With the Daimyo's support, Tobi's suggestion was immediately adopted. First, the news of forming the Twelve Guardian Ninja was released, mainly targeting powerful rogue ninja not affiliated with any ninja village, or certain powerful chakra practitioners within the country—like the monks of the Fire Temple. There was no urgent demand for Konoha Village to send people yet, as Tobi suggested not to be too eager to avoid a backlash from Konoha Village.
However, there was no need to consider Konoha Village's opinion when training samurai. The Daimyo first allocated three hundred samurai from his own family to Tobi, to be the first batch to receive the secret medicine for enhancement. These samurai were meticulously trained by the Daimyo's family and possessed formidable strength. Some of them could use simple chakra, while others, though unable to use chakra, had developed strong physiques and exceptional taijutsu skills.
The secret medicine Tobi spoke of essentially involved injecting his special power into it. This was an ability he gained after awakening, similar to his ability to absorb resentment to enhance chakra. Once it entered a person's body, it was like planting a seed of his will within them. This seed could quickly stimulate their potential, allowing them to master chakra. However, this method had severe side effects: over time, it would cause the recipient to lose their self-awareness, becoming Tobi's puppet, and their body would gradually become stiff and cold, like a deceased person.
To use a more vivid analogy, the people implanted with the seed would eventually turn into clay dolls, much like those created by Edo Tensei. Aside from their bodies still being alive and not resurrected, their obedience to commands and willingness to fight to the death would be identical.
Of course, this required long-term use of the "secret medicine" injected with the seed. Initially, it would only make people feel their physique strengthen and their pain decrease. For those who used chakra, this was actually very normal. Without knowing the trick, it would be impossible to detect anything unusual.
Tobi also wasn't afraid that these samurai wouldn't accept it. Samurai and ninja had been at odds for a long time. Apart from samurai who couldn't survive otherwise—like Hatake Sakumo's father—any samurai who still received noble stipends or had their own fiefdoms would not switch allegiances to become ninja. At most, they would go to the Land of Iron.
Although the Daimyo commanded the three hundred samurai to obey Tobi's orders, due to the poor relationship between ninja and samurai, they harbored much dissatisfaction. However, a large part of that dissatisfaction vanished when they heard that Tobi could enable them to master chakra, and even undergo nature transformation.
Why were ninja generally superior to samurai in individual combat? Wasn't it precisely because they mastered miraculous ninjutsu? Among the samurai class, only those with exceptional talent could master the use of chakra through arduous training, and their strength could rival jounin or even Kage. But for these lower and middle-ranking samurai, it was entirely different.
Even if the lower and middle ranks of ninja weren't that powerful, at least they could all use chakra! Those strange ninjutsu could make these samurai, who only knew taijutsu and most of whom couldn't even use chakra, beg for mercy. If it were just genin, it might be fine, as their chakra was insufficient to use many ninjutsu. But any chunin with more chakra and more mastered ninjutsu, if not confronted by dozens, or even a hundred men in a military formation, would be impossible to contend with.
Now, Tobi claimed to have a way to allow everyone present to master chakra, which immediately moved them. Mastering chakra was not exclusive to ninja; the samurai of the Land of Iron also knew how, and even secret techniques were not exclusive to ninja, as the ninja monks of the Fire Temple also used them. The only difference lay in the method of combat.
With the samurai's fighting style, they generally wouldn't use any special secret techniques. Instead, they would learn to use chakra to stimulate their body's meridians, enhancing their physical abilities, and use nature transformation to "enchant" their weapons. This way, they could significantly enhance their advantage in direct combat.
If a samurai could use chakra and had a certain level of nature transformation, they would have a fighting chance against a ninjutsu-using chunin of the same rank. It would only be at the level of Special Jonin and Jonin that they would need to form military formations again to deal with them, but even then, the number of people required would be more than halved compared to before!
"Your physical conditioning is actually excellent; you just lack a proper method for chakra training," Tobi said with a smile.
The method of chakra training has been a closely guarded secret of ninja clans since ancient times, and different ninja clans have different methods. Although the principle is to unify physical energy and spiritual energy, how to achieve this unification is a vital treasure of a ninja clan.
During the era of the Sage of Six Paths, those who could cultivate chakra were all exceptionally talented. To enable more people to learn chakra, those ancestors gradually improved the chakra training methods, creating various techniques based on their different experiences. The training methods that allowed people to master chakra more quickly became the guarantee for the blood descendants of those ancestors to advance faster than others. This was the beginning of ninja clans.
Those powerful ninja clans generally wouldn't reveal their own training methods. After the establishment of ninja villages, some ninja village leaders, in order to cultivate more civilian ninja, revealed their family's training methods. For example, the chakra training method at Konoha Ninja Academy was initially a secret technique of the Senju clan. Later, after Fumori Masaki had the research department improve it, its training speed surpassed the original method, even tempting members of ninja clans who hadn't learned it because their inherited training methods were more suited to their own physiques.
Although over a thousand years, samurai who also experienced the Ninja Sect era learned bits and pieces of chakra training methods, and some weak ninja clans, seeking noble protection, also contributed their own training methods, the former only grasped superficial knowledge, and the latter, having seen their families fall to such a state, it's safe to say their chakra training methods weren't particularly good, though not absolutely so.
This is why, in their training, samurai often honed their physiques better than many ninja, yet when children younger than them mastered chakra, only a small fraction of samurai could do so. This is the difference in training methods.
In the past, due to the prevalence of traditional customs, samurai diligently practiced, and the number of samurai who mastered chakra was relatively high. But now, with the advancement of the times, customs have gradually become more extravagant. Even samurai, as their numbers expanded, could no longer maintain their past mindset, and the number of those who mastered chakra began to decline.
Therefore, only the Land of Iron, which consistently maintained traditional customs, could support a large-scale chakra samurai corps, while other major nations struggled to train armies comparable to it.
The chakra training method Tobi possessed belonged to the Uchiha clan, naturally making it a superior one. However, no matter how superior it was, teaching samurai to use chakra, even at the level of these elite samurai, would still take one or two years. Those with weaker abilities would take even longer.
However, Tobi never intended for them to learn the traditional method. For his plan, these chakra samurai were very useful pawns. And for these samurai, learning chakra training methods as quickly as possible would certainly be better than following strict rules.
Tobi, with a smirk, took out the secret medicine he had prepared. He diffused it in water, turning it into a medicinal bath, and had each samurai immerse themselves in a tub, allowing the medicine to permeate their entire physique.
Although the primary method for samurai to quickly master chakra was the "seed" he created using his special abilities, these medicines were indeed not fake. They were secret medicines used within the Uchiha clan to strengthen children's bodies. Of course, since some of the ingredients were found in ninja villages, he substituted some others. The effect was not as good as the authentic Uchiha clan medicine, but this was not important; it was merely to conceal the secret of the "seed."
After soaking in the medicinal bath, the three hundred samurai immediately felt a warmth circulating within their bodies, as if their meridians had expanded, and they wore expressions of disbelief. Some of them had even begun to sense the presence of chakra, and even a simple punch had more power than before.
"You've already made progress in your training, you just needed a final push. The others don't need to worry; you'll also be able to use chakra very soon," Tobi said with a smile, looking at the few samurai who could already use chakra at a basic level.
Although it was a "final push," if they had trained normally, these individuals would certainly have needed a considerable amount of time. If they had been distracted by the allure of the outside world, the time to master chakra would have been even longer. It was Tobi's chakra seed that allowed them to suddenly break through the limit.
These samurai were unaware of the secret. They only knew that after a single medicinal bath, the stronger among them could immediately use chakra, and the others felt they were just a step away from a breakthrough. They were highly convinced by Tobi's words, as if his ninja identity was inconsequential.
"Captain, please feel free to give us any orders in the future; we will never disobey!" one of the chakra-wielding samurai exclaimed excitedly.
The Daimyo bestowed upon Tobi the titles of Captain of the Samurai Corps and Captain of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. These two titles clearly showed the extent of the Daimyo's trust in him. Tobi, however, replied solemnly, "Though I am your captain, we all follow the Daimyo's orders. It should be said that no matter what commands the Daimyo gives, we will resolutely obey, whether it means climbing mountains of swords or descending into seas of fire."
"You are right," the samurai, momentarily overcome with excitement, remembered that he was a vassal of the Daimyo. Although he was to obey Tobi's orders, the higher command still came from the Daimyo. Of course, both understood the meaning, but Tobi did not show any pride, which demonstrated his loyalty to the Daimyo.
"After learning to use chakra, Captain, you should teach us chakra nature transformation and shape transformation, right?"
"Exactly. If you can't use these, you won't be able to contend with those cunning ninja from Konoha Village," Tobi nodded. "Don't worry, since I can enable you to quickly master chakra, I certainly have a way for you to quickly master chakra nature transformation and shape transformation, without taking as much time as ordinary ninja."
For ordinary ninja, training in nature transformation or shape transformation typically takes at least one to two years. Only those with exceptional talent can master it in a short period, but to achieve mastery, it still requires several years.
The samurai, however, were worried that they too would need such a long time. In the past, it wouldn't have been an issue, as chakra training was inherently complicated. But after experiencing the feeling of rapidly learning chakra, their other desires gradually grew, hoping that nature transformation and shape transformation could also be cultivated quickly.
Tobi directly guaranteed that he could also enable them to master it quickly, which once again caused a stir among the samurai. Someone asked, "Captain, who exactly are you? Since you're so formidable, why don't you join a ninja village?"
"Heh heh, the reason I don't join a ninja village is because I am willing to serve the Daimyo. As for anything else, you don't need to know too much," Tobi replied.
The samurai felt they had spoken out of turn. Although Tobi served the Daimyo, he was still a ninja, and as a ninja, he would have secrets he couldn't reveal. The cursed seal placed on Tobi by the Daimyo also couldn't force him to divulge ninja secrets unless he willingly chose to. This was an agreement between both parties when the cursed seal contract was made; such a cursed seal wouldn't work without mutual consent.
Regardless, since Tobi had a way to teach everyone how to use chakra, and with the cursed seal binding him as a loyal vassal of the Daimyo, there was no need to know too much; they simply needed to accept Tobi's training.
As for the Twelve Guardian Ninja, Tobi, as the highest person in charge, naturally had to personally oversee it. The ninja monks of the Land of Fire were relatively easy to deal with. The main issue was the non-village ninja active in the ninja world. These individuals, hearing that the Land of Fire Daimyo was establishing the Twelve Guardian Ninja and that they would enjoy very high stipends, immediately came to sign up. However, many of them were merely there to make up the numbers and lacked significant strength. These individuals were naturally to be dismissed.
After a period of selection, Tobi finally picked out some individuals, but there was still a considerable number. Further streamlining was needed to meet the requirement of five people; the remaining spots were to be reserved for people from Konoha Village.
During this time, Konoha Village's intelligence department had already gathered most of the information, compiled it into a report, and sent it to the Hokage's desk.
Fūmori Masaki looked at the report before him with a somewhat solemn expression. He immediately convened a meeting of the Hokage's Inner Cabinet to discuss the matter.