HSU: Ch. 353

When the Fire Daimyō entered the central district, he was met by the villagers' enthusiastic gazes and loud cheers. Their joy was unrestrained. The villagers let their excitement pour out openly. He had personally come to Konoha, proof that the friendship between Konoha and the daimyō's court was unbreakable and would reach new heights.

In any nation's capital, the locals always acted like experts on politics and history. The shinobi world was more or less the same, just add a ninja village.

Though the villagers only half understood the relationship between the ninja village, the Land of Fire, and the daimyō's court, and relied entirely on unreliable rumors as their source of "knowledge," it didn't stop them from boldly proclaiming the fate of the world and speaking with grand authority, enough to leave outsiders stunned.

Even if they didn't know a thing and were just making things up, the villagers at least understood how valuable the daimyō's visit truly was. Their happiness was real, heartfelt, and unpretended. For the Fire Daimyō, this was an entirely new experience. The daimyō's court was a rigidly stratified place. Inside the palace and out, aside from the ministers, he almost never saw anyone's true expressions.

Even when he went incognito, the commoners working in the court's city would hurriedly make way. Those who survived in the daimyō's domain had sharp eyes. As for "learning from the people," the daimyō had long stopped believing in such illusions.

Although he was the daimyō, he still wouldn't say a single sentence without running it through his mind a dozen times. Konoha was different. Here, he felt like talking nonsense was perfectly acceptable. He even had the impulse to grab a random passerby and go dancing together.

"Konoha is truly wonderful," he murmured with affection, looking at the cheering villagers lining the street.

As a daimyō, what he cared for was the hearts of the people, and in the daimyō's court, people's hearts could not be seen with the eyes.

"This is your first time visiting the village, so it feels new. When it comes to prosperity, Konoha can't compare to the daimyō's city," Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Perhaps, but you have their spirit," the daimyō replied happily, waving warmly to both sides of the road. He loved this feeling.

Konoha's people were free and lively, not stiff and lifeless like those in the daimyō's court. At the same time, they were well-organized. Even without direction, they maintained order on their own. A city like this, with people like these, should be led by a Hokage of the Senju or Uchiha clan. As for Konoha's so-called dark side, he found nothing dark about it at all, merely innocently adorable. Human hearts were always contradictory, complex, and hard to measure, especially not through testing. Compared to that, Konoha was clean, almost a pure land.

To the villagers, the Fire Daimyō was exactly as rumor described: a benevolent ruler who was kind to his people and did not act superior. Their excitement only grew stronger because of it.

And within this warm atmosphere, the Fire Daimyō strode all the way into the Hokage Building.

His court's entourage had already been arranged properly by Konoha. Nothing required his attention. The grand display was meant for the local lords on the road. Most of them would not enter Konoha at all. Nearly everyone would remain in the camps Konoha prepared outside. Bringing them all in was impossible. Nearly ten thousand outsiders flooding in at once would be terrible for public security.

When dealing with the daimyō and other nobles simultaneously, Konoha made clear distinctions. After all, nobles were valued patrons, but the daimyō was an ally. And who knew what kinds of troublemakers might hide among ten thousand people?

The Fire Daimyō explored the Hokage Building with great interest, visiting the government hall on the first floor, the Hokage's office on the top floor, and related departments as well. He stepped onto the rooftop. He even went next door to tour the Ninja Academy.

The students there were just as curious about the daimyō. At a ninja school, seeing the Hokage wasn't unusual, but seeing the daimyō was like spotting a unicorn. Of course, the Fourth Hokage was an exception. Even then, they didn't get many chances to see him in the Academy.

So the students were delighted. Buy one, get one free! Nothing but five-star reviews.

It was a festive day, and everyone inside the walls of Konoha was satisfied. As for those outside the walls, well, only they knew how they felt.

That night, the Fire Daimyō stayed in the village. In his words, he rarely had the chance to travel, so he intended to experience it fully. As for the daimyō's court, he had trusted ministers handling it. That same night, the Hokage Building blazed with light and didn't dim once until dawn. The administration division was working overtime.

There was no helping it. Elections were their job too. The votes were already cast, and it fell to them to tally and produce the final results. But this evening they felt a little lonely, because the Fourth Hokage wasn't working late with them. They really weren't used to it.

Still, thinking about how many others probably wouldn't sleep peacefully tonight gave them a sense of balance. And now, the most watched person in the village was still the Fire Daimyō.

Under countless eyes, he checked into the Uchiha district. As an ancient ninja clan, the Uchiha had guest lodgings within their territory. Not like the old Kiri kind. A legitimate, formal guest house.

For a long time it had been abandoned. To be blunt, during the Third Hokage's tenure it was almost purely symbolic, a decoration. Only after the Uchiha grew wealthy to an absurd degree and their relationship with the village thawed was it renovated.

Even then, almost no one ever got to stay there.

The Fire Daimyō's arrival finally put the building to proper use.

His personal attendants accompanied him. Originally, his bodyguard unit, a hundred strong, assigned to protect him around the clock, was supposed to join him. But put the entire guard together and they still couldn't beat a single Uchiha with three tomoe Sharingan.

So the daimyō just gave them the night off.

The Uchiha, being very proper hosts, not only assigned a security team including several three-tomoe elites, but even sent Masashi and Shisui themselves to serve as honorary protectors at his left and right.

To the daimyō, this was thrilling.

So instead of sleeping, he had his attendants set out tea, then invited the Uchiha's top two, Masashi and Shisui, to the tea room. When Masashi and Shisui entered, they found the freshly bathed Fire Daimyō in a yukata, happily munching little cookies.

He ate with childlike delight.

Masashi had never seen the Fire Daimyō so cheerful.

"Masashi! Come, come, eat with me," the daimyō waved vigorously as soon as he saw him, his gaze also taking in Shisui.

Shisui, seeing the daimyō for the first time, couldn't hide the astonishment on his face. This vibe was nowhere near what he'd expected.

"You certainly have energy tonight," Masashi said. He knew what this family was really like, so he wasn't surprised. If anything, the stiff, formal daimyō they usually met was the unnatural one.

Members of the daimyō's lineage were always unusual compared to other nobles. Take the previous daimyō. As a youth, he'd been wild and unconventional, casual with his status, and loved spending time with common folk. But once he inherited the title, he became rational, decisive, and strict with himself.

"When you're in a great mood, what you really need is sake!" the daimyō laughed. "But since you're about to become Hokage, tonight we'll stick to tea. Also, regarding Madara's message, I must inform you."

"He showed up before you just to deliver a message?" Masashi asked.

Madara was not someone who beat around the bush.

"That's exactly what happened," the Fire Daimyō replied, unable to stop himself from recalling the scene.

Madara had met him without alerting a single soul.

To see in person the man who once stood beside the God of Shinobi and formed a pact with his own grandfather, the daimyō had truly never imagined the chance would fall to him. The Senju, the Uchiha, and the daimyō family were all clans with ancient roots on this land. Only their fields differed.

The continuation of a clan stands above all else, and difference in profession never prevents contact.

Among nobles, intermarriage is common, and at the level of the Senju and Uchiha, prestigious ninja families, ties of marriage with noble houses are nothing unusual. In this world, there are ninjas content to earn their keep from mission stipends, and there are nobles who yearn for the path of chakra. Old families with deep foundations do not lose their composure because of a single brilliant individual. They always think first of how the clan should survive hardship. There has never been a family exempt from the fate of decline. The dissolution of the Senju proved this truth.

The daimyō family had tried to intervene, yet could not stop the Senju, who were determined to withdraw. And when the Uchiha slid into decline, the daimyō family likewise extended its hand. Many actions the Uchiha took outside of Konoha received quiet support from the daimyō.

This was the purpose of the tripartite alliance in the beginning.

"The dignity of the Uchiha's founder is certainly worthy of admiration," the Fire Daimyō said. "And since he signed our alliance back then, carrying a message for him is no trouble at all."

"I understand. Please speak, I'm listening," Masashi said.

"Well, honestly, I didn't entirely understand it myself." The daimyō spoke earnestly. "First, Madara congratulates you on becoming Hokage. He thinks you're capable, and that you've earned the title for the Uchiha."

At that, he rummaged inside his pocket and pulled out a small notebook.

Clearly, repeating Madara's words from memory was difficult, likely because Madara had spoken in fragments.

Madara, when not in combat, talked in quite a scattered way. Perhaps his thoughts jumped too quickly. He liked to hop from subject to subject. From the daimyō's perspective, Madara suddenly appeared at his bedside, and before the shock had faded, rattled off a bunch of things and then left. Luckily, he was no longer a rookie of a daimyō but a seasoned one. Shocked as he was, he took notes, then copied them neatly into the notebook.

Flipping it open, he relayed the next message Madara left.

"Madara said this: a strange monk told him something interesting. You might run into him too. Also, he wants half of the Two-Tails' chakra."

The daimyō snapped the notebook shut.

It was only a single sentence, but Madara had spoken far more than that. This was the condensed version.

"A strange monk," Masashi fell into thought.

The matter of a tailed beast didn't concern him at all. There was no surprise in it, certainly less than this so-called strange monk, which had captured his attention.

As a pure-blooded Uchiha in every sense, Madara utterly despised monks and samurai. Meaning the chakra-wielding samurai of the Land of Iron. How to put it, he could not stand archaic traditionalists. Monks and samurai were among the oldest professions in the shinobi world.

Especially samurai.

To him, those people of the Land of Iron who used chakra yet insisted on walking the samurai path, were nothing but idiots. Historically speaking, the Warring States period was the process in which ninjas gradually replaced samurai and eventually drove them out of the market entirely. For them to cling to the samurai profession even under those circumstances, to him, they were stubborn relics.

If samurai were, in his eyes, fools, then monks were simply useless.

For someone like Madara to listen to what a monk had to say, and even pass the message along, this "strange" could not be "strange" in any ordinary sense of the word.

"It sounds unbelievable," Masashi said. "With his personality, he should never do something like that."

"Oh? I thought it was some kind of secret Uchiha code," the daimyō replied, clearly having given it no such thought.

He put his notebook away and shifted to a topic that interested him more.

"After you take office as Hokage, would you be interested in paying a visit to the daimyō's mansion?"

"What do you mean?" Masashi already had a rough idea.

"The daimyō and Hokage have gone without contact for too long. Our mutual deterrence has faded," the daimyō said. "My ministers are proof. They embezzle public funds, delay tribute on every possible pretext, and build ties with powerful people in Konoha. To me, their families clearly have ambitions toward the daimyō's seat."

"You wish to show a closer connection between daimyō and Hokage, so those men won't act so brazenly?"

Masashi thought this sounded like a job tailor-made for Shisui.

"Shisui has a special eye technique that could remove your concerns."

"Hypnosis alone can't solve my problem," the daimyō said. "Consider this a personal request. I need the people to see that the title of daimyō and the Hokage's authority are once again aligned. And I intend to reclaim those ministers' territories."

"Understood. I'll bring Ita... no. I'll handle it myself." Masashi stopped mid-sentence.

Bringing Itachi would be dangerous. He might not know when to stop. This was not like ordinary business. And Itachi did not yet understand the nuances. As someone who took part in forging the original alliance, he knew exactly what the daimyō sought. This was a daimyō plagued by long-term insecurity.

"Itachi is still too young," the daimyō nodded. "I trust the Uchiha clan and you, Masashi. Our families have been apart too long. This must show Konoha's stance, but more importantly, the Hokage's."

"Yes. The Hokage," Masashi understood the weight in those words.

This was something that had to be done. Konoha needed a daimyō whose worries could finally be put to rest. But what Masashi cared about most was still that monk.

"Did Madara say anything more about him?"

"The monk," the daimyō took out his notebook again. "Let me see."

He flipped through several pages.

"Here, yes. The monk's name is Jigen."