The Capital of the Land of Fire, Daimyo's Residence.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire faced the window, the rumbling of thunder occasionally reaching his ears.
After several days of oppressive heat.
Layers upon layers of iron-ink colored clouds finally stacked up in the sky. Bean-sized raindrops soon appeared, falling like a suddenly snapped string of pearls, moisturizing the thirsty earth.
The Daimyo's mood was just like the weather before him: terrible, completely overcast with dark clouds.
Akatsuki's actions were becoming bolder and more excessive. Issuing their own currency, the Agricultural Association, the Six Kage Summit... almost every plan they launched could be said to be sinister, constantly digging at the foundations of the Land of Fire, and even the foundations of the entire ninja world's noble system.
Although the obvious effects of these measures were not yet apparent, if things continued this way, the Land of Fire would truly face a major problem.
"Lord Elder... the times are changing too fast, I can no longer see clearly... Tell me, what should the Land of Fire do in the future?"
"Perhaps only heaven knows."
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire muttered, his face filled with sorrow.
For some reason.
He suddenly felt immense envy for his ancestors. Although they were inferior to him in terms of territory, luxuries, and so on, in their time, the ninja were still trapped in the shackles of being mere tools, their eyes firmly fixed on the missions issued by the nobles. They fought and killed each other, generation after generation, just to compete for these missions.
His ancestors only needed to follow the ruling logic left behind by their predecessors—using missions to divide the ninja clans, constantly creating hatred among them, and thus they could firmly control the situation in the ninja world.
Then they could indulge in pleasure, with endless music and dance, without a care for the threat posed by the ninja.
But now, in his era... the times had changed!
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire was bewildered by the changing times.
It had only been a few short years.
He found that the situation was hurtling in a terrifying direction at an unprecedented speed.
What made him feel even more sorrowful and powerless was that this situation seemed to be happening only in the Land of Fire. The hidden villages of other countries remained dutiful, following the order of the Warring States period, wholeheartedly protecting the rule of their Daimyo, showing no signs of rebellion.
This was simply a calamity from the heavens.
And what kept the Daimyo of the Land of Fire awake at night the most was that he seemed to have no time to even resist or struggle.
It was as if, all of a sudden, the ninja of the Land of Fire, who had once only stared at missions, began to look upwards. And the ruling logic passed down by generations of Daimyo had become completely ineffective in the current situation.
The ninja clans had united into a hidden village, making the cost of dividing and provoking them multiply. And the hidden villages began to find ways to form alliances with each other.
Under these circumstances.
What use were the arts of political maneuvering, balancing, and division?
Once the situation spun out of control, he could never withstand the ninja's critique by arms.
—What cannot be gained on the battlefield will certainly not be gained at the negotiation table.
And then there were those hereditary nobles.
The ninja were clearly encroaching on their power and status, yet they only shouted "loyalty" with their mouths while surrendering faster than anyone else in practice.
The nobles of the Land of Fire, big and small, had contributed greatly to the promotion of the Agricultural Association.
"For the food security of the Land of Fire, it is our bounden duty to promote the Agricultural Association!"
"Lord Kōkage's action benefits the nation and state above, and the common people below. It is a deed of immeasurable merit!"
"...."
The flattery came one string after another, completely shameless.
And the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was powerless to object.
The Akatsuki Ninja Village had produced crop seeds and fertilizers capable of achieving a yield of 300kg per mu, naturally seizing the moral high ground.
Because of these damned things, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire hadn't slept well for days.
The Lord Elder stood behind the Daimyo, listening to his disheartened complaints.
He had no good solution for this either.
He could only try to console the Daimyo, telling him to relax, that the situation was not as bad as he made it out to be.
"Your Highness, this... things haven't reached that stage yet... we still have time..."
"Time?"
"How much more time can there be... If this goes on... I'm afraid..."
"Your Highness, the entire Land of Fire will not tolerate Akatsuki's rebellion and insubordination!"
"You mean we can fight to the bitter end..."
"Hah~ A fight to the bitter end... even if I were willing, those people under me... hmph..."
Before the Lord Elder could finish, he was interrupted by the Daimyo's cold laugh.
Since ancient times, dynastic changes have never lacked for defecting ministers and nobles.
These people were never a small minority, but the vast majority.
Because they were fundamentally different from the Daimyo's line.
If the Daimyo's line lost, they would be ruthlessly purged, then stigmatized, until all traces of them were completely erased.
But the ministers and nobles always had the opportunity to surrender.
So Uchiha Makoto's salami-slicing tactics were a great success!
The Akatsuki Ninja Village used military force as its backing and money to clear the way.
Who would really fight a hidden village to the death for the Daimyo?
When it came time to make a choice.
Uchiha Makoto wouldn't even need to send Akatsuki ninja to stick a kunai by their bedsides to force them to choose.
They would proactively sell out the Daimyo themselves!
Selling out the Daimyo and forming a military government with the ninja... wouldn't that be better!
They could even try to become ninja themselves.
In that case, an external conflict would instantly transform into an internal one. Even Uchiha Makoto would find it hard to be ruthless against forces that surrendered proactively.
They could even give up all their family assets and use the great art of marriage alliances, trying to recruit ninja as sons-in-law or adopted sons.
In the world of Naruto, just like in real-life Japanese society, an adopted son could inherit the entire family fortune.
By doing so, although the actual head of the family would be someone with a different surname, at least the family name and blood descendants could be passed down, which was better than being completely devoured and having the family fall into ruin.
In the ninja world, this was actually not uncommon.
With a few maneuvers, the descendants of the nobles and ministers could still become immortal aristocratic families in the ninja world for a thousand years.
"Your Highness, you are being too pessimistic."
"We have not yet reached the end of our rope."
"....."
The Lord Elder's heart skipped a beat. He didn't dare to continue this line of conversation.
Even though he was the Daimyo's most trusted confidant and was indeed loyal, always keeping his distance from Akatsuki and not engaging in any shady dealings with them.
But that only represented him alone.
The family behind him... it was only human nature to have multiple escape routes.
This point was truly fatal.
Theoretically, the court of the Land of Fire was full of turncoats—the moment the thought of defecting to Akatsuki arises, the world suddenly feels wide and open!
So the Lord Elder could only continue to console the Daimyo.
Things had not yet reached the point of a mutually destructive fight or the end of the road!
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire fell silent, gazing at the heavy rain outside the window, his heart filled with sorrow.
Not at the end of the road?
That was true.
But that was precisely what was so terrifying about Uchiha Makoto.
If Uchiha Makoto had launched an open rebellion, going all-in at once, the Daimyo might have had a hope of turning the tables.
After all, the current ninja world was still dominated by the Daimyo and nobles. An open rebellion by Akatsuki would only make them a public target, an enemy of the ninja world, and they would eventually meet their end under countless sieges.
But the Akatsuki Ninja Village remained calmly in control, boiling the frog in warm water, using salami-slicing tactics to cut away the Daimyo's support bit by bit.
Using the bigger pie created by industrialization to unite the vast majority... ninja, nobles big and small, merchants, townspeople, farmers... until the Daimyo was completely isolated.
Once the salami was sliced until there was nothing left to slice, it would be time for the main course.
"What is the situation in Konoha now? Public opinion in the Land of Fire has completely tilted towards Akatsuki...
"Have they remained silent all this time?"
After a long while.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire took a deep breath and spoke.
He turned around, his face returning to its usual expressionless state.
Power was so alluring, causing countless heroes to bow.
For the sake of supreme power, history was rife with all sorts of methods: killing brothers, killing sons, imprisoning fathers, imprisoning mothers.
Even if Uchiha Makoto could give the Daimyo a promise right now, "I swear on the name of the Uchiha clan, you will still be a wealthy man after surrendering," the Daimyo would not surrender without a fight.
He could not tolerate the country he had ruled for many years, the foundation passed down by his ancestors, being lost in his own hands.
Even if in the end there was truly no other way but to surrender.
The Daimyo felt that he must at least be able to stand tall and say, "I truly did my best," when he faced his ancestors in the Pure Land after death.
"Your Highness, Konoha has made no moves so far. Their relationship with Akatsuki is the same as usual... The main reason is Konoha's First Hokage... Sometimes I really suspect... if he's an idiot... his personality is too... uhm... too naive."
Seeing the Daimyo pull himself together, the Lord Elder began to report on the situation in Konoha.
Under normal circumstances.
One mountain cannot contain two tigers.
When Akatsuki's reputation completely crushed Konoha's, it would be followed by a large-scale reduction in missions for Konoha's ninja.
A large-scale reduction in missions was unacceptable for any hidden village.
If this were the Warring States period, the various ninja clans would have fought tooth and nail over it.
So Konoha should have had some degree of friction with Akatsuki.
Once friction and suspicion arose between the two villages, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire could take the opportunity to do something.
But Konoha had remained silent until now.
After a meticulous analysis of the intelligence from Konoha, the Lord Elder came to a conclusion—the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, was likely the biggest reason.
"Hmm...?"
"Your Highness, from the very beginning, we have had a cognitive bias regarding Senju Hashirama... He might be a truly good person... with no ambition whatsoever... Because of the Hokage's persistence, Konoha has maintained restraint from start to finish..."
"This..."
The Lord Elder listed the First Hokage's bizarre behaviors one by one, including but not limited to completely handing over the Hokage's authority to Senju Tobirama in the village, and once publicly declaring his hope for Uchiha Madara to become the Second Hokage... from the very beginning of the village's founding... there were even rumors that Senju Hashirama had intentionally let an assassin go... and so on.
There were too many examples.
All these signs invariably indicated that Senju Hashirama was a great benefactor who restrained his own power and was kind to others, not an exaggeration to call him a moral saint.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire didn't know what to say to this.
From a political standpoint, he could never trust Senju Hashirama.
It didn't matter if you had rebellious intentions; having the ability to rebel was enough.
Back then, Uchiha Makoto had used this very line of reasoning to sell the "Senju Hashirama threat theory" to the Daimyo, ultimately succeeding in gaining his support.
But now, all signs indicated that Senju Hashirama truly had no ambition.
Not only did he have no ambition, but he was also laughably naive. In Konoha, he had completely delegated power to his younger brother, and his mind was muddled. Under such circumstances, wanting to hand the throne of the Second Hokage to Uchiha Madara... was either stupid or evil.
"So, Your Highness, based on Senju Hashirama's current behavior, even if friction were to truly arise between Konoha and Akatsuki, it would ultimately be restrained by Hashirama's personal will, turning big issues into small ones, and small issues into nothing, or even proactively making concessions. It would be very difficult for us to sow discord."
"Is there really no way... Konoha and Akatsuki absolutely cannot be a monolithic bloc."
"There is a way."
"The struggle between the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan has lasted for a thousand years. Even now that they have successfully shaken hands and formed an alliance to establish Konoha, their struggle has not stopped. It has only moved into the shadows. Senju Hashirama's younger brother, Senju Tobirama, wants to become the next Hokage, and the Uchiha clan is equally ambitious in this regard. The situation has even recently become openly heated... And Uchiha Makoto of the Akatsuki Ninja Village has been quietly supporting the Uchiha clan. This is actually a very good entry point."
As the Lord Elder spoke, a glint of wisdom shone in his eyes. The huge pit dug by Senju Hashirama could also be used by them.
Currently, Senju Tobirama held great power in Konoha, known as the Shadow Hokage. Any discerning person could see that he wanted to become the Second Hokage.
And the Uchiha clan, thanks to Senju Hashirama, was also ambitious for the position of Second Hokage.
Most importantly, Uchiha Makoto was also involved. Even though his surname was Uchiha and the blood of the Uchiha clan flowed in his veins, he was ultimately an outsider to Konoha.
"Your Highness, I can completely change the direction of public opinion, using the struggle between the Uchiha and Senju for the position of Second Hokage to create various narratives. The blood debts between the two clans back then were innumerable... Then we can drag Uchiha Makoto into it... A Kōkage stretching his hand so far, into the internal affairs of Konoha, is clearly not with good intentions."
"And we are not without negative material on Uchiha Makoto."
"And Senju Tobirama... I remember that Uchiha Madara's most beloved younger brother died at his hands."
"In that case... trouble might just brew within Konoha's own walls, and the Akatsuki Ninja Village won't be able to escape involvement..."
"And then we will have a chance to maneuver."
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