto's cousin, Gojoyama, who wanted to kill Gojo Makoto in order to inherit his title and property.

After Gojo Makoto's death, Kirito used the Spirit Transformation Technique to read Gojo Makoto's soul, gaining all his memories. Then, through a White Zetsu clone, he absorbed the chakra from Gojo Makoto's body and perfectly transformed into Gojo Makoto.

He helped Gojo Makoto kill his cousin's entire family and a notorious merchant, thus avenging Gojo Makoto's family.

According to Gojoyama's memories, the deaths of Gojoyama's entire family were all orchestrated by Gojoyama's branch of the family in collusion with that wealthy merchant.

After Kirito used his White Zetsu clone to inherit everything from Gojo Makoto, help him kill his enemies, and incidentally take over their assets, he began to use the identity of Gojo Makoto to operate in the Land of Waves.

Although Gojo Shinzo had once been wealthy, he still had many connections. With money, ammunition, and a display of some military strength, he quickly obtained a military officer position and became an inconspicuous city defense officer in the city defense command, with a hundred men under his command.

With his outstanding abilities and the lure of money, he easily gained control over his group of cheap subordinates.

With power and connections, Kirito naturally began to collect protection money, just like his colleagues. His main targets were various merchants from outside the region who didn't have much background, and he started recruiting retainers.

On the surface, it was about recruiting retainers, but in reality, it was about recruiting wandering ninjas and some new-style samurai who could use chakra in combat.

With money and power, Kirito's recruitment went smoothly. In just one week, he recruited ten ninjas and twenty new samurai.

To Kirito, the strength of these ninjas and new-style samurai was insignificant. Among them, only two had the strength of a genin: one was a ninja and the other a samurai. The rest were at most ordinary people who could use chakra.

Kirito didn't mind. His purpose in recruiting these wandering ninjas and new-style samurai was simply to have them help him gather intelligence and protect some of his properties in the Land of Waves. He didn't expect them to fight against the ninjas from other villages.

"Someone come here."

After completing his disguise, the White Zetsu clone released the shadow clone that had been placed there and spoke.

Less than ten seconds later, the door opened, and a young, beautiful red-haired maidservant entered cautiously with a bow, awaiting Kirito's orders.

"Ryoko, go and call those two people over here."

Kirito spoke to the red-haired maid with a pleasant expression.

Ryoko Uzumaki, that's the name of the red-haired maid. She was bought from a slave trader by Kirito after he inherited Gojo Makoto's identity.

The once-famous Uzumaki clan fled to various countries after their country was destroyed, and many tragedies occurred during their journey.

For example, the Uzumaki clan, whose members belonged to the commoner class, was hunted down by wandering ninjas during their escape. Many clan members were killed, and the few remaining were captured and eventually became goods for merchants, sold all over the world.

Before meeting Kirito, Ryoko Uzumaki had been sold many times.

In Kirito's eyes, Ryoko Uzumaki is a rare talent. Although she is a bit older, already 15 years old, she is perceptive and has a strong drive to improve. Moreover, without any ninja training, her chakra level is already that of a Chunin.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, as long as Ryoko Uzumaki undergoes ninja training for a period of time, he can gain a capable subordinate in the Land of Waves.

However, we still need to observe her for a while, let her settle down here, feel safe and secure, and stop living in fear, so that she will naturally develop a sense of loyalty to us.

"Yes, Master."

Ryoko naturally knew who the two people Kirito was referring to were, and immediately spoke respectfully before stepping away.

Soon, a young ninja and a young samurai came to pay their respects to Kirito. The two were named Fuma Ichiro and Itsufune, respectively. The former was a ninja of the Fuma clan, and the latter was from the Land of Iron, claiming to be one of the many junior disciples of the famous samurai Mifune.

Both of them bowed respectfully to Kirito, showing him awe.

Although their contact with Kirito was brief, after several exchanges, they had come to a deep understanding of the gap between themselves and Kirito, and also realized that the person in front of them could not possibly be Gojo Makoto himself.

However, by the time they realized this, they had already been cursed by Kirito without their knowledge.

They now find themselves unable to reveal anything about Kirito to anyone else; the moment they try to do so, the cursed seal on their bodies activates, causing them immense pain.

To their delight, after being marked with the curse, their previously stagnant strength began to advance by leaps and bounds.

Kirito's ability to use such a magical cursed seal technique naturally earned him the utmost respect and awe from the two of them.

Chapter 70: The Mark of Night

Kirito's current plans for what he wants to do in the Land of Waves need to be kept secret, and he naturally can't do everything himself. However, due to a lack of trustworthy people, he has no choice but to place curse marks on these wandering ninjas and samurai whose loyalty is almost zero.

The Seal of Night is a new curse seal technique that Kirito developed based on the Seal of the Extinction of Tongue Calamity and combined with his Sage Mode physique.

Since mastering excellent sealing techniques, Kirito has secretly begun researching cursed seals, aiming to create a cursed seal technique similar to Orochimaru's cursed seal technique by utilizing his sage-like physique, which is the same as Jugo's.

Through tireless efforts and trial and error on some small animals, he has now developed a relatively mature spell seal technique.

He had already decided on a name: Kirito-style Cursed Seal Technique.

The Mark of Night is an upgraded version of Kirito's cursed seal technique.

Simply put, this is a cursed seal technique that combines the advantages of the Tongue Disaster Removal Seal and Orochimaru's cursed seal technique.

It fully retains the ability of the Tongue Curse Seal while eliminating the terrifying lethality of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal Technique. Although this greatly weakens the effect of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal Technique in rapidly increasing strength in a short period of time, it still retains the ability of Cursed Seal Transformation (costing life), and over time, it can also increase strength considerably.

In addition, Kirito learned from Orochimaru's mistake and did not add his own soul to the Night Seal. Instead, he added a trace of his soul power to locate the person who planted the Night Seal and to use it as a medium to curse the cursed person from a great distance.

In summary, the Mark of Night is Kirito's trump card for quickly establishing his own armed force.

"How's it going?"

Kirito spoke to the two of them expressionlessly.

When he last summoned the two men, he gave them each a task: to secretly recruit a group of usable wandering ninjas and new-style samurai to serve as the first core members of his secret armed force.

Several days have passed since the mission began, and there should have been some progress by now.

"My lord, time is too short. According to your requirements, I have only found five ninjas who meet the criteria."

Fuma Ichiro stammered.

Kirito's task for him was to find twenty eligible wandering ninjas within a week, but half the time had passed and he had only completed less than a quarter of the task. If he continued at this rate, he would definitely not be able to complete the task.

But he's in a difficult position too.

Kirito's requirements for recruiting ninjas are quite high. Not only must they be wandering ninjas with clean backgrounds, but they must also be under the age of twelve. It will be difficult for him to find them in a short period of time.

For a moment, he felt a little uneasy.

He knew perfectly well that the new master he served was not a good person, as evidenced by the terrible curse mark he had placed on him. If he didn't behave well, he might be killed.

Fuma Ichiro didn't think he was indispensable to Kirito. He knew that Kirito had only chosen him because he was the best of a bad bunch, and if he didn't do well now, he would definitely be abandoned later.

"Only five? That's a bit slow. Don't you usually eat?"

Kirito said with some dissatisfaction upon hearing this.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I will definitely try harder to find it."

Fuma Ichiro immediately knelt down and admitted his mistake.

"Then do your best. As long as you complete the task on time, the reward I promised will be valid. Otherwise, you know the consequences."

Kirito ignored Fuma Ichiro's attempt to gain sympathy and said coldly.

In exchange for a fortune, he helped Fuma Ichiro pay off a large debt and gave him the Nightfall Seal, which could make him stronger. These things were not free.

He doesn't need useless people. If Fuma Ichiro doesn't do a good job, he wouldn't mind selling him to mine for the rest of his life to pay off his debts.

"Yes, thank you for your understanding."

Fuma Ichiro breathed a sigh of relief and expressed his gratitude.

At the same time, a glint of greed flashed in his eyes.

Although his new master was terrifying, he was also a generous master. The other party promised to give him a suitable C-rank ninjutsu as long as he completed this mission.

He could obtain a C-rank ninjutsu simply by recruiting 20 wandering ninjas; the reward was too generous to pass up.

Fuma Ichiro had complete faith in the reward Kirito promised. After all, Kirito was capable of using such a terrifying cursed seal technique, so rewarding him with a C-rank ninjutsu was a piece of cake.

But this small gesture was invaluable to Fuma Ichiro, who, as a wandering ninja, knew the preciousness of ninjutsu.