[Hokage] Terukawa

“——It’s you.” I said.

But it must not just be you. To be more precise, it is the benefits that the "master" can obtain once the matter is accomplished. I don't know what those benefits are, but they must be rare and rich enough. Perhaps I can ask Yakushi Nono to check.

I kept my voice calm, tailored my words, and my face was as gentle and peaceful as every second that had just passed.

"Your master has taken so much pains to manage, arrange, and calculate so much, but in the final analysis, it's all because of you."

Those blue eyes wandered around for a few seconds before quickly locking onto me. It was the first time he looked at me so seriously.

He looked calm and unsurprised.

"What do you want to say?" he asked.

"He doesn't trust your identity, and he's suspicious of your loyalty. He's even more afraid that you'll feel compassion for Ito Shigeo but rebel against him. The upper class cares most about safety. If he really wants to deal with his own son, he'll have to divide his attention to guard against... you, so he chose Xingshou City on the border, pushing both Ito Shigeo and you far away, and placing them under layers of surveillance. From Xingshou City to the capital of the River Country, even you can't do it in one day, right?"

I smiled at Lan.

"…But people are always greedy, and this is not enough."

"Not enough" - Lan, who has realized through the letters that this is a rift, must know what I am talking about.

It is a rare sharp blade that may not be mastered in the hands, so the knife holder knows not to show his back to it, let alone let it be held by the enemy. Even a new graduate from school can learn this principle without a teacher, let alone someone who is capable of setting up such a killing situation?

When making the plan, the "master" must not be thinking "I am safe" but "I am going to destroy them".

Some people are like this. Their will to protect always dies halfway, but their will to destroy is always carried out perfectly.

He wants Ito Shigeo and Ran to kill each other.

"What do you want to say?" The repeated tone became cold and stiff. The person who spoke slightly lowered his chin, and stared at me with his wolf-like light eyes.

From the moment he saw the letter, those brief words had already resolved the countless doubts, resentments and grievances that had been lingering in his mind for who knows how long, and turned them into the cold and extremely cruel truth.

He knew this. He knew everything from the moment he saw the letter.

I took a few steps forward with an indifferent expression, forcing Lan to slightly raise her head and continue to look at me. The cold and oppressive feeling just now was also dissipated without a trace.

"Given your admiration for that person at the time... you obviously didn't do anything like stealing and opening the letter, so you didn't know the content of the letter, and knew nothing about the 'estrangement', so you were completely unprepared for Hasunuma Takizawa's subsequent harassment and persecution.

"As long as Hasunuma Takizawa is quick enough and ruthless enough, he can force you into a desperate situation before you even realize the problem. He probably did it, but..."

I stared into Lan's eyes, leaned forward slightly, but the smile did not reach my eyes.

"Have you ever thought about why he smashed the seal? Fake an accident? But there are many kinds of accidents. Why did he have to smash the seal that symbolizes the city lord's identity? Before he smashed the seal, didn't you notice..."

Before I finished speaking, I suddenly had an idea. I quickly stood up, raised my head and took a step back - and narrowly avoided a headbutt.

Lan's body swayed, but he managed to keep his balance. He stood up so quickly that his center of gravity was unstable, and he staggered for a while before he could steady himself.

"You-what do you know! Konoha's lackey... stop standing there and making sarcastic remarks!"

"Then you have to be fair. Before Hasunuma Takizawa smashed the seal, did you really not notice anything wrong? Watanabe Heibu said it very clearly. Your reputation has not been good since you entered the city. All the nobles enjoy watching you make fun of you. How did Hasunuma Takizawa react to this? He did nothing! Is this the attitude he should have?"

I emphasized my tone, spoke quickly and hastily, and expressed my feelings of pity and ridicule. I sneered at the end, "You are so poor even for your superficial reputation. I can hardly imagine how much you have suffered here..."

"You're talking bullshit! Those damn rumors are all false. Those bitches who spew shit all over their mouths deserve to be cut into pieces!" Lan yelled, "If Cheng Xiong hadn't stopped me, I would have—"

"What are you going to do?" I pressed on. "What are you going to do? Kill all those residents who threw dirty water, or go find Hasunuma Takizawa and ask him to give you an explanation? But even if you go find him, he'll throw up his hands and say he can't do anything. What can you do? You have no foundation in Xingshou City. You are completely rootless. Hasunuma Takizawa is the city lord. He has been the lord of Xingshou City for ten years. No one with a brain would believe that he is a waste who has spent ten years unable to fully control the public opinion in the city... So have you thought about why he smashed the seal?"

"He just wants to embarrass Chengxiong! He just wants everyone to know that Ito Chengxiong's identity as the city lord will not be recognized--"

"You talk as if he will be recognized if he doesn't break the seal. But I know your reputation is so bad that even if you say you eat people every day, people will believe you." I sneered.

"You fart!" he shouted almost in exasperation.

"He is so simple-minded but strong-limbed that his only curse words are shit, piss, fart, and dirty tricks. They are so poor and shallow."

I commented indifferently.

"Come on, please follow the teacher's line of thought and answer the question - what is the significance of the city lord's seal?"

I supported myself on the table behind me and jumped up, neatly and lightly avoiding another furious collision, and at the same time asked myself in a long voice: "Yes, the meaning of the city lord's seal is - a symbol of the identity of the lord of a city. Those who hold the seal are not necessarily the city lord, but those who do not have the seal are definitely not the city lord.

“So now we have to think about the second question - the seal was intentionally smashed by Hasunuma Takizawa in front of everyone, so does he still have the title of city lord?

"Or, can I still have the title of city lord?"

With a loud bang, the table that I used as a cover and all the bottles and jars and other sundries on it were all overturned by Lan's knee. The sound of "crashing" could be heard all over the floor - even the breakfast I brought for him was included.

Lan's face was covered with messy long hair. He didn't even look at the objects on the ground. He just rushed forward with red eyes and tightly pursed lips, wanting to give me a hard hit.

I took a step back and missed his shoulder move. I turned around and laughed. "This student is very active in answering questions. That's right, the answer is - no, it's not allowed. The city lord who was seen destroying the seal by a group of people is not qualified to continue to serve as the lord of a city from any angle. Although he was originally going to be replaced by Ito Shigeo, his career would only rise and not fall... Now, there will be no more promotions.

"The Great Seal is the face of a country. He slapped the River Country in the face. What do you think the Daimyo thinks?

"So not only will he not be promoted... even the severe punishment he will face will probably be decided by the Daimyo of the River Country, Shirakawawara Mikiyoshi."

I emphasized my tone and exaggeratedly said, "Come on, that's a daimyo, a daimyo! The pinnacle of a country's power!"

"You are letting..." The roar stopped abruptly and Lan's movements suddenly stopped.

He stood stiffly amid the mess, his eyes wide open in a daze.

However, I seized this hard-earned opportunity and quickly pressed forward to ensure that my words could flow into his ears without missing a word.

"He's asking for help."

"what do you mean--"

"Hasunuma Takizawa is asking Shirakawahara Mikiyo for help. He doesn't want to kill you," I said, "or rather, he doesn't want to bear the consequences of killing you."

"But, but he is the master's right-hand man...!"

"An arm that is not attached to one's body is not a real arm. At best, it is just a pair of valuable gloves. Gloves, understand? Does your master need gloves?" I raised my eyebrows. "If something is broken or dirty, just throw it away. You have been in the aristocratic circle for so many years, but you haven't figured out the logic of that group of people at all?"

"..." A small flower suddenly exploded in the brazier, and the flames of varying heights leaped and swayed, flickeringly reflecting the blue and white on Lan's face.

He staggered back a step, and almost instinctively he steadied himself quickly. However, he did not stand up straight as usual, but took a few steps back in despair until his back hit the cold wall.

"...No, I don't understand...I don't understand..." I could hear him mumbling, "Whether he wants to or not...whether he wants to or not, does that leave us with any other choice? He has already smashed the seal, what else can we do? Asking for help...what's the point of asking for help...There are countless spies in this city, how can he be sure that the news will be heard by the daimyo first, and how can he be sure that he will not...be dealt with?"

"When did he ever say he wanted you to stay?"

I said coldly.

"Isn't he threatening you to get out of here? He would rather throw the seal away than give it to you... If an official with a bad temper encounters this situation, he will go back home and prepare to file a complaint, or just leave the city and find an inn to rest until the right people come and solve the problem. As for the spy problem you mentioned...

"I didn't find any traces of a back-up plan. He probably couldn't guarantee that the news of his seal-breaking would reach the daimyo first, nor could he be sure that he wouldn't be killed easily by your master's men, but you have to be clear about this."

I stepped forward and reached out to straighten his messy collar. He looked up at me - but he just looked at me, then lowered his head without dodging.

"You have to understand that his real purpose may not be to stay alive," I said in a faint voice close to his ear, "but to make your master afraid to touch his family, and then make your Shirakawahara Daimyo follow the law and treat them well.

"If he doesn't die, everything will be fine. If he dies, your master has already overstepped his authority, and anything he does will be wrong. The daimyo will not pursue the dead for a matter of face. They all have to save face."

...It's just a pity for Hasunuma Takizawa's family.

I distanced myself from Lan again, but the empty and sad look on his face did not diminish in the slightest.

——I am reviewing the past, and so is he. But I have no idea how sad I am and for whom.

As if he was thinking for a long time, or just in a daze, Lan was silent for a moment, his voice hoarse: "He... is hinting that we should leave?"

"Not necessarily. I think he doesn't care about you at all. Compared to his opinion of you, I am more curious about what has kept you here," I said. "You must know that people's words are scary. Even if Hasunuma Takizawa didn't throw the seal, it would be very uncomfortable to sit on the position of the city lord."

This was an even longer silence, so long that the cold wind blowing from the south had gone through several rounds of rest and several rounds of noise.

I looked into his eyes until he suddenly blinked and turned to stare at the brazier beside him.

"…After a few days, we decided not to just sit there and wait for death."

"You mean murder?" I sneered.

"... Chengxiong wanted to kill only him, but... I told him that he couldn't do it that way," Lan's voice was a little dry, "You have to uproot the grass."

I stared at his face for a while. Numbness had formed calluses on his face, as if knocking on it would produce a hollow echo.

"So the plan to kill people directly," I said suddenly, "was actually presented to Ito Shigeo by you, right?"

The empty black pupils suddenly shrank: "You——"

"They are nobles, and lower nobles are also nobles. Hasunuma Takizawa is a noble, and Ito Shigeo... maybe he is wearing the skin of a noble."

I spoke word by word, so that he could hear every word clearly.

"When have you ever heard of a noble personally going out to destroy a family? The nobles usually solve problems through discussion, negotiation, and threats. They can use paper and pens, but they can never use a knife."

Because they all have severe "cleanliness obsession", which is an occupational disease of the nobility.

"It is impossible to conceal the fact that the entire Hasunuma clan was wiped out. Once the news gets out, everyone's first reaction will be 'was it done by a ninja?' Even if the situation is investigated, the evaluation of Ito Shigeo will probably be 'the useless person who can't control the ninjas in the makuhari'. Then, no one, whether your master or the daimyo, will let you go - oh, your master can just use the daimyo's sword to kill you - so once this choice is made, no matter how to remedy it, the only way for the time being is to block the news. Then what?

"The lord of a city in a border area blocked the news and cut off contact with the capital without authorization - do I need to teach you what this means? Moreover, Hasunuma Takizawa also threw the seal, intentionally attracting the daimyo's attention here. Originally, he might just be waiting for Hasunuma Takizawa to explain the situation to him, but now everyone is dead, and a whole family died at once - although it is indeed annoying that all clues are cut off, for the daimyo, the truth is no longer a top priority. The top priority is that this situation is completely enough to carry out a purge in the name of "suppressing the rebellion"... He also needs this purge.

"He has his own knife. When he has a master, he can point the knife wherever he wants it to go."

My voice suddenly turned cold. If I had a knife in my hand...

"Would you like to guess...why can we still stand here safely now, instead of being isolated, guarded against, or even...attacked by the cities, towns and villages of the River Country behind us?"

Lan's knife is pointed at the enemy.

My knife is pointed at my enemies.

Then who will the daimyo's sword be directed at?