Chapter 117: Haruno Sakura's Selfish Motives
The cleanup work was much more troublesome than expected.
Kazahana Dotō was not only the leader of the Snow Ninja but also the daimyo of the Land of Snow. After Team 7's surprise attack that night, the Snow Ninja were annihilated, but the Land of Snow did not disappear. The position of daimyo was left vacant, and although the entire country was still running on inertia, everyone from top to bottom was very confused, and panic was in the air.
Logically, Kazahana Koyuki should have inherited the position of daimyo, but on this issue, the Asama uncle and nephew and Koyuki herself had different opinions.
Asama Sandayū was firmly hoping that Koyuki would take the position of daimyo, inherit her father's throne, and console the spirit of Kazahana Sōsetsu in heaven.
Asama Takehiko was the complete opposite. Having left the Land of Snow long ago, he had no emotional attachment to this country and was indifferent to the idea of Kazahana Koyuki becoming its daimyo. Instead, he strongly urged her to continue her career as an actress.
"When you talk about being a daimyo, you also have to consider what kind of country it is," he pointed out bluntly. "The daimyo of the Land of Fire and the daimyo of the Land of Snow are completely different things. A remote and barren country like the Land of Snow, the title of daimyo only has some use here. Outside, it's not as well-known or influential as your status as Fujikaze Yukie."
Kazahana Koyuki had to admit that what he said made sense.
"In fact, being the daimyo of the Land of Snow is really not as interesting as you imagine. In terms of personal life, the daimyo of a poor country can't compare to a big star who can travel the world. In terms of career, you are very talented as an actress and a star and have already become a world-class celebrity. What about managing a country? It's troublesome and boring, and you might not even do a good job. And the conditions in the Land of Snow can't support you in doing better."
Kazahana Koyuki sighed. "That's true."
What Asama Takehiko said was indeed reasonable.
However, becoming a daimyo was an extremely tempting option for any ordinary person, and this was the country where her father had served as daimyo. As the only bloodline descendant to inherit his great position was also a tradition in the Naruto world.
Asama Sandayū's reminder also could not be ignored.
Koyuki was Kazahana Sōsetsu's only child. According to the traditional concepts of the Naruto world, she should of course inherit the position of daimyo of the Land of Snow. If she didn't become the daimyo, then who would? No one else had the legitimacy to convince the people. In the end, they would fall into a predicament where no one would submit to anyone else. What would happen then?
The answer was self-evident: civil war.
So if Koyuki did not want the Land of Snow to fall apart, for towns to attack each other, for civil unrest to occur, and for the people to be plunged into misery, then she must inherit this position of daimyo.
This was her right, and also her duty.
This was a choice that concerned the fate of the rest of her life, so Kazahana Koyuki was always undecided and had hesitated for a long time.
However, Sakura hoped that she would inherit the position of daimyo.
In any case, having an acquaintance become the daimyo of another country was a very advantageous thing for Sakura.
The geographical location of the Land of Snow was very good: far from the mainland, a bitterly cold land, covered in snow all year round. For Sakura, it was a good place.
The simplest thing was that the environment here was very suitable for her to practice Ice Style. The ice and snow that could be seen everywhere made this place the home field for Ice Style. When Sakura used Ice Style here, she often only consumed a quarter of the chakra she would in other environments, or even less. In other words, the efficiency of training Ice Style here was more than four times that in Konoha.
Besides that, the biggest advantage of the Land of Snow was that it was far from the view of the mainstream ninja world.
If in the future the girl wanted to research some ninjutsu that would cause a bit of a stir, the Land of Snow, with its uninhabited ice fields everywhere, was the place with the best secrecy, the least likely to have its intelligence spied on by the enemy. Even if one day Sakura needed to do some experiments that she didn't want Konoha to discover, a perfect secret base could be built here...
However, to get benefits from the Land of Snow, it had to be based on the premise that Kazahana Koyuki could become the daimyo of the Land of Snow and then be willing to provide her with convenience.
The relationship between Koyuki and Sakura was not bad. Although they had first started talking because of a small misunderstanding on Koyuki's part—thinking that Sakura was a kindred spirit—they had unexpectedly found that they got along quite well after chatting. After all, when Sakura had transmigrated from her previous life, she had been about this age, so the two girls didn't have much of a generation gap on many things.
So they could be considered acquaintances. And considering that Sakura had helped her get her revenge, it was not an exaggeration to call the two of them friends. So if Koyuki really became the daimyo of the Land of Snow, then she would definitely be able to help Sakura with this small favor.
However, the problem was, how to persuade her to inherit the position of daimyo?
"Then why not form a provisional government first," Sakura suddenly interjected.
After the three of them had argued for a day without reaching a consensus, the young girl finally put forward her own opinion.
She did not directly suggest that Koyuki become the daimyo, but instead took an indirect approach, because Sakura did not want to expose her intentions too much, lest Koyuki feel later that she had ulterior motives.
"A provisional government?" the three of them asked at the same time.
"Yes, first form a provisional government to deal with the mess left behind after Kazahana Dotō's death," she said, holding up her index finger to explain. "Then, whether Miss Kazahana officially takes over as daimyo, or chooses a suitable person from the officials below to be promoted to daimyo, and then Miss Kazahana continues to be an actress, there will be no lingering problems."
"The advantage of doing this is, first, to make a decision and stabilize the situation in the Land of Snow. Otherwise, when the news that Kazahana Dotō is dead and the Land of Snow has no new daimyo to succeed him spreads, there will be great chaos among the army, the people, and the government. In fact, just as you were discussing here, some chaos had already appeared in the capital. If not for the few of us going to take a look and stopping the riots in the name of the new daimyo's orders, some people might have already started killing and setting fires by now."
"Second, it gives Miss Kazahana some buffer time to make a decision. Miss Kazahana can first serve as the interim daimyo and try to handle political affairs for a period of time. If she finds that she doesn't like or is not suited for the position of daimyo, then she can also give up the position early and pass it on to others, to avoid making a choice in a moment of impulse, which would be a cause for her own regret and would also harm the Land of Snow."
The three of them listened with great interest.
This kind of provisional government was nothing more than a compromise.
But compared to wasting time on discussion and argument, this was undoubtedly a better choice.
Plus, the person who proposed the suggestion was the temporary captain of Team 7. Taking various considerations into account, the three of them also quickly agreed to this suggestion.
Sakura didn't know much about politics, but fortunately, the politics of the Naruto world were also very immature. After all, it had only been about a hundred years since this world had entered the slightly more stable era of the five great nations from the chaotic Warring States period.
In this world, no matter how naive or absurd a political proposal was, as long as the proposer was strong enough, it could be effectively implemented. This was the political ecology with Naruto's characteristics, an enhanced, Nth-degree version of "strongman politics"—Strong Ninja Politics.
And in this land of the Land of Snow, Team 7 was the highest military power.
The suggestions they put forward, as long as they were not too resisted by others, would not be taken lightly by those below.
And so, the cabinet of the provisional government was formed.
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