As she left in the carriage. I think I saw her wipe a tear. I realised I had a tear in my eye too. I quickly rubbed my eyes. She had really become a good friend. And someone I had started to see a future with. This hurt. I stood watching long after the carriages drove around the bend and disappeared from view. They will pay.
Oh, right, I forgot to tell you about Emiko's report in the last chapter. Kakashi was eight. I had screwed up my calculations. I swear the first thing I do after this crisis will be to establish an information network.
Over the next 2 months. The Hokage did not make a big move. He was fermenting the public opinion while dealing with the capital. Without the Daimyo's moves, the public's doubts returned. It hadn't been enough time since the last time. The doubts were easier to reignite.
Although one interesting thing did happen.
STATUS
KUROSAWA REN
Power - Special Jonin
Physique - 715
Chakra - 4020
Specials - YamiGami
Skills - Tagcraft IV, Sensor, Taijutsu III, Kenjutsu III, Leader II, Medic II
System Stats - 10,100.
Call - The Eye Slows
TREE OF LIFE
Soul Develop (3/10) 10000 SS
Physique
Soul Physique(1/1000) 10SS
Chakra
Chakra Control (10/100) 100SS
Energy Control (99/100) 100SS
One Tail (100/1000) 10 SS.
Yeah, it happened when my chakra crossed 4000. Oh, the evolution? Well, since there was only one month left to my 10-year anniversary. I chose to wait a bit. I know, the 10-year reward will be nowhere near the 1st year. I know it sounds counterintuitive. But this is not a game. The cumulative reward was the result of the System and Yamigami refining SS for a rainy day. Honestly, if something had happened. I wouldn't even get a reward. In the first year, it had reserves. Now it only had what it refined.
But anyway, I was a special Jonin now.
-----
Clan meeting.
"We should do something like last time. The clans who allied with us can support us again, right?"
"Our armors are nearly complete. They give us chunin-level speeds. They can't disregard 100 Chunins, can they?"
"We should instead use a black box to cut a deal. That armor is a strategic-level resource. Especially if mass produced."
"Since we are free of the Daimyo's marriage contract, why not take up a major clan as a partner. The Inuzuka offered that before, right?"
"We could threaten to give up Fuinjutsu. We can live as normal Shinobi. They won't force a 90 Fuinjutsu masters and 30 medic nin to quit right. We are too important."
The discussions still had wild ideas. But I noticed the maturity in them. Even the wildest of them had some logic to them. It was a far cry from when our biggest topics were snoring sound problems.
I involuntarily let out a chuckle.
Anyways. They were scared. I needed to reassure them.
I stood up and banged on the table.
"Calm down. In a few days, I will be testing something out. My dream project, the SS tag, is almost complete. When that works. We won't need anything else. But if worst comes to worst. We will surrender."
Murmurs of dissent rose up immediately.
"There will be a marriage contract for us if the Hokage faction wins. There's a war coming. If we give up Fuinjutsu, we'll be cannon fodder. Which I refuse to be. The law they propose this time will be harsher. And the armor will legally be theirs. But we can use it as leverage. But know this, the only way we maintain our identity as a clan is if we surrender or defect. We are strong, but not defection strong. Especially with no talks in place. If we try to do too much. The Hokage will use force this time. The stakes and bad blood are both too high now.
I am not letting you become mindless puppets of root. I am not demoralising you. Just being transparent. This is the worst crisis our clan has ever faced. And we will emerge from it either as new lords or broken slaves. I don't know about all of you. But I plan to be a Lord. But for us to be lords. We need to stay strong. Forget everything else. Build the armor for the clan. If you can't, build cluster grenades. Everyone knows those, right? Even Summer."
The hall was grim. But it wasn't broken. It was determined. There had been a few more marriages. And I was just noting that starting families had made us more united and determined than ever.
As I walked to my room, the Yami manifested. The blob could physically speak now. And also wander around a few meters from me.
"What is it, Yamigami?"
"We could make a sacrifice."
"What sacrifice?"
"I was just talking to the system. I know what it's making for your 10th year."
"What is it? Please tell me it is something awesome."
"It is one of those Oblivion cards."
"Bingo! That's awesome." Those things were seriously broken.
"It is not." I paused. Why.
"Because it is useless in the present situation."
"It is?"
"24 hours of consequence less, moves do not help you. Not unless you can assassinate a few key figures in it. Which, you can't. You need physical capital now."
"And what will be the benefits of the sacrifice?"
"I could turn the card into an evolution token and free SS."
"I see how that is important. But isn't the Oblivion card worth way more than this?"
"It is, but you can see what's happening right. Clans are cancelling contracts even if they have to pay penalties. This means the Hokage plans to end you this time. But now you can't say I'll run to the capital."
"Yes. How many SS will I get anyway?"
"You will get somewhere around 10000 to 20000 SS, along with the token,
And a soul upgrade to level 4."
"That's not much. But I'll take your words into advisement. Let me sleep on it."
"Fine, but I have seen politics for a very long time now, kid. I can feel the changes in the air a lot better than you. If there had been attacks. I would have never suggested this. But the Hokage is maneuvering against you. He doesn't need to maneuver in this atmosphere. That means he is gonna do something so drastic that it will have so much backlash that he needs to rally votes beforehand. Despite him being the Hokage."
"I understand."