"Kai."
Night had fallen over the Uchiha district.
Fugaku, dressed in a long robe, looked at his second son sitting atop the courtyard wall. He squeezed the document in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke.
"There's news from the daimyō's side."
"The daimyō?"
Hearing that, Uchiha Kai raised his brows slightly and asked casually, "What news?"
"Cough, cough… The daimyō's side said they want us to… release them."
"Oh?" Kai nodded, unsurprised. "Go on."
Release them?
That did sound like something a ruler of a nation would say.
After all, people like that cared about the international situation.
Of course, whether he released them or not depended on the reason—and the compensation.
Fugaku shrugged. "He only said that keeping them here is unfavorable to the harmony between the Five Great Nations, and that we should release them as soon as possible."
"What else?"
"That's it."
"That's it?" Kai's voice suddenly rose a few degrees.
Uchiha Fugaku also looked speechless as he nodded.
When he first received this document, even he had not expected the dignified daimyō of the Land of Fire to actually demand that Konoha release people from other villages.
What was this?
A game of cat and mouse?
Kai rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "What did you all say?"
By "you all," he was now specifically referring to Fugaku and Shikaku.
Oh, right—the First Hokage's Edo Tensei remnant counted as half a person too.
"Uh… my opinion was that perhaps we could discuss it with the daimyō."
Fugaku hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"After all, the appointment of a Hokage still requires the daimyō's official recognition."
That was the real reason Fugaku had come to find his second son.
Their relationship with the daimyō could not be allowed to become too terrible. Otherwise, if Kai wanted to take office as Hokage in the future and the daimyō refused to acknowledge him, what then?
Would he just take the position without proper legitimacy?
Naturally, this was also what Shikaku was worried about.
That was why they had asked Fugaku to come and talk to Kai.
But…
No one had expected that after hearing Fugaku's words, Kai would actually laugh.
He laughed from anger.
"I need his recognition?"
"When I give him face, I call him daimyō. When I don't, he's just some nobody wearing a fancy hat."
Kai's voice was not particularly loud, but it rang out with perfect clarity across the entire courtyard.
Clatter.
Mikoto, who had just been about to step out, swiftly closed the doors and windows again.
Although she was only a woman of the household, she knew that what father and son were about to discuss was best not heard by a third person.
So while she was at it, she also dragged away little Sasuke, who had been lying by the window and secretly listening.
"Cough, cough…"
Hearing such outrageous disrespect from his second son's mouth, Fugaku coughed twice, looking somewhat flustered.
This was reverence and awe rooted deep in his mind.
Even if that daimyō was merely an ordinary person.
Even if he was several hundred li away.
Fugaku still did not dare speak half a disrespectful word about him.
Kai, of course, had no such concerns.
"Relax, Father. If he dares to keep running his mouth—"
"Our slogan of purging the corrupt courtiers around the ruler still works just fine."
There was a reason that when modern men from his homeland transmigrated into ancient societies, aside from a few specific dynasties, most of them ended up rebelling.
If things didn't go your way, why not rebel?
Keep the bastard around so he could give you breast cancer?
Besides, in the original story, the relationship between the Hokage and the daimyō did not seem all that friendly to begin with.
Otherwise, there would not have been the whole Twelve Guardian Ninja incident.
Kai curled his lip, then looked at his old father, who seemed to have been frightened, and waved his hand.
"Don't worry. I'm not some reckless lunatic."
After saying that, he added silently in his heart:
As long as the daimyō doesn't act recklessly, I won't act recklessly.
As for whether the daimyō would act recklessly?
There was no need to even think about it.
He definitely would.
Konoha had just gone through all kinds of incidents, turmoil, and collapse. The entire center of the village had nearly been destroyed clean.
For a daimyō who had long wanted to meddle in Konoha's affairs, how could he possibly not make a move now?
Still, Kai did admire how quickly the other two villages had managed to reach the daimyō.
Their political instincts were indeed sharp.
…
"How did it go, Lord Fugaku?"
"Yes, Fugaku, what did Lord Kai say?"
A short while later, inside Konoha's newly built Hokage Joint Committee Building, a group of people stared nervously at Fugaku as he returned.
They were practically about to hang their eyeballs on him.
Sitting directly opposite was Senju Hashirama.
To the left were Nara Shikaku, Hyūga Hiashi, Akimichi Chōza, and Yamanaka Torifu—the Ino–Shika–Chō trio.
To the right were Jiraiya, Kakashi, Might Guy, and the others.
These people were currently Konoha's temporarily assembled "higher-ups."
Facing all those expectant, hopeful, and worried gazes, Fugaku slowly shook his head.
"Kai… does not agree."
"Haaah. Good."
Hearing this, Shikaku patted his chest and let out a sigh of relief.
He had genuinely been worried that Kai would agree.
After all, where else could they find so many useful forced laborers?
They did not have to worry about life or death, and only needed to spend a bit of food on them.
Forget finding them.
Even if they begged, they would not be able to beg such people into existence.
Right now, Konoha had more than four thousand of them, plus over a thousand more who would soon be put into production.
This kind of labor force directly put them far ahead of everyone else.
If they really listened to the daimyō and sent them back, his industrial park design would be delayed by at least several years.
"Hm?"
"Shikaku, you—!"
"Shikaku!"
Unfortunately, his momentary slip of true emotion immediately drew death glares from everyone present.
Especially Senju Hashirama, who frowned slightly.
"This is a major international issue. If we do not handle it carefully, I fear it may affect Konoha's position among the great nations."
"Lord First is right. Konoha… cannot afford another war."
Jiraiya nodded, his expression dark.
As a wandering shinobi, he had seen countless tragedies while traveling through different nations.
Especially war orphans.
The sight of them was enough to make one's heart ache.
"That's right, Shikaku. I think we may truly need to discuss carefully how to respond."
Even Fugaku sighed. Only after sitting down did he continue.
"Right now, among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, aside from Kirigakure, which has sealed itself off, three of them have many hostages inside our village."
"This is a good thing, but it is also a bomb."
"Once the three great nations jointly apply pressure, I think the daimyō of the Land of Fire will inevitably be unable to withstand it."
"Other matters are one thing. What I fear is that when the time comes, they may launch internal war and unrest. Against ordinary civilian armies, I…"
As he spoke, he fell silent.
He was not cowardly, nor was he some saint.
It was simply that between shinobi and armies, there was an uncrossable gulf.
Even if, in the end, armies could rely on sheer numbers to flatten shinobi, the casualties would still be devastating.
Once he said that, the others also fell silent.
Only Shikaku shrugged helplessly and reminded them.
"But… do you really think Lord Kai would worry about that?"
"I even feel that… he might actually be hoping someone attacks Konoha."
Thump.
The moment those words came out, the old fellows present all stopped talking.
They knew very well.
This was not a possibility.
It was a certainty.
As the discussion continued, Jiraiya suddenly looked toward the outskirts of the village.
In the next second, his figure vanished in a flicker.
Hashirama raised his brows, but considering that this body of his was already rotten to an extreme degree, he ultimately said nothing.
At the same time—
Thirty li outside the village perimeter.
A pitch-black vortex suddenly appeared.
Inside it, two figures—one tall and one short—could be seen faintly…
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