The Shadow of Konoha

The daimyo cannot interfere in the affairs of the ninja village, the daimyo of the Land of Fire cannot interfere in the affairs of the Hidden Leaf Village, and no daimyo can interfere in the affairs of any ninja village.

The intelligence received by the Third Hokage merely cast a suspicion on the Fire Country Daimyo of trying to kill his own country's armed commander. However, this suspicion was enough, as the Hokage never required 100% evidence to make a decision.

The Ninja World War has not yet ended. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire, who is ambitious and smart, will never choose to engage in internal strife at this time. However, it is precisely because the internal and external situations of Konoha have stabilized that he will try to fish in troubled waters at this time when peace is not yet assured.

Even if the Hokage does not completely obey the Daimyo, the Daimyo should at least have his own say within the ninja village... The Daimyo of the Land of Fire has this idea. And if Konoha loses two Hokages in a row, then as long as the operation is done properly, he can at least choose a ninja who is close to the Daimyo and support him to succeed the Hokage.

Frankly speaking, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is even more courageous than the time traveler Hanyu. You must know that from the beginning to now, Hanyu has never resisted the ninja system. Since entering Konoha, he has accepted some good or bad arrangements and silently endured the consequences... because he knows that he has no way to resist the ninja's practices.

But the daimyo seems a little different. As the ruler of a country, he at least has more capital to resist the ninja system than Hanyu, although such capital is very limited. At the same time, he also has ambition, courage and action...Isn't it a good attempt to issue a bounty mission to try to kill the Third Hokage?

If you succeed, you will make a lot of money. If you fail, it doesn't matter. You won't lose money anyway. If that's the case, then why not try it? As long as you don't get caught, it won't be considered a bad thing... If the daimyo didn't have such a maid by his side, everything would really be as the young lord wished.

Unfortunately, no matter how cunning a fox is, it cannot defeat a ninja. With an armed mind but no armed body, everything is in vain... Whether he is insidious or far-sighted, the Second Hokage is undoubtedly the smartest person in the world, at least much smarter than this daimyo.

After learning that the cheerful and talkative daimyo in front of him was a strong suspect in the assassination attempt on him, the Third Hokage did not explode on the spot. He just continued to drink and chat with the other party, as if he was enjoying this banquet wholeheartedly.

The banquet lasted until late at night. When the Third Hokage returned to the guest room, the guards were called together again. Even after Jiraiya returned from outside, he did not continue to explain the matter to his subordinates, but told everyone to have a good rest and return to Konoha on time tomorrow.

Could it be that this matter was just being taken lightly?

Hanyu thinks it is unlikely. The mistake made by the Daimyo is very serious. Even if we take a step back, the Daimyo's act of assassinating the Hokage can be forgiven, but his attempt to extend his hand into Konoha will never be forgiven... Konohagakure is the treasure created by the First and Second Hokage with their life's efforts. How could he give it to others?

Hanyu didn't know what the Third Hokage would do, but he knew that the Hokage would definitely do something, perhaps tomorrow.

After the Hokage and his party left, the servants of the Daimyo Castle began to clean up the messy banquet hall. At this time, the Daimyo did not rest directly, but stood on a high platform on the palace tower, overlooking the night outside the city.

"I failed... As expected, ordinary ninjas are no match for the Hokage." After a long time, he muttered to himself.

Since the Third Hokage arrived safely at Daimyo Castle today, doesn't that mean that all the arrangements made by the Daimyo previously had failed?

But it doesn't matter if he failed. After all, apart from sending a sum of money to the black market, the daimyo had no relationship with those assassins, and he did not directly provide any information about the whereabouts of the Hokage to the other party... From the daimyo's own point of view, the confidentiality of his actions was extremely high.

"From the time we arrived at Daimyo Castle until the end of the banquet, the Third Hokage behaved very normally and did not associate the incident with us at all. This is good news." Daimyo continued.

At this time, the only people around him were the maid and three ministers.

"The Hokage has many enemies in the ninja world. He will never associate the assassination with us. I am responsible for keeping it confidential. Your Majesty, I can guarantee that the news will never be leaked, otherwise I am willing to accept the punishment." A minister bowed and said.

"Once the truth is revealed, there is no point in holding anyone responsible," the maid whispered behind the daimyo... She was playing a loyal role.

What the minister meant was that if the truth came to light, he would dare to stand on his head and eat shit.

What the maid meant was that although shit tastes good, don't drink too much.

If Hanyu or the Hokage were here, they would find that the maid did not seem to report all the details she knew.

The daimyo smiled gracefully, and then said, "Cancel the mission, withdraw the funds, and make the other people involved in the mission disappear. I can only look for other opportunities in the future. I don't want to anger the young Hokage for the time being."

Even if he failed, he still looked like he had everything under control.

…

Nothing special happened to the Hokage during the night. The next day, after a brief farewell ceremony, the Third Hokage was supposed to return to Konoha. However, during this ceremony, the Hokage suddenly got angry.

"Damiyo, there is one thing I forgot to explain... Yesterday, when I arrived at Daimyo Castle, I was assassinated by a group of twelve ninjas. Fortunately, my subordinates protected me well, so I didn't die on the spot."

Even though the Third Hokage did not lose a hair in the assassination, he now took the matter very seriously.

Why did he suddenly mention this? The Daimyo's heart secretly rose, but on the surface he just frowned and pretended to be surprised and worried and said, "What? Someone actually tried to assassinate the Hokage? What is the identity of the assassin? How could he sneak into the heart of the Land of Fire and even come to the vicinity of the Daimyo Castle?!"

The Daimyo was testing to see how much the Hokage knew about the whole incident.

The Third Hokage shook his head and continued, "The identity of the assassin is unknown now. Assassinations are common, and both the First and Second Hokage have experienced many of them, so I don't plan to investigate further."

So far, the Hokage's words were very favorable to the Daimyo, however, he then began to take a turn.

"However, considering that Konoha has just recovered from the chaos of losing the Nidaime, if the enemy succeeds in assassinating him, the consequences will be disastrous. So considering that the war will continue, I don't know when I will die on the battlefield. Therefore, I think if the succession of Hokage occurs during the war , then the successor does not need to come to the Daimyo Castle. The Daimyo can just sign the appointment letter and send it to Konoha..."

The Hokage spoke slowly, but the meaning of his words was fatal to the Daimyo - he was further severing the political ties between the Hokage and the Daimyo, ensuring the further independence of the ninja village... The special requirements in times of war were just polite remarks, the Hokage was clearly saying that the Daimyo would no longer be mentioned when the Hokage took over in the future.

He didn't even want the symbolic significance of the daimyo anymore. And if the daimyo was not even a rubber stamp, how could he possibly interfere in the affairs of the ninja village?

"But, Hokage-sama, you should know that the rule for the succession of Hokage is that the first generation..."

The daimyo wanted to argue, but the Third Hokage interrupted him directly, "Furthermore, considering that I will be assassinated around me, the daimyo may also be in danger, so Konoha has decided to send 24 ninjas to protect the daimyo's safety at all times. I hope the daimyo will not reject the kindness of the village."

Protection? It's surveillance, right?

This was something Daimyo could never tolerate. At this moment, he no longer had that calm expression on his face, and his entire face became a little distorted.

However, the Third Hokage had not finished speaking. "Finally, considering that the war will continue, and in the later stages of the war, the economic pressure on the ninja village will continue to increase endlessly, so I hope that the Daimyo's economic support for the village will increase by 80 million ryo starting next year... Please consider it carefully, 80 million, not a cent more, not a cent less."

The words "80 million" were like a bucket of ice water poured over Daming's forehead, extinguishing all his thoughts of defense.

Did he know? Yes, he definitely knew!

——Why do you emphasize the number 80 million? This is clearly the bounty for Hokage given by him. It is obvious that the Third Hokage has already noticed his actions.

The daimyo's hands, hidden in his sleeves, began to tremble uncontrollably with fear.

The Third Hokage has been tolerant enough. He will only start asking for the money from next year. After all, if the Daimyo Castle could take out such a sum of money to do evil things, it would be better to give it to the Ninja Village as war funds.

Looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen's calm eyes, the Daimyo knew that he could never reject these three proposals, because rejection would mean a complete break between the two sides, and a complete break would mean one of them would have to die, and the Third Hokage would not die anyway, so... guess who would die.

The Third Hokage, who did not want to reveal his name, said at this time: The money is mine, the power is mine, and even you are mine.

The Daimyo struggled, but he finally suppressed his emotions and said, "24 ninjas are too many. I don't need so many guards."

"Then 12 will do. Cutting the number in half should suit the daimyo's wishes, right?" said the Third Hokage. It would be impossible for 12 ninjas to control the daimyo's castle, but it would be more than enough to control the daimyo's palace... When he first mentioned 24, the Hokage had already left room for bargaining for the other party.

"Any questions, Lord Daimyo?"

At this time, everyone participating in the farewell ceremony had already noticed the problem... Compared to yesterday, the Third Hokage was too aggressive.

However, no one dared to intervene at this time.

The daimyo is just a daimyo, but the Hokage is always the Hokage.

"No problem!" Daimyo said gritting his teeth. He could no longer control himself.

"That's good. I have to say, this trip to Daimyo Castle has been a really pleasant one." The Third Hokage stretched out his hand and forcibly shook hands with the Daimyo.

The daimyo wanted to maintain his demeanor, and he should have smiled at this moment, but he tried hard to pull the corners of his mouth, but found that his cheeks were completely indifferent.

Hanyu felt a little sympathy for the daimyo and even wanted to sing "pain pain go away" to him to comfort his wounded heart. Really, who would have thought that the third generation would be such a hooligan.

Well, generally speaking, Sarutobi Hiruzen is an open-minded person. He doesn't even care much about Kakuzu's assassination, because that is a dispute between ninjas. However, he will never allow others to interfere among ninjas... His revenge was so quick and cruel.

The courage of the brave man who rebelled against the ninja system is commendable, but he was cremated on the spot.

What's the use of ambition, aspirations, and lofty aspirations? After all, this world belongs to ninjas.

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