Author's Note: I'm happy everyone is enjoying the story, but keep in mind, these constant uploads will likely slow down eventually. I had no plans of updating daily, just writing because it's fun. Thanks for the reviews, it makes me extremely happy to see them.
Edit 10/13/2021: Fixed the misconception I had about [Create Greater Item] in this chapter, as well as fixed a few misplaced words.
Now, more Q&A!
Will we see Ainz's Momon persona?
It's a possibility, I hadn't planned on it though.
Will Ainz dress as a shinobi?
He'd need to hide his racial identity. Not to mention the class restrictions that wearing ninja gear might incur the need for [Perfect Warrior]. YGGDRASIL rules still apply for him. So, probably not.
Could he steal a Kekkai Genki/Bloodline Limit with [Wish Upon A Star]?
Questionable, I see where you are going with this, considering Talents in the New World. But Bloodline Limits and Talents are quite different in many ways. Talents seem to appear spontaneously without any genetic link. While that can happen with Bloodline Limits, it is more deeply attached to genetic heritage. Not to mention, nearly all Bloodline Limits need chakra to use. So, I can say yes to this question, but it would be useless for Ainz.
Can Ainz resurrect a Naruto Character as an Undead?
Yes, but they would lose chakra. They are changed into a YGGDRASIL race, so they would gain Tier Magic instead.
Can Ainz use [Dark Wisdom] to learn new spells/ninjutsu?
Unsure, I know how its mechanics work, but since jutsu require chakra, he wouldn't be able to use them even if he could learn them by that method.
The Overlord of Nadeshiko
Chapter 4
Suzuki Satoru had discovered a variety of things since arriving in this ninja-dominated world. Like, for instance, his racial nature as a [Undead] removed the physical necessity of food and sleep but did not remove the desire for rest at a mental compacity. So, that night, when provided a temporary room until the moment he would join Shizuka after marriage, he decided to spend a majority of the time reading through novels and scrolls. It was quite a refreshing affair to read such interesting material without being bothered by anyone.
After the meeting with the Elder Council, Ainz had been put to work immediately. More accurately, he spent a large portion of the evening and night hours learning about the inner workings and paperwork from Shizuka and her attendant, Tokiwa. He can confidently say that he could now take Shizuka's office position for a few hours, provided an assistant aided him, while the village leader dealt with issues requiring personal presence. It seemed that as an undead, he could handle larger workloads before mental exhaustion crept in, an advantage he'd wish he had back on Earth.
But since he couldn't sleep, Ainz took advantage of his body's attributes and delved into Nadeshiko Village's library. He had walked to the third hilltop, which at this point he began referring to it as the 'Academy Hill' for easy reference, that had the library and withdrew any noteworthy educational books and later a Bingo Book copy from Shizuka's office when returning to the newly titled 'Main Hill' that marked the tallest hilltop.
He had roughly six to seven hours before the vast majority of the village awoke, a little less for the kunoichi, who'll likely awake earlier due to their military conditioning. Ignoring those on night duty, that's a few hours without any interruptions, a perfect moment to catch up on knowledge that might be commonplace in this world.
To understand the Bingo Book's list of rogue ninja, Ainz first needed to understand what ninja were.
In YGGDRASIL, [Ninja] was a Job Class that allowed a Thief-type player access to much more [Ninjutsu], allowing a player to take aspects not dissimilar to a Magic Caster. While there were Job Classes leading up to [Ninja] that provided a few [Ninjutsu], that particular Job Class allowed for more focus on them. Furthermore, [Ninja] was also quite adept at countering stealth-specializing characters.
So Tier Magic such as [Invisibility] and [Perfect Unknowable] was counterproductive when facing them. However, Shizuka and by proxy those rogue ninja didn't identify him prior to dispelling [Perfect Unknowabe], but that could be reasoned with the fact they were low level compared to him.
It might be possible that stronger ninja wouldn't be fooled by it. Shizuka might be the strongest kunoichi of Nadeshiko, but the village wasn't considered significant compare to the Great Five. And perhaps, even compared to other ninja villages outside of that group, as there did not seem to be too large a gender ratio inequality. He had learned from a population census paper that the ratio from male to female was roughly 40 to 60 percent. Which could indicate that there wasn't an issue in finding men capable of fulfilling the cultural law.
So, by Ainz's assumption, Nadeshiko Village might be considered average among ninja villages, not of the Great Five.
So not a fantastic starting area for him to arrive in, but not bad either. If it came to the circumstance that he needed to decide whether to send kunoichi teams to areas of conflict, he can estimate its danger potential based on which ninja villages potential combatants were from, and likely avoid sending them if ninja from the Five Great Ninja Nations were present.
Of course, if it was a direct request from the Village Hidden in the Mist, the diplomatic and economical ties between it and Nadeshiko would have to be taken into consideration. Those missions would have to be a high priority, so jonin would be sent, or perhaps even Shizuka or Ainz himself.
But the number of jonin ranked individuals in Nadeshiko Village was a fraction of its total kunoichi forces. To send out of a team of wholly jonin-ranked individuals would add to a risk factor, as Nadeshiko Village would be missing some of its stronger forces in an event of invasion. Thankfully, Ainz can substitute kunoichi with YGGDRASIL summons if it came down to it. He had both several items and spells to do so, although he figured necromancy would stain his reputation significantly if displayed, which was a critical factor because his character build revolved around undead summons.
In an extreme event that it required Ainz to be sent out, he would likely be paired with chunin or jonin kunoichi. This was another reason why he needed to study on the ninja, especially Nadeshiko's own kunoichi, so their cohesion as a party in that event wouldn't fall apart.
So, he read.
There were many confirmations of facts he had gained throughout the prior day, but there was new information as well. Instead of mana, Ninja used a source of energy known as chakra, which unfortunately Ainz didn't grab a book detailing chakra specifically, but taking into account its function as a fuel source, it behaved like mana similar enough. He did, however, take written material explaining jutsu. To use chakra to fuel and perform jutsu, the correlating hand-seals had to be performed, which explained the hand motions made from the brief battle yesterday. There were three basic jutsu groups, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, with subcategories mentioned but not listed, and were also divided into five basic elements: fire, wind, water, earth, and lightning.
Out of the three jutsu groups mentioned, Genjutsu was considered the least problematic in Satoru's personal opinion. It targeted the opponent's biological senses and mind through their chakra flow, which Ainz did not have chakra. However, in the possibility that it could, Ainz Ooal Gown had two particular racial skills working in his favor: [Mind-Altering Immunity] and [Biological Penalties' Resistance].
Their names described their effects easily enough.
Ninjutsu and Taijutsu were more concerning, which Ainz believed he saw both yesterday in Shizuka's fight.
A jutsu has ranks similar to missions but started at E-Rank instead of D. If he compared them with Tier Magic, the strongest rank, S, might be similar to a 10th Tier Spell, but that was a pure assumption. He didn't know the ranks of the jutsu used yesterday, but they seemed about equal to 3rd Tier.
That wasn't including the possibility that they might be able to use a version of metamagic, would an increase of chakra used in a jutsu augment its strength or effects?
He could ask Shizuka about it, she'd been willing to answer his questions, even if a few of them seemed a little odd from a native perspective.
Still, with the information provided in these books concerning basic knowledge on a ninja's capabilities, he had a slight understanding of what he was working with. He could now assign kunoichi specializing in one of the three jutsu groups to particular missions and create teams that served a jack-of-all-trades purpose.
Of course, it wouldn't be so simple as to create teams. As mentioned before, jonin only made a fraction of the kunoichi forces available, the majority were either chunin or genin unless Ainz counted academy students as military, which he didn't, Yamaiko would have his head for that and other guild members would certainly be disappointed in him.
Unfortunately, child soldiers were commonplace in Nadeshiko Village, and likely the ninja world as a whole. Nearly all genin were under the age of 18, and a number of chunin as well, there wasn't anything Ainz could do about that without risking a significant loss of military power.
If he had Nazarick's Treasury, he could outfit Nadeshiko Village with YGGDRASIL equipment, but that wasn't the case. Although he did have a few data crystals in his inventory, it wasn't enough to create equipment, not to mention he didn't have any Crafting Job Classes to craft any items, and creating items with [Create Greater Item] had no long-term sustainability, neither could he create enchanted equipment with the spell.
But, Suzuki Satoru was a notorious collector, so much that he spent large sums in expanding his number of inventory slots. Although he couldn't create or enchant magical items, Ainz did have several crafting reagents on hand, including a significant quantity of low-level materials. It might be possible for Nadeshiko Village to use it to create equipment for kunoichi.
Although he didn't know what other materials existed in this world, he had examined some equipment with [Appraisal Magic Item] that Shizuka had. However, nothing the village leader had was special in any way and was made of material that new players would wear. Her throwing weapons were made of basic steel, which was immensely disappointing.
But there was also to take into consideration that introducing material from YGGDRASIL would paint a huge target on Nadeshiko Village and Ainz. Not to mention, although he had a large quantity of it, there wasn't any renewable source, it would be bad if it became a economical reliability in the same way oil reserves had been before their depletion on Earth.
No, if he introduced those materials, it had to be in secret. In the meantime, perhaps he should create a mission to survey the surrounding area's natural resources?
As for the Bingo Book…
Well, admittedly, many individuals in it looked very chuunibyou. There were descriptions of their abilities, but the information seemed to have been left out or was unknown. Of course, this makes sense, knowledge was power, and keeping that secret benefited the individual and their origin village. The Bingo Book was also outdated, expectedly, communication between villages wasn't instantaneously like cities on Earth. Any new information wouldn't be easily distributed until days or weeks later. Not to mention, this was the Bingo Book derived from the Mist Village, its listed ninja would be different than those from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Again, like missions, each rogue ninja was ranked from D to S in terms of bounty and consequently, their danger level and importance. Suzuki Satoru had flipped through it and made mental note of rogue ninja A-Rank and above as potential dangers to himself. He considered that since they were the highest two ranks, they had the great potential to harm a level 100 player.
That's not to say that rank meant overall power scale, it was just a precautionary measure.
He also had a bit more info on Bloodline Limits, genetic abilities that granted peculiar abilities outside the norm of typical jutsu. Ainz reasoned that he might be able to get away with explaining his undead nature as a Bloodline Limit, but nothing in the Bingo Book indicated such an ability that it changed their appearance into heteromorphs. Also, a genetic ability that prevented the propagation of its holder would likely seem too far-fetched, genetics doesn't work like that… He thinks.
Satoru had never really delved into those subjects beyond basic understanding.
Ainz placed down the Bingo Book satisfied with it and decided to pick up some more economically-related topics and self-study books. He might as well refresh his education, just in case.
Curiously enough, those assassin kunoichi never came. Perhaps he had gotten on the good side of the Elder Council? Well, a missed opportunity to witness the kunoichi in action, but he would get another chance in the future.
The following morning, Ainz Ooal Gown had narrowly escaped breakfast, it had been a close victory, but thankfully the excuse of eating it in his room without witnesses proved to succeed. Ainz realized that he might need to find a suitable excuse for his undead nature sooner than later, as there would only be so many times he could avoid the problems from hiding his identity.
But for now, Ainz sat in the chair of Shizuka's office, already doing the village leader's job. Not a day later, and Shizuka already placed him on this chair while she went off into the village, he really should've expected this. A chunin kunoichi was readily available to help him, serving to move paperwork and do occasional arithmetic while Ainz navigated through the increasing work.
Contrary to Ainz's prior assumption, the village leader did not actually assign each and every mission to a team. It would take too much time, as such, there was a particular building in the Main Hill where kunoichi went to select which commission they wanted to take. Not dissimilar to a company allowing its employees to pick which job they wanted, this method cleared up free time for the village leader.
The only exception would be A and S-Ranked missions, which required the leader to acknowledge the kunoichi team willing to take it, or personally assign a team. But Ainz did assume correctly that such high-ranking missions were rare, usually directed to the Village Hidden in the Mist per a contractual obligation. Any which were not either directly concerned Nadeshiko Village or were sent by the Mist Village for Nadeshiko Village to handle specifically. Either way, that meant the bulk of payment came from C and B-Ranked missions.
He managed to secure financial data related to Nadeshiko Village, it wasn't a pretty picture.
Frankly, there wasn't much self-sufficiently, if barely at all. Nadeshiko Village relied heavily on mission payments, had little in the way of exports, and didn't have any food production capacity. Its major export was wood, which according to the assistant when asked, couldn't compete with the bordering Land of Fire's wood exports, which made for ill profits for Nadeshiko. They did also export granite, due to the surrounding mountains of the valley, which did turn more of a profit for Nadeshiko Village but they lacked the infrastructure and capable kunoichi to export it in large enough quantities.
Apparently, kunoichi with earth element ninjutsu was rare in Nadeshiko, Tokiwa being one of them. The village had a weighted favor of wind element, which its village techniques had adapted with. While a ninja could learn any basic elemental nature jutsu, apparently it was more chakra-intensive to use jutsu not fitting an individual's nature, and Nadeshiko didn't have anyone with large reserves.
He'd need to read deeper on chakra and its natures later.
Still, although Nadeshiko Village didn't have much in its treasury, it had enough for some wiggle room.
Which meant he can create a few missions.
"Where's the empty mission forms?" Ainz questioned the chunin kunoichi assisting him.
"Third drawer down on your left, Lord Ainz," She answered him, looking up briefly from her position on the floor at the room's corner, surrounded by towers of papers she'd been organizing for a while.
He pulled out the drawer and grabbed a blank mission slip, then grabbed a pen instead of the writing brush. He had a bit of difficulty with the brush and only used it when he had to, luckily, Shizuka had the foresight to have some pens on her desk. Suzuki Satoru was extremely thankful for that.
"Can you bring that map over?" He pointed towards the localized map, not the world one. It detailed the area of the peninsula.
The chunin stood up and took it off the wall, then brought it towards the desk. Ainz cleared some paper stacks away, making room for it to unfurl completely. "This is the local area," The chunin began, pointing her finger at the map. "The border between the Land of Fire and Water is here as you can see. We do not have jurisdiction of these villages," then proceeded to point at many others, particularly areas with potential ports.
"Are any of these ninja villages?" Ainz questioned.
"No, Lord Ainz. We're the only ninja village in the peninsula," She answered.
Ainz examined the map in detail, he noticed there were areas without any name, just geographical landmarks, lacking any sort of civilization. There were a few locations in the peninsula that wasn't too far. "There's a lake here," He commented, noting that was it was inland, it was also the tip of the peninsula. "The border is quite mountainous as well."
There were several areas that might be worth it, he'll send some teams to investigate and conduct geological and natural resource surveys. He began writing down the information and what was required, since it could be considered a direct request from the co-leader of Nadeshiko, he would have to personally meet with the kunoichi team that decided to take it. It shouldn't be a difficult mission, but taking into consideration bandits, rogue ninja, and importance for Nadeshiko's future economics, he decided to play it safe, even if it was a bit more costly.
He labeled it a B-Rank mission with a stamp.
An anxious feeling didn't fade away from his mind, should he also give them something? A consumable of some sort? He didn't feel like giving away anything too important from his collection, call it a bit of a possessive feeling. He didn't have any Crafting Job Classes to replace even the lowest of consumable items.
That didn't mean he wouldn't use them though.
"I need you to test something for me," He said, reaching into his robes and pulled out an item, it looked like a small paper scroll, similar yet different in design to the ninja scrolls he'd seen so far. "I want you to try and use this, just toss it into the air and say the words [Lesser Dexterity]."
The chunin looked at him with a confused expression but did what was ordered. She took the scroll and tossed it into the air, it unfurled as she spoke, "[Lesser Dexterity]." In an instant, the scroll vanished into motes of light that quickly dissipated and followed with a brief glow that emanated from her body. Her expression became one of surprise and awe.
Score!
He was initially doubtful, while scrolls did not require the user to know the spell or consume mana for its activation, they did require a class capable of learning its category of magic. Ainz was aware that the [Ninja] Job Class could use many scrolls, and it seems to be the case the rules classified chakra ninjas as close enough.
"Sir, I feel stronger, but in a certain way?" She was confused. "What did that do?"
"It's a special consumable item," Ainz explained. "It stores a jutsu that can be activated later with no chakra cost. You are now affected by a buff- Er, enhancement, that increased your dexterity for an hour." He twisted the actual explanation to match this world's use. "Now take this filled mission form and bring it to where they're presented."
"Lord Ainz, can I also take some time to try this enhancement out?" She said, taking the paper from him.
"Sure, report to me in an hour when it wears off," He said, approving the trial period.
The chunin looked excited and quickly bowed before departing with haste to fulfill the job and test out her newly bestowed enhancement.
Ainz nodded to his success, "Umu, glad that it worked, but I won't have enough scrolls to last forever, especially for such a large number of kunoichi."
Not to mention, there were some scrolls that he doubted they would be able to use. There was a level requirement for some scrolls, he had some [Perfect Unknowable], but doubted his assistant chunin would be able to use them.
Now, while he waited, he might as well get through more of this paperwork.
But, not an hour later, someone knocked on his door asking to enter. It wouldn't be Shizuka, as she was busy elsewhere, and the voice didn't sound like any of the elders.
"Enter," He allowed.
Three kunoichi that entered, two of them looked younger than eighteen, the oldest somewhere in her late twenties. He figured the eldest was a jonin, while the two teenagers were chunin, given they all wore vests of Nadeshiko instead of free-style clothing.
"Greetings, I am Ainz Ooal Gown, co-leader of Nadeshiko, can you introduce yourselves?" He said.
"Nina! I'm a chunin, Lord Ainz," A young girl answered with high positive energy, a big grin on her face, brown hair tied in twin tails with red ribbons. Her grey uniform had some marks of green color to it, likely some personal adjustments for aesthetic reasons, and her village headband was wrapped around her head.
"Chunin Aki, Lord Ainz," In contrast, this teenager was softspoken, her black hair reached down to only her shoulders, but had frontal bangs that nearly hid her eyes. Her uniform had no additional aesthetic adjustments save for a fake purple flower sewn into the right breast and her headband tied to her left upper arm instead of her head.
The oldest spoke, "I am Jonin Kluke, Lord Ainz." Straight to the point, professional, and having no personal changes to the Nadeshiko uniform. She looked almost average, brown hair tied in a high ponytail, fair skin, excellent build, but had a single unique feature of green eyes. "We've come in response to the B-ranked mission you recently posted."
"Excellent," Ainz was impressed at the speed it was responded with. "I need you to conduct a geological survey at this location," He pointed to the area in question. "From what I know, there is a large lake in the center of it. I want to know the area's natural resources and anything of interest. It's of economic importance that Nadeshiko Village finds additional means of income, and I'm hoping this region has what I seek."
"Seems simple for a B-rank," Kluke commented.
"You can say I'm playing cautiously here," Ainz admitted. "Furthermore, I'm also giving you experimental scrolls that I want you to use in emergencies." He brought out three scrolls. "These scrolls, in particular, have a type of genjutsu called [Invisibility] stored within. It makes you visibly undetectable for thirty minutes, but do keep audibly quiet during its effects, people can still hear you," He pushed them forward as the jonin collected and stored them into her weapon pouch.
"How do we use them?" Kluke questioned.
"A simple toss into the air and speaking the jutsu name, no chakra required," Ainz explained. "It will be consumed on use," He further clarified.
"Neat! We'll get it done in no time!" Nina said excitedly.
"We'll return as soon as we can," Aki said.
He nodded and waved them dismissively, "Good luck." And they departed from the office shortly thereafter.
Ainz Ooal Gown eagerly awaited their return, it was the first mission he ever assigned, and it should be a simple one.
It was just a survey of a lake, after all.
