Book One: The Rise of the Blue-Haired Devil.

      It's been two years since my plans were announced. All this time I'd been working like hell. There was hardly any time left for training. I was only able to keep in shape, which I was not happy about. My body had gotten used to the sage chakra and now I was able to use the Hermit mode at almost one hundred per cent for my current fitness. Together with Byakuren, Mito and Yumi, we sorted through the tonnes of paperwork that had been heaped upon us when the village was created. But it's worth admitting that we completed all of our planned tasks in that time. The medical centre with a research laboratory was successfully built. People have been seeking free medical care there for a whole year. About eight warehouses were also built. This number was enough for the moment, but there were still a few more places where similar places could be built in the plans. The village was expanding at a wild pace. The population was growing by leaps and bounds. For the first few weeks, crime was a problem. A lot of people thought the "no killing" and "no robbery" laws were nothing more than a joke. We didn't have enough hands to deal with all these problems. That's when the idea came to create a special group of people to ensure order in the village. The agreement with the heads of the village clans was quick enough. Everyone was fed up with the antics of both their own and other ninjas. By outsiders, I mean ninja from the smaller shinobi clans who were denied access to this meeting.       Then there was the difficult question of who would lead this group. It was decided that the Terumi clan, led by Mamoru Terumi, was the most suitable. This clan was too proud and did not recognise authority, so it was necessary to give them dirty work to show the life of ordinary ninjas and demonstrate the viciousness of this world. They were now the law and order of the village. The job seemed, at first glance, very important and meaningful, and not too difficult, but a week after his appointment, Mamoru came running to the mizukage asking to be replaced in this position. What was the reason for such an abrupt change? Simple. For a week, members of the Terumi clan had been diligently carrying out their duties, arresting residents that were disturbing the order, but everything changed when they found the body of a girl of their clan in an alley. She had been raped and murdered. Her clothes were tattered, resembling some kind of rags. So, the police found the rapist rather quickly, beginning to torture him uncompromisingly to death. Mamoru was not informed of the incident until the final act. The man was very honest in such cases, so he decided to drop the charges against his subordinates in such a strange way, thus he tried to take responsibility, but Byakuren was quick to disappoint him that this case was not critical, as the man did deserve such a punishment, but the mizukage also warned that future cases like this one, where the police themselves broke the law, would not be tolerated and would be punished according to the law. So from a proud clan, the Terumi clan became a clan of fighters for justice. They acted within the confines of the law, which became their loyal friend and helper. One problem had been solved... there were ten more to go.....       Another problem was the distribution of ninja ranks, which I had to provide a few months after the clan meeting about the future of the village. I had already decided that I would make the three main ranks of a ninja's career: genin, chunin, and jounin. With only a basic level of ninja ability, a person could attain the rank of genin. I decided that it was dangerous for such ninjas to go on missions alone, so they would always go on Rank C missions (the second most difficult missions) in groups, led by a chunin or even a jounin. This was simply necessary so that the weaker squad members would be commanded by someone more experienced and confident in their abilities. This would seriously reduce the death rate of lower ranked ninja, because most of these shinobi are teenagers between the ages of ten and sixteen, who can hardly keep calm in difficult situations. They don't give themselves credit for such moments. Yes, there was a chance that a chunin or jounin would fall into a stupor during a battle for their lives, but I have devised a special test to allow the genin of our village to determine whether or not they are worthy of becoming a chunin, but more on that later. The second step in a ninja's career was the rank of chunin. These ninjas already had a clear direction for the development of their ninja path in their majority, as well as their personal skills surpassing those of ordinary genin. In addition to strength, these ninjas had to have good stress tolerance as well as confidence in their abilities. The last rank, however, was the rank of jounin. But even here, it's worth making a caveat. I decided that the exam for this rank would be taken by myself or the mizukage. The main point was the personal strength level of the shinobi. These ninja could do missions alone, and they could survive after most of the missions, which was the most important factor.       So how did I divide these jounin and why? Some jounin had exceptional skills in one direction or another. For example, some members of the Hoshigake clan were excellent trackers, although, by nature, the ninja of this clan loved combat, so separate trials had to be devised for them to prove themselves in a particular type of high ranking mission. These were special jounin. There weren't that many of them, but since most of them required a special approach, a lot of time was spent on them. Special jounins were not as skilled as regular jounins, but they made up for it with their personality, so they could stand on equal footing against a jounin for a while. The exam to become a jounin was a one-on-one sparring match with a real jounin. Of course, if the examinee didn't defeat his opponent, it didn't mean that he wasn't worthy of the new rank. Almost everything mattered here. Fighting style, train of thought, plan of action, variety of ninjutsu and level of mastery of techniques, resistance to genjutsu and close combat skills. The combination of these factors spoke volumes about whether or not a chunin was ready to become a jounin. For a special jounin, a standardised selection process was conducted first, and then it was determined which area the jounin excelled in. For example, the members of the Namikaze clan, for the most part, did not reach the rank of jounin in terms of overall score, but their battle strategy and thought process were amazing, so they were given a separate examination on battle tactics.       The jounin were already the standard of shinobi, but there were also elite jounin. They were those shinobi who had already reached or were very close in strength and experience to the rank of kage. There were hardly any of them in the village. Let's get back to the chunin exam. This was a rather controversial phenomenon. Here it was required to select the most calm, strong and able to work in a team of ninja. Because of this, the exam had to be divided into three stages. The first stage was a test of coolness and confidence, and this part of the exam forced the examinee to make a responsible decision. Half of the exam was a test that everyone had to complete. The test was quite difficult psychologically, as it was administered by the head of the Hoshigake clan, Hoshigake So. The Hoshigake clan was known for its bloodlust, so this shinobi was so bloodthirsty. Those who could not withstand such pressure were excluded from the list of future chunin. They would fail the exam. The second part of the first stage tested one's confidence in their abilities. Since the chunins were in a team of three, they were given a simple choice. Go and answer a question and if you answered incorrectly, your team members would die. There wasn't actually a question. The confident would be taken to a neighbouring room, followed a minute later by the other members of his team. This created an atmosphere of fear and panic among all the genin. Understandably, no one would kill anyone. It would be stupid and unreasonable. Those who did dare could continue the exam with their team. The next stage of the exam was survival and finding the rendezvous point. However, its main idea was to test the teamwork of a trio of genin. The ability to obey one's leader is a very important aspect of a chunin.       The commander's orders should not be discussed during a crisis. There will be serious consequences for doing so. Only when one has learnt how to obey others can one already try to learn how to lead. Leadership is not a trait that every person possesses from birth. On one of the islands of Water Country there was a huge rock, inside of which there was a huge network of tunnels, which was a real labyrinth. All teams had three days to get out of the maze. Each team would start at the lowest tier, where they would all be sent using the summoning technique. There were also two more conditions to pass this stage. The team had to arrive in full at the exit and also bring four scrolls, which were maps of the four different levels of the cave. Killing was not forbidden but not encouraged either, however, the jounin were in this network of tunnels to keep the young ninjas from killing each other. The final stage, however, was a one-on-one fight in the open. In fact, all those who had passed the previous two stages were already worthy of the rank of jounin, but their personal ability level had to be recognised, so even a genin who lost in the one-on-one battle could get the rank of jounin.       A new problem that suddenly fell on my head was how young people could get the rank of genin. Clan children are understandable. They train in the clan and know no troubles, but what about ninjas without a clan? That was a good question that needed serious consideration. My musings sent me back to my memories. In my past life, there was a special academy designed for inventors. In it, young talents could learn about the technology of eminent geniuses. That's when I wondered, "Why don't we build a ninja academy where the younger generation can gain the knowledge and experience they need to complete missions?" It was a cool idea, if you ask me. And it was one I had been working on for a long time, putting together a programme for future ninjas. During my year in the village, I noticed that we were missing another cog in the system. Several ninjas had left our village, intending to reveal our secrets to the rest of the country. This was not good, so I created a special unit that handled the most difficult and urgent ninja missions. They found and killed criminals who had left our village. They carried out complex reconnaissance missions, and also took on the covert elimination of people who were disturbing our village. Their duties sometimes included sabotage in enemy territory. We called this unit the ANBU. They differed from the jounins in their devotion to the village, as well as their coolness. The members of the ANBU squad wore masks and communicated by call signs to hide their identities from the world. The squad was mostly made up of members of the Kaguya clan and members of the Hoshigake clan. At this point (after a year of careful selection) there were twenty ninja: eight from the Hoshigake clan, eight from the Kaguya clan, two from the Namikaze clan, and one each from the Terumi and Karatachi clans. Recently, a letter arrived about the gathering of the heads of the five hidden villages in the Land of Iron. Of course, I didn't want to go, because the mizukage would deal with it without me, but my opinion was ignored... Yumiko just cracked me on the head, took me by the scruff of the neck and went to the Land of Iron. By the way, it was me and her that Bucuren chose as his councillors in the village, and now as his protectors at the upcoming meeting....