"This…"
The envoy from the daimyō's estate looked visibly uncomfortable after being scolded like that, but he didn't dare say anything else.
Seeing that, the Third Raikage shot him a sharp glare.
"What? You got a problem with that?"
"No, no, no!"
The envoy immediately shook his head.
What kind of joke was this?
Everyone knew that Kumogakure was full of hot-blooded brutes, and the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud had always been the most reckless of them all.
Other villages might stop at making threats.
But Kumogakure?
They would actually make a move against the daimyō's estate.
Maybe they wouldn't wipe out the entire estate…
…but destroying half of it would still be no problem at all.
"No problem? Then get out."
"Yes!"
There was nothing he could do.
After forcing a bitter smile, the messenger from the daimyō's estate could only leave in dejection.
The people inside the Raikage's office had originally been worried. After all, something like this might anger the daimyō's estate.
But seeing everyone's concern, the Third Raikage merely waved his hand casually.
"Calm down. If anything goes wrong, I'll handle it. That's what the Raikage is for."
Although his way of calming people down was… a little rough—
—it was undeniably effective.
Faced with their Raikage's attitude, everyone in the room laughed.
The tension from earlier disappeared at once.
The Third Raikage said nothing more. He simply smiled and continued reading the report in his hand.
To be honest, aside from his admiration for Shiki, he also felt a deep disdain for the Fire Country's daimyō estate.
"What a bunch of idiots. A mere daimyō's estate actually thinks it can interfere with the decisions of a shinobi village? They've got a death wish."
After fully understanding why Shiki had destroyed the daimyō's estate, the Third Raikage understood his motives completely.
Because if the same thing had happened in Kumogakure—
If the daimyō of the Land of Lightning had dared say he would remove the Raikage and appoint a new one—
Then the Third Raikage wouldn't even need to act personally.
His subordinates alone would be enough to erase the daimyō's estate from the Land of Lightning entirely.
Ants at the side actually thinking a little authority was enough to deal with the strong?
It was laughable.
Just garbage.
The reactions from Sunagakure and Kirigakure weren't as openly dismissive and furious as Iwagakure and Kumogakure—
—but the meaning behind them was much the same.
They had no intention of making a move against Konoha.
The Third Shinobi World War had only just ended. None of the villages had enough supplies to start another war so soon.
They all needed time to recover.
Not to mention, even if they did have the resources—
As long as Shiki was still in Konoha, that war probably wouldn't happen at all.
With the power of one man alone, he had made the entire shinobi world wary.
Looking across history, only Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara could be compared to the current Golden Lion, Shiki.
And just as the entire shinobi world was discussing Shiki's destruction of the daimyō's estate—
In Konoha, at that very moment—
Shiki was doing exactly what he always did.
Basking in the sun.
Eating grilled meat.
"Lord Shiki!"
Shikaku's figure appeared instantly in front of Shiki.
The moment Nara Shikaku saw what Shiki was doing, his eyelids twitched.
While the rest of them were buried in paperwork at the Hokage's office—
this guy was out here eating barbecue in the sun.
If his heart remained balanced after seeing that, then that would be the real miracle.
"Yo, Shikaku."
Shiki greeted him casually.
Tsunade wasn't around at the moment, so only Kurenai and Yugito were sitting there eating barbecue with Shiki.
When Kurenai and Yugito noticed Shikaku's arrival—
and the message scroll in his hand—
neither of them made a fuss.
They simply got up and left the courtyard on their own.
After all, what came next was clearly going to involve matters at the highest level.
Kurenai was one thing.
But Yugito wasn't originally from Konoha, after all.
Even if Shiki wouldn't say anything, they both understood where the line was and acted accordingly.
"Lord Shiki… those two…"
Shikaku's gaze turned a little teasing.
He had known about Kurenai and Yugito for a long time already.
That, however, didn't stop him from wanting to make a remark.
Maybe it was because while they had all been suffering through piles of documents—
Shiki had been sitting here leisurely eating barbecue.
Maybe his resentment really had become a little unbalanced.
"Alright, enough. Let's talk business."
Noticing the faint resentment in Shikaku's eyes, Shiki couldn't help but smile.
He gave a casual wave, not bothered by the jab in the slightest.
"It's like this."
The moment business came up, Nara Shikaku's expression turned serious.
"A new daimyō has appeared. He's the younger brother of the previous daimyō."
At that, the new daimyō really did have Shiki to thank.
After losing the succession struggle against his older brother, he should have had no chance of ever becoming daimyō in this lifetime.
But Shiki's appearance had changed all of that.
If the previous daimyō hadn't been destroyed, this new daimyō would never have had a chance to rise.
"Hmm. What does this new daimyō have to say?"
Shiki nodded casually.
He didn't care who the new daimyō was.
And he had no interest in caring.
All he needed to know was whether this new daimyō would be obedient enough.
If he was, fine.
If he wasn't, then Shiki didn't mind destroying the daimyō again—
and again—
until a truly obedient one appeared.
Nara Shikaku, who understood Shiki's way of thinking very well, smiled faintly after hearing that.
"Don't worry, Lord Shiki. This new daimyō is very obedient. There's no need for concern."
Just as expected—
Anyone who could become daimyō was not completely brain-dead.
The previous daimyō had only become so arrogant because Hiruzen Sarutobi had yielded again and again, making him mistakenly believe that the shinobi village and shinobi themselves were nothing special.
But this new daimyō?
After witnessing Shiki effortlessly flatten the daimyō's estate and even the Temple of Fire—
he no longer had any such thoughts.
"The new daimyō's motive is simple. Things will remain as they were before. They provide the funding, we shinobi provide the strength, and neither side interferes with the other. The daimyō's estate will have no authority to command the shinobi village."
"Not bad. He's got a good head on his shoulders."
Shiki nodded in satisfaction.
That kind of puppet daimyō was exactly what he needed.
Just stay obediently in the position of daimyō and handle your own affairs.
If you behave, I'll let you live well.
But if you dare climb onto my head and start jumping around—
then that stops being interesting.
At that point, I can only erase you.
"Summon the daimyō. Tell him to handle his own matters properly, and I won't make things difficult for him."
Shiki wasn't so bored that he would go out of his way to target the daimyō's estate for no reason.
"Yes."
Nara Shikaku didn't hesitate at all after hearing the order.
He nodded naturally—
then vanished in an instant.
Only after he left did Kurenai and Yugito walk back out.
"Shiki-nii, you're amazing. Even the daimyō wouldn't dare go against you!"
Kurenai's eyes were filled with admiration as she looked at Shiki.
After all, when Hiruzen Sarutobi had still been in power, what they had always been taught was that the daimyō's estate was not to be provoked, and so on.
Over time, the younger generation of shinobi had come to see the daimyō's estate as some lofty, untouchable existence.
So Shiki's overwhelming attitude toward them—
it naturally left Kurenai full of admiration.
Shiki only smiled silently.
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