DP:1.8
There goes all my DP... If you're wondering, I spent it on overhauling my Divine Realm, after all, I did promise them safety and a home. I can't bring them into an empty void of nothingness, so I needed to fix it up a bit.
It took a couple of weeks, my DP production was booming, and it was very cheap to create stuff in my own realm, but since I wanted to house a whole summon clan's worth of crows, I had to spend a lot to make it liveable.
Firstly, the main thing that was missing was actual land. An endless void isn't exactly good for living. So, with my amazing deductive skills, I deduced that crows like trees! And so, I added a bunch of trees, after some thought, I made them bigger than normal, bigger crows, bigger trees.
It's not a forest though, more like a 'mildly dense collection of trees', no undergrowth either. It's similar to how real forests are in their early stages, according to my memories from my past life, anyway. The trees and grass were 'real' though, I asked my worshippers to sacrifice some seeds, bark, leaves, and other things from different plants.
The reason was simple enough, creating something with Chakra was expensive, so, if I use something already made by the world, it was cheaper.
So now I had a reasonably sized 'island' with enough vegetation to feed an entire summoning contract's worth of crows. My realm still lacks some 'features' though, like weather patterns or a sun. I can prevent any issues from not having those things with enough DP, but eventually, I'd like to add them in.
On other news, Zabuza showed up. He actually arrived when I was out recruiting my new minions, I saw him in Gatō's compound while scouting around with my crow body.
He was just chilling, sharpening his sword. He looked exactly like how he did in Canon, missing eyebrows and all. The scary part was that he actually glared at me and hit my crow body with a blast of Killing Intent when he noticed me peeping on him, did he notice that I was spying? Maybe he really hates crows...
For now, I'll save my DP, I wanted my people to be the ones to overthrow Gatō. It would be an excellent way to rally everyone together for our new cause, but for that, I need Zabuza gone or recruited, he could slaughter every single person in Wave if you gave him a few months. The main thing that would have slowed him down was the need for sleep.
Speaking of, using a bit of DP before I did the remodelling let me see Tazuna's location. He is currently in Konoha, I didn't spend enough DP to actually see him, but this was good enough, from my followers memories I knew that it took about a week of walking to get to Konoha from Wave.
Has he been waiting in Konoha for a week? Or did he just take the safe route by not going in a straight line? Oh well, more time is good for me, so I won't complain.
Assuming he was at the gate ready to head out by now, it would take him another week to come back. That gives me a maximum of two weeks to overthrow Gatō's.
Although I really don't know if I wanted to gamble that the first fight would turn out the same as it did in Canon, Kakashi could just kill Zabuza, or maybe Naruto would get sliced in half for interfering...
Mmm... One week then. One week to remove Zabuza, whether it be through death or recruitment.
First off, let warn my followers that violence and fighting are going to happen soon.
***
The Priests Of The Watcher were gathered inside the wine cellar hideout, the largest one they had yet, chanting softly while kneeling on the cold stone floor.
Their voices echoed quietly throughout the empty room until they slowly faded away into nothingness as everyone finished their prayers simultaneously.
All of them remained silent for several seconds afterward before finally rising back up again once more.
They glanced around at each other momentarily before turning towards Kazuo expectantly as he stepped forward.
"Alright, so, first things first." He began speaking calmly without any hesitation whatsoever. "Kenji, how many followers do we have now?"
"I think we are nearing 600." He replied confidently after thinking about it briefly.
Kazuo nodded approvingly upon hearing those words, while he tough that boy was overenthusiastic sometimes, he couldn't deny how well Kenji handled recruiting new members and spreading the word around Wave.
Hikari raised her hand slightly to get their attention. "While that is great news, I have a concern. I heard some worrying rumours coming from Gatō's men... Something about him hiring a big shot missing-nin?"
Everyone in the room tensed up upon hearing this news.
"It could just be rumours, though." Hikari quickly added upon seeing everyone's reactions.
"We need to stop everything then." Kazuo said sternly while crossing his arms across his chest.
"I don't think that's necessary!" Kenji argued loudly with a frown plastered across his face. "I'm sure things will turn out fine."
"Listen, if there really is some powerful rogue Shinobi around here..." Kazuo started before pausing for a moment. "Then the moment we get found out we are dead, a Shinobi can easily slaughter all of us."
"I'm sure-" Kenji started again but got cut off by Kazuo instead.
"NO! We are not taking any chances with something like this." He snapped angrily towards him. "I said we're stopping our activities until further notice!"
Kenji gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly but didn't say anything else.
Everyone could see that Kazuo was shaken by the news, and he had already told them about his past, none of them every met a Shinobi before, so they couldn't understand Kazuo's fear.
But he understood the horrors a Shinobi could unleash, a single Chūnin level Shinobi could dismantle a small platoon of men easily enough, he did so regularly when he was young. What could a big shot missing-nin do?
"Zabuza will not be a problem." A voice suddenly called out from above them. Everyone tensed up instantly, their blessed minds working overtime as they looked upwards.
Perching on a rafter beam stood a crow.
The quickest to respond was Haruka, who immediately politely bowed towards the bird.
"Greetings, stranger." She spoke softly and respectfully while keeping eye contact with it. "Who might you be?"
The crow stared at her unblinkingly. It felt unnerving to have its attention focused solely upon one person like that.
"I come from behind the stars," It replied calmly before continuing further. "With a message for the Watcher's most faithful."
Everyone's enhanced mind worked through what it said and quickly reached the same conclusion.
All of them kneeled immediately with their heads lowered reverently, their hands clasped together tightly as they offered up prayers silently in their minds.
Well, except one. Kenji was as energetic as always.
"Greeting Great Crow! Praise the Watcher!" He shouted enthusiastically while kneeling alongside everyone else.
"Rise," The crow commanded gently. "There is much work ahead of you, and little time."
Everyone rose quickly, Haruka taking point once again.
"What message do you carry from the beyond?" She asked carefully while stepping forward slightly. Ayumu did write in his scriptures about divine messengers but... she wasn't expecting it to be a crow, was that one of the things that was lost to time?
"The foolish bridge builder has escalated things greatly." It started slowly before pausing briefly. "He seeks aid from outside forces."
"Gatō has hired a powerful rogue Shinobi named Zabuza Momochi to deal with him, along with the help he brings from Konoha."
The crow flapped its wings once before landing atop the small altar they had built inside this hideout.
"Organize the faithful. Be ready for violence. Arm yourselves with what weapons you can find." Its voice became harsher as it continued speaking further. "I will make sure that Zabuza will not be a problem, but Gatō is yours to deal with."
"Spread the word," The crow commanded once more. "In a week, Gatō's reign will end."
And just like that, the bird vanished into thin air without a trace left behind.
Everyone stared silently at where it disappeared, their thoughts racing furiously throughout their enhanced minds until finally...
"Well, you heard the bird!" Hikari shouted enthusiastically while breaking the silence. "Let's get moving!"
Haruka quickly followed her lead, taking control of things immediately afterward.
"Kenji, talk to our followers and convince them, Kazuo, we need weapons, see if you can get your hands on crossbows and spears," She instructed sternly. "Hikari... keep an eye on Gatō's men. Use everything you can, one way or another, by next week we won't have to worry about them anymore."
Everyone nodded resolutely before quickly getting to work.
***
That went well.
I'm realizing now how annoyed I am at Tazuna, sure, he probably didn't have any idea of my plans, but he is making me gamble with zero DP in the bank...
Oh well, I will wait until tomorrow just so I have a bit of DP in the bank, one day should give me enough to at the very least cast some illusions to convince him if he proves to be unreasonable.
Hopefully, my followers are enough for this, discounting those too young or not healthy enough to fight, I estimate about 350 people who can use a spear decently.
Now, to find Zabuza.