Chapter 108: Synthesis
The villagers of the Hidden Hot Water were already accustomed to Kael's colossal summons, but seeing them bustling in and out of the village entrance still piqued their curiosity.
Combined with the influx of new residents, it wasn't hard to guess that their Leader, Kael, was preparing to launch a massive expansion project.
Naturally, the villagers supported this. The once-spacious Hidden Hot Water Village was now becoming overcrowded; without expansion, life would become unbearable.
Since the Feudal Lord had cut their funding, the Land of Hot Water had become a village yearning for peace, untouched by war for years.
However, the Hidden Cloud's reckless invasion, even driving them from their homes, had undoubtedly left these civilians feeling deeply insecure.
But their new Leader had driven those hateful, dark-skinned barbarians out of the village. This made them embrace Kael even more, and naturally, they supported his decisions wholeheartedly.
Now, with the Leader's momentum for expansion and development, the entire Hidden Hot Water Village seemed to be bursting with vitality.
Although, the ants carrying towering trees and the wolf and dog dragging logs while howling "Ollie-g!" (Let's go!) with gusto did surprise them a little.
"Lord Leader, the able-bodied men you asked for have been recruited! They are waiting over there for your instructions."
Saburo bowed before Kael and reported.
Kael nodded slightly and signaled for Saburo to lead the way.
As he walked out, he saw that the Hidden Hot Water Village, once surrounded by dense forest, had undergone a dramatic change.
Originally, although it was a plain, the lush trees blocked the view, revealing only green vegetation and, at most, the faint silhouette of distant mountains.
Ninja traveled fast, and Kael soon followed Saburo to the recruitment site.
Over ten thousand heads bobbed at the entrance of the Hidden Hot Water Village—a staggering sight.
These were mostly young men around twenty years old, refugees transferred from various parts of the Land of Hot Water by Hidden Hot Water ninja. Due to the renewed outbreak of war in the Shinobi World, many had fled from neighboring countries, only to be brought back by the village's ninja.
These people had struggled even to eat before. Now, in exchange for their labor, they were guaranteed three full meals a day and paid wages. This was undoubtedly heavenly news for them.
Although they were ordinary people, Kael only needed them for construction work.
His summons were excellent at destruction—chopping trees, hauling loads, mixing cement—simple, crude tasks were fine. But delicate work like building houses was clearly beyond them.
However, Kael had already decided that for tasks like laying foundations, he would still need the Earth Dragon—acting as a ruthless cement mixer—to help out, saving the ordinary workers a lot of trouble.
According to his estimate, with ten thousand laborers working alongside his summons, the expansion of the Hidden Hot Water Village should be completed within half a month.
Housing, school buildings, commercial streets—these were all expansion goals that needed to be achieved in the short term.
In his view, the ultimate goal for the future was to develop the Shinobi World into a single nation, eliminating specialized ninja village institutions. He wanted to bridge the deep rift of prejudice between ninja and ordinary people that had existed for thousands of years. Then, the ridiculous tradition of "ninja are just tools in the hands of nobles" would no longer exist.
After showing his face and offering a few words of encouragement to the young men, Kael didn't say much more.
Before turning to leave, he said to Saburo:
"Alright, I'll leave the arrangement of these personnel to you. While ensuring their wages and food, you must be extremely careful not to let conflicts or disturbances arise. If something happens, don't blame me for not showing respect to the old Leader!"
"...Yes, sir!"
Although he suddenly felt immense pressure, Saburo didn't hesitate much.
"If the old Leader could see this scene, he would be very happy..."
He couldn't help but think, his eyes growing moist.
With the village expansion tasks all assigned, Kael naturally didn't need to handle the specific details anymore.
He was now considering how to synthesize a summon capable of amplifying a ninja's combat power.
"To boost a ninja's combat power, the best direction is undoubtedly chakra. And the most energy-efficient method for me should be a summon like Katsuyu that can split infinitely, attaching to ninja to provide some kind of buff..."
Kael returned home and began looking for inspiration in his "zoo."
After some experimentation, he finally found a small arthropod perfectly suited for this synthesis direction.
A planarian worm!
It was a small creature with a soft, slender body but possessed incredible regenerative abilities.
In Kael's tests, even when cut into several pieces or completely minced, the worm displayed unbelievable regeneration.
He immediately decided to use this creature for synthesis. As for the material, nothing was more direct than chakra itself.
And the highest quality chakra Kael possessed was undoubtedly the chakra he had collected from the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, on the battlefield.
[Eight-Tails Chakra]+[Planarian Worm]= ???
[Compatibility]180%
[Material: Eight-Tails Chakra, Quality (Blue)]
[Creature: Planarian Worm, Rank (E)]
[Synthesis Success Rate]210%
[Chakra Required]100
Kael's eyes lit up slightly. This looks promising. A synthesis success rate of over 200% meant he should be able to create a C-rank Summoning Beast.
However, he felt a tinge of regret. If he could have obtained the flesh and blood of the Eight-Tails, the system would likely have recognized it as a higher-quality material...
But the power of the Tailed Beast Bomb had been too terrifying. Kael could only do his best to collect some dissipated Eight-Tails chakra under the protection of the Lawyer's Letter.
He then looked at his current stats panel.
[Host: Kael Cross]
Race: Human
Summoning Beasts: ...
Life Force: 300
Chakra: 350
Without hesitation, he immediately clicked [Confirm Synthesis].
[Warning: You are about to consume 100 points of Chakra.]
[Synthesizing, please wait...]
Five seconds later, the Eight-Tails chakra in Kael's left hand was fully absorbed, and the transformation of the worm in his right hand was complete.
[Synthesis Successful! You have obtained the C-rank Summoning Beast—Ruyi Worm!]