"What do you mean, Akatsuki appeared in the Land of Water and massacred the entire Ichijō clan, an 800-year-old noble house?
Explain it to me. What does massacred the entire Ichijō clan even mean?"
When Konoha's envoys finally arrived at the Fire Daimyō's palace, His Excellency the Lord of Fire Country was in the middle of a complete meltdown.
Up until now, everything had been going exactly as he'd planned.
The industries those country-bumpkin Konoha ninja had built? One little fiscal trick from him and they were all heavily damaged.
The ninja couldn't sit still and started desperately running around throwing money everywhere—courting the Five Elders, the Five Bugyō, the bannermen, the collateral nobles, every kind of vested interest with a say in policy…
As long as someone had any pull in Fire Country politics, the Konoha ninja showed up with two crates of "premium milk" to beg for help.
Everyone, having heard the Daimyō's will, accepted the gifts and did absolutely nothing—just tossed a few boilerplate lines at these country ninja to shut them up.
The ninja didn't understand noble "ventriloquism" at all, and had been making fools of themselves nonstop these past days. They'd become the running joke of the entire Fire Country elite.
Watching those yokel shinobi run around like headless chickens thoroughly satisfied the nobles' dark little hearts.
So much for "great Hokage," "jōnin," "invincible"… Aren't they all on their knees in front of us, the truly exalted?
In Fire Country, dragons coil for me, tigers curl up for me. The only ones who actually matter are we, the noble Celestial Dragons.
With that firmly confirmed, the Fire Daimyō was very pleased.
He figured the timing was about right. Next up he'd meet the Konoha ninja, scold them thoroughly, then pat their heads and comfort them.
Stick and carrot, prestige and favor—get them to give up this whole "independent, self-directed" act and go back to being his loyal dogs.
Those weird companies Konoha had built? They didn't need to keep running them. Just hand everything over to the Fire Country government and let them become state-owned enterprises.
We are the professionals. We can definitely avoid all those "messy problems" you ran into.
As for Konoha, no need to worry—you'll get more money than before and you won't have to wrack your brains managing anything. Just sit at home and collect dividends forever. Isn't that wonderful?
Why would you say no?
The Daimyō was certain that after this one-two combo, the Konoha ninja would happily go back to their "proper" place.
And once he held all those enterprises, his economic grip on Konoha would be strengthened again.
Then, whether to maintain the status quo, or go a step further and control Konoha as his tool to conquer the world—that would be entirely his decision.
Thinking about it got him a little excited.
Hehehehe…
Right as he was swimming in fantasies of world conquest, a report from the Land of Water smacked him right in the face.
A practical operator might not know or care who the Ichijō were.
But among Daimyō and nobles, the Ichijō clan were a big deal—an old war-era house.
In the Sengoku days they'd been an elite "Imperial" court family. After the war ended and the world stumbled into its modern era, they never got much out of it—just a mediocre Water Country noble house with a measly 30,000-koku fief. But for old court nobility, you don't judge by how much land they own; you judge by blood and pedigree.
The Ichijō were a top-tier blue-blood, "Ivy League" house—technically higher in status than the five Daimyō themselves.
The Water Daimyō's favorite little hobby was to summon the Ichijō head every holiday just to watch a once-glorious aristocrat grovel and flatter him, to get a psychological ahoge grin out of it.
And now that entire noble house had been casually wiped out.
Among Daimyō and lords, this triggered raw, animal panic.
According to intelligence, over eight hundred Ichijō—men, women, children—plus their chickens, dogs, earthworms and house cats, all died. No survivors.
The ones who killed them were a group called Akatsuki. They called themselves "friends of the people" or some such nonsense that the nobles found utterly incomprehensible.
Their stated reason for killing the Ichijō was, publicly: "Ichijō oppress the people; heaven and men alike rage against them."
The Fire Daimyō didn't believe a single word.
"'Oppress the people'? 'Heaven and men alike enraged'? You mean… lending at high interest, raising taxes, stealing men and women, eating at inns without paying, not washing your hands after going to the toilet?"
That's what you're talking about?
Isn't that… normal?
All nobles do it. Only the intensity differs.
If that counts as deserving death, doesn't that mean all nobles deserve to die?
The moment he followed that line of thought to its conclusion, the Fire Daimyō was overcome with fury and outrage, and almost shouted aloud:
"This is treason! Villainy! Rebellion!"
This damned Akatsuki! This damned Rinyo! They must be crushed with maximum force, hacked to pieces, their eggs smashed and scattered!
"Hurry! Bring in the Konoha ninja to protect us!"
…Wait a second.
At that point, cold sweat broke out down his back.
Right. He and Konoha had just had a huge falling-out, hadn't they?
Things had been… strained, to put it mildly.
Konoha envoys had arrived and been completely snubbed.
In that context, suddenly begging the Konoha ninja for extra protection would make him look… pathetic, wouldn't it?
He mulled it over and calmed himself down again.
Had he overreached a bit?
He'd been thinking, now that the ninja war was over, Konoha's importance had diminished, so some "discipline" was in order. Fair enough.
But maybe he should have eased off a little.
Even so… if he now turned and invited Konoha's envoys in, wouldn't that look like he was backing down?
"Maybe I should wait and see," the Fire Daimyō thought carefully.
"I've still got Guardian Ninja, and elite bannermen. Even if relations with Konoha are tense, the Guardians are still here, plus my own best samurai. That security should be enough…
But if I'm safe, what about everyone else?"
For the Fire Daimyō, of course he came first, his family second. But those hereditary retainers, elders, and chief councillors mattered too.
They were his base.
Those retainers, those elders—they didn't have Guardian Ninja. They didn't all have elite bannermen. Even if some did, their defenses weren't as solid as his.
If those people got slaughtered by Akatsuki, the Daimyō would feel the pain.
And beyond them, there were all the lesser landed lords. As much as he disliked most of them, they were still "his side."
He could demote them, exile them, reshuffle their fiefs—but even in the Sengoku period, total household extermination was a rare hobby reserved for freaks like the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. It definitely wasn't something you did in these so-called "civilized" times.
If they were killed by Akatsuki fanatics, that too would damage his prestige.
"It's not that bad. Not yet."
The Fire Daimyō thought a bit longer, then comforted himself.
Maybe Akatsuki would be wiped out quickly. The Land of Water had taken a huge hit; they'd want revenge.
Maybe the next dispatch would say: "The Water Daimyō flew into a rage, pushed Kirigakure to go all out. Kiri's army clashed with Akatsuki in a great battle, Akatsuki's leader Rinyo died, the remnants scattered."
Thinking that, he exhaled in relief.
"Yes. That must be it. What can a little Akatsuki really do? I'll push Konoha a bit more… or maybe send a few minor retainers to 'comfort' them first…"
After a moment he decided minor retainers were a bad idea. He knew their type well—they were experts at taking bribes and doing nothing. Sending them to "calm" Konoha would probably end with Konoha getting even angrier and maybe openly rebelling.
But if he sent trusted high-ranking retainers, wouldn't that be giving Konoha too much face?
He couldn't decide.
Even after many lords and officials, including the Five Elders and Five Bugyō, sent messengers—some even came in person—to express alarm and beg him for a decision, the Fire Daimyō just stalled.
"Let's wait and see," he said. "Maybe Kiri will crush Akatsuki and this will all turn out to be nothing."
And so, with much anxiety, a few days passed.
Then new reports from the Land of Water finally arrived.
Staring at the latest issue of The New Konoha Times, the Fire Daimyō finally lost his temper completely and slammed the paper down on the table.
"Kirigakure is useless! Disgraceful!"
One of his attendants carefully snuck a glance at the headlines:
"Kiri routed! Akatsuki unstoppable!"
The subheadline was even more sensational:
"Utter Defeat! New Mizukage Terumi Mei Completely Outclassed by Akatsuki's Rinyo—Beaten Within an Inch of Her Life, Barely Escapes Death!"
If this were just one newspaper, the Fire Daimyō might not have been quite so enraged.
But every channel of information was reporting the same thing: Terumi Mei's crushing defeat and Akatsuki's terrifying power.
At that point, he had to feel fear.
Driven by that fear, he very quickly backed down.
He sent word to all the lords under him: now was not the time for "shooting the dog after the hunt" or "killing the ox after the plowing." They needed to reconcile with Konoha—fast.
Then, as quickly as possible, he summoned Konoha's envoys—the Hokage's advisor, the Uchiha clan's terrifying new leader, the man called "invincible" across the world:
Uchiha Yorin.
He needed to tell Yorin that all his earlier actions had been a huge misunderstanding—that he fully supported the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and wholeheartedly backed Konoha.
And most importantly of all:
"Please, for the love of all the gods, hurry up and annihilate that demon Akatsuki and its leader, Rinyo!"
~~~
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