Chapter 185: Madness
The farce of last night's assassination attempt, though it had caused no real damage—the bewitched servant hadn't even killed a single person—had still thrown the entire castle into a state of panic.
Especially among the servants. After all, the "assassin" had been one of their own. No one wanted to be the next to go mad. Many of them hadn't slept a wink, and the entire castle was filled with yawns the next day.
And what was even more troublesome was the speed at which news traveled in the servant grapevine, something Dana had already experienced. By dawn, the entire capital knew, and it would probably spread throughout the Land of Lightning in a day or two. And it was impossible to cover up. Too many people knew.
It was clear that the person who had planned this had chosen the most effective way to spread the news. It was impossible to kill the Daimyo, but it was certain to cause a stir.
The "assassin's" body had been "interrogated" overnight, and they had gotten some fragmented information from his brain.
He had gone out to buy supplies, had passed by a brothel, and had gone in to "exchange feelings." He had passed out in the middle of it and, upon waking, had just thought he was tired and hadn't paid it any mind. The genjutsu had been cast while he was unconscious, so he had no memory of who had done it.
Before dawn, the Daimyo's trusted minister, Jun'en Furuya, had entered the castle. A short while later, the Daimyo had ordered the two newly recruited mercenaries, Iga Saemon and Mitsumasa Saito, to be his personal bodyguards, to never leave his side.
The meaning behind this was very complex.
The identities of these two were now confirmed to be Jiraiya and Orochimaru. This made Dana even more curious as to how they had gotten involved with the Daimyo's court. Though the Cloud no longer cared much about the Daimyo, for Konoha ninja to be protecting the Thunder Daimyo was a strange thing indeed. If they had deceived him, that was one thing. But if the Daimyo had intentionally sought them out, it was even more suspicious.
After dealing with the assassin, he had gone to see the Daimyo under the pretext of reporting on the situation, and had seen the two of them, whom he disliked, outside the Daimyo's study.
He had wanted to just take them down and then go to Konoha for an explanation, but that would have likely turned Asuka Castle into a flying castle, with not a single tile left intact. And the Daimyo would likely have become the late Daimyo.
So, he had pretended not to know. They probably didn't know they had been exposed.
"Your Excellency," he had said, "yesterday's assassin was under the influence of a genjutsu. His true purpose was likely not assassination."
He had told the Daimyo what he had found out.
"So you still haven't found the mastermind?" the Daimyo had said, his tone now accusatory.
"It has only been a few hours," he had replied, his expression unchanged. "We will give you a result as soon as possible."
The Daimyo had been taken aback for a moment, as if realizing that it was unreasonable to demand a result so soon. But he had still said, "The court has been attacked twice, and yet you still haven't solved the problem. Yotsuki-kun, I am very doubtful of your village's abilities."
So, he had been demoted from "dear son-in-law" to "Yotsuki-kun."
"Regarding the first assassination and the earlier attack," he had said calmly, "we already have clues. The first assassin was from the remote Land of Demons. He was not familiar with the ninja world and was just hoping to do one job and go home. The person who hired him had used a three-tiered system, subcontracting the mission through the underground exchanges in the lands of Lightning, Hot Water, and Grass. But every step leaves a trace. I believe the mastermind will soon be revealed. As for the attack on Prince Takayoshi..."
He had looked up at the Daimyo, whose face was now rigid. "...the mastermind is in the capital."
"Have you found him?" the Daimyo had asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"I believe we will, very soon."
After leaving the study, he had glanced at the two guards at the door and then had his men give him an order. "The moment those two return to their room," he had said, "take them down."
"As you command."
But the situation had taken another strange turn.
Overnight, twelve new mercenaries had appeared in the castle, all recruited by the Daimyo, on the grounds that the castle's defenses were still weak.
It was as if he had just rounded up a bunch of random mercenaries from the capital and the surrounding area.
Some of them had scars on their faces and liked to lick their kunai. Some had terrible posture and would cackle strangely. He even recognized one of them as a fugitive, with a bounty on his head in the Cloud.
Their skills were also a mixed bag. He estimated that only two of them were at the Special Jonin level. The rest were mostly Chunin, and there were even two Genin.
By the way, the guy with the scar and the kunai-licking habit was a Genin.
In the eyes of a great village, this was a group of rabble, and smelly rabble at that.
Such a motley crew might have been reasonable if they were scavenging a battlefield, but to be protecting the Daimyo in the magnificent Asuka Castle... it was strange.
You might as well have asked Jiraiya to guard the purity of a women's bathhouse.
If he hadn't personally verified that the Daimyo was not under a genjutsu, he would never have believed this ridiculous turn of events.
Perhaps the only shred of sanity the Daimyo had left was that he had placed the two he had recruited first, Iga Saemon and Mitsumasa Saito, whom Jun'en had repeatedly vouched for, in the closest positions to him, while keeping the others at a distance.
To this, Dana could only sneer.
"My lord," Boku asked, "what do we do now?"
The Nine Samurai, including Boku, were now only allowed on the outskirts of the castle. The internal security had been completely taken over.
But what he really cared about was not the castle or the Nine Samurai. The Cloud's foundation was its strength, its ninja, not the Daimyo. He had long since grown tired of the Daimyo's meddling. The problem was that this meddling was as thin as paper, but he could not just tear it apart. And the one who was protecting this paper was his own father.
Could this series of events be the opportunity to finally tear it apart?
In the end, he sighed and chose to contact his father first, to hear his advice.
The distance to the village was beyond the range of the Communication Snails. But fortunately, he had contracts with two of the great sage regions. If the slugs couldn't do it, he still had the snakes.
Speaking of the Ryuchi Cave contract, after all these years, they still hadn't allowed him to reverse summon himself there, and no famous, powerful snakes had come to help him. But he had already mastered Sage Mode, so he wasn't in a hurry.
In a puff of white smoke, a small, arm-length snake appeared.
He tied a written message to its tail. "Take this back to the village," he said.
The little snake nodded, but did not leave. It looked at him expectantly.
He then realized that he had gotten out of the habit of carrying eggs with him.
"I owe you one," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I'll give you double when you bring back the reply."
The little snake's tail drooped.
Night fell. In the Daimyo's study, the already bloated Thunder Daimyo's eyes were bloodshot, and the bags under his eyes nearly reached his cheekbones.
"When are the Cloud's men leaving?!" he spat at Jun'en.
"My lord Daimyo," he said, his head bowed, "this matter is too great. We must be patient."
The Daimyo, as if he had wasted too much saliva, took a large gulp of tea and slammed the cup on the table, chipping a corner of the exquisite tea set. The chip landed at Jun'en's feet.
"How can I be calm?! I can't even sleep! I'm in fear every day! The Cloud's men are unreliable, the samurai are useless, and even these new recruits don't look like good people! How can you ask me to be calm?! That's it! I can contact the Fire Daimyo, the Wind Daimyo! I'll have them send their ninja to protect me! Yes, yes! Someone, bring me a brush!"
His eyes were red, his hair disheveled. He looked like a wild animal. But neither Jun'en nor the servants seemed to notice.
It wasn't until he had written several letters that he finally let out a long breath and collapsed into his chair, covered in a greasy sweat.
When Jun'en left, he didn't even react.
"My lord Daimyo," a servant's voice came from outside, "I've brought you a new teacup. Please, calm down and have some tea."
Outside the door, the black-haired swordsman and the sallow-faced ninja exchanged a look.