Chapter 66.5- One Thousand Hands

I did not bow. At this point, no one expected me to. All I did was walk up to the seat placed on an elevated Dias and give the man a nod. A nod that he returned. At least I got some respect here. Well, the fact that he remained here at what was essentially my pleasure probably went a long way in ensuring that.

“You said you have something for me, Shorirama-dono” Not Hokage-dono, I noticed. It was fair since I was not the Hokage. For all his flaws and failings, Hiruzen held that title for now, but that would only be the case for so long. I just had to put a few things in order first.

“I come with news from the warfront” I said.

“What warfront? If I understand things correctly, you retreated from all the front and turtled down in these walls of yours” One man said, stepping to a position behind the throne. My eyes flicked in his direction for a second, a totally unnecessary gesture considering I could see him just fine from the corner of my eyes, but I did it either way to show that I had judged him and found him wanting in all respects.

“Like I was saying, we faced the forces of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki the Fencesitter who had invaded the Land of Fire with thousands of his shinobi” Well, more like one thousand, but a little embellishment never hurt anyone.

“Our seeming withdrawal from all fronts allowed us to feign weakness in the same manner that his royal excellency’s ancestor advised in his famous book— ‘when strong, feign weakness, and when weak feign strength’. We feigned weakness and when they stepped into our territory, we visited them with the full wrath and might of Konoha” I said.

“So you emerged victorious then” The Daimyo asked, leaning forward in his seat. I smiled, and the scroll was out in a second. One of his guardian shinobi moved to stop me but a targeted flare of my killing intent and chakra pinned the man to his spot while Onoki’s body landed on the floor.

“A complete victory, Daimyo-dono. This is the corpse of Onoki himself, and his head will join the Daimyo’s conquest tablet if it would please him after festivities within the village” I said, making it sound like an appeal.

“Please me? Hmm. It would please me very much, indeed. It pleases me to see our enemies brought low” He said, and I nodded.