Three Refusals, Three Entreaties: The Thunderfire Great General!

The next day, something happened that shocked the entire Ninja World.

Uchiha Genya led a large force of Konoha's elite ninja to the Daimyo Mansion without warning.

This time, he did not claim he was there to protect the Daimyo, as he had before. Everyone had some idea what he had really been doing then.

What Xuanye had done before skirted the line. Stripping the young Daimyo of power came close to crossing it, but had not quite violated the nobles' red line.

Some ninja villages also harbored deep resentment toward the parasitic nobles and daimyos, so they had turned a blind eye.

This time, Uchiha Genya did not even bother pretending.

His ninja forces openly took control of the Daimyo Mansion. The former Guardian Ninja and the Daimyo's personal guards were all disarmed and placed under guard.

It was, in every sense, a military seizure of power.

And that was not all.

The Daimyo, not yet ten years old, put on a public display of tearful anguish. Declaring himself unworthy, he offered to abdicate in favor of Konoha's Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Genya.

Naturally, Uchiha Genya refused, displaying nothing but heartfelt loyalty.

Daimyo, you're putting me in an impossible position!

But the Daimyo seemed determined to abdicate. Clutching his official seal, he hung a length of white silk from a ceiling beam, looking ready to kill himself on the spot if Xuanye refused.

The performance was admittedly a little unconvincing. Surrounded by ninja, the child would have had trouble dying even if he wanted to.

Yet somehow, a child under ten threw the entire Daimyo Mansion into chaos.

In the end, several "old ministers" who had served since the previous Daimyo's reign knelt before Xuanye as well, weeping as they begged him to take the throne.

With three offers and