During the Hokage Cabinet meeting,Fumori Masaki distributed the intelligence gathered by the Intelligence Division to everyone.
Apart from Shimura Danzo, who was already aware due to his position in the Intelligence Division, everyone else carefully read through the documents.
After a while, they exchanged glances, a look of astonishment on each of their faces.
"Isn't this just the hostage tactic from the Warring States period?" Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately pointed out the true nature of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
He wouldn't be fooled by the Daimyo's superficial reasons.
For those who had lived through the Warring States period, the hostage tactic was very familiar, and they were all seasoned individuals.
They basically understood the underlying meaning of the matter, and were momentarily surprised, not expecting the Daimyo to suddenly make such a move.
In everyone's impression, the Daimyo had always been a ruler with aspirations higher than the heavens, but with only mediocre abilities.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have watched the Konoha Ninja Village gradually expand to such an extent.
But now, the fact that he resorted to this move was truly unexpected.
Compared to other conspiracies, the Daimyo's move was an overt scheme.
It was only natural for the ninja villages within the country to protect his safety, and the ninja villages should indeed send people to protect him.
Even if the Daimyo's goal was to use this as a hostage, the ninja villages couldn't very well refuse—a hostage strategy adopted to consolidate mutual trust.
If the Konoha Ninja Village wasn't even willing to accept this, did it mean they had no loyalty to the country?
In the past, the Konoha Ninja Village could avoid fully complying with the Daimyo's orders by relying on the moral high ground.
However, this time, within the aristocratic class, the hostage situation was not unacceptable.
On the contrary, from a traditional perspective, accepting it would more easily foster mutual trust.
If the Konoha Ninja Village refused, it could easily cause concern among the aristocratic class.
Even those nobles who were on good terms with the Konoha Ninja Village were no exception.
The good relationship between those nobles and the Konoha Ninja Village was based on two points: firstly, they believed that the Konoha Ninja Village had no intention of betraying the Daimyo, but merely looked after its own interests, which was the same for other local lords and nothing to criticize; secondly, the Konoha Ninja Village's merchant guild cooperated with them in business or allowed them to invest and share in commercial profits, so they were naturally willing to cooperate with the Konoha Ninja Village.
However, the aristocratic class is still the aristocratic class.
There may be individuals who betray their class, but there will not be a collective betrayal of the class.
If the Konoha Ninja Village makes the nobles feel that they have disloyal intentions, even those nobles who are on good terms with them will have to consider their own positions.
They are willing to accept cooperation with the Konoha Ninja Village, but that does not mean they are willing to see the Konoha Ninja Village's status supersede their own.
"This is a difficult proposal to resolve." Mitokado Homura, who had achieved great success in the field of diplomacy, had a troubled expression.
"If we refuse, it will be very detrimental to the relationship between the ninja village and the nobles in the future, and it might even lead to an deterioration similar to that of the Land of Wind back then."
The relationship between Sunagakure and the nobles in the Land of Wind was extremely poor back then, which led to the slow development of Sunagakure's strength.
Later, the Second Shinobi World War, which they initiated to escape their predicament, was seen as a negative example.
Although Konoha Ninja Village had already broken free from the Daimyo's economic dependence and achieved financial independence, it had the help of other nobles behind the scenes, who spoke well of them in court to prevent the Daimyo from interfering.
Given Konoha Ninja Village's current commercial situation, it's highly unlikely to be completely suppressed, but its scale would certainly shrink, causing significant losses to Konoha Ninja Village's financial income.
This is something that those present are quite unwilling to see, as Konoha Ninja Village's commercial income is of great importance to both the village itself and the ninja families.
At this point, refusing the Daimyo's proposal would clearly have severe consequences.
Despite understanding the Daimyo's ill intentions, everyone's opinion still leaned towards accepting.
It was reasonable for the Daimyo to feel uneasy due to Konoha Ninja Village's growing strength over the years and hope to maintain his status through this method.
Currently, Konoha Ninja Village has no intention of falling out with the Daimyo.
To be honest, although others agreed withFumori Masaki's idea of elevating the ninja village's political status, they were very hesitant to adopt overly aggressive tactics.
It wasn't that they didn't want to go further, but they felt that it would cause greater harm to the ninja village, easily leading to civil war and allowing other countries to take advantage.
Fumori Masaki basically hadn't discussed his idea of curbing monarchical power with others, though he occasionally hinted at it, he never insisted on it.
He understood the thoughts of others in the village; unless absolutely necessary, it was unlikely they would completely oppose the monarch.
He also felt that it wasn't the right time yet.
If Konoha Ninja Village truly wants to win, it cannot be achieved by its own power alone.
To make the ninja village legitimately rule the entire Land of Fire, they cannot betray their credibility.
They must position themselves as victims, and therefore, they cannot engage in conflicts with the monarch where they are in the wrong.
In the future, the monarch must first wrong the Konoha Ninja Village, and only then can the Konoha Ninja Village wrong the Daimyo, affecting the interests of friendly nobles.
Only then can the nobles in the country who are close to the Konoha Ninja Village be willing to express their support, which will not cause particularly great harm to the country, and it will be possible to quickly stabilize the situation after the civil war ends.
Now, it wasn't the time for Konoha Ninja Village to oppose the monarch.
Fumori Masaki nodded slightly, indicating his agreement.
They couldn't refuse the Daimyo's proposal.
At this moment, the Daimyo's proposal seemed reasonable in the eyes of others, butFumori Masaki felt there was something a little fishy about it.
Fumori Masaki knew that in the original timeline, the organization of the Twelve Guardian Ninja existed, and Asuma, Sarutobi Hiruzen's second son, was one of its members, later disbanding for various reasons.
Now, the Daimyo's suggestion of the Twelve Guardian Ninja might be following historical trends, but—
"This guy named Tobi…"Fumori Masaki looked at the name in the intelligence collected by the Intelligence Division and felt a throbbing pain in his temples.
This name was simply too familiar; in the original timeline, Uchiha Obito used this name to stir up trouble in the Akatsuki organization.
Now that a guy named Tobi has appeared,Fumori Masaki can't help but suspect some kind of conspiracy.
Of course, it's inherently suspicious for a ninja to suddenly become a favored retainer of the Daimyo, and the name Tobi only intensifies Fumori Masaki's suspicions.
Upon hearing this, everyone else's gaze also focused on the document.
This guy named Tobi was indeed noteworthy.
According to the information, he had quickly gained the Daimyo's trust in a short period, was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing the Twelve Guardian Ninja, and was also tasked with training the samurai under his command.
"I heard he's going to train a chakra samurai army." Shimura Danzo said with some disdain, "If a chakra samurai army were that easy to train, only the Land of Iron wouldn't have one.
Other countries would have long since cultivated organized chakra samurai; there's no way it would be his turn to do it!"
"Although that's true, this person was able to propose the Twelve Guardian Ninja, which shows he's not untalented.
He can't possibly be unaware of the difficulty in training chakra samurai.
Since he dares to say so, he must have something to rely on."Fumori Masaki pondered for a moment and said, "We need to be careful of this person.
I think he will become a very dangerous individual.
From his actions, it's clear he supports the Daimyo's position, so he must be planning to deal with our Konoha Ninja Village."
"With the Daimyo's backing, this person should cause us quite a bit of trouble, like this suggestion about the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
But to say he's extremely dangerous, Masahiko, isn't that a bit alarmist?" Sarutobi Hiruzen said.
The others felt that Tobi was indeed a troublesome character, but even with the Daimyo's support, could he really cause significant trouble for Konoha Ninja Village?
"This is just my intuition; perhaps, as you said, he isn't that dangerous.
However, it's still better to be careful.
The candidates chosen to serve as the Twelve Guardian Ninja must be selected meticulously.
They aren't just going there to protect the Daimyo and act as hostages."Fumori Masaki said.
The others couldn't help but nod.
They knew they had no choice but to step into the pit of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, but jumping in didn't mean they were raising their hands in surrender.
Even as hostages, ninjas had their own roles, such as gathering intelligence, easing relations, or backstabbing at critical moments.
The Daimyo hoped to use the Twelve Guardian Ninja to restrain Konoha Ninja Village, and Konoha Ninja Village accepted this challenge.
The ninjas they sent wouldn't be obedient little lambs; delaying time, gathering intelligence, and so on, were their real missions.
By then, they would also get a clearer picture of what kind of person this Tobi truly was.
After the Hokage Cabinet meeting ended,Fumori Masaki had everyone else select candidates for the Twelve Guardian Ninja, then kept Uchiha Kagami behind.
Everyone assumed there were other matters to entrust to Uchiha Kagami; such occurrences had happened countless times in the past, and private conversations with others were not uncommon.
"Kagami, what kind of person do you think this Tobi is?"Fumori Masaki said, pouring tea and placing it in front of the two of them.
Uchiha Kagami immediately understood whatFumori Masaki was getting at.
He whispered, "You suspect this Tobi is the mastermind?"
After the previous analysis, Uchiha Kagami and Fumori Masaki tentatively concluded that there might be a mastermind behind the scenes.
Only the two of them knew about this, not because they didn't trust their other comrades, but because the two who had personally experienced it and knew many things were more likely to understand.
Others wouldn't find it ridiculous, but they might not take it to heart.
Before more direct evidence emerged, to avoid alerting the enemy,Fumori Masaki and Uchiha Kagami did not inform others.
Currently, this secret mission still only involved the two of them.
It was precisely for this reason that Fumori Masaki repeatedly emphasized Tobi's danger, which Uchiha Kagami immediately understood.
"But, given how he's been hiding in the past, for him to suddenly appear by the Daimyo's side, isn't that a bit…" Uchiha Kagami said.
"It may not be the mastermind himself.
Don't forget, he can support people like Uchiha Setsuna.
This Tobi might be the same."Fumori Masaki said.
He didn't believe this Tobi was Black Zetsu.
A guy like Black Zetsu wouldn't appear openly, and even if he did, he wouldn't make himself seem like the instigator, just like in the original timeline, where he played the role of an intelligence gatherer, following orders and running around.
"If Tobi truly is such a character, then it seems we need to be careful and also have trusted individuals test him out.
Perhaps we can really catch the mastermind's fox tail." Uchiha Kagami nodded.
"So, I plan to have Uchiha Ken take one of the spots."Fumori Masaki said.
"No way! If our guess is correct, the mastermind's goal is Uchiha Ken—the reincarnation of Lord Indra—and now you're actually proactively sending him over." Uchiha Kagami's eyes widened, his tone somewhat incredulous.
"This is called luring the snake out of its hole.
Without someone of sufficient importance placed before them, how can the mastermind reveal their true colors?
Although there's some danger, against a sneaky guy like the mastermind, how can we not take risks?"
"…That makes some sense, but I still feel it's a bit dangerous." Uchiha Kagami said.
"Sigh, there's no other way.
If we take our time, the opponent might make a move when we're not paying attention.
By personally sending him to the opponent, at least we're all aware of the risks and won't be careless."Fumori Masaki sighed.
If he could, why would he choose this method? But Black Zetsu is just that troublesome.
"In ninja tactics, there are indeed many 'luring the snake out of its hole' strategies.
Actively drawing the opponent out might indeed be the only option." Uchiha Kagami carefully considered it and had to nod in agreement with Fumori Masaki's opinion, "So, you're not going to send Fujimura Yuuki over too, are you?"
"Of course, otherwise, how can we achieve the unification of all things?"Fumori Masaki said, "If we keep him in the village, the opponent might not be able to act properly.
Anyway, before the powers of Lord Indra and Lord Asura awaken, achieving the unification of all things is impossible, and there's ample room for manipulation."
"That's already two spots.
There are three left.
If we want to reassure the nobles, we'll have to arrange for some heavyweights to go." Uchiha Kagami mused, "At least two important figures from prominent families, I'd say."
"And we need to send trusted people.
This can be considered slowly; the other party isn't in such a hurry."Fumori Masaki said, "Kagami, this time we must carefully select the candidates.
If we choose wrongly and an accident occurs, we'll be in big trouble."
Uchiha Kagami's heart tightened slightly, and he nodded slightly to Fumori Masaki.
Then, with nothing else to say, they stood up and bid farewell.