After spending an hour with Temari and her siblings, the sky was already halfway turned dark, and Ren decided he should not delay giving Ebizo the scroll from Konoha any longer.
Temari was his priority, but in the current situation, every hour of preparation counted. The sooner Ebizo knows Konoha's stance and general preliminary plans for the upcoming conflict on their side, the better for the alliance.
Sneaking through Sunagakure, Ren quickly reached the Kazekage tower, and he noticed that a shine of the lights being on shone out of most windows in the building. Raising his head further, Ren checked the window of Ebizo's office. Sure enough, the old man was still in.
Then again, he will be in his office for the foreseeable future as the current substitute for the village leader. Probably even sleeping in there due to the crisis. What was worse, Ren realized he was going to lose his convenient, nightly cuddle buddy heater, as night or day, Temari would also have to start spending a lot of time shadowing Ebizo soon to learn the ins and outs of the job.
Ren was really worried about the old man. Ebizo was supposed to be a peace-time leader, only for a few years until Temari was ready to take the Kazekage mantle. Yet, now, he had to lead the village through a war. Suffering so much stress at his age was definitely not healthy. The last thing Sunagakure needed right now was Ebizo having a heart attack.
Entering, Ren grimaced as he saw that behind the reception table was a still good-looking, middle-aged brunette. Hanakai Miho. A real veteran battle axe, that one. Unfortunately, one who had an axe to grind against Konoha, as her grandson died due to Ino's shenanigans during the Konoha Crush Plan.
Because of Ino's technique, he had his throat slit from behind by his own wife. A wife who survived but had a mental breakdown and still suffers from the trauma brought by remembering murdering the love of her life with her own hands.
On top of that, her son died on a mission. As did her brother. And husband. All after an unexpected encounter with a Konoha ninja. Her father got splattered by Tsunade's punch in the Second Ninja War. As did her mother. Oh, and her younger sister died to Orochimaru's snake, squishing her underneath its weight, too.
Yeah, Ren was not her favorite person. Not by a long shot. If he were burning, she would probably pour more gasoline on him just to be sure.
Not interested in suffering through her usual attitude while being glared at, Ren suppressed his instinctual wince and took a step back into the shadows, deciding that going through the official channels would be a pain in the ass. Sneaking into Ebizo's office sounded like a better option.
So, that's what he did. With his intangibility and detection seal, Ren bypassed several layers of security until he found himself in front of the door to Ebizo's office and politely knocked.
After hearing a tired, raspy "Come in" from the room, Ren opened the door and entered, seeing Ebizo with dark circles underneath his eyes, somehow looking older than even his previous, already ancient appearance.
On his table, he had a bunch of unfinished paperwork, and right next to it, several empty coffee mugs that probably had something to do with his current state.
"Yo," Ren raised a hand in a casual greeting, "I am bringing you a scroll from Konoha." With that, he tossed the scroll to Ebizo, who effortlessly caught it.
"Welcome back." The old man nodded at Ren before he unrolled the scroll and started reading. In the meantime, Ren sat down on the chair in front of Ebizo's desk, where he patiently waited for him to finish.
Eventually, Ebizo put the scroll down with a weary sigh and closed his eyes while trying to stave off his tiredness and frustration by rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Suna had nothing to do with the assassination." He uttered.
"Mhm. I believe you." Ren said. "And honestly, I think that the Konoha council knows, too. Why? Their message is not good?"
"You didn't read it?" Ebizo asked with a mild surprise.
Ren rolled his eyes. "No. I still remember at least some basic ninja principles."
"Hmmm. Color me surprised."
Ren snorted in reply, but didn't reply to his dry sarcasm, letting the silence linger in the room for a moment until Ebizo broke it.
"Basically," His shoulders slumped, "Konoha politely told us that we are on our own against Iwa because they need to fight Kumo and prepare for the eventuality that Kiri will join Kumo and Iwa." Looking at Ren, Ebizo's lips twitched in a faint, if a bit bleak, amusement. "You are all the reinforcements your village can spare for us."
Ren had no idea what to say to that. He was fabulous, but pushing back an entire army? That sounded like a daunting task. He sincerely wanted to have nothing to do with it.
"Lucky you." He unhappily muttered after a while, realizing that he didn't exactly have much of a choice, no matter what he might or might not want.
He really hated this so-called butterfly effect. The peace should have lasted for at least another two years!
Knowing that his thoughts were spiraling down a dark path that didn't lead anywhere pleasant, Ren decided to let out a long sigh before he changed the topic.
"What about Akito? Can't you give him to the Earth Daimyo with an explanation or something? Maybe it could cool the ignited tempers at least a little bit?" It was wishful thinking. But they could at least try, no?
But Ebizo quickly shook his head. "If the assassination had failed, yes, that would have been a possibility. But unfortunately for all of us, it succeeded. Earth Daimyo's father-in-law is dead. The man is furious. As is our Daimyo. They don't care about who is responsible for what or punishing the guilty party."
"As for Akito... the man is swearing he didn't know. Not that it will help him or us. The deed is done." Ebizo said with a certain heaviness behind his tone.
"Shido?" Ren asked, getting a disgruntled nod in return.
"Akito thought that he was just getting rid of some small noble who was a nuisance for Shido's family's business endeavors. But he got played."
Ren wryly smiled. He was expecting it to be something like this, but now he had it confirmed beyond doubt. Sadly, ninjas might be great combatants, but when it comes to management, politics, or trade? They often fell short.
The Five Kages were a great example of that. Either of them could have developed their village to be something great. But they all just can't see past their 'ninja' way of life. They were trained to be ninja, they lived as a ninja, and they will die as a ninja.
Thinking outside of that small box is inconceivable to them. It was why ruling the continent, or even just a country, was beyond them. Ninjas had to spend most of their time and energy on training to become strong, while nobles and officials in Daimyos' courts spent just as much effort learning politics and how to govern.
Ren doubted this was the first time the nobles had instigated a conflict between ninja villages, and it certainly won't be the last. Hell, all things considered, Shido's work was actually quite sloppy in that regard.
"Could we argue our case to the Wind Daimyo?" Ren pondered. "Nobody will profit from war. Maybe he could use his channels to negotiate with the Earth Daimyo."
As slight as that chance was, Ren thought it would be worth trying. He was still thinking about preventing the war, and Ebizo gave him a pitying look as he realized that.
Chuckling, the old man raised his eyebrow at Ren, "And with what evidence? We have nothing that would connect the assassination with Shido."
"Don't you have the order Akito signed? Or his testimony?" Ren incredulously asked.
"The order exists," Ebizo nodded, "but it has no connection with Shido. We can tell our side to the Daimyo, just as they can claim it is just slander. We have nothing concrete. As for Akito's testimony?" Ebizo snorted, "Wouldn't a man in so much trouble say anything to save himself?"
Ren gave Ebizo a look at that, but he just shook his head.
"Don't look at me like that. I am just telling you what the Daimyo's court would tell us. The crux of the issue is that Shido is Daimyo's close friend, while our village was a disobedient thorn in his foot for quite a long while. At this point, he will let the war happen out of sheer spite against us."
"That's ridiculous. It's his country, the Iwa ninjas will be invading his country!" Ren exclaimed, starting to feel upset about the whole situation.
"I know, my boy. Believe me, I know. But Iwa will not dare to ransack cities or burn down villages. At most, they will steal supplies and abuse or kill some unfortunate commoners. They won't want the Daimyo's samurai to get involved. That could actually spark a proper war between countries." Ebizo lectured while his hands started to work on the paperwork in front of him, "So, as long as they don't exceed a certain threshold, the Daimyo will tolerate their intrusion and raids as long as their war efforts are solely focused on Suna and its ninjas."
In his exasperation, Ren groaned, "Fucking feudal society." He grumbled under his nose.
This was so stupid, he didn't even know what to say to it. He could kind of see what the Daimyo wanted. The upcoming destruction could be blamed on Sunagakure, which will also lose a lot of its ninjas. Theoretically speaking, the weakened village should be easier to fall back in line if they wanted the funds necessary to rebuild. As for the commoners who will suffer? Why would high nobles or the Daimyo care?
But still! Letting a war rage on their territory just for that!?
Then again, this actually explained how the hidden villages could have had a world war equivalent while the actual big countries stayed more or less at peace. Only the small countries caught up in the middle suffered. The wars barely touched the big and powerful countries, even when the battles were fought on their lands.
Reluctantly, Ren pushed his attention away from that problem, as there was no solution to be had right now. Instead, he returned to a smaller problem that actually could be resolved.
Giving Ebizo a deep, slightly suspicious look, he asked a question, and just in case Ebizo's answer did not satisfy him, he already started making plans in his mind that would have many nobles bristling.
"Shido... He isn't going to get away with it, is he?"
---
Author Note:
If you wish to support me or read 31 advanced chapters ahead of time:
ko-fi.com/kasicair
or
patreon.com/kasicair
And if not, that's totally fine. I hope you will enjoy the story.
Have a nice day.