The Commoners' Organization

Land of Fire, Daimyo Estate.

In the main hall of the Japanese-style room, two figures sat across from each other at a low table, seated on lavish golden tatami mats.

Between them rested a brand-new shogi board, its increasingly clear state visible at a glance.

The side holding the "Jade General" had been driven into a desperate situation. The isolated "Jade General" was already surrounded by an army.

Clearly, this was a match between opponents of vastly unequal skill, and their ages and appearances were equally different.

By unwritten "rules," when an elder played against a junior, the junior would take the "King General" and move first, while the elder would take the "Jade General" and move second.

Yet this game was completely reversed.

The man holding the "Jade General" had a gloomy air about him, while the one holding the "King General" was a young, refined boy.

The boy lounged casually on the tatami with his legs crossed, the back of his head resting on the lap of a kneeling maid behind him. One hand rested on his knee as he smiled down at the board, while several beautiful maids beside him gently fanned him with round fans.

The man before him, meanwhile, sat as straight as a sturdy pine tree. Expressionless, he stared at the board with such concentration that his breathing was nearly inaudible.

What they had in common was that neither paused for even a moment. They constantly shifted their pieces, each fully aware of every piece's position.

The only sound in the room was the soft scrape of pieces being lifted and set down.

Defense, sacrifice, blitz, lure...

Tap!

"Will you keep making room for the Jade General, or keep sacrificing pieces to delay things?"

As the final move landed, the boy half-covered his face with a folding fan, his eyes narrowing slightly as he chuckled. "Elder Danzo, you've already lost."

Danzo showed no reaction at those words. He merely lowered his head and stared at the board.

Only after a long while did he look up at the boy and ask, "The game is not yet over. Why does Your Highness say that I have already lost?"

A flicker of displeasure passed through the boy's eyes, though he quickly suppressed it. His eyes curved slightly, as though he were smiling.

"By the middle and late stages of the game, you had two pawns left on the board. That gave you a great advantage in attacking and controlling the field, so all your attention went into using those two pawns."

"But if I were you, I would have used them as bait, or sacrificed one and sent the other deep behind enemy lines, coordinating with the other pieces to force a kill."

The boy closed his folding fan and said meaningfully, "Not being able to let go, not being willing to part with things—that is why you lost. You need to broaden your thinking and perspective if you want to see farther, Elder Danzo."

Danzo narrowed his eyes, about to say something, but the boy interrupted him again.

"Trying to rob Peter to pay Paul, using delay tactics in the hopes that I make a mistake?" The boy waved his fan. "Sometimes, you should simply admit defeat. Don't care so much about winning and losing."

Perhaps understanding that his words carried both a reminder and a warning, Danzo ultimately swallowed the words on his lips bit by bit.

"...Yes."

With his head lowered, Danzo stared at the board for a while, memorizing the game before slowly returning the pieces to their places. He sighed. "Your Highness's shogi skills have become ever more exquisite. Every one of my moves was within your grasp."

"Well, I fell in love with shogi when I was three. Back then, my older brothers were still playing little games like afternoon tea parties and house, so I could only play with Father. And later... well, here we are, I suppose?"

The boy covered his face with the folding fan, revealing only his proudly raised brows. He laughed without the slightest humility. "Shogi is one of the few abilities I can take pride in."

Then his tone abruptly shifted, and he sighed. "Still, a board game is only a board game. As long as one excels at calculation and understands the human heart and human nature, one can win."

"Unfortunately, the ninja world is not a board game. If I were to deploy troops and arrange formations in war, I would lose disastrously."

He did not hide his shortcomings. There was no need for him to conceal them before Danzo.

He was skilled in politics, not combat. He was more like the one moving the pieces than a mere soldier.

Although Danzo's political methods were still quite immature, he was better suited to serve as a blade plunged into the enemy's heart.

For Konoha, he could abandon everything. Even if his family betrayed him, he would show no mercy. He treated not only others as tools, but himself as a tool to be used, utterly unconcerned with his own reputation.

As the young Lord of the Land of Fire, he could roughly see what Danzo was thinking.

Perhaps Danzo had always regretted it—regretted that fleeting moment of hesitation when Teacher Tobirama had offered him a choice.

That single moment of hesitation had cost him the position of Hokage.

Danzo's current decisiveness and ruthlessness were all ways of demonstrating his resolve. Perhaps he wanted to tell Teacher Tobirama that choosing Sarutobi had been a mistake.

Because what he treasured most had always been all of Konoha, not Teacher Tobirama of Konoha or anyone else.

Though he had hesitated when covering his comrades' retreat, he could shoulder everything for Konoha, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

"So, Your Highness, what did you summon me here to do?" Danzo asked bluntly.

"Yes and no, because this is something you were meant to do anyway." The boy nodded, then shook his head. He covered his face with his fan and smiled. "War is coming. I want you to keep the battlefield outside the Land of Fire."

"Your Highness means...?"

"The Land of Rain."

A coldness utterly unsuited to his age appeared on the boy's face as he said in a low voice, "Since they overestimate themselves and wish to resist, then draw the flames of war completely into the Land of Rain. Crush the Land of Rain utterly!"

Hanzo's emergence and the Land of Rain's defiance had also put him on guard.

Especially after seeing that the Lord of the Land of Rain had begun leaning toward Hanzo, the young Lord of the Land of Fire became even more wary.

The nobles of the ninja world had always appeared distant while secretly maintaining harmony. There was an unspoken understanding among them.

For example, once the number of Ninja reached a certain point, they would even deliberately provoke wars to maintain their own ruling positions.

So if not for preserving a buffer between the great nations, how could the Land of Rain possibly have lingered on until now?

How could one allow another to sleep peacefully beside one's bed?

The Land of Rain had been acting far too wildly. It was making him sleep uneasily.

The Land of Rain had to be hurt badly enough to crush its arrogance.

Just like the Grass Country, it should obediently remain a fence-sitter and become nothing but a guide for others.

"I understand." Danzo narrowed his eyes, his tone low. "I will find a way to make the Land of Rain the target of every other great nation!"

"And as for Kumogakure, Your Highness need not worry. Orochimaru has already gone there. They will soon be too busy to concern themselves with anything else."

Orochimaru?

Could he hold Kumogakure back?

The boy raised a brow at that, recalling the effeminate man in his mind before casually nodding.

As for how many people would ultimately die because of a single casual word from him, he did not care.

In the ninja world, human lives were the cheapest thing of all. Even Ninja were equally lowly.

"Oh, right." As if remembering something, the boy raised his brows and said casually, "An organization has appeared in the Land of Rain recently. It seems to have been formed by a group of commoners. It is not worth paying attention to, but I have already sent my people there. You can..."

Crack.

"Y-Your Highness!"

Just as he was about to give further instructions, an attendant suddenly pushed open the door and rushed in with an alarmed expression, trembling as he held a box in his hands.

Wrapped in colorful ribbons, it looked exceptionally bright and festive.

"..."

The interrupted boy was slightly displeased. He first frowned at the box, then swept his gaze over the attendant's face and said coldly, "You had better have a reasonable explanation."

"Th-the people you sent..." The attendant shuddered, his face filled with terror as his hands trembled.

In an instant, the "gift box" slipped from his hands, striking the floor with a chilling crack, accompanied by an eerie sound like air leaking from a ball.

In the strange silence, thick black, filthy blood gradually seeped from the gift box, winding through the gaps in the expensive carpet toward Danzo's feet.

The room, once filled with elegant fragrance, was gradually overwhelmed by the pungent, nauseating stench of blood.

The head of a man whose eyes remained wide open rolled across the floor, its gaze reflecting the boy's face, twisted between terror and shock.