Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming chapters!
• Patreon.com/NegativeTranslation
── ⋆⋅❖⋅⋆ ──
Chapter 314: Six Years Later
Empire Calendar, Year 6.
The morning light sliced through the clouds, pouring down like a golden waterfall along the Six-Winged Angel statue in the center of the Holy City.
The light swept past the hem of the hundred-meter-tall statue, reaching the wide, flat obsidian main street below.
Hovering chakra trains glided silently along invisible magnetic rails, kicking up a gentle draft of air.
On both sides of the street, neon signs driven by Lightning Style arrays turned off one by one, while towering glass-curtain buildings reflected the rising morning sun.
Six years had passed. Time had completely reshaped the world.
This capital of the Nation of Dawn, standing upon the ruins of the Land of Rain, had completely metamorphosed.
Under the explosive development of chakra technology, it had swelled into a steel behemoth that devoured the resources of the entire ninja world.
Top floor of the Central Administration Tower, before the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows.
Hinata wore a form-fitting moon-white dress, her purple-black hair coiled into a dignified bun.
Her fingertips flew rapidly across a translucent chakra screen, approving infrastructure reports sent in from all over the continent.
Not a single trace of the cowardly girl from Konoha could be found on her body. Her features held only the profound calm of a ruler controlling the universe.
"The cold-resistance arrays at the third fortress of the Northern Defense Line have exceeded acceptable wear rates. Reject the repair budget. Tell the local governor to bring me his head," Hinata stated, her tone flat and entirely devoid of inflection.
"Received." Standing slightly behind her, Mabui pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and rapidly inputted the command into the central system.
As the grand manager of the Empire, her brain processed oceans of data every single day.
On the other side of the hall, Mei Terumi, wearing a tight black skirt, was flipping through a briefing on diplomacy and census integration.
Her red lips curled up as she tossed a document onto the desk. "The final hundred thousand civilians from the original site of the Land of Water have completed their migration registration. With this, the concept of the old Five Great Nations has been completely erased from the census system."
"Beautiful work." Ino sat in a hovering sensory chair, her blonde hair tied back into a sharp ponytail.
Her brain was connected to the sensory network covering the entire country. "The East District is getting a bit restless, though. A few troublemakers from the old Kumogakure were complaining about rations in a tavern. The patrol puppets have already hauled them away."
"According to Article 3 of the Public Order Law, throw them into the Northwest Rift Valley to mine ore." Samui turned a page on her spreadsheet, deciding their punishment without even looking up.
On a nearby balcony, Kaguya Otsutsuki, wearing a loose white robe, held a small watering can, carefully watering a newly blooming white lotus.
She seemed completely detached from the political affairs, but as long as she stood there, she was the ultimate nuclear deterrent against any vermin.
Her Bloodline Encompassing powers had been personally restored by Alex three years ago.
Shion, Ryuzetsu, Honoka, and the others managed shrine sacrifices, judicial supervision, and medical technology respectively.
The operation of the entire Empire had been perfectly entrusted to the women.
Alex did not need to be bound by tedious political affairs.
He was the Emperor of the Empire, and Konan was the Angel God of Faith.
With their combined strength, they were capable of acting as the safety net for any disaster in the world. Within this invisible web, any anomaly would be snuffed out before it could even sprout.
Looking down from the high tower...
The morning markets on the streets of the Holy City were already bustling with noise. Steam rose from the bun shops, and hawkers shouted one after another.
There was no war here. There was no endless infighting and hatred between ninja villages.
Food was distributed according to need and was incredibly abundant. The laws were draconian, yet absolutely just.
To the vast majority of civilians who had crawled out of the mud, Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure... those words had long weathered away in the corners of their memories.
The nations were gone? The villages were gone?
Who cared.
They only knew that in the Holy City today, there was no starvation, no ninjas killing randomly, and children could run freely under the sun. This was a true paradise on earth.
....
Meanwhile, ten thousand miles away from the Holy City, in the Northwest Rift Valley.
Fierce winds whipped up yellow sand, scraping across the dried-up Gobi Desert like knives.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Rampart!"
Accompanied by a hoarse roar, a massive, hundred-meter-long rock dam violently erupted from the ground, cutting off the raging sandstorm.
Tsunade panted heavily, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her normally tight skin was covered in dirt from long hours of high-intensity labor.
"Lady Tsunade, the earthwork quota for today has been met." Shizune walked over hugging a ledger and handed her a canteen.
Tsunade took the canteen and downed a massive gulp, her eyes locked onto a hovering chakra projection panel in midair.
Code 001 (Tsunade): Current Accumulated Merit Points - 4,150,000
Merit Required to Revive Rank-C Target (Nawaki): 10,000,000
"Still short six million..." Tsunade ground her teeth, crushing the canteen in her grip.
Six years.
Over two thousand days and nights.
She had led a massive group of former Konoha ninjas in splitting mountains, shattering rocks, diverting water, and planting forests in this desolate border region.
From the initial humiliation and anger, they had transitioned into numbness and madness.
The Empire had given them a path: Merit.
Want to resurrect your family? You can. Trade for it with penal labor and construction.
The Empire's territory was simply too large, and the wastelands needed terraforming.
And so, these Kage, Jonin, and elites who used to sit high above the masses had completely been reduced to top-tier "humanoid engineering machines."
Not far away, Shikaku Nara was manipulating shadows to precisely splice several heavy steel beams together; Choza Akimichi had transformed into a giant, flattening a mountain blocking their path with a single punch.
Everyone had gone mad.
No one cared about the past, and no one cared about dignity.
In this world dominated by absolute power, rebellion was a dead end. But submission could at least buy back a life.
A life they thought about day and night, a life that haunted their very souls.
"Shikaku," Tsunade walked over, her voice low.
"The progress is still too slow." Shikaku wiped the machine oil from his hands. Glancing at his own scoreboard, he let out a bitter laugh. "At this rate, we'll have to work out here for another ten years to save up enough points to revive Asuma and Shikadai."
"Even if it's ten years, we have to do it," Tsunade said, her eyes as fierce as a wolf's. "Even if we work until we die, as long as that list exists, we have to keep turning the millstone for that man like dogs."
This was Alex's open conspiracy.
Using a real, tangible miracle, he had thoroughly drained the rebellious will of the old era's ninjas, transforming their hatred and unwillingness into endless fuel for constructing the new world.
Stubborn old fools? Sure, there were some.
But those stubborn old fools who tried to incite rebellion had all been slaughtered cleanly by Kameda and his men six years ago. Even their souls had been stuffed into the furnaces of the Shrine to boil into oil.
Those who remained were entirely prisoners held by the neck by the "resurrection quota."
── ⋆⋅❖⋅⋆ ──
Support this fanfic with Power Stone!
For Advance Chapters, visit:
• Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations