The Daimyo's Situation

After Tsunade's encounter with Jiraiya and Naruto, she ended up taking the brat to his inn to rest while Jiraiya was "occupied" for a while. Once she confirmed that he had nothing that couldn't be healed under the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra, she shaved his head and wrote "Namikaze" on his forehead before leaving without looking back. When she found a clear area, she summoned a Kinton cloud and returned to the village.

Too bad there wasn't a photo to capture that moment of dignity...

Several days have passed since then, and Pakura informed me after we finished our cooking session, where we prepared chicken curry with apples, that Temari had secretly but officially assumed the position of Kazekage of Sunagakure.

Happy that her plan was going smoothly, we had a brief moment alone to share a kiss in celebration before rejoining the others.

"So, did you manage to find a suitable place for the meeting without any issues?" I asked Mariko once we were all seated.

She and Karin had left the village for days to find the location she wanted. At the same time, Mariko was teaching her daughter about the land of their clan and its history—the real history and reason they were persecuted and ended up in this state, not the current books' version.

Karin returned somewhat depressed from the trip, but Haku and the cloud foxes knew how to lift her spirits in no time.

"In fact, we found a very suitable place," Mariko nodded with a nostalgic look that was hard to conceal. "The ancient meeting rooms of Uzushiogakure."

Oh? That doesn't sound too familiar.

"When the clan was still there, we had several rooms of this kind to discuss important matters," she explained, noticing my confusion. "We could use one of them for two simple reasons."

"And those would be...?"

"The first is that due to their simplicity, good construction, and the fact that they didn't contain anything to steal, they have remained in almost perfect condition. We could get the place ready with just a bit of work and superficial cleaning," Mariko said, waving her hand. "The second reason is that around these meeting rooms, there were always seals to ensure privacy and prevent espionage. If we want to take measures against possible eavesdroppers, it seems smart to take advantage of those seals. Even if they were damaged for some reason, I can repair them in less than a day."

"Perfect!" I applauded and decided to consider Mariko's opinion. "In that case, and if no one has anything else to add to the matter, we will hold the meeting of the three Kages in that place. Mariko will check the condition of the seals and restore or add things to them if necessary, Kimimaro and Karin will inspect the surroundings for any anomalies, Maki and Pakura will inform Sunagakure of the location and time of the meeting, while Anko and Haku will do the same with Kumogakure, and the rest of us will get to work cleaning up the place."

Fu raised her hand while jumping, and I nodded to give her permission to speak.

"Dad, can I accompany Maki and mom Pakura?" she asked, quite excited. "I haven't seen that area of the Wind Country yet!"

"Well," I agreed to her request since she tends to go out less due to training her jinchuriki abilities. "Just remember to listen to Pakura, okay?"

Fu nodded, blushing with excitement, and rushed to pack her bags.

I've tried to explain to her that storage scrolls and universal capsules are more practical, but she insists that it's not a real outing if you don't carry a backpack. It's such a logically sound reason that I can't refute it.

"And what do we do about the issue of the Fire Daimyo?" Ameyuri asked, causing me to turn and look at her with a question mark over my head.

Literally, I created a luminous question mark with my abilities to visually express my total bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?"

I could swear we already did everything necessary on that front. Did I forget something? I don't think so.

"Didn't you hear?" Now it was Ameyuri's turn to be surprised, leaving me even more surprised. "The Fire Daimyo has been missing for three days. I thought someone would have told you by now."

My question marks doubled in size and tripled in number.

Did I barely spend a few days helping Shizune with her medical studies and now I'm so clueless about the world? It has to be a joke.

"When you say missing..." The disappearance of a Daimyo could be many things.

"In every sense of the word," Ameyuri asserted, shrugging, and continued polishing Kiba with a cloth. "No ransom requested, no corpse to claim. He barely left the capital for a trip to the Rice Country when he vanished at some point on the way along with his escorts and guards."

Well, she said at some point, but it was more like after ten minutes of the trip, he simply wasn't heard from again.

"And how is it that I haven't found out until now?" I asked, looking around while the others didn't know how to respond and exchanged glances.

I mean, I really don't care about 90% of the news because they're either nonsense or don't affect us, but the disappearance of the Fire Daimyo (alias one of my pawns that makes things much more convenient for me and my people) undoubtedly falls into the category of something worth mentioning.

I could only conclude that others reached the conclusion that someone else had already told me, and that's why they didn't mention it.

Damn conclusions.

"Nemu, from now on, notify me of these things at least once, please," I asked her politely. "Even if you think I might already be aware, it's better to confirm so that this doesn't happen again."

"Noted, Dad."

"Okay, any ideas on why someone would do something against the Fire Daimyo and not claim credit for it?" I asked openly for everyone to share their ideas. "Because we can be sure it's not something like a sudden succession war or anything like that."

"Um," Kimimaro raised his hand this time, probably succumbing to curiosity or wanting to stay informed about the matter without missing too much. "Why are we sure of that?"

True, politics is Kimimaro's weak point.

However, war strategies are toys in his hands.

"Because if it were a succession war, they would be proclaiming the dramatic death of the Daimyo to the four winds and displaying his corpse like a banner to start a race," Ameyuri explained to her disciple, making exaggerated and mocking gestures. "You can only succeed the Daimyo appropriately in case of death; there's no such thing as retirement when you hold that title."

"I have someone in Konoha listening, and there's no news of the Daimyo's disappearance among civilians. Only some large clans are aware, so they're buying time to try to cover it up or find him," Anko commented.

How long has Anko had someone in Konoha? Maybe it's Yuhi?

"I think it could be Orochimaru's doing," Tsunade takes us out of our zone and expresses her opinion. "You gave one of those golden apples to the Daimyo, didn't you?"

Oh... Right, that would make sense.