Naruto: Yes, Uchiha-sama.

Chapter 201 Konoha's internal strife begins, Akatsuki harbors ill intentions, the two villages clash – how pleasing to the ear!

The capital of the Land of Fire, the residence of the daimyo.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire faced the window, and the rumbling of thunder could be heard from time to time.

After several days of lingering heat.

Finally, layers of dark, iron-black clouds piled up on the horizon, and large raindrops soon appeared, like strings of beads suddenly shaken off, nourishing the parched earth.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire was in a terrible mood, just like the weather before him, with dark clouds looming overhead.

Akatsuki Village's actions are becoming increasingly audacious and excessive. They've launched their own currency, an agricultural association, and a Six Kage Summit. Almost every plan they've introduced is malicious, constantly undermining the foundation of the Land of Fire, and even the foundation of the entire ninja world's aristocratic system.

Although these methods don't show obvious effects yet, if this continues, the Land of Fire will really face a big problem.

"Your Excellency, times are changing too fast; I can no longer see clearly. Tell me, what should the Land of Fire do in the future?"

"Perhaps only God knows."

The daimyo of the Land of Fire muttered to himself, his face filled with sorrow.

Somehow.

He suddenly felt an overwhelming envy for his ancestors. Although they were inferior to him in terms of the area they ruled, the pleasures of life, and so on, the ninjas of that time were still trapped in the shackles of the ninja tool theory, unable to extricate themselves. They kept their eyes fixed on the missions issued by the nobles, and then fought each other to compete for these missions, generation after generation.

Our ancestors only needed to follow the ruling logic left by their forefathers—using missions to divide the ninja clans and constantly creating hatred between them—to firmly control the ninja world.

Then you can enjoy yourself to the fullest, playing music and dancing continuously, without having to worry about the threat posed by the ninjas.

But times have changed, and now it's his turn. Times have changed!
The daimyo of the Land of Fire was perplexed by the changing times.

It's only been a few short years.

He discovered that the situation was rapidly spiraling in a terrifying direction at an unprecedented pace.

What saddened and frustrated him even more was...

It seems that this situation only occurred in the Land of Fire. The ninja villages in other countries have always been dutiful, following the order of the Warring States period, and doing their best to protect the rule of the daimyo, without showing any signs of rebellion.

This is absolutely a bolt from the blue!

What keeps the Fire Country Daimyo up at night is that he seems to have no time to even struggle or resist.

It seemed that suddenly, the ninjas of the Land of Fire, who had previously only focused on their missions, began to look upwards, and the ruling logic passed down by the successive daimyo completely failed in the face of the current situation.

As the ninja clans coalesced into a single village, the cost of sowing discord among them increased exponentially, leading ninja villages to seek ways to form alliances.

under these circumstances.

What use are the tactics of balancing and dividing power?

Once things get out of control, he will be no match for the ninjas' weapons.

What cannot be obtained on the battlefield is destined not to be obtained at the negotiating table either.

And then there are those hereditary nobles.

Even though the ninjas were also encroaching on their power and status, they only shouted "loyalty" but actually surrendered faster than anyone else.

The agricultural association's efforts were greatly aided by the nobles, both large and small, of the Land of Fire.

"Promoting agricultural associations is our bounden duty to ensure food security in the Land of Fire!"

"Lord Guangying's actions benefit the nation and its people; his merits are immeasurable!"

"."

The flattery came one after another; they had absolutely no shame.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire was unable to voice any objections.

Xiaoren Village provided grain crop seeds and fertilizers that could achieve a yield of 300 kg per mu, thus naturally occupying the moral high ground.

Because of these troubles, the daimyo of the Land of Fire hasn't slept well for several days.

The Grand Secretary stood behind the daimyo of the Land of Fire, listening to the daimyo's disheartened complaints.

He didn't have any good solutions to this.

All we can do is try to reassure the daimyo of the Land of Fire that the situation isn't as bad as he makes it out to be.

"Your Highness, things haven't reached that point yet. We still have time."

"time?"

"How much more time do we have? If this continues, I'm afraid..."

"Your Highness, the entire Land of Fire will not tolerate the Akatsuki's rebellion!"

"You mean we're willing to fight to the death?"

"Tch~ A fight to the death, huh... Even if I wanted to, what about those people down there? Hmph."

Before the Grand Secretary could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire with a cold laugh.

Throughout history, dynastic changes have never lacked ministers and nobles who defected.

These people are never a small group, but rather make up the vast majority.

Because they are fundamentally different from the Daimyo.

If the Daimyo lineage loses, it will be severely punished and stigmatized until all traces of it are completely erased.

Ministers and nobles always had the opportunity to surrender.

Therefore, Makoto Uchiha's salami-slicing tactic was a great success!

Akatsuki Village uses force as its backing and money to pave its way.

Who would actually fight to the death with a ninja village for the sake of a daimyo?
It's time to make a crucial decision.

There was no need for Uchiha Makoto to send Akatsuki ninjas to stick kunai into their beds and force them to make a choice.

They were able to sell their fame on their own initiative!

Wouldn't it be better to sell out the daimyo and form a military government with the ninjas?
It's not that they can't try to become ninjas.

In that case, external conflicts would instantly turn into internal conflicts, and even Uchiha Makoto would find it difficult to ruthlessly kill forces that had surrendered.

They could even give up all their family property and use marriage alliances to find ways to recruit ninjas as sons-in-law and adopted children.

In both the Naruto world and modern Japan, adopted children can inherit the entire family fortune.

In doing so, although the actual person in charge of the family becomes someone from another family, at least the family name and bloodline can be passed down, which is better than being completely exploited and the family declining.

In the ninja world, this is actually not a strange thing.

Through these maneuvers, the descendants of nobles and ministers can still become enduring clans in the ninja world for a thousand years.

"Your Highness, you are too pessimistic." "We haven't reached the end of the road yet."

"."

The Grand Secretary's heart skipped a beat; he dared not respond to the question.

Even though he was the daimyo's most trusted confidant, he was indeed loyal and always kept his distance from the Akatsuki, never engaging in any underhanded dealings with them.

But this represents him alone.

It's only natural for his family to be cunning and have multiple burrows.

This is really a fatal flaw.

Theoretically speaking, the court of the Land of Fire is full of traitors—once the thought of surrendering to the dawn arises, one feels the vastness of the world!

Therefore, the Grand Secretary could only continuously comfort the daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Things haven't reached the point of mutual destruction or a dead end yet!
The daimyo of the Land of Fire fell silent, his eyes fixed on the heavy rain outside the window, his heart filled with sorrow.

Haven't they reached the end of their rope yet?
This is true.

But that is precisely what makes Makoto Uchiha so terrifying.

If Uchiha Makoto were to launch a direct rebellion and go all in, the Fire Country Daimyo might still have a chance to turn the tide.

After all, the ninja world is still dominated by the daimyo and nobles. If the Akatsuki openly rebels, it will only become the target of everyone's criticism and become the enemy of the ninja world, and then it will fall under countless attacks.

However, Akatsuki Village remained calm and collected, slowly and steadily undermining the daimyo's support by gradually weakening him.

By leveraging the economic benefits of industrialization, they united the vast majority of people: ninjas, nobles of all ranks, merchants, commoners, and farmers, until the daimyo was completely isolated.

Once a sausage has been cut to the point where it can't be cut any further, it's time for the main course.

"What's the situation in Konoha now? Public opinion in the Land of Fire has completely sided with Akatsuki."
"Have they remained completely silent?"

After a long time.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire took a deep breath and said.

He turned around, reverting to his usual expressionless demeanor.

Power is so alluring that it has caused countless heroes to bow down in its pursuit.

In pursuit of supreme power, countless methods have been employed throughout history, including killing brothers, sons, imprisoning fathers, and imprisoning mothers.

Even if Uchiha Makoto could now offer the Fire Country Daimyo a promise, "I swear in the name of the Uchiha clan that I will remain a wealthy man after surrendering," the Fire Country Daimyo would not simply surrender and admit defeat.

He could not bear to see the country he had ruled for so many years, the legacy passed down from his ancestors, being squandered in his hands.

Even if in the end there is really no other way but to surrender.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire felt that he should at least be able to stand tall and say to his ancestors in the Pure Land after his death, "I really did my best."

"Your Highness, Konoha hasn't made any moves yet, and its relationship with Akatsuki remains the same. The main issue is that Konoha's First Hokage sometimes makes me wonder if he's an idiot, or if his personality is too... well... too naive."

Seeing that the daimyo of the Land of Fire had regained his spirits, the Grand Secretary began to report on the situation in Konoha that had been brought before him.

Under normal circumstances...

There is no room for two tigers in one mountain.

When Akatsuki's reputation completely overwhelmed Konoha's, the number of ninja missions within Konoha decreased significantly.

A reduction in the scale of missions would be unacceptable for any ninja village.

If this happened during the Warring States period, all the ninja clans would have fought tooth and nail over it.

Therefore, Konoha should also have some degree of friction with Akatsuki.

Once friction and discord arise between the two villages, the daimyo of the Land of Fire can take advantage of the situation to do something.

But Konoha has remained completely silent until now.

After careful analysis of the intelligence from Konoha, the elder statesman came to a conclusion—the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was probably the biggest reason.

"kindness?"

“Your Highness, from the very beginning, we had a misconception about Hashirama Senju. He may have been a truly kind person with no ambition. Because of the Hokage's insistence, Konoha has always maintained restraint.”

"This"

The elder listed the First Hokage's bizarre behaviors one by one, including but not limited to allowing Tobirama Senju to completely take over the power of the Hokage in the village, and publicly declaring that he hoped Madara Uchiha would become the Second Hokage. There were even rumors from the beginning of the village's founding that Hashirama Senju had deliberately let the assassin go, etc.

There are simply too many examples.

These signs all indicate that Hashirama Senju was a great benefactor who restrained his own power and treated others with kindness; it would not be an exaggeration to call him a moral saint.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire was at a loss for words.

From a political standpoint, he could not trust Hashirama Senju under any circumstances.

Whether you have rebellious intentions or not is not important; having the ability to rebel is enough.

Makoto Uchiha used this same argument to sell the "Hashirama Senju threat theory" to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, and ultimately succeeded in gaining the support of the Land of Fire.

But all the current phenomena indicate that Hashirama Senju really had no ambition.

Not only did he lack ambition, but he was also ridiculously naive. Even after Konoha completely delegated power to his younger brother, he still couldn't see the bigger picture. Under these circumstances, he wanted to hand over the throne of the Second Hokage to Madara Uchiha. He was either stupid or wicked.

"Therefore, Your Highness, judging from Hashirama Senju's current performance, even if Konoha and Akatsuki really develop a rift, it will eventually be resolved by Hashirama Senju's personal will to minimize the problem and even make concessions. It would be very difficult for us to sow discord between them."

"Is there really no other way? Konoha and Akatsuki absolutely cannot be united."

"There is a way."

"The struggle between the Uchiha and Senju clans has lasted for a thousand years. Even though they have successfully made peace and formed an alliance to establish Konoha, their struggle has not stopped. Now, the struggle is just being carried out in the shadows. Tobirama Senju, the younger brother of Hashirama Senju, wants to become the next Hokage, and the Uchiha clan is equally ambitious about this. In fact, the conflict has recently become open and heated. Meanwhile, Makoto Uchiha of Akatsuki Village has been quietly supporting the Uchiha clan, which is actually a very good entry point."

As the elder said this, a glint of wisdom flashed in his eyes. The giant pit that Hashirama Senju had dug could also be used by them.

Tobirama Senju now holds great power in Konoha and is known as the Shadow Hokage of Konoha. It's obvious to everyone that he wants to become the Second Hokage of Konoha.

The Uchiha clan, due to Hashirama Senju's influence, also harbored ambitions for the position of Second Hokage.

Most importantly, Makoto Uchiha also got involved. Even though Makoto Uchiha's surname is Uchiha and he has the blood of the Uchiha clan, he is still an outsider to Konoha.

“Your Highness, I could easily change the direction of public opinion. I could use the Uchiha and Senju clans’ struggle for the Second Hokage to create various narratives. The blood debts between the two clans back then are countless. Then we could drag Uchiha Makoto into it. A Kage extending his reach so far, into the heart of Konoha, is clearly not a good intention.”

"Moreover, we also have our share of the dirty secrets surrounding Uchiha Makoto."

"And there's Tobirama Senju. I remember that Madara Uchiha's most beloved younger brother died at his hands."

"In that case, Konoha might face internal strife, and Akatsuki might not escape responsibility either."

"This gives us the opportunity to maneuver between the two sides."

(End of this chapter)