[Land of Snow]
Kazahana Koyuki was sitting in the cold, quiet main hall, listening to the reports from the ministers below, but her thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.
They were all simple matters. Honestly, it would have been fine even if she did not personally look over them.
But these ministers, in order to show their loyalty and the status of her as daimyo, still insisted on making reports every day.
"Lady Koyuki, this morning several ninja claiming to be envoys from the Land of Grass arrived and wish to see you."
"Oh… huh?"
After hearing the report, Kazahana Koyuki casually responded, then only after a moment did she realize what had been said, and could not help being startled.
"The Land of Grass?"
Kazahana Koyuki knew of the Land of Grass, but it was far away from the Land of Snow, and she did not know the specifics.
She only knew that the Land of Grass had a long history and even had its own ninja village.
That was something the current Land of Snow could not compare to.
Back then, what remained of Kazahana Doto's faction were all just cannon fodder. Anyone with real strength had already been dealt with.
Although the Land of Snow was now also preparing a ninja village with Konoha's help, a ninja village could never be formed overnight.
So when Kazahana Koyuki heard that people from the Land of Grass had come, she could not help feeling confused and somewhat worried.
'Why would a country thousands of miles away suddenly send people to the Land of Snow?'
'What are they after?'
She pondered in her heart.
Asama Sandayu spoke again from below, "Lady Koyuki, the Land of Grass is not a good country. It has always had a bad reputation in the ninja world. As early as the Warring States period, it survived by reselling information, betraying allies, framing others, and breaking faith."
"Th… this…"
Kazahana Koyuki looked blank. Although she did not know much about the Land of Grass, she did not expect Asama Sandayu to use so many, uh, negative words to describe a country.
It made her nervous all at once, unable to figure out what the Land of Grass was really here for.
Seeing that Kazahana Koyuki had taken his words to heart, Asama Sandayu added another reminder.
"This country has no righteousness and no backbone, but it loves to bully the weak and fear the strong. These people are definitely here with ill intent. Lady Koyuki, please be careful."
Although Kazahana Koyuki felt a little tense inside, she quickly thought again. She was no longer the little girl with no one to rely on.
Even if she could not beat them, she could still call for backup, right?
With that, she instantly gained confidence and calmed down.
She stood up with a composed and imposing air.
"It's fine. Let's go meet them and see what they want."
"Milady…"
One of the ministers looked full of worry and said, "The Land of Grass is obviously here with bad intentions. We really do not need to pay them any attention."
"They came all this way. Even if we ignore them, they will not just give up."
Kazahana Koyuki said, "Don't worry. The Land of Snow is no longer the Land of Snow it used to be."
"I'll go back to my chambers first."
She did not say anything more and left the council hall with a solemn expression.
———
At this time, in another hall—
Several Grass ninja who called themselves envoys of the Land of Grass were standing there, all with relaxed smiles on their faces.
They had never even heard of the Land of Snow. They had only come here after receiving a commission from a wealthy merchant from the Land of Earth.
They originally thought it would be a very troublesome job, but after arriving, they realized it was far easier than they had imagined.
That merchant had hired their Grass Ninja Village to use force and money to take control of the Land of Snow.
In the ninja world, it was not common for individuals to try to control a country through wealth and force, but it was not unheard of either.
For example, the Land of Waves had once had its economic lifeline controlled by Gato, and together with his private armed forces, he had thus taken control of the Land of Waves.
And like the princess of the Land of Birds who had once hired Karin and the others, there had been a group of rogue ninja who wanted to steal control of the Land of Birds.
But normal, proper ninja villages would not take commissions to seize the power of another country.
After all, ninja villages also had a country behind them. This would give other countries an excuse to intervene, and if they were not strong enough, they would only end up working for someone else.
Back then, the ones Gato hired were all rogue ninja and missing nin, and that also gave Konoha the chance to intervene in the Land of Waves, so Konoha smoothly picked the fruit in the end.
But could the Grass Ninja Village really be considered a proper ninja village?
Although Asama Sandayu had just been talking about the Land of Grass, everything he said applied just as well to the Grass Ninja Village. The Grass Ninja Village had always been a cancer of the ninja world.
Selling out allies and breaking promises was second nature to them, done without the slightest sense of shame.
It had been like this as early as the Third Great Ninja War. The Grass Ninja Village was located between Konoha and Iwagakure.
Originally, because of Konoha's powerful strength, they became Konoha's little brother. But during the Third Great Ninja War, they secretly let Iwagakure's ninja enter Konoha's border at Kannabi Bridge.
Then after Konoha won, they hurriedly presented freshly renewed loyalty to Konoha every day.
With a ninja village like this, expecting something like ninja ethics from them was completely impossible.
So when that mysterious wealthy merchant from the Land of Earth offered them a price they could not refuse, they did not hesitate at all to send people over.
They originally thought that since the merchant was willing to pay so much to control this country, it would be a difficult job. But from the moment they arrived, it seemed that was not the case at all.
The military strength here seemed extremely weak. From the time they entered the Land of Snow, they had not seen many real ninja.
The few they did see were only around genin level.
Even most of the guards in the daimyo's palace were ordinary people, with no deterrent power at all.
"With that guy paying so much for the job, I thought it would be dangerous. Now it looks like we're just picking up free money."
One arrogant Grass ninja rubbed his chin and showed a contemptuous smile.
"Be careful. We still don't understand the situation. For that client to be willing to pay such a huge price, it means this country must still have some kind of secrets."
Another Grass ninja with glasses pushed up his frames and said cautiously.
"According to the information he provided, this country's daimyo regained her country with Konoha's help. Could she be rather close to Konoha?"
The third, a big built Grass ninja, nodded in agreement.
"Impossible! We've been traveling at full speed this whole way, and it still took so long, plus the environment is so harsh. How could Konoha bother with a place like the Land of Snow? We'll just finish the job, take the money, and leave."
The arrogant Grass ninja who spoke first laughed.
The Grass Ninja Village did not even have a proper intelligence department, let alone the ability to investigate Konoha's intelligence.
As a matter of fact, there were quite a few Konoha ninja in the Land of Snow, but because of the New Year and the new Hokage's inauguration ceremony, most of them had already left, leaving only a small portion behind.
These Grass ninja did not run into any of them.
"All right, stop overthinking it."
That arrogant Grass ninja patted the shoulder of the glasses wearing jonin, "Have you not noticed along the way? Everyone here combined probably would not be our match."
"If that Snow Country daimyo does not agree to our conditions later, we will just kidnap her. After we get the rest of the money, we will not have to worry about money for the rest of our lives."
"Let's hope everything goes smoothly…"
The glasses wearing Grass ninja and the big built Grass ninja, who had still been somewhat worried, could not help showing looks of anticipation when they thought about the life they would have after getting all the commission money.
Ordinary ninja would risk their lives for just a hundred thousand ryo.
Let alone an astronomical figure like that.
———
And over on Kazahana Koyuki's side, she had already called in reinforcements and was walking toward them.
This wave was a "two way rush."
Just between Aoba and the Grass Ninja Village.
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