"That damn old man… he's turned into such a coward. He's forgotten what a backbone even is… completely a disgrace to the Second Hokage."
If Sarutobi Hiruzen were still willing to stand together with them,
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura would never have needed to worry about anything.
But now, only the two of them remained.
Looking at Homura, who was sitting in front of her with a single arm, Koharu's brows creased with worry.
"Hmph! We can lose everything else, but we absolutely cannot lose our status as elders!"
"Ha… The Mitokado family's access to resources is already starting to shrink."
Koharu let out a long sigh and shook her head.
In the end, whether it was the Utatane clan or the Mitokado clan,
they could only be considered minor families in Konoha.
In the past, there had been two elders—Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
Even the great bloodline clans of Konoha were unwilling to mess with these two families unless absolutely necessary.
As long as Koharu and Homura still held their seats on the Council of Elders,
they could fight for a large amount of supplies and benefits for their respective clans.
But now, things were different.
After losing their positions as elders,
the Utatane and Mitokado clans were immediately beaten back to their original standing.
Those clansmen who used to throw their weight around and bully other shinobi just because of their backing…
now that Koharu and Homura's "elder" titles were gone,
it was obvious that the Utatane and Mitokado clans would soon be isolated by the other ninja families—and might even decay day by day.
More importantly, they could still turn a blind eye to their clans' affairs if they had to…
but the power that came with being elders?
That, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura absolutely refused to give up.
"In the end, to force things to this point… Shiki's strength really isn't a joke."
Koharu was completely at a loss.
She had always stood at the peak of Konoha's power, everything going her way for decades.
Because of that, the moment she ran into real setbacks, Utatane Koharu had no idea how to face them.
Even now, the image of Shiki cutting off Homura's arm without the slightest hesitation
still cast a mark deep in her heart.
"Hmph."
Unlike Koharu, Homura, whose arm had been cut off, had actually calmed down quite a bit.
"So what if he's strong? In this shinobi world, strength isn't the only thing that matters!"
Obviously, even at this point, Mitokado Homura still hadn't understood—
in this world, everything ultimately bowed to strength.
Before absolute power, all those other things were just empty talk.
"Then what are you planning to do?"
Noticing the glint in Homura's eyes, Koharu looked at him curiously.
"Hmph…"
Letting out another cold snort, Homura said proudly:
"We can't deal with him… but the daimyō's mansion definitely can!"
"Ah!"
Koharu's eyes lit up.
She'd reached the same conclusion: no matter how powerful Shiki's strength was,
the daimyō's mansion controlled all of Konoha's finances.
Shiki obviously couldn't afford to openly antagonize the daimyō.
"But… how do we do that?"
Koharu frowned at Homura.
Right now, they didn't even have their elder status anymore.
That also meant they'd lost the qualifications to request an audience with the daimyō.
"I heard before that the princess of the daimyō's mansion is planning to travel around the Land of Fire's territory."
As Homura said that, Koharu suddenly remembered.
"Right… There really was news like that. But it was during the Third Shinobi World War, so it got delayed."
Back then, there had indeed been a message sent from the daimyō's side,
saying the princess wanted to tour the Land of Fire and requesting that Konoha send shinobi to guard her.
But at that time, the village was consumed by war.
They didn't have the manpower to spare.
Now that the war was over, however, they finally had time.
"We'll use that matter… and make a fuss out of it."
Mitokado Homura smiled darkly.
Koharu, understanding his intention, also let out a soft laugh.
…
Three days later, inside the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
Tsunade had actually come over personally for once.
After all, she was the Hokage—
if she kept sending shadow clones to handle everything, it would really be a bit unsightly.
"Yo, Shikaku, you've got it rough."
Seeing Nara Shikaku and the others buried under a literal mountain of documents, Tsunade chuckled.
She, on the other hand, was finally feeling relaxed.
"…"
Shikaku was so busy processing paperwork that he didn't even have time to greet her.
Yamanaka Inoichi was in slightly better shape—at least he could help Shikaku sort through the documents.
Akimichi Chōza, on the other hand, was in a completely different state.
He'd look at one document… and eat a bag of potato chips.
The empty bags were stuffed into several trash cans nearby.
"By the way, Tsunade-sama, I need you to look at this document."
"Hm?"
Tsunade took the file Shikaku handed over, glanced through it, and then raised an eyebrow.
"A mission request from the daimyō's mansion?"
"Yes."
Shikaku nodded.
"It's about the princess of the daimyō's household. Now that the war is over,
the princess wants to take a proper tour of the Land of Fire's territory.
The daimyō's side is asking us to send a few shinobi over as escorts."
"Seriously? Don't they have samurai for that?"
Tsunade clicked her tongue, her face full of disdain.
Pure samurai… in this era, they'd already been eliminated.
Even the samurai of the Land of Iron all trained in chakra now.
Only that bunch in the daimyō's mansion still stubbornly believed in "the power of samurai."
"No helping it. It's the daimyō, after all."
Shikaku shrugged helplessly.
If it were anything else, he could have handled it himself.
But matters involving the daimyō were never easy.
Those were things Shikaku would always push to Tsunade.
"What a pain…"
"Princess" this, "princess" that—
wasn't she, Tsunade, also called "hime" by people?
What was so great about some other princess?
At that moment, Tsunade happened to see Shiki walk in, and she immediately shoved the document into his hands.
"Here, you take a look at this."
"Huh?"
Shiki took the document and skimmed through it, then asked in a completely flat tone:
"What rank is this mission?"
"Uh… C-rank."
Not sure why Shiki was asking, Nara Shikaku still answered honestly.
It was just an escort mission,
and the fee offered by the daimyō's mansion was also at the level of a C-rank commission.
"Mm."
Shiki nodded to show that he'd heard.
He casually handed the document back to Tsunade and said offhandedly:
"Then just send one chūnin and a three-man genin squad."
There were clear rules for the kinds of missions different ranks of ninja could take.
Genin could only accept D-rank and C-rank missions.
Chūnin could take C-rank and B-rank missions.
Jōnin could take B-rank and A-rank missions.
Only those who had been granted the title of elite jōnin were qualified to take S-rank missions.
Since this was a C-rank mission,
one chūnin and a three-man genin team was just right.
"Uh…"
Shikaku was stunned.
Even if those were the rules, the identity of the person they were escorting this time was different.
"Lord Shiki, this is still the princess of the daimyō's mansion we're talking about…"
"So?"
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