[Inside the Hokage's Office]
"The daimyo's envoy is about to arrive. Don't we need to go out and receive them?"
Shizune looked at Aoba, who was putting on an act of seriously reading documents, and couldn't help reminding him.
Earlier, when ANBU had reported that the daimyo's envoys had already entered Konoha, she thought he would go make preparations to receive them. She hadn't expected him to sit back down instead.
Aoba put down the document in his hand and said teasingly, "Isn't it because I'm worried you'll get tired handling so much work all by yourself, Shizune-nee?"
"..."
Shizune rolled her eyes hard, "If you really cared about me getting tired, you might as well just give me a day off tomorrow."
"..."
Aoba immediately went silent, lowered his head, and looked back at the document, pretending he hadn't heard anything.
"?"
Shizune was even more speechless. She simply gave up on the topic and changed the subject, "This time we attacked the Land of Grass without the daimyo's permission. The envoy is probably here to hold us accountable. Should I go receive them instead?"
So far, Aoba had only told Tsunade about his plans regarding the Fire Country daimyo, so Shizune still didn't know his attitude toward the daimyo.
But Shizune understood Aoba's personality. When dealing with them, he was always easygoing, letting them push him around. But when facing outsiders, he was extremely forceful.
Today, Aoba might very well end up in a serious conflict with the daimyo's envoy.
After hearing Shizune's words, Aoba raised his head again and gave her a meaningful smile, "Shizune-nee, do you want to be the daimyo's wife?"
"Huh?", Shizune was clearly stunned.
She had only just become the Hokage's wife not long ago, and now she was already getting promoted to daimyo's wife?
'Is this some kind of fast-track promotion?'
Before her mind could even process it, unfriendly, noisy voices sounded outside the office.
"Who are you people? This is the Hokage's office. Unauthorized personnel are forbidden to enter!"
"How dare you! Can't you see the daimyo's token in my hand?"
"Sorry, the Hokage-sama did not inform us that an envoy from the daimyo's residence would be arriving today!"
"What do you mean by this? Ignoring the daimyo's token, are you trying to rebel?"
Listening to the exchange outside, Aoba smiled. It seemed the ANBU ninja still had some sense.
They knew he didn't welcome these obviously hostile so-called daimyo envoys.
Besides, this was actually a perfect opportunity to make a move against the Fire Country daimyo.
He stood up and walked outside, not forgetting to remind Shizune.
"Shizune-nee, I'll have to trouble you to handle these matters for now."
"Oh."
Shizune was still a bit dazed, clearly not fully back to her senses.
———
[Elsewhere]
Inside the Hokage Building's conference room, the atmosphere was already tense and confrontational.
Aoba sat casually to one side, relaxed and at ease.
Kazuma sat on the other side, shrouded in a low, oppressive air.
Behind him, the others stood in a straight line, seemingly trying to pressure the young Hokage this way.
"Sixth Hokage! I want to ask you, what exactly was that just now?"
"Konoha ninja daring to ignore the daimyo's token. Whose Konoha is Konoha now?", Kazuma demanded sharply.
"Are Konoha's ninja loyal to the Hokage, or to the daimyo?"
At this moment, Kazuma's mood had sunk to rock bottom.
Seeing all of Konoha's acts of defiance toward the daimyo outside had already made him furious.
He hadn't expected the treatment inside the Hokage Building to make his anger even harder to suppress.
The current Konoha ninja clearly only knew the Hokage, and no longer knew the daimyo.
"Konoha is the Konoha of its villagers. Konoha ninja are loyal to the Hokage, but the Hokage is loyal to the daimyo."
Aoba explained with a light smile, "After all, this is the one country, one village system set by the First Hokage and the daimyo."
The Hokage being loyal to the daimyo didn't mean the Hokage and the daimyo couldn't be the same person.
"Heh… loyal to the daimyo?"
Kazuma sneered, "Yet on you, I can't see even the slightest bit of loyalty to the daimyo."
"Oh? And why do you say that?"
Aoba still wore a smile, "I'm actually quite loyal to His Excellency the daimyo."
"Hmph! Complete nonsense!"
"If you were truly loyal to the daimyo, then why did you launch a war against the Land of Grass without the daimyo's permission, and even attempt to occupy it?"
"The daimyo is very angry about this. He needs an explanation!"
Looking at that infuriating smile on the other's face, Kazuma snorted coldly and couldn't be bothered to keep sparring verbally. He went straight to the point.
If the other side couldn't give them a reasonable explanation, then he would prepare to seize control of Konoha by force.
Aoba raised his index finger and shook it, "There's one thing you got wrong. That wasn't a war, but a commission. Likewise, Konoha hasn't occupied the Land of Grass."
"The reason we attacked the Land of Grass was because Konoha accepted a commission from the Land of Snow. Konoha is merely helping the Land of Snow temporarily manage the Land of Grass."
"I wonder if this explanation would satisfy His Excellency the daimyo?"
"?"
Aoba's explanation made Kazuma's brain freeze for a moment.
He clearly hadn't expected such a statement.
Ninja taking commissions and carrying out missions was perfectly normal.
If the truth really was as the other side said, then they truly couldn't find a suitable reason to fall out.
As missing-nin, falling out didn't require a reason, because they had no face to begin with.
But as the daimyo's envoys, they needed a legitimate pretext, because they represented the daimyo's face.
"..."
Kazuma's face flushed red. After a long pause, he finally managed to find a reason.
"No matter what, even if you accepted a commission from the Land of Snow, attacking the Land of Grass is such a major matter that it must be reported to His Excellency the daimyo."
"Must be reported to the daimyo? Heh."
Aoba chuckled, and a puzzled expression immediately appeared on his face.
"Come to think of it, from the day I became a ninja up until now as Hokage, I've barely even seen that lofty daimyo a few times."
"I'm actually quite curious. What exactly is so special about that daimyo?"
"Hm? What do you mean by that?"
Kazuma's expression darkened again. From those words, he could clearly sense undisguised offense toward the daimyo.
Aoba didn't care at all, "Just curious. Does His Excellency the daimyo possess wisdom far beyond ordinary people, or strength unmatched by anyone else, that he can naturally sit so high above, making even me, the Hokage, have to show him respect?"
"Sixth Hokage, can I take your words as disrespect toward the daimyo?", At this point, Kazuma actually calmed down. His eyes narrowed slightly. It seemed he had already found his reason to act.
"Heh! I just think that if a country's daimyo has neither wisdom far beyond ordinary people nor strength unmatched by anyone else, then what right does he have to sit in that position?"
Aoba slowly stood up from his seat. His blood-red eyes looked down at the few Guardian Ninja before him, his thoughts no longer hidden in the slightest.
"If that's the case, then why can't someone like me, who possesses unrivaled strength, sit in that position?"
"Bastard! You actually dare to covet becoming the daimyo. Who do you think you are…"
Fudo, who had been listening the entire time, was the first to lose it and cursed out loud.
But Aoba had no intention of indulging him. Before his words even finished, Aoba raised his hand and slapped him across the face with a palm formed of condensed chakra.
BOOM!
Fudo's massive body was smashed heavily into the conference room wall.
Then he was stopped by a barrier.
Otherwise, that single wall would never have withstood one slap from Aoba.
Embedded in the wall, Fudo vomited blood in great mouthfuls, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Aoba.
'How could the gap in strength be this huge?'
In that instant just now, he had almost thought he was going to die.
Aoba looked at him coldly, "Do you think you're the daimyo? Something like a dog, and you dare speak to this Hokage like that?"
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