"So what should we do now?" Mei inquired.
"I'm honestly not quite sure." Inori replied.
After a long, ponderous silence, a voice suddenly sounded out.
"I've got an idea." Shiki spoke as if having made a resolution.
"Oh nononono! That's definitely not something I want to hear from your mouth in our current situation." His sensei was "less than optimistic".
"Relax sensei. The plan does not involve us taking action so you have nothing to fear from my usual . . . tendencies." The boy responded with a deadpan.
"Oh! Phew!" Inori wiped off imaginary sweat, no doubt merely to provoke her student.
"Let's hear it then." She bade Shiki to reveal his idea.
"Considering . . . past events . . ." The white haired boy started, alluding to the rocky beginnings of their team.
"Mito-sama has provided me with a highly expensive and limited use way to instantly transmit information directly to her." Shiki revealed.
'As expected . . . Once bitten, twice shy. Shiki remains very guarded even if his attitude towards me became much better over the last few months.' Inori internally sighed but had no one to blame but herself.
Except for maybe her superiors but it was still her who decided to execute the orders she received without question, regardless of their nature.
"So your plan is to request support?" The Violet Rose inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really your style." She added.
"I know my limits. The situation is getting overly complex and dangerous for us to handle by ourselves." Shiki replied.
"Fair enough." Inori agreed.
"But would Hokage-sama sanction our . . . self-assigned extra duties . . . and agree to send reinforcements?" Mei inquired.
"Irrelevant." The boy instantly replied.
"Not like I plan on running anything by him." He casually spoke of serious insubordination, the kind that came with grave, often deadly punishment.
The bespectacled girl, even their sensei, were both shocked by his attitude but Shiki could only internally shake his head at their reaction.
'With relations souring between Mito-sama and the Hokage, his effective authority over me is very little.'
'Such are the woes of a Hokage that can only maintain his position through political maneuvering rather than absolute power.' He thought to himself.
Hiruzen was not weak, through extensive use of Enlightened Mind's Eye, few things in the village were still secret to Shiki.
Still in his prime, the only Kage that might give Hiruzen some trouble was the Tsuchikage. Many in Shiki's previous life said his Dust Release had great attack power but was too slow to deploy against a fast opponent but that is utter nonsense.
True, there was a slight set up period before the attack was launched and Onoki needed to be wary of fast opponents closing the gap or quick long range strikes but Dust Release's actual attack, the disintegrating light, was ridiculously fast.
The Third Raikage was also a contender but Shiki could imagine a couple of viable ways for Hiruzen to take the win.
It was also a popular belief in his previous life that single minded focus on one particular ability and way of fighting allowed the Third Raikage to completely surpass his contemporary fellow Kage in single combat.
However, the way Shiki saw, in a very real world, such a crippling lack of versatility was very dangerous unless the difference in power was utterly overwhelming, then whatever the methods, it did not really matter.
The great power and physical gifts of the Third Raikage could compensate for his lack of overwhelming power to an extent.
But against a prime Hiruzen, sitting at high Kage level power with a massive array of skills and abilities all trained to mastery?
Shiki didn't think it was enough.
Hiruzen was not a "jack of all trades, master of none" he was a master of all, someone who perfected the methods of shinobi without kekkei genkai to the absolute limit.
He certainly had many issues with the man but exactly because of that, Shiki always made sure never to underestimate him.
However, while his power is extremely impressive, Konoha has enough Kage level powerhouses to match the other four Great Hidden Villages combined.
Even if one were to give Hiruzen the crown of the strongest in Konoha which could never be his while Mito still lived, "mere" high level kage combat power is not enough to suppress so many powerhouses.
Someone with immense prestige and innumerable tricks like Tobirama still needed to be at the absolute peak of Kage level to ensure his rule was unshaken.
Only Super Kage powerhouses like Madara and Hashirama could ensure a secure hold on power by mere virtue of their immeasurable strength.
To summarize.
Hiruzen was a fine, competent and powerful Kage but to rule the strongest village, Konoha, with absolute authority, it was still not enough.
Only after the second war sufficiently weakened the village did the Third Hokage's hold become firm and unshakable, at least until Konoha's lack of strength made it suffer in the Third War.
Shiki often wondered to what extent Hiruzen's dark deeds went but no one was stupid enough to have written records of their misdeeds lying around for no reason . . .
'Actually, good old Danzo might keep such records in a secure stash outside Konoha as leverage.' The boy almost entered scheming mode but it was not the time so he let it go for the time being.
*
Team 6 made its way back to Roran after picking up the group they had been escorting out and Shiki pulled out the special Paper Tag that would allow him to contact his mistress.
The way it worked was simple.
One side of the Distant Transmission Tag was filled with dense sealing script but the other side was blank.
A message would be written on the blank side using special ink or blood and then the Tag could be activated, burning away in the process as a single use item.
Following that, a special scroll connected to the tag would display the message, regardless of distance between the two.
Needless to say, mito carried the scroll Shiki's Distant Transmission Tags were linked to and would immediately be alerted when a message was sent.
All there was to do after that was wait.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Shiki had yet to notice a certain hidden gaze which no barrier could block, no distance seemed to hamper and no sensory jutsu could detect.
Kurogane Benihime was developing into a proper little stalker, addicted to secretly surveilling Shiki and his activities with the assistance of her mysterious kekkei genkai.
By this point, she had made her decision, seeing the boy fight filled with the urge to join in, her killing instincts screaming out from within her to be let free.
This time, she wanted to fully embrace the power of her inheritance but Benihime very much doubted she would be willing to rebuild the Kurogane clan in the Land of Iron.
That place was not home for her anymore and her new obsession weighed more and more in her heart, making whatever bloodline and clan duties she carried seem so . . . unimportant.
But Beni was not the only one with things on her mind, Kumogakure's involvement spooked a lot of the caravan's members which, combined with the issues brought by the ladies from the Land of Iron . . .
Let's just say . . . The unity and conviction of the caravan's people was suffering greatly.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -