Chapter 289: Calling a Deer a Horse
The hall fell into total silence — quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Even Ryūzawa Kasumiōji, who'd been so effortlessly claiming sisterhood with the Hokage moments before, had gone completely silent.
"What's wrong?"
"Not even willing to look at it?"
The Hokage's green eyes glinted with something faintly mocking as she looked at Ryūzawa.
"What... what gift did sister have in mind for her little sister?"
Ryūzawa swallowed hard, unable to keep a note of genuine fear out of her voice.
"I'm a simple, unrefined person myself — I don't have much appreciation for the finer arts you nobles favor."
"But I understand you all enjoy riding and archery."
"I felt an instant kinship with Lady Ryūzawa the moment we met — quite fond of her, honestly."
"I happen to have recently acquired a fine horse. One capable of covering a thousand li in a single day — a truly exceptional steed, one in ten thousand. I'd like to offer it to Lady Ryūzawa, if she'll have it."
At the Hokage's words, Ryūzawa let out a breath of relief.
Oh. Just a horse, then.
"In that case, little sister owes her sister a debt of gratitude."
"Such generosity — I confess I'm rather looking forward to it."
At Ryūzawa's words, the Hokage clapped her hands lightly and called out toward the hall's entrance:
"Someone, bring in my thousand-li steed."
At her word, a man with a pineapple-shaped hairstyle led a small spotted fawn into the hall.
The little deer's bright, curious eyes darted around the room, taking in the assembled crowd.
Every face in the hall, which had only just begun to relax, froze right back into rigid tension at the sight.
"So — what do you all make of this horse?"
The Hokage gestured at the "horse," a faint smile on her lips as she looked around the room.
"Lord Hokage must be mistaken. That's a deer, not a horse."
One of the nobles spoke up to point this out.
Two or three others quickly agreed, echoing that it was, in fact, a deer.
"Oh?"
"No, this is a horse."
The Hokage shook her head, then turned to the noble girl, her green eyes carrying an air of earnest inquiry.
"Lady Ryūzawa. Tell me — is this a deer, or a horse?"
Ryūzawa's face went rigid at the question.
Calling a deer a horse. Twisting truth into whatever suits her.
The Hokage's intent couldn't have been clearer.
If she said it was a horse — then it was a horse.
Everyone in the room already understood, plainly, exactly what she was thinking.
"This... truly is a fine horse."
Ryūzawa forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Just as I thought — Lady Ryūzawa has a discerning eye. My efforts weren't wasted, then."
"In that case — why don't you try riding it?"
The Hokage's eyes were, by now, brimming with a sadistic amusement so blatant it left Ryūzawa's hands and feet going cold.
Setting aside whether it was actually a horse — what kind of occasion was this? Making a scene like this in front of the Land of Fire's own Daimyō?
And this fawn — how old could it possibly be?
Ride it? You have to be joking.
Thinking fast, Ryūzawa turned a pleading look toward Musashi, seated at the head of the room.
Her future husband.
"Ah — Lord Hokage, isn't this deer... I mean, this horse... a bit small for riding?"
"Ryūzawa..."
Musashi, watching the elegant young woman turn to him for help, felt something tremble inside him and forced himself to speak up, bracing for the worst.
"Ah, my lord worries too much."
"A fine horse like this shouldn't go without a master."
"Now is exactly the moment for Lady Ryūzawa to break it in herself."
The Hokage waved a hand, cutting Musashi off before he could finish.
At that, Ryūzawa's fists clenched tight, glaring at the Hokage's unbothered, composed expression.
She's toying with me.
Watching the noble girl tremble with barely-contained fury, the Hokage's face took on a look of genuine regret. She picked up a piece of tea confectionery from the table and held it out in her palm, and the fawn, watching, trotted right up to her in full view of everyone.
The little deer bowed its head, ate the confection out of her hand, and then, seemingly not quite satisfied, licked her palm with its tongue.
The Hokage reached out and gently stroked the fawn's head, her expression full of regret.
"Ah, my little horse. It seems none of the distinguished guests here recognize you for what you are."
"Given that, perhaps it's best I let you return to the forest — better than falling into hands that can't appreciate your true worth."
"After all, a thousand-li steed comes along often enough. A true judge of horses is the rare thing."
Without particularly caring whether any of the nobles present actually recognized the reference, the Hokage had the Nara clan member lead the fawn back out.
Watching the Nara clan member leave, the Hokage rose to her feet, an air of regret about her, and addressed the assembled nobility:
"None of you recognize a horse when you see one."
"It seems, then, that you and I simply aren't cut from the same cloth."
"In that case — take care of yourselves."
With that, and rain beginning to fall outside, she strode toward the hall's exit, past the ashen, frozen faces of every noble present.
The beautiful ANBU who never left her side picked up the shinobi blade — seemingly forgotten on the table — and followed close behind.
What did those last words mean?
Not cut from the same cloth.
They understood exactly what that implied.
There was still a Land of Fire Daimyō sitting in this very hall.
To say something like that, in a setting like this—
The Hokage means to rebel!
"Wh— why didn't she kill us?"
The Land of Lightning noble spoke, trembling, a severed head still lying, eyes unclosed, not far from where he sat.
"Because there'd be no point."
"To this Hokage, we're nothing more than ants."
"Whether we live or die is entirely up to her whim — and just now, our reaction was clearly enough to satisfy her."
"So she let it go."
Ryūzawa, having worked through her own panic, had recovered her composure remarkably fast.
"And it's not just that. This Hokage's clearly already prepared to go to war with the entire shinobi world."
"To her, people like us have already outlived our usefulness."
She turned to look at Musashi, seated at the head of the room, and something like disappointment flickered across her face — quickly hidden, replaced by a gentle tone.
"My lord, please endure this a little longer. Within three months, the Land of Fire will be yours again."
"Please, bear with this in the meantime."
Her words offered Musashi no comfort at all. If anything, they only left him more deflated.
He'd seen with his own eyes how this Hokage had subdued the Seven-Tails.
To him, a tailed beast had seemed like an unstoppable natural disaster — and in this Hokage's hands, that same disaster had been little more than a plaything.
And it wasn't just one tailed beast, either. The Two-Tails, the Three-Tails — both had fallen to her as well.
And Konoha still held the strongest of them all, the Nine-Tails, on top of everything else.
Musashi could only see the people in this room as insects throwing themselves under a wheel — hopelessly, foolishly outmatched.
Rather than fighting a battle already lost, he figured, staying quiet and obedient might at least leave him a way out alive.
Watching her future husband show such spinelessness, Ryūzawa's face twisted with frustration.
"Have you already forgotten the old capital, my lord? Are you really going to sit back and watch as this Hokage seizes a thousand years of your ancestral legacy?"
But her words did nothing to move Musashi. He simply glanced, expressionless, at the guards stationed by the hall's entrance, then back at the group of so-called nobles gathered before him.
To Musashi, everyone in this room looked like fools — people whose lives were already entirely in the Hokage's hands, and yet they kept talking as if that meant nothing.
"There's happiness enough here. Why would I long for anywhere else."
With that, he turned and walked away, without a second glance at the stunned nobility behind him.
This man...
Ryūzawa's teeth ground together, furious.
My future husband is really this spineless?
Her own instincts ran the opposite direction — if the Hokage had already chosen not to act, then surely a bit of grumbling wasn't going to provoke a second confrontation. Backing down entirely now would just be humiliating.
"We're leaving."
With that single line, Ryūzawa ignored the shinobi guards stationed at the hall entrance and simply walked out.
Seeing the guards make no move to stop her, the rest of the assembled nobility filed out after her, eager to leave this place behind.
Meanwhile, the Hokage was already on her way back to the Hokage Building.
Having sufficiently entertained the nobles who'd come to needle her, it was time to get back to actual business.
Once those nobles returned to their respective countries, it would inevitably kick up a massive storm — and at that point, Konoha alone would be standing against the combined might of the entire shinobi world.
Whether Konoha could hold that line — Sakura was confident it could.
The real concern was Akatsuki. With both Obito and Nagato having already suffered defeats, if they still had designs on the tailed beasts, they wouldn't let an opportunity this rare slip by.
The Hokage was already planning to form a special unit, led by Kakashi and Might Guy, specifically to counter Akatsuki once the coming war broke out.
Running the numbers on Konoha's current manpower, though, left her with a faint trace of regret.
Even with Konoha's strength now far surpassing anything from the previous four Great Ninja Wars, resources still felt stretched thin.
If war broke out and she couldn't secure a swift victory, there was a real risk of getting bogged down in a drawn-out conflict.
Which made Sasuke's role in all this even more critical.
But a battlefield was unpredictable by nature — even she couldn't fully control every variable. Everything would come down to judgment calls made in the moment.
"Lord Hokage. Someone's ahead."
The Nara clansman accompanying her back spoke up.
The Hokage looked up and realized she'd reached a stretch of maple forest.
The whole grove blazed red with maple leaves — she wasn't sure what species of maple this was, still burning red in the height of summer.
A man sat cross-legged in the middle of the grove, black hair tied back, dressed in a black-and-white swordsman's garb.
An old, unadorned katana rested across his lap. His dark eyes were unusually bright.
"Himura. What's this about?"
The Hokage regarded the noble, so unlike his usual self, calm.
"Lord Hokage means to rise above her station and defy the Daimyō. I've come to remove this threat, for his lordship's sake."
The man's tone carried none of his usual deference — his dark eyes fixed, bright and unwavering, on the pink-haired Hokage.
The maple grove stirred with a light breeze, countless red leaves rustling.
The man rose slowly to his feet, drawing the treasured blade — a sword the Daimyō's line had bestowed on the Himura family three hundred years ago — its clear, cold light striking, unmistakable, against the red of the forest.
"A worthless nobody actually daring to assassinate the Hokage?"
Behind her, Yūgao stepped forward, positioning herself between Sakura and Himura.
"You're seeking death, then?"
The Hokage didn't react to Yūgao's words at all, simply asking, calm.
She'd already broken openly with the nobility. For Himura to place himself directly in her path now — what else could it be but a death wish?
"Not quite. The Himura family has received the Daimyō's favor for centuries."
"Now, with the Daimyō himself insulted, it falls to a loyal retainer to answer with his life."
"To repay the Daimyō's grace."
Himura gripped the blade with both hands and said nothing further, simply charging forward, straight at Yūgao, who stood between him and the Hokage.
The outcome was already decided.
Himura was, at his core, a Daimyō's retainer — someone who spent his days managing affairs on the Daimyō's behalf, with no time to spare for real training. Even if he had trained, he'd never have stood a chance against Yūgao.
Because Yūgao was a shinobi.
And a shinobi represented absolute military force, full stop.
The instant blade met blade, Himura's three-hundred-year-old ancestral sword shattered outright, and his own blood spilled across the ground, staining the fallen maple leaves an even deeper red.
Watching the man fall, the Hokage let out a quiet sigh.
"A shame."
The nobility weren't entirely useless. Himura, whatever his combat skills lacked, had been genuinely competent — flawless, even — at managing civil affairs across the countryside. That competence was exactly why the Hokage had let him linger this long, playing his little games right under her nose.
During the Daimyō's relocation to Konoha, after all, a great deal of the Land of Fire's day-to-day administration had run through Himura personally.
"Bury him where he lies."
With that single order, the Hokage's figure vanished from the maple grove.
By now, the nobles who'd gathered in Konoha had already scattered back to their respective countries, carrying word of the Hokage's supposed rebellion.
In an instant, the entire shinobi world shook.
What had once been dismissed as mere rumor — the Hokage assassinating a Daimyō — no longer looked like rumor at all.
It looked like the opening move of an open rebellion.
A mortal, with no bloodline gift at all, risen to fame at a young age, with an unmatched record of accomplishment behind her — every part of that description belonged to this one Hokage.
No one else in the shinobi world had ever reached that level.
And yet, even having claimed the seat every shinobi alive dreamed of, this Hokage still, apparently, wasn't satisfied.
She wanted to rule over everything. The whole world, under one crown.
Almost immediately, the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Water issued formal condemnations against Konoha's Hokage. Iwagakure, in the Land of Earth, unilaterally severed its alliance with Konoha on the spot.
Sunagakure immediately halted its military campaign against the Land of Rain the moment word reached them, pulling back the forces already battered by Pain's assault. Kirigakure, in the Land of Water, followed suit — three thousand Mist shinobi withdrawing at once from the Land of Waterfall.
And beyond that, the nobility across the entire shinobi world issued a joint public demand: unless Konoha wished to face the combined wrath of the entire world, Sakura Haruno was to be stripped of the title of Hokage immediately, and her severed head delivered as an offering at the previous Land of Fire Daimyō's grave.
Konoha's answer came in exactly two words.
Try it.
Like oil poured on an open flame, the response only stoked the fury of every noble house across the shinobi world further.
They'd stood at the top of this world for a thousand years. They'd trained shinobi from wolves into obedient dogs.
And now, from among those very dogs, a wolf pup had emerged — and grown into something formidable. How could they not be enraged? They wanted nothing less than to see this Fifth Hokage torn apart, piece by piece, to settle the score.
There was no further debate needed. The shinobi coalition formed almost instantly.
The Land of Wind, the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Water, the Land of Waterfall, the Land of Snow, the Land of Rice Paddies, the Land of Rain, the Land of Bears — every great and minor nation across the entire shinobi world bound themselves together in that moment, closing in on the Land of Fire from every direction at once.
(End of chapter.)
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