[Inside Konoha Village]
After the people of Konoha learned that Aoba had become the daimyo of the Land of Fire, it immediately caused a huge uproar.
However, for most ordinary civilians, they did not really care who was sitting in the daimyo's seat, nor did they understand what it meant for a ninja to take the position of daimyo.
On top of that, the daimyo had explained very clearly the reasons for his abdication.
So for the majority of Konoha's civilians, upon learning that their own Hokage had become the daimyo, not only did they not resist it, they instead felt a sense of pride, as if sharing in the honor.
As for that small group of "clear-headed" people who believed that Aoba becoming daimyo was an illegitimate seizure of power, an act of rebellion where a subordinate overstepped his bounds.
Naturally, someone would go pay them a visit.
Of course, compared to the indifferent, it-has-nothing-to-do-with-me attitude of most ordinary civilians.
Those who were closely connected to Aoba were far more excited.
A winter morning—
The sun was already hanging high in the sky.
Yuhi Kurenai was still curled up in her warm quilt, sleeping in.
Even though a certain scumbag had not come over last night, sleeping in on a winter morning was still a way of not betraying winter itself.
But the sudden thudding sounds, along with Anko's shouting, forced her to crawl out of her warm bed.
Her expression carried impatience as she sleepily threw on a coat and went to open the door.
But when she opened the bedroom door with bleary eyes, she suddenly realized the noise was coming from the window, and her morning temper flared even more.
This girl had recently started sneaking over and peeking through the window every time she came!
"Anko! You'd better give me a proper reason!"
"What reason?", Anko tilted her head.
"Obviously the reason for coming over so early in the morning to disturb someone's sleep!"
Yuhi Kurenai glared at Anko outside the window.
"That's because I really do have something important. Extremely important!"
Anko's expression was unusually serious as she spoke.
"It'd better be important."
Seeing her like this, Yuhi Kurenai didn't say anything more, muttering to herself as she went to wash her face.
Not long after, she learned from Anko why she had come knocking on her window so early in the morning.
"Aoba became the daimyo?"
Yuhi Kurenai's face was full of shock. She had not expected the news Anko brought to be this explosive.
When Aoba did not come looking for her last night, she had guessed he might be busy with something else, but she never imagined it would be something this outrageous.
"Yeah, announcements are already going up all over the streets. Before long, all of Konoha, even the entire Land of Fire, will know," Anko danced around excitedly.
It left Yuhi Kurenai feeling a little helpless.
"Aoba becoming the Land of Fire's daimyo is indeed something to be happy about, but why are you so excited?"
"Kurenai, can't you see it?"
Anko said meaningfully.
"Aoba is the daimyo now. That's one of the most noble people in the entire ninja world."
"And then?"
Yuhi Kurenai did not quite understand what Anko was getting at.
"We get to step on the daimyo every night. Don't you think that's exciting?"
Anko's eyes sparkled like a child who had discovered a new toy.
"..."
Yuhi Kurenai did not know what to say.
You really can't expect ivory to come out of Anko's dog mouth.
"Alright, I know now. If there's nothing else, you can leave. I still want to sleep a bit more."
Yuhi Kurenai directly issued an eviction order.
But Anko acted as if she had not heard a thing. She plopped down beside Yuhi Kurenai, leaned in close, and whispered.
"Kurenai, you deal with Aoba all by yourself every time. That's got to be pretty tough, right?"
"...", Yuhi Kurenai was completely speechless.
Anko used to be noisy, sure, but when she was quiet, she was still a good girl.
Who knew how that scumbag had trained her. Now her head was full of yellow trash, thinking about nothing but this kind of stuff all day.
Was she really that eager to see her make a fool of herself?
Seeing Yuhi Kurenai stay silent, Anko stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point.
"Kurenai, how about you come over to my place tonight? I'll teach you some new knowledge. Then, with Isaribi added in, the three of us sisters can go at it together and definitely stomp Aoba, that young daimyo, under our feet."
"..."
Yuhi Kurenai fell silent again. After waiting a bit and seeing that Anko had nothing more to say, she finally spoke.
"Finished?"
"Finished."
Anko nodded eagerly.
Then she was thrown out the window by Yuhi Kurenai.
Yuhi Kurenai dusted off her hands, looking completely unconcerned.
What, without Anko's help, did she really think she couldn't step on Aoba?
After doing all that, she crawled back into bed and went back to sleep.
———
Unlike Anko's indecency, when Hinata, Sakura, Ino, and the others learned the news, after a brief shock, they were simply happy. One after another, they went out, planning to find their good sisters and celebrate properly together.
As for traditional family heads like Hyuga Hiashi and Yamanaka Inoichi, their resistance to Aoba's scumbag behavior suddenly did not seem as strong anymore.
As noon approached, the news that Aoba had become daimyo had completely spread throughout Konoha.
For a time, the entire village became even more lively.
Many shops along the streets hung up banners reading things like "To celebrate the new daimyo's inauguration, storewide discounts," and similar slogans.
Hokage Building, inside the Hokage's office.
At the moment, all the members of the Hokage's secretarial group who were still in the building were sitting here.
Naturally, there were only four people.
Shizune, Konan, and Samui and Mabui.
"Shizune, did Lord Aoba really become the daimyo?"
Mabui asked in disbelief.
They had originally thought that after Konoha took over the Land of Grass, the next target would be Kumogakure. They were even considering whether to find a chance to offer their sincerity.
Instead, they got the even more explosive news that Aoba had become the Land of Fire's daimyo.
It was no wonder she asked again. This kind of thing was truly rare.
In a thousand years, there had never been a case of a ninja directly replacing a daimyo.
Even in small countries, when others wanted to usurp power, they would do so by controlling the daimyo to control the country.
Aoba's action could be said to be the first of its kind since the appearance of ninja.
"Aoba wouldn't joke about something like this. By now, almost the entire Land of Fire is probably about to hear the news. How could it be fake?", Shizune explained with a smile.
"But if that's the case, won't Konoha run into quite a bit of trouble later on?", Samui's expression was complicated.
With their intelligence, they naturally understood what this meant.
From today onward, the situation in the ninja world would likely undergo a massive change.
Konoha might very well be besieged by the other ninja villages in a few days.
The daimyo would absolutely not allow an anomaly like Aoba to exist.
"You don't need to worry about that," Shizune shook her head.
"Aoba had already thought through the consequences long before doing this."
"That's true."
Samui and Mabui came back to their senses and did not speak again.
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
"Shizune, did you know about Aoba's plan long ago?"
Konan, who had been silent all this time, could not help but speak up. Her gaze was somewhat deep.
"Uh… yes."
Shizune felt a little guilty.
And Konan's gaze toward Shizune grew even deeper.
Everyone was supposed to be back-to-back, heart-to-heart sisters, yet something this important had been kept from her.
"Uh…"
Shizune looked awkward and was just about to explain a bit.
Otherwise, she might really suffer tonight.
But the slight spatial disturbance that suddenly appeared in the office interrupted her.
Aoba's figure abruptly appeared before the four of them.
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