"Daimyo-sama..."
"Three more Uchiha shops closed this morning."
"It's becoming too much."
Setsuna placed several medicine bottles on the table.
"They're clearly targeting us."
Orochimaru and Tsunade had already created substitutes for every medicine the Uchiha sold to treat common illnesses.
The profit from those medicines had never been high.
Now, with the support of the Noble Houses...
They were deliberately targeting Uchiha shops.
Some shops had already reached the point where they might have to close.
And it didn't stop there.
The Noble Houses had even reached an agreement with the Daimyo regarding the Uchiha's vehicle business.
Their excuse was simple.
"Making vehicles is not the job of shinobi."
"The shinobi are stealing the livelihood of blacksmiths."
'Really...?'
'Couldn't they come up with a better excuse?'
Setsuna thought to himself.
Such shamelessness.
"We can't do much about it, Elder Uchiha."
Advisor Kiyomori spoke calmly.
"We've received too many petitions from both the blacksmiths and the Noble Houses."
He let out a helpless sigh.
"You understand the reason behind it."
The Fire Daimyo looked directly at Setsuna.
At first...
They had believed only a handful of Root shinobi had been spying inside the Capital.
But after the investigation...
The number of spies...
And the positions they held...
Had shocked everyone.
Only then did they realise...
Just how close they had been to disaster.
'Who knows when the shinobi might turn against us...?'
'What if they attack us... or our families?'
That fear had spread through almost every Noble House.
Their distrust of shinobi only continued to grow.
And in their eyes...
The Uchiha were still shinobi.
The clan's rapid rise in influence and wealth had already made many people jealous.
Now...
They weren't willing to stop until they had weakened them.
Orochimaru and Tsunade had simply poured fuel onto the fire.
Their goal was obvious.
The Noble Houses had originally directed their anger toward Konoha.
So they redirected that anger...
Toward the Uchiha's businesses instead.
'It's better if they fight among themselves.'
The Fire Daimyo silently reached his conclusion.
To him...
No shinobi could truly be trusted.
They were either useful...
Or useless.
Nothing more.
"If I openly favour the Uchiha..."
"Many people will think I'm biased."
The Fire Daimyo said as he looked at Setsuna's grim expression.
"And there is no law that prevents someone from copying another person's business."
He spread his hands slightly.
"People have the right to buy whatever they can afford."
"And merchants have the right to sell it."
"We can't simply stop them."
Kohaku quietly watched the Fire Daimyo and Advisor Kiyomori.
One played the reasonable ruler.
The other played the understanding advisor.
Good cop...
Bad cop.
He already understood.
The Fire Daimyo had no intention of interfering.
'Until now...'
'Only the Uchiha were making unconventional moves.'
'Now everyone else has started doing the same.'
A faint smile appeared on Kohaku's face.
Politics was changing.
"So..."
Setsuna calmly looked at Advisor Kiyomori.
"Should we simply close all of our shops?"
"If we can't even pay the minimum wages to our workers..."
"Then how long do you think these businesses can survive?"
Setsuna asked calmly.
Kohaku also looked at Advisor Kiyomori before speaking in an equally calm tone.
"Elder..."
"It's obvious they're selling at half the price because they don't care about making a profit right now."
"They know it isn't sustainable."
"Eventually..."
"They'll have to raise the prices as well."
He paused for a moment.
"They're simply waiting for the Uchiha products to disappear from the market."
"Once that happens..."
"You can already imagine what comes next."
Silence filled the room.
Kiyomori glanced at the Fire Daimyo.
Everything Kohaku had said...
They already knew.
After a long moment...
He let out a sigh.
"The healthcare products..."
"We can still discuss those."
He stopped there.
"But the other businesses..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
The look in his eyes...
Had already said everything.
Everyone in the room understood what he meant.
Elder Setsuna looked at the two of them for a few seconds.
Then...
Without saying another word...
He turned around and walked out of the room.
Humph.
Kohaku watched him leave before turning toward Advisor Kiyomori and the Fire Daimyo.
"Advisor..."
"Daimyo-sama..."
"Everyone can clearly see that the Uchiha are only trying to do honest business."
"And yet..."
"We're still being dragged through the mud."
Neither the Fire Daimyo nor Advisor Kiyomori replied.
The room fell silent.
Kohaku let out a helpless sigh.
Sigh...
"I have nothing more to say."
"Everything now depends on your decision."
He gave the two of them one last look.
Then...
He also left the room.
After the door closed...
Advisor Kiyomori finally spoke.
"...Are we going too far?"
He looked at the Fire Daimyo.
"So far..."
"We've only benefited from the Uchiha's actions."
"They haven't done anything that has truly harmed us."
The free medical camps...
The donated medicines...
All of them had been distributed under the names of the Fire Daimyo and the Noble Houses.
The Uchiha's unconventional methods had only increased the respect and admiration the common people held for the Daimyo and the Noble Houses.
Yes...
The Uchiha had also improved their own reputation.
But that had merely been a byproduct.
The Fire Daimyo remained silent for a long moment.
Then he spoke in a calm, heavy voice.
"They're still shinobi."
He looked directly into Kiyomori's eyes.
His expression was completely emotionless.
"Don't forget."
"We only agreed to their requests because they were useful."
"We wanted leverage over that shinobi village."
Silence returned to the room.
Advisor Kiyomori didn't argue.
He nodded.
He understood exactly what the Fire Daimyo meant.
Just as Advisor Kiyomori found it difficult to understand the Fire Daimyo...
Homura and Koharu were facing the same problem.
"You bastards from Konoha..."
"You've done something that made every Daimyo and Noble House in our nations start fearing us."
The Raikage looked directly at Koharu.
"Now..."
"They look at us with suspicion every time we meet."
Homura silently watched the scene unfold.
They had believed using the Fire Daimyo's name would pressure the other villages.
Instead...
It had completely backfired.
News that unknown shinobi had infiltrated the Fire Nation's Noble Houses and even the Daimyo's residence had already spread throughout the shinobi world.
As a result...
The relationship between every Daimyo and every hidden village had deteriorated.
The little trust that had been built after the creation of the hidden villages...
Had fallen apart because of this incident.
And now...
The Raikage was taking full advantage of it.
"And why did that happen?"
Koharu replied coldly.
"Because one of your villages was spying on our nation's nobles."
She snorted.
"For all we know..."
"It could've been you."
"Everyone knows you never think before acting."
"You muscle-headed fool."
The Raikage's eyes widened.
"What did you just call me..."
"...you old hag?!"
He immediately stood up.
Before he could take another step...
Bee and the other Kumo shinobi quickly grabbed him from behind.
"Lord Raikage!"
"Please calm down!"
Koharu folded her arms.
"What?"
"Can't handle the truth?"
She snorted again, looking at him without the slightest fear.
Onoki, who had been quietly watching everything unfold with great interest, finally spoke.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Don't think we don't know who was really behind all this."
His eyes landed on Koharu.
"It was your own shinobi unit..."
"Root of that one-eyed bastard."
"They were the ones spying."
"And now..."
"You're trying to put the blame on us?"
He chuckled.
"Sorry..."
"We're not accepting that."
His sarcastic tone darkened Koharu's expression.
The Raikage, who had been glaring at her, suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Oh!"
"I almost forgot."
He pointed directly at Koharu.
"You old hag..."
"It was you idiots from Konoha who caused this mess in the first place!"
"You're the reason every Daimyo and Noble House started doubting their own shinobi."
He snorted.
"And now..."
"You're asking us for compensation?"
He laughed loudly.
"No."
"You should be compensating us instead."
The Kumo shinobi behind him couldn't help exchanging amused glances.
Even several representatives from the other villages struggled to hide their smiles.
But inside...
A storm of shock erupted.
Onoki had just named the unit.
He even knew who was responsible.
That could only mean one thing.
He had intelligence from inside Konoha.
'Impossible...'
Homura's expression remained calm.
But his mind was already racing.
'Everything related to Root was classified.'
'Only a handful of people were allowed to know.'
'No one was permitted to speak about it.'
'Then...'
'How does he know?'
A cold feeling spread through his heart.
There was only one explanation.
Someone...
Was feeding information to the other villages.
"Our Daimyo has already refused to provide us with any resources for rebuilding after the war."
Onoki looked directly at Homura.
"And the reason..."
"Is Konoha."
"Your actions have made every Daimyo suspicious of their own shinobi."
He folded his arms.
"So..."
"You can forget about getting anything from us."
Silence filled the meeting hall.
No one spoke.
The atmosphere had become heavier than ever.
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