Mitokado Homura fixed his eyes on the Daimyo of the Land of Fields, waiting for him to make a declaration.
"Ah!"
Banda Yiming was startled by Mitokado Homura's gaze and jolted awake. His heart seemed to stop beating, and two beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on his forehead before dripping to the ground.
He stammered,
"Princess Tsunade, it's an acknowledged fact throughout the Ninja World that the Senju Clan has fallen into decline.
The Land of Fields is grateful for the Senju Clan's contributions, but the Senju Clan is no longer qualified to remain the Land of Fields' partner.
As Elder Mitokado Homura said, the Five Great Shinobi Countries are the best choice.
Konoha is a better fit for the Land of Fields now."
At first, Banda Yiming had stumbled over his words, but by the end, his tone was full of pride.
He didn't think betrayal was shameful. On the contrary, he thought he'd made the best possible choice.
Sakata Ichimei's attitude left everyone astonished.
Mitokado Homura was very pleased. At a time like this, the man had firmly stood on Konoha's side and spoken so openly, even bringing Sunagakure and Kumogakure into the matter.
With the Daimyo of the Land of Fields having made his position clear, the decision on how to divide things from then on was theirs.
A of Kumogakure and Ebizo of Sunagakure also turned their attention to the Daimyo of the Land of Fields.
To be able to make shamelessness sound so perfectly reasonable—what a talent. Just like the politicians in their own countries, the man was despicable to the core.
But appearing in another country, a man like that could bring them enormous benefits.
Tsunade was seething with anger, with nowhere to vent it.
He could make betrayal sound so perfectly reasonable. She wanted to condemn him, but she had no grounds to do so.
She was now in the Land of Fields as a shinobi of Konoha.
Her heart was filled with disappointment in Konoha.
"Banda Yiming, have you forgotten that everything the Land of Fields has today is thanks to the Senju Clan?
Why else did you ask me to come this time?"
Tsunade shouted furiously, clenching her fists as she prepared to act.
But no matter what she said, her words couldn't match Sakata Ichimei's eloquence. There was a note of self-pity in them.
Only then did she realize that she and Konoha—and the Daimyo of the Land of Fields—were not cut from the same cloth. She was only suited to fighting as a shinobi.
Her gaze accidentally fell on Ebizo, and bitterness rose in her heart.
On the battlefield in the Land of Rain, Chiyo's poison techniques were already wielding unimaginable power.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had ordered her to withdraw from the battlefield in the Land of Rain and come to the Land of Fields for negotiations. She'd thought she was meant to ease tensions with the Senju Clan and play a useful role. Now it seemed she was merely a sacrificial pawn.
As she spoke,
Tsunade's pupils shrank to the size of green beans, and the whites of her eyes filled her entire gaze. She seemed to understand something.
She was a tool Sarutobi Hiruzen was using to keep Senju Nawaki in check.
The corners of her mouth drooped into a bitter smile.
Her clenched fists relaxed.
Banda Yiming looked at Tsunade with pity and regret, then his resolve hardened. He'd convinced himself with his own reasoning.
"Lady Tsunade, the Senju Clan will always be a friend of the Land of Fields.
But the Land of Fields can't go to its death alongside the Senju Clan.
Decades of cooperation and decades of benefits are enough to repay the Senju Clan's kindness.
The Land of Fields owes the Senju Clan nothing, so don't keep pressing the matter.
The Senju Clan has betrayed Konoha. Its decline is inevitable."
There was not a trace of fear for Tsunade in Sakata Ichimei's words. They had taken on the air of a lecture.
He didn't think the Land of Fields owed the Senju Clan any gratitude. The Senju Clan had become a burden.
Their former alliance had been a favor the Land of Fields had granted the Senju Clan.
Now they had firmly taken Konoha's side.
"Good!
That makes sense. Konoha is the Land of Fields' strongest ally.
The changes the Land of Fields is seeing now are Konoha reclaiming its own assets. The Senju Clan used Konoha's authority to enjoy far too much of Konoha's protection, yet never thought to repay Konoha.
Since they've already betrayed Konoha, Konoha should continue to enjoy those benefits."
Mitokado Homura beamed and praised Sakata Ichimei's choice.
No wonder Sarutobi Hiruzen had told him before he came to do everything he could to protect Banda Yiming. He was Konoha's most loyal partner.
They needed a front man, too—a legitimate reason to secure lawful benefits for Konoha.
Sakata Ichimei, whose family had already entered Konoha, was the perfect choice.
"Heh..."
"..."
A of Kumogakure and Ebizo of Sunagakure both scoffed. They glanced at each other and shook their heads.
They looked down on Banda Yiming for selling out his own country's interests.
"I understand."
Tsunade slumped helplessly into a chair nearby.
She scanned the meeting room, and only then understood that she was the one who knew nothing.
She was the outsider in this meeting room, brought in to keep the Senju Clan—and Senju Nawaki—in check.
She needed to reconsider her relationship with Konoha.
"Everyone, we can get down to the real business now. I believe the Daimyo of the Land of Fields will support whatever result we reach."
A glint of satisfaction flashed in Mitokado Homura's eyes as he spoke to A and Ebizo.
Tsunade was only a tool. Now that she fully understood her place, he could complete his mission without a hitch.
The Senju Clan and the Land of Fields could bear the hardship. Sacrificing them would give the Ninja World a chance at peace.
As Sarutobi Hiruzen had said, Konoha only needed to take thirty percent of the grain output. That would be enough to handle any situation.
From a position of strength, Konoha had the power to take more.
Sacrificing a few benefits—benefits belonging to people who didn't matter—to appease Kumogakure and Sunagakure and help Konoha deal with the Senju Clan was the best outcome.
"Forty percent for Kumogakure, thirty percent for Konohagakure, twenty percent for Sunagakure, and ten percent for the Land of Fields. That's the decision."
A of Kumogakure had grown tired of this game and laid out the proposed division.
Mitokado Homura thought it over for a long while, then gave a slight nod in agreement.
Even though they'd lost their hold over the Land of Fields, they'd still achieved their goal: excluding the Senju Clan from the distribution of benefits.
Ebizo was bewildered. Could things really be this easy? He frowned and fell silent, feeling that it couldn't be so simple.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fields wore a bitter expression.
This arrangement was wildly unfair and entirely unexpected.
He'd brought in more competitors to help the Land of Fields gain a bigger share, but it hadn't worked. He hadn't expected Konoha to be so weak.
Konoha wasn't nearly as powerful as he'd imagined. The Land of Fields would gain less than it had when working with the Senju Clan.
Only then did he realize, in a daze, that the people before him represented the Five Great Shinobi Countries. He had no right to resist.
The one consolation was that Konoha had promised him personal benefits enough to make him sell out his own country.
He buried his guilt toward his country and his remorse toward the Senju Clan.
He forced a false smile onto his face, daring not to resist as the bandits carved up the Land of Fields.
Tsunade, sitting nearby with a grim expression, smiled scornfully, as if asking, So this is the better choice you were talking about?
"Let's sign the treaty!"
Mitokado Homura produced a treaty that had apparently been prepared in advance. He didn't make a single change to its terms before preparing to sign it.
Tsunade stared at the scene before her in disbelief.
Such harsh terms had been proposed in such an absurd way, yet everyone had acted as though the outcome had been decided in advance.
She remembered something Senju Tobirama had once said.
"Little Tsunade, if you want to make anything happen, all the work has to be done before it happens."
She remembered that at the time, Senju Tobirama had forced Uchiha Madara to leave Konoha, before a single Uchiha had followed him.
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