Land of Snow
Daimyo Residence
Cold wind brushed against the palace windows while snow continued falling quietly outside.
The atmosphere inside the meeting hall felt heavy.
Several nobles sat silently on both sides of the room, their expressions tense as they waited for the Daimyo's decision.
At the centre—
An old man slowly lowered his head.
"Whatever decision you choose, Daimyo-sama..."
His aged voice echoed softly through the hall.
"...we will follow."
The speaker was Katagiri.
One of the oldest advisors serving the Land of Snow.
A man who had survived the final years of the Warring States Era and witnessed the rise of the hidden village system with his own eyes.
Because of that—
He understood better than most what kind of world smaller nations truly lived in.
The Daimyo quietly sat at the front of the hall, deep in thought.
Katagiri had already explained everything regarding the proposal brought by the Uchiha.
And honestly—
The opportunity placed before them was enough to shake even him.
The Land of Snow had survived for decades by staying cautious.
Unlike the Five Great Nations, they lacked fertile land, military strength, and resources.
Even supporting their own people during harsh winters was already difficult enough.
So openly standing against the Great Nations was something they could never afford.
But at the same time—
What the Uchiha offered was simply too valuable.
An opportunity like this rarely appeared even once in a lifetime.
And letting it go...
might become the kind of mistake the country would regret forever.
More than fifty years had passed since the hidden village system was created.
But the truth behind that system was simple.
Only nations with enough power and wealth could truly build their own hidden villages.
The smaller countries never had that luxury.
If danger appeared—
They had no choice but to request shinobi support from one of the Great Nations.
And naturally—
Support from the Great Nations always came with a price—money, political favours, and resources.
Everything carried a price.
The Daimyo slowly tightened his fingers against the armrest of his chair.
But now—
The Uchiha were offering something completely different.
A hidden shinobi village was secretly built under the Land of Snow's authority.
Not openly.
Not officially.
But enough to protect the country from depending entirely on outsiders anymore.
The room remained silent.
Several nobles exchanged uneasy looks with each other.
Even now, many of them still struggled to believe such a thing was truly possible.
Because shinobi were not only weapons used for assassination or gathering intelligence.
They were also protectors.
A hidden village inside the Land of Snow would strengthen border security, reduce dependence on foreign powers, and finally give the country some ability to defend itself properly.
And perhaps most importantly—
The Uchiha also wanted the Land of Snow to become a hidden base for many of their future businesses and operations.
That alone carried enormous benefits.
Trade.
Technology.
Funding.
Military cooperation.
The possibilities were enough to make even cautious nobles tempted.
But the fear inside the room remained.
Because everyone understood one thing clearly.
If the Five Great Nations discovered the Land of Snow, secretly helping the Uchiha establish something like this—
The consequences could become disastrous.
"This is a difficult decision."
The Daimyo slowly spoke while looking toward Katagiri and the other nobles seated inside the hall.
Snow quietly fell outside the palace windows while cold air seeped faintly into the room.
"This choice may cost us far more than we expect."
His voice carried visible heaviness now.
"But at the same time..."
His fingers slowly tightened against the armrest.
"...this opportunity also carries benefits we cannot ignore."
The nobles listened carefully.
Nobody interrupted.
Because everyone present understood how serious this matter truly was.
The Daimyo lowered his eyes slightly.
"We still do not know whether we can truly keep something like this hidden from the Great Nations."
A faint tension spread across the room.
"And even if we succeed..."
He slowly looked toward the others again.
"...for how long?"
Silence filled the hall once more.
Because everyone already knew the answer.
If the Five Great Nations discovered that the Land of Snow was secretly helping the Uchiha establish a hidden shinobi force—
They would never allow it to continue peacefully.
The smaller nations surviving between the Great Powers already lived under constant pressure.
And military power was something the larger nations never tolerated lightly.
The Daimyo exhaled slowly before continuing.
"Before deciding anything..."
His expression became more serious.
"...we first need to understand why the Uchiha are willing to leave the Land of Fire in the first place."
The atmosphere inside the hall subtly shifted.
"People do not abandon the strongest nation in the world without reason."
His voice became lower.
"There must be something we have not noticed yet."
Katagiri quietly narrowed his old eyes after hearing those words.
Honestly—
He had been thinking about the same thing from the beginning.
The Land of Snow could not afford to look only at the benefits of this agreement.
They also needed to understand the intentions hidden behind it.
Because no matter how valuable the offer sounded—
The Uchiha still came from Konoha.
And Konoha remained the strongest hidden village among the Five Great Nations.
For shinobi connected to such power to secretly seek refuge inside a weak country like the Land of Snow...
something about it felt deeply unnatural.
One of the nobles sitting nearby suddenly spoke.
"Daimyo-sama..."
Everyone's attention shifted toward him.
"From the information we've gathered so far..."
He hesitated briefly.
"...these Uchiha do not seem to have a good relationship with their main clan."
The room became quieter.
The noble slowly continued,
"It appears they are only one branch of the Uchiha clan."
"And they have secretly been sending people and resources here over time."
Katagiri and the Daimyo immediately looked toward each other after hearing that.
Several nobles lowered their eyes, thinking deeply about it.
Nobody spoke immediately.
Then slowly—
The Daimyo's expression changed.
A trace of worry appeared in his eyes.
"...Does this mean they are trying to build military strength here against their own clan?"
The thought alone made his face tense slightly.
"No..."
He immediately shook his head.
"We cannot agree to something like that."
Several nobles lowered their eyes silently.
Because if things truly developed that way—
Then the Land of Snow could eventually become involved in an internal conflict connected to Konoha itself.
And that possibility alone was terrifying.
The Daimyo slowly leaned back into his chair.
Fear quietly rose inside his chest.
Because if the Uchiha's true goal involved rebellion or civil conflict—
Then helping them would mean risking the wrath of Konoha.
And the Land of Snow could never survive becoming an enemy of a Great Nation.
The hall gradually fell silent again.
Only the sound of the snowstorm outside could be heard faintly now.
Meanwhile—
Adviser Katagiri remained standing quietly beside the others.
Unlike the nervous nobles around him—
His expression did not change much.
Instead—
The old advisor continued thinking silently.
While the atmosphere inside the Daimyo Residence of the Land of Snow remained heavy—
far away inside Konoha—
The atmosphere inside the Hokage Office was no better.
Silence filled the room.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk while several ANBU knelt before him, reporting everything that had happened at the Mist border camp.
Even before this report arrived—
Hiruzen had already started feeling suspicious after Shinnosuke failed to return for such a long time.
Jiraiya's earlier message had only briefly mentioned the battle against the Seven Swordsmen.
Nothing more.
At first, Hiruzen believed the situation at the border simply remained unstable.
But after days passed without proper updates regarding Shinnosuke—
He secretly ordered ANBU to investigate the situation personally.
And now—
after finally hearing the full report—
The anger inside him quietly erupted.
Crack.
The smoking pipe in Hiruzen's hand suddenly broke apart from the pressure of his grip alone.
The ANBU inside the room immediately lowered their heads further.
Nobody dared to speak.
Meanwhile, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado remained frozen after hearing the details.
Even now—
They still struggled to fully believe what had happened at the border camp.
The Uchiha had somehow managed to turn nearly the entire Mist front against the village leadership itself.
From accusations of corruption...
to accusations of sacrificing comrades for reputation...
and even branding the leadership as executioners of their own people.
The more they heard—
The atmosphere inside the office became heavier.
Because the most dangerous part was not Shinnosuke's humiliation.
It was the anger spreading among the ordinary shinobi.
Especially after Might Duy's condition became public knowledge.
The office remained silent for several seconds.
Then finally—
Koharu slowly spoke.
"...What will happen after they return to Konoha?"
A faint trace of fear had already appeared in her voice.
Among the elders, she controlled much of the village's logistics and supply systems.
Because of that—
She understood very clearly how dangerous large-scale dissatisfaction among shinobi could become.
And according to the reports—
The resentment at the border no longer existed only among the Uchiha.
Civilian-born shinobi.
Lower-ranked forces.
Even several clan shinobi.
Many had already started openly questioning the village leadership after everything that happened.
Especially after learning about Shinnosuke's actions.
The earlier dissatisfaction hidden beneath years of war and sacrifice had finally begun surfacing openly.
Homura's expression had also become unusually grim.
For the first time in years—
Even he felt uneasy thinking about the return of the border forces.
Slowly, he turned toward Hiruzen.
The old Hokage still sat silently behind his desk.
His face remained unreadable.
But the pressure inside the room continued growing heavier.
And inside Hiruzen's mind—
Only one sentence continued repeating endlessly.
'Hypocrite father... coward son.'
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Author note:
Hello everyone, hear_tteeth here.
This chapter focused less on confrontation and more on political fear, uncertainty, and the reality that smaller nations face in the Naruto world.
In canon, most attention is usually placed on the Five Great Nations and their hidden villages, but I always felt the smaller countries must have lived under constant pressure because of that system.
The Land of Snow in this chapter is not simply reacting to the Uchiha emotionally.
They are thinking about survival.
For a weaker nation, gaining military protection and independence is an opportunity powerful enough to change the future of the entire country.
But at the same time, even being connected to something like this could bring destruction if the Great Nations discover it.
I also wanted to show that the situation at the Mist border is no longer just a battlefield issue.
The resentment and political damage caused there have already started spreading toward Konoha itself.
Especially among ordinary shinobi.
And finally, this chapter marks an important shift in the scale of the story.
The conflict is slowly moving beyond clan tension and beginning to affect nations, politics, and the balance of power itself.
Thank you all again for reading and supporting the story.
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