After feeding Uchiha Mikoto until she was full at lunch, Aoba returned to his own office.
He had originally planned to come back and see whether Shizune had eaten lunch yet. If she hadn't, they could eat together.
But the moment he stepped into the office, he saw Shizune lying asleep on the sofa.
It was already well past noon. Shizune had probably finished her lunch and was in the middle of her midday nap.
However, on the other end of the coffee table in front of the sofa, there was another bento box placed there.
She must have been worried that he wouldn't have eaten lunch when he came back, so she left one for him.
Aoba immediately felt a warm feeling in his stomach.
He also wanted to help warm Shizune's stomach, but seeing how soundly she was sleeping, he couldn't bear to disturb her and temporarily gave up on that thought.
He made no sound at all, his steps light as he walked over to the sofa.
Perhaps because her personality was usually quite gentle, Shizune's sleeping posture was fairly well-behaved.
If it were Tsunade, even sleeping on a sofa, she could manage to sprawl out in all directions.
But Shizune was just lying on her side, her hand propping up her head, her body slightly curled into a shrimp-like shape.
The black hip-hugging skirt was stretched a little tight, her fair, full long legs wrapped in black pantyhose all the way down to the tips of her toes. Even without lettering, that glossy sheen was just as enticing.
Thankfully there was air conditioning. Otherwise, sleeping like this in the middle of winter, she would definitely catch a cold.
Even with someone coming in, she still hadn't woken up. It seemed that these past few days, helping him handle work, Shizune really had been tired.
Aoba sat down opposite her, opened the bento, and quietly ate.
Not long after, Shizune groggily opened her eyes.
She didn't sit up right away, just turned over, lay on the sofa with her arms stretched out, and gave a big stretch.
At the same time, a slightly cute, satisfied little hum slipped from her lips.
Clearly, that nap had been pretty good.
"Mm~"
But right after that, the light chuckle that suddenly sounded by her ear made Shizune's relaxed body tremble slightly, and she hurriedly sat up.
Only then did she notice Aoba sitting opposite her, looking at her with a smile on his face.
"Shizune-Nee just waking up is really cute."
Aoba smiled and teased her.
Just awake, with her brain not fully up and running yet, Shizune looked a little dazed.
"When did you get back?"
"I've been back for a while, but seeing how sweetly you were sleeping, Shizune-Nee, I didn't wake you."
Aoba's smile softened a bit as he said seriously, "You've really worked hard these past couple of days, Shizune-Nee."
Shizune just rolled her eyes and didn't say anything, standing up to move her arms and legs.
Maybe because she'd been pressed on while sleeping, there was still a bit of discomfort.
Sharp-eyed, Aoba noticed this right away and immediately volunteered, "Shizune-Nee, let me help you."
"Huh?"
Before Shizune could respond, she was already pressed back down onto the sofa by Aoba.
Right after that, her feet also fell into his hands.
For a moment, Shizune didn't even know who was helping whom anymore.
———
Amid eating and drinking, another two days passed.
And it was during these two days that sudden turmoil erupting in the capital of the Land of Fire, the City of Fire, once again shook the entire ninja world.
The cause of the incident was that several Guardian Ninja who had just returned from Konoha suddenly lashed out while meeting the daimyo inside the daimyo's residence. Before the many samurai guards and the other Guardian Ninja could even react, they directly took the Fire Daimyo hostage.
After taking him hostage, they then used the daimyo to command the entire residence, forcing the many guards who rushed over after hearing the news to hold back, afraid to make the slightest rash move.
However, after restraining the daimyo and intimidating all the guards, they neither demanded money from him nor immediately fled. Instead, they openly played music, sang, danced, and began to lavishly celebrate inside the daimyo's residence.
This move left all the guards completely baffled, unable to understand what they were trying to do. But as for the demands made by these people, they could only comply with everything, fearing that something might happen to the daimyo.
The guards of the daimyo's residence had all been trained from childhood by the residence itself. The education they received taught them that the daimyo's bloodline was a gift from heaven, a supreme existence that must not be harmed in the slightest no matter what.
This was just like Kazuma before he was controlled. The daimyo was the sun in their hearts.
If the sun were gone, the whole world would be destroyed.
Even when monks from the Fire Temple arrived, they didn't dare to act rashly.
This was also why, after the guards of the daimyo's residence had surrounded the residence layer upon layer, Kazuma was still able to throw a party inside the daimyo's residence without any restraint.
Of course, Aoba didn't just have Kazuma wait inside the daimyo's residence like this for them to come over. In order to reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble after taking the throne, Kazuma also had the guards surrounding the daimyo's residence bring him a list of nobles who currently held significant influence in the Land of Fire.
He directly called them out one by one, having the guards "invite" them over individually.
If even one of them was unwilling to come, he would poke the daimyo with a small knife that hurt but wasn't fatal.
It was like playing a rhythm game. With each poke, the daimyo would scream in pain.
Then, without needing any further orders, the guards would immediately go and "invite" those nobles over.
Their loyalty was to the daimyo, not to those nobles.
However, the ninja world was, after all, a feudal society. Those nobles had also secretly cultivated quite a few samurai and ninja. Although they couldn't compare to the forces of the daimyo's residence, when combined, they were still a considerable power.
It was just that at the beginning, many of the nobles didn't know what was happening. By the time they fully reacted, more than half of the nobles in the City of Fire had already been killed.
The Land of Fire had been passed down for nearly a thousand years, and a situation like this had never occurred before.
They lacked experience in dealing with it.
The remaining nobles hurriedly organized themselves, banding together for warmth, joining forces to resist the threat coming from the daimyo's residence.
The current situation was that one side controlled the daimyo, occasionally stabbing him with a knife, while the other side faced mortal danger, with no one willing to meekly await death.
In just a single day, the entire City of Fire descended into complete chaos.
It really did carry a bit of the flavor of "the inner treasury burned to embroidered ashes, the heavenly streets trampled with the bones of nobles."
As for why no one thought of finding a way to rescue the daimyo from Kazuma and the others, it was naturally because they didn't have that capability.
Kazuma, and Sora, who possessed a strand of Nine-Tails chakra within his body, could be said to be the two strongest people in the entire Land of Fire, as long as Konoha did not intervene.
And the strength of Fuka, Fudo, and Fuen was also quite decent.
On top of that, whenever the situation looked unfavorable, the few of them would stab the daimyo without hesitation, a behavior that truly made people grit their teeth in hatred.
For such a major incident, there was no need to wait until the next day. Using special methods, newspapers and intelligence departments of various countries spread the news across the ninja world by that very evening.
Originally, the daimyo of the other four great nations were still waiting for the Fire Daimyo to give them an explanation regarding Konoha's unilateral war against the Land of Grass, thinking about whether they could squeeze some benefits out of this big brother of the Land of Fire.
Then suddenly came the news that big brother was about to be gone?
These four daimyo immediately…
Held a video conference.
They launched a heated discussion on rescuing the Fire Daimyo.
It wasn't that they wouldn't save him, but that they had to consider how to save him. To save him slowly, cautiously, and with proper pacing.
It was just that while they were in the middle of these intense discussions, inside the Hokage Building, Aoba had already reassembled his forces.
Preparing to act in the name of heaven, suppress rebellion, enter the capital to serve the sovereign, and purge the ruler's side.
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