Did Kazahana Sosetsu know that what he was doing was tantamount to treason?
Yes, he did.
But he had no choice—because if he didn't do it, who knows when the country would be gone entirely, and his whole family would be wiped out with it!
After capturing his traitorous good little brother Kazahana Dotou and putting on a performance of "fraternal love" that could bring the house down, Kazahana Sosetsu also extracted a considerable amount of intelligence from Dotou—intelligence that left him both stunned and terrified.
That is: Kazahana Sosetsu's behavior, which clashed with the customs of other daimyōs, had already provoked the discontent of many traditional nobles within the Land of Snow, as well as other countries. Even some of the great nations had set their sights on the Land of Snow.
The Land of Snow possessed a significant amount of black technology. Even though these other nations would publicly scoff and label them as "cheap tricks" or "heretical arts," their greed for this technology was impossible to conceal.
Why did Kazahana Dotou dare to rebel?
In truth, it was because he had garnered the support of many conservative nobles within the Land of Snow, as well as nobles and even daimyōs from other countries.
Dotou was simply using their support to push the current along and satisfy his own ambitions—his desire to use the Land of Snow's technology to conquer the ninja world stemmed from this. After all, if even the great nations coveted this technology, it proved that the Land of Snow's black tech was indeed powerful—strong enough to conquer the ninja world if properly used!
Of course, in the end, it turned out that Kazahana Dotou was no ambitious hero—just a clown.
Kazahana Sosetsu could only curse his idiotic little brother. The Land of Snow may have black tech, but even if they turned all of it into weaponry, it'd be nothing more than a side dish—not even enough to fight the weakest of the Five Great Nations, the Hidden Sand Village. Where on earth did Dotou get the confidence that their country's little bag of tech could conquer the entire ninja world?
Fainted from anger by his stupid little brother.jpg
But while Dotou's baffling actions had indeed raised Sosetsu's blood pressure, what was truly frightening were the deeper forces behind the rebellion—being targeted by both domestic and foreign traditional noble factions was utterly terrifying.
At that moment, Kazahana Sosetsu seemed to hallucinate—he saw his own head fall from the executioner's block, his daughter forced to flee for her life, or worse: captured by those vile nobles and turned into their plaything, a horrifying image.
He realized that even if he were to "surrender" and rejoin the nobles' power games, it wouldn't work—because they would surely demand he "show sincerity," and the price of that sincerity would almost certainly be his daughter. He would be forced to personally hand over his beloved daughter to some powerful noble as a concubine.
Yes—a concubine, because the Land of Snow was so small, Kazahana Sosetsu's daughter wasn't even qualified to become a noble's official wife.
And even as a concubine, her fate would not be enviable—she'd likely end up as a status symbol among those nobles, passed around like a trophy to flaunt their power and taste, a toy for many.
Don't think for a second those nobles wouldn't do it. It was precisely because Sosetsu himself was daimyō of the Land of Snow that he had no doubts about their moral depravity.
To a father obsessed with his daughter, such a fate was worse than death. After all, the man didn't research the weather control device to improve the climate of the perpetually snow-covered Land of Snow—perhaps that became part of the purpose later—but his original intention was purely to let his adorable daughter feel the warmth of spring that only the southern regions had.
And so, after much thought, Kazahana Sosetsu came up with an idea that clashed with all traditional noble thinking—a truly astounding decision: Why not just defect to the Hidden Leaf Village?
Even though the Hidden Leaf was far from the Land of Snow and had little interaction with it, the Leaf understood technology!
Based on what the Leaf had demonstrated recently, Kazahana Sosetsu could see the shadow of the Land of Snow—or rather, he saw in the Leaf the same outsider nature that had isolated the Land of Snow from other countries.
The Leaf valued technology. It respected it. It knew how to use it.
After much deliberation, Sosetsu made a decision that defied his ancestors: he would trade the Land of Snow's technology for the Hidden Leaf's protection.
And so, after all his travels and trials, Sosetsu finally reached the Leaf and firmly resolved to cling tightly to its leg.
This led to the so-called "cooperation agreement" that was barely distinguishable from treason. If one truly couldn't grasp the implications of such an agreement, one could compare it to Saudi Arabia inviting U.S. troops to be stationed within their borders.
Of course, Kazahana Sosetsu was lucky—because the Leaf wasn't as deranged as "America." Or rather, the current Hidden Leaf was truly worthy of being called the Light of the Shinobi World.
The Land of Snow's initiative and tactfulness led the Hidden Leaf leadership to hold several high-level meetings and ultimately agree to the cooperation. The Land of Snow was now officially under the protection of the Hidden Leaf.
When Kazahana Sosetsu returned home, a team from the Hidden Leaf Gaming Guild would accompany him. Along with them would be a number of Leaf shinobi, including members of major clans like the Uchiha and Hyūga.
Clearly, the Leaf took this cooperation very seriously—there was even an intention to make the Land of Snow a model, using overwhelming military force to ensure its territorial safety.
Of course, this was all behind the scenes. On the surface, it was simply a team from the Hidden Leaf Gaming Guild going to the Land of Snow to open for business.
Situations like this had already occurred many times throughout the shinobi world. The Hidden Leaf Gaming Guild was "expanding its territory" across the world, growing its commercial empire—and the shinobi world had grown used to it. So even if other powers knew the Leaf was cooperating with the Land of Snow and sending a guild team there, they wouldn't pay it much mind.
Undoubtedly, the Leaf found this very satisfying. In the past, anything they did would draw intense scrutiny. Forget permanently stationing personnel in another country—just sending a few more people on a mission would set off alarm bells in other factions. But now, they could send people openly without anyone batting an eye.
All the Leaf had to do was use the Gaming Guild as a cover and quietly send troops to increase its stationed forces in the Land of Snow.
For a small nation like this, just a hundred stationed shinobi would be enough to ensure total control—especially with a daimyō like Kazahana Sosetsu actively cooperating.
At the same time, the technology Sosetsu provided helped the Hidden Leaf light up a few new branches on its tech tree.
Among them, railways were undoubtedly useful. While they were easy to sabotage, their transportation efficiency brought irreplaceable economic and social benefits.
Especially now that the Leaf had already begun its own uniquely shinobi-style industrialization—trains and railroads were incredibly valuable, set to become the Leaf's economic arteries.
What's more, the Leaf didn't even need to expend much manpower to build the railways. With Earth Style users leading the way, other shinobi assisting, and ordinary laborers providing support, the construction could proceed at lightning speed.
Basically, if the Leaf wanted, it could launch the railway project immediately. While Leaf shinobi alone wouldn't be enough, they could always hire shinobi from other villages—and if they paid well enough, plenty of ninja would gladly come work for the Leaf like oxen and horses.
Incidentally, the current Leaf leadership believed that at this rate, hiring outsiders would soon be cheaper than employing locals—and that disparity would only widen as the Leaf continued to develop.
After all, as the Leaf grew, it was bound to become a massive city-state. Its economy would inevitably outpace others, turning it into a terrifying economic entity that siphoned resources from the entire shinobi world.
So to the Leaf's current leaders, any problem that could be solved with money… wasn't really a problem.
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