The system chimed—not once, but three times.
Each sound carried weight.
QUEST COMPLETED: ESTABLISH THE TEN RINGS ORGANIZATIONREWARD: 10,000 POINTS
I barely reacted before the next followed.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: CONTROL OF A MAJOR CIVILIZATIONDESCRIPTION: You have successfully taken control of China—directly and indirectly.REWARD: 5,000 POINTS
Then, quietly—
ORGANIZATION MILESTONE REACHEDThe Ten Rings has grown to a Large-Scale PowerREWARD: 1,000 POINTS
I opened the system panel.
TOTAL POINTS AVAILABLE: 16,000
A slow smile touched my lips.
The system was no longer testing me.
It was acknowledging me.
"Good," I murmured. "Then let's keep moving."
I didn't spend them yet.
Instead, I reached for the two summoning cards I had already purchased.
"Activate."
The air rippled again—more stable this time, as if reality itself had grown accustomed to my defiance of its rules.
The summoning field expanded.
Images flickered rapidly.
A cursed swordsman.A lightning-fast warrior.A man with stone skin.A demon king.
The wheel slowed.
Stopped.
The first figure emerged.
A tall man with calm, piercing eyes and dark hair tied neatly behind him. He wore a patterned haori—half solid, half geometric—and carried a katana at his side. His presence was quiet, like deep water.
He stepped forward and knelt.
"Giyu Tomioka," he said simply.
The second summoning followed immediately.
A broader figure this time—white hair, heavy armor, and a massive sword strapped across his back. His posture was relaxed, confident, carrying the air of a veteran commander rather than a mere warrior.
He bowed once, firmly.
"Yamato," he said. "I stand ready."
The system confirmed it instantly.
SUMMON SUCCESSFUL x2STATUS: ABSOLUTE LOYALTYNOTE: Free will and personality retainedRELATIONSHIP: Lord–Retainer
Three pillars now stood before me.
Itachi.Giyu.Yamato.
Different worlds.
Different philosophies.
All loyal.
I didn't waste time.
"Giyu," I said, turning to him. "You will teach me."
He met my gaze without hesitation. "What discipline?"
"Swordsmanship," I replied. "And Water Breathing."
There was the faintest pause.
"Breathing techniques are not supernatural powers," he said carefully. "They are methods of controlling the body. The lungs. The blood."
"I know," I said. "That's why I can learn them."
He nodded once.
"Then I will teach you everything."
Training began almost immediately.
Water Breathing was unlike shinobi combat.
Where taijutsu was sharp and direct, this was flow. Control of breath, rhythm, posture, and movement unified into a single discipline. Each form emphasized efficiency, endurance, and calm under pressure.
The Sharingan accelerated my learning brutally.
I could see the breathing patterns. Track muscle tension. Predict transitions between forms before they happened.
Combined with Master Battle Instincts, progress that should have taken years took months.
I learned the First Form—clean, decisive.Then the Second—flowing defense.Then the Third—constant motion, relentless and patient.
I wasn't as refined as Giyu.
But I was lethal.
More importantly—
I understood how to teach it.
At my command, elite sword units within the Ten Rings were selected. The best. The most disciplined. The ones who could follow instruction without ego.
Giyu trained them personally.
He stripped the technique down to its foundations—breath control, stance, timing. No mysticism. No demons. Just mastery of the human body pushed to its limit.
Within a generation, the Ten Rings possessed something no other army on Earth had.
Soldiers who fought with perfect breathing, tireless endurance, and blades that moved like water itself.
Legends began forming.
Of warriors who never exhausted.Of swords that flowed through enemy lines without pause.Of an army that moved like a tide.
That night, I stood overlooking a training ground filled with torchlight and disciplined motion.
Itachi spoke quietly at my side.
"You are not building an army," he said. "You are building a doctrine."
I watched my soldiers move in perfect synchronization.
"Yes," I replied. "Because armies die."
I flexed my fingers, the Ten Rings humming softly.
"But doctrines endure."
And far in the future—long after heroes were born, after gods descended, after history tried to forget—
The Ten Rings would still be there.
Waiting.