Uchiha's personal opinion

Neither the nobles nor the ninjas dared to speak, and the atmosphere in the hall became even more tense.

The daimyo of Genji was utterly disappointed.

The ninja army that I had painstakingly built up with countless resources and money was not even able to provide the most basic support and courage in this situation. With such loyalty and courage, if a war really broke out, I would probably be captured and sent to the front lines of the shogunate to collect my reward.

"From now on... if I displease the Shogun, or if he finds some pretext to attack me, there will be no longer any suspicion of meddling in the affairs of the Shogun..."

The daimyo of the Genji clan continued with a cold laugh: "There's no need to pretend to be respectable when marching to Kyoto anymore, how convenient!"

"Lord Jiroku, please stop saying that the Uchiha clan doesn't understand etiquette. In my opinion, he knows more than my nobles!"

The officials knelt down one by one, bowing their heads in apology.

"In that case, we can only accept the General's indebtedness, which we can never repay!"

The daimyo's voice grew increasingly sharp and shrill: "Is that right, fellow Jonin!"

Now even the Jonin under his command knelt down.

"Since the country will cease to exist in the future, there is no need for the existence of the dukes and ministers!"

"Effective immediately, all the three dukes and ministers are hereby dismissed! All land is to be nationalized! You are forbidden from acquiring any land other than your wealth and forests!"

The daimyo of the Genji clan seized the opportunity and declared: "Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

The nobles and courtiers were already in a state of utter confusion and were powerless to reason with or plead with the enraged daimyo of Genji, so they could only express their attitude by kowtowing.

The daimyo of the Minamoto clan took it as tacit agreement from all the court nobles, and then turned to his direct subordinate Jonin and said, "There is no longer a daimyo of the Land of Fire today. If any of you have other ideas, you may leave on your own within three days. I will not interfere!"

"Serving His Highness is the meaning of our existence!"

A Jonin raised his head and spoke resolutely.

"I am loyal to Your Highness!"

The Jonin under his command responded with shouts.

"From now on, you and your subjects will work together to overcome difficulties. If one day we can restore the power of the Land of Fire, you will surely be the ones who share the land with the Genji!"

The lord, quite pleased with himself, made a promise.

Although nobles and courtiers would dismiss such boundless promises as mere empty words from a daimyo, the relatively simple-minded ninjas perceived them as a sign that the daimyo truly considered them one of their own!

It is only natural for ninjas to be loyal to their lord to the death!

The Jonin were moved to tears, their gratitude overflowing!

After a long and nauseating display of affection, the daimyo of Genji finally managed to send away the passionate Jonin and the drenched nobles.

"……call!"

Only the daimyo of the Minamoto clan and Jiriku remained in the hall. However, at this point, the daimyo of the Minamoto clan was too lazy to maintain his so-called daimyo dignity and simply slumped on the high platform.

"Your Highness is exceptionally intelligent and quick-witted. It will surely not be difficult for you to revive the Minamoto clan of the Land of Fire in the future!"

Di Lu spoke up to comfort him.

During the period of profound silence following Uchiha Shisui's announcement of the Shogunate's decision, the performance of the Genji daimyo was nothing short of brilliant.

First, they took the opportunity to dismiss all the high-ranking nobles, thus not only bringing the fiefdoms back to the Minamoto clan, but also saving the enormous wealth needed to maintain the existence of these insects.

There was no other way; the daimyo family was also out of resources. With most of their territory taken over by the shogunate, the tax revenue from those escorted to the daimyo's residence was either zero or pitifully small. The previous tax revenue was enough to maintain the current ninja army, which had already emptied the national treasury. They even had to occasionally allocate funds from the internal treasury to supplement military expenses. Now that their actual controlled territory was completely confined to the Kinki region, their future income would be even more drastic. The money and grain saved by dismissing the nobles and court nobles could just fill the gap in maintaining the ninja army.

As for the heartfelt words the daimyo of the Minamoto clan spoke to his direct Jonin, they stabilized the morale of the ninja army and inspired their remaining loyalty, at least in the short term, stabilizing the only force the daimyo of the Minamoto clan could rely on.

Once the ninja army was stabilized, even if the nobles who had been dismissed and their lands seized harbored rebellious intentions, they would not be able to cause any trouble.

"The ninja army commanders must be re-selected, and the positions of Jonin at all levels must be reassigned..."

Di Lu said.

"...It seems the only one who will never abandon me is the high monk of the Fire Temple!"

The Daimyo Genji said with emotion.

"The Temple of Fire and the Genji are two sides of the same coin, sharing weal and woe, which is only natural!"

Di Lu said modestly.

"It's a pity that after so many years of pampering the nobility, all they've produced is a bunch of good-for-nothings!"

The daimyo of Genji cursed angrily.

"What does Lord Jiroku think of Hattori Heiji?"

"He's not the best choice, but he's the only choice right now!"

Jiraiya replied confidently, "Right now, the only one who can control the ninja army is Lord Heiji!"

"Then it's settled!"

Without further hesitation, the daimyo of Genji casually pulled out paper and pen and personally wrote the letter of appointment.

However, he hesitated for a long time on the signature at the end of the letter of appointment.

"Things have come to this..."

The daimyo of Genji chuckled self-deprecatingly and wrote a completely new title at the end of his signature.

"Issued by the Great Lord of the Minamoto clan, a direct descendant of the Former Emperor!"

Chapter 452 You're going too far.

"Lord Tokumitsu! You shouldn't have kept those Genji worms alive!"

The representative of Konoha's martial arts faction spoke earnestly.

Uchiha Tokumitsu hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Surprisingly, after the title of Daimyo of the Land of Fire was removed and the title of Daimyo of the Minamoto clan was demoted to that of a Great Lord, there was little attention paid to it within Konoha. No one even mentioned this kind of political topic before or after meals. Even though announcements were posted in various departments and police offices of Konoha under the instruction of Uchiha Tokumitsu, there was still no disturbance. It seemed that no one cared about the historic process of the shogunate replacing the daimyo.

At first, Uchiha Tokumitsu was also a little surprised, thinking that the Konoha ninjas were too indifferent to current affairs, which was not good—it would affect the effectiveness of internal propaganda!

"Your style of doing things is indeed very steady, but in fact, with the strength of the shogunate and the village's foundation, it is entirely possible to speed up the pace!"

The militant representative continued fervently, "The ninja world! Only a unified ninja world can usher in a new era of true peace and prosperity!"

"Lord Deguang! Don't hesitate! Just give the order, and everyone in the Martial Faction will go through fire and water for you!"

"You must dislike that useless Genji, right? Let's go kill him! Then we'll incorporate his ninja army, drive those surrendered ninjas to attack the Hidden Cloud Village's death zone, and after completely conquering Hidden Cloud Village, we'll incorporate those surrendered Hidden Cloud Village ninjas and drive them to attack Iwagakure. In this way, our great cause will be accomplished!"

After speaking, the representative of the militant faction looked hopefully at Uchiha Tokumitsu, who looked somewhat shocked, awaiting his lord's reply.

"You're going too far..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu rubbed his temples, looking somewhat annoyed, and said, "The plan is good, but don't talk about it casually in the future, lest you leak the village's confidential information!"

"You may step aside now. Let me continue to think about how to improve this grand plan!"

The representative of the militant faction was about to say something more, but was interrupted by Uchiha Tokumitsu, so he had no choice but to bow and leave.

"...Sakumo-kun, come out."

After the representatives of the militant faction left, Uchiha Tokumitsu called back Hatake Sakumo, who had left the room.

He had assumed that the militant representative, who had come so mysteriously claiming to offer a grand plan and dismissing his attendants, would have some profound insights, but to his surprise, he was just spouting the crude language he had used years ago.

"It seems that Deguang-kun is not extreme enough!"

Although Hatake Sakumo left his seat, he listened to the conversation in the office through the communicator provided by Uchiha Tokumitsu, and the content of the militant representative's words made him feel both amused and exasperated.

While pushing straight through might sound incredibly satisfying, it sounded rather comical to a seasoned veteran like Hatake Sakumo.

After all, the intensity of battle between ninja forces in formation and small-scale missions is completely different, and the losses in terms of supplies and personnel will definitely be far beyond imagination.

"These militant factions are really getting worse every year..."

"Uchiha Tokumitsu sighed."

The only group within Konoha that was tacitly permitted to form associations was the martial arts faction. After all, their Konoha supremacy was beneficial to the Governor-General's rule over Konoha. However, with the passing of the old-guard martial arts faction, the new generation of martial arts faction ninjas, apart from maintaining their extreme ideology, had indeed regressed in other aspects.

After all, the truly extreme ones have already joined the shogunate's direct ninja army and been assigned to garrison camps in various places. Most of the so-called fighting faction that remains in the village is just talk.

Therefore, it's not surprising that the militant representative had such a wild idea.

After all, they don't even have the ability to talk big on paper; they're just spouting empty words.

"Why don't we just send them all to the western border defense forces? Fugaku-kun should be able to manage them."

Sakumo Hatake said, "Or send them to the Bird Defense Line, which is right on the front line of the attack on the Land of Earth, making it easier for them to sacrifice themselves for the cause at the first opportunity."

"...So that's how sacrificing oneself for righteousness is used!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Alright, let's not talk about these expensive things anymore."

Sakumo Hatake shook his head and asked, "Has the air route to Mount Myoboku been opened?"

"not yet."

Uchiha Tokumitsu shook his head: "The seas beyond the desolate lands are more complex than imagined. Although they are desolate and lifeless, all sorts of hidden reefs are constantly appearing, making the progress of the reef-breaking ship extremely slow..."

"Ugh……"

Sakumo Hatake sighed, "If only the land route could provide supplies far more efficiently, then there would be no need to take this perilous sea route."

“If we travel by land, even if we can resupply effectively, the recruited ninjas from Kirigakure and Amegakure will become useless on the way and will be unable to exert their combat power.”

Uchiha Tokumitsu also said with some helplessness: "We can't let the Shogunate and Konoha's ninja armies fight such a dangerous and deadly battle the whole time. Otherwise, if the headquarters' strength is greatly depleted, it will be difficult to control those vassal ninja villages."

"Strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches..."

Sakumo Hatake shrugged as well.

He agreed to Uchiha Tokumitsu's expedition to Mount Myōboku for two reasons: first, to seize the secret realm of Mount Myōboku, which is rich in natural energy, so that he could further advance his Sage Mode training; and second, because Uchiha Tokumitsu mentioned "strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches"—that is, to purge the vassal ninja villages and some "dissidents" in Konoha through a war of controlled intensity but extremely brutality.

After being tempered by war, the refining Konoha Village will become even more in line with the new Konoha that Sakumo Hatake envisioned.

"But... has the exploration fleet in the East China Sea responded?"

Sakumo Hatake suddenly asked.

Still no response!

Uchiha Tokumitsu shook his head. "The Ashina clan chief and the elite sealing team have been stationed there for so long, but they still haven't made any progress, and they can't determine how that suddenly appearing hurricane barrier was formed."