Senju Wakama was completely bewildered. He didn't believe Aburame Aoi liked him, because this 'elder sister' had always made it clear that humans were inferior to insects, so it was unlikely she was making such a strange request out of affection.
However, as Aburame Aoi explained.
Senju Wakama finally understood.
"…Are you afraid my sister will liquidate your Aburame clan?" Senju Wakama said, covering his face with a headache. "…So you want to save yourselves by forming an in-law relationship? How did you know about those malicious things she's done?"
Aburame Aoi, with a terrified expression, recounted to Senju Wakama some of the things she currently knew about Senju Princess Tsukuyo.
That Senju Princess, utterly devoid of moral bottom lines and of low character!!!!
For example, using the buried gold mine scheme, she not only made commoners in a certain part of the Land of Fire provide free labor to reclaim wasteland.
After clearing the land, they were then arrested by the Daimyo on charges of theft and prosecuted.
As it turned out, the 'gold mine' they had greedily dug up was actually fake. The Daimyo demanded compensation, and because they couldn't afford to pay, they were forced into servitude for three to five years.
For these three to five years, they would cultivate the newly reclaimed wasteland to repay their previous debts.
As Aburame Aoi described this already-transpired scam, she couldn't help but curse profusely; it was truly horrifying.
Following Senju Princess's venomous scheme, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire not only spent not a single penny but also had these illiterate commoners quickly reclaim the wasteland and then turned them into his agricultural slaves for free.
And that wasn't all...
Senju Princess also exploited the market by speculating on flower prices, effectively "short-selling" a small nation adjacent to the Land of Fire within a short period.
Now that small nation had perished, and its territory had been absorbed into the Land of Fire.
Senju Princess had even more terrifying venomous schemes planned for later.
For instance, if a small, brainless nation in the vicinity provoked the Land of Fire.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had a private army, but actual warfare inevitably led to casualties. Population was the foundation of a nation, and it took ten or even twenty years to raise a new young adult to replace a fallen one.
Following the usual practice, the Daimyo should have hired ninja clans to fight for him.
But the Senju clan, the industry benchmark, had changed its profession, and their available personnel were dispatched to deal with the Uchiha clan.
Due to previous cooperation, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, desperate, again sought advice from Senju Princess.
So, Senju Princess pulled out a map and analyzed the situation with the Daimyo.
The small nation the Land of Fire needed to conquer had many surrounding villages.
Those villages naturally also belonged to that small nation.
The Princess suggested the Daimyo send troops to raid those small villages.
The Princess offered four suggestions:
The first suggestion: Attack the small villages, feigning pursuit of the fleeing villagers. Those villagers would surely seek nearby refuge, heading to the small nation's capital for help. In this situation, would the city defenders of that small nation open their gates or not?
If they opened the gates, the Land of Fire would seize the opportunity to attack.
If they didn't open the gates, simply sending one person to spread widespread rumors outside the city, attacking the defenders' morality, would cause panic within the city in a few days, and commoners would worry about being abandoned by the defenders.
However, this strategy was slow to take effect and had many variables.
The second suggestion: Attack the small villages around the capital, capture innocent commoners, and use them as human shields to assault their main city, thereby reducing casualties for the Land of Fire's army.
Again, loudly spread rumors outside the city, attacking the defenders' morality; the commoners within the city would still fall into panic, and in a few days, chaos would ensue.
The third suggestion: Attack the small villages around the capital. After capturing innocent commoners, offer them terms for survival: if they help the Land of Fire kill soldiers and generals of their own small nation, they would receive one hundred ryo for each kill, and killing a hundred would earn them an official position or even a ministerial rank.
Among these people who were already struggling to survive, there would always be some willing to fight desperately to live.
The fourth suggestion: Throw plague-infected corpses into the city. Before long, everyone inside would die from illness.
...
All four suggestions would allow the Land of Fire to reduce casualties, severely deplete all resources of the enemy nation, and ultimately achieve victory.
In addition to these, Tsukuyo had also used her avian army to handle this year's locust plague for the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
No matter what she did, Tsukuyo's actions always revealed a malicious and inhuman quality.
This was merely what Tsukuyo engineered using the capabilities and resources available to ordinary people.
If she were to use ninja, it was terrifying to imagine what she could achieve.
Aburame Aoi was an insect controller; her ability and methods for gathering information were stronger than others'.
Unfortunately, ignorance was bliss.
The more one knew, the greater the fear.
And today, Aburame Aoi had again sent her insects to eavesdrop on the secret discussions between Senju Princess and the Daimyo.
Aburame Aoi was truly terrified.
As for reporting the Daimyo to the Fujiwara family?
Don't be ridiculous!
Offending a noble merely meant financial ruin and a ruined reputation.
Offending Senju Princess meant not only financial ruin and a ruined reputation, but also being ground to dust with not a single trace left of one's corpse.
After much thought, Aburame Aoi understood.
She finally understood why the clever Tamayo Nara was so persistent in her pursuit of Senju Wakama.
Because among Senju Princess's four brothers, Senju Wakama was the most suitable.
Senju Hashirama was too strong; no one would dare claim to be worthy of him. And he would be the next head of the Senju clan, so pursuing him would definitely offend his sister, Senju Princess.
Senju Tobirama looked almost identical to Senju Princess, and their personalities were probably similar—both malicious individuals. Pursuing him would likely lead to a gruesome death.
Itama was too young; his 'tools of the trade' weren't mature yet. Waiting for him to grow up involved too many variables. If one couldn't wait and slept with him while he was still young, they would still incur the wrath of Senju Princess.
Therefore...
The one chosen by heaven, Senju Wakama...
Senju Wakama covered his face. "You don't have to do this. Just properly persuade your clan head to pledge allegiance to our Senju clan."
Aburame Aoi's voice changed pitch in excitement. "Do you think our clan head didn't try that? It's just that your sister didn't agree!"
"Sign for fifty years…" Senju Wakama slowly lowered the hand covering his face.
"Huh?" Aburame Aoi looked bewildered. "What did you say?"
"Your entire clan, sign a fifty-year servitude contract with my sister, stating your willingness to be her servants for fifty years, otherwise you will face her punishment. She will definitely agree." Senju Wakama sighed, "I don't know if twenty years would work, but fifty years definitely will."
"Why do you keep provoking us, forming ninja clan alliances? My sister is angry. Unless you lose a layer of skin, she will absolutely not let it go."
Aburame Aoi's eyes lost their luster.
Voluntarily becoming servants for fifty years?
Would she dare say that to her clan head?
If she really did, she would be a criminal to the Aburame clan!
After a minute of silence.
Aburame Aoi knelt down and prostrated herself, crying loudly, "Waaah, waaah, waaah, please, just have a child with me—!"
Senju Wakama: "…"
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