Before long, inside a lavish mansion, Uchiha Feng stood with Uchiha Mikio and looked at the mere four people before him, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Why are there only four of you? Where are the others? Why didn't they come?"
He suppressed the indignation in his heart as he spoke.
"???" The four of them were utterly bewildered.
"I remember saying at the Daimyo Mansion that every captain-level officer in the capital was to come.
Yet only four of you are here. So where are the others?!
Are they ignoring the orders of the capital's guardian, personally appointed by the Daimyo?! Are they dissatisfied with me?! Or dissatisfied with our Daimyo!"
Feng spoke with feigned anger.
Yet inwardly, he desperately hoped someone would jump out and object, giving him an excuse to kill a few more people and clear them out.
"...Guardian, all the captain-level personnel in the capital are already here."
A timid voice rose amid Feng's murderous expression.
"???" Feng was completely baffled. The entire capital only had this many people?
Seeing Feng's confusion, the man who had spoken immediately continued explaining.
"My lord, there were originally four Guard Corps captains in the capital. Two of them... uh... fell at the Daimyo Palace.
The remaining two are the gentlemen beside me.
There was only one chief captain, and he also fell at the Daimyo Mansion.
You met this gentleman at the Imperial Residence. He is the deputy general of Tea Country.
As for the Samurai Corps, uh... I was originally its captain. Now that you have become captain, my lord... I have become your deputy."
The quieter he spoke, the more afraid he was of angering Uchiha Feng.
"...So that's how it is. Tea Country's military is this weak??"
Feng was awkwardly silent for a few seconds before asking about the specifics.
"??? My lord? Tea Country's military strength isn't weak at all!"
"With this few people, if the Land of Fire casually sent over a ninja squad, Tea Country would be finished. And you call that not weak?"
"Oh, that? You needn't worry, my lord.
We have always been the Land of Fire's loyal little brother, and our Daimyo has close ties with the Land of Fire's Daimyo.
Konoha would never dare attack us. Otherwise, the Daimyos of both countries would not let Konoha off."
The man spoke with great confidence.
Feng had been about to argue, but then he suddenly remembered the setting of the Naruto manga and was immediately rendered speechless.
Damn it, I almost forgot this wasn't a China-based setting. The Ninja World was based on Japan. Here, authority did not come from strength, but from status.
The strong people of the Ninja World were all idiots. They only wanted to become Kage, and were even willing to serve Daimyos with nothing but a title and no strength whatsoever.
And for a thousand damn years, no one had considered that they could easily replace them entirely.
Still, it was thanks to this bullshit setting that Feng could gradually take control of Tea Country simply by controlling its Daimyo, without anyone becoming suspicious.
If this were a China-based setting, after what Feng had done at the Daimyo Palace today, someone would have jumped out on the spot and shouted, "My sword is not dull either."
Then they would turn around, flee to other parts of Tea Country, gather troops, and march on the capital to "remove the evil from the ruler's side."
And once that happened, the whole world would probably learn of it. Feng's true identity would no longer remain hidden, and Konoha would most likely capture him and turn him into experimental material.
Thinking of that, Feng silently gave a thumbs-up to the absurd setting of the ninja world, where "authority comes not from strength, but from titles."
His mood immediately improved considerably. Then he looked at the man who had been speaking all this time and asked, "Very good. Then who are you?"
The man before him had introduced everyone else, but had not mentioned his own identity.
"Guardian, I am Sada Hidemasa, former captain of the Daimyo Mansion's Samurai Corps.
After you took on the position of Samurai Corps captain, my lord, I was automatically demoted to deputy captain."
Sada Hidemasa looked respectfully at Uchiha Feng as he answered.
But when he noticed Uchiha Mikio behind Feng, he quickly lowered his gaze in fear.
Although Sada Hidemasa could not see the faces of Feng and Uchiha Mikio, who were always cloaked to conceal their identities, and therefore could not know who they really were,
Uchiha Mikio's strength left Sada Hidemasa with no choice but to fear him.
As the former captain of the Tea Country Daimyo Mansion's Samurai Corps, Hidemasa was not weak. His strength lay somewhere between that of a Genin and a Chunin.
Yet at the Daimyo Palace, he had personally watched Tea Country's general, who was stronger than him, join forces with several people no weaker than himself, only for Uchiha Mikio to wipe them all out in two or three moves.
Under such circumstances, the life-loving Hidemasa naturally did not dare harbor the slightest dissatisfaction toward Uchiha Mikio. He respected Feng, Mikio's apparent master, all the more.
After all, according to common sense in the Ninja World, the stronger a guard was, the more noble his master's status had to be.
As for whether some other reason might have allowed Feng to possess such a powerful guard as Uchiha Mikio, Hidemasa had never considered it, nor had anyone else.
Because such a situation had never occurred in the Ninja World for any other reason.
"Sada Hidemasa? Very good. While everyone else was too afraid to speak, you quickly adjusted yourself and took the initiative to clear up my doubts.
I appreciate you very much. Are you interested in serving me from now on?"
Feng had taken a liking to his talent and began recruiting him.
The Sada Hidemasa before him was not particularly strong, nor did he seem particularly clever.
But he could regulate his emotions quickly and calm down fast enough to communicate with a villain like Feng.
He also showed sufficient respect toward the strong, which meant he valued his life.
For Feng, who was currently nothing more than a commander without troops, he was someone worth recruiting.
"This... thank you for your favor, Guardian, but I am deeply sorry. I am a samurai and have already pledged my loyalty to His Highness the Daimyo. I cannot serve another."
Hidemasa straightened his body and gave Feng a deeply respectful bow, but his tone was exceptionally resolute and serious as he rejected Feng's offer.
"Oh? What if His Highness the Daimyo willingly gave you to me?"
Heh, another virtue: loyalty. That made Feng want him even more.
"...If His Highness the Daimyo truly agrees to give me to you, then I will naturally be willing to serve you, Guardian."
Hidemasa felt that something was off about his new guardian's words, but he could not figure out what.
Still, after pondering for a moment, he agreed.
As a samurai, he could not be without a lord to serve.
And throughout Tea Country, the best person to serve was undoubtedly the Daimyo. If not the Daimyo, then the capital's guardian, whose status was only slightly lower, was naturally also a decent choice.
"Haha, very good. Then from this moment onward, you are my man."
"But His Highness the Daimyo..."
"It's fine. I'll speak to the Daimyo myself. There won't be a problem.
Hehe, as a reward for being the first to join my ranks,
the two Guard Corps whose captains died at the Daimyo Mansion will both be placed under your command.
Starting today, you will concurrently serve as captain of both Guard Corps. You need not concern yourself with the Daimyo Mansion's Samurai Corps anymore, so you won't have to run back and forth between both positions."
"...Guardian, thank you for valuing me, but without an order from the Daimyo, I must decline."
Hidemasa fell silent once more for a moment, then decisively rejected Feng's arrangement.
Although Feng was his direct superior, his position was not high enough to grant him the authority to appoint people at will.
Tea Country had no ninja village, and there was only one supreme ruler: the Daimyo. Therefore, everything had to be based on the Daimyo's orders.
"Fine. Wait here. I'll go ask the Daimyo for an appointment document."
As a transmigrator, Feng showed enough respect and patience toward talent.
After saying that, he turned and prepared to head for the Daimyo Palace. The Daimyo was under Uchiha Mikio's genjutsu anyway, so he would do whatever Feng told him to do.
But just as he was about to leave, he noticed the other three people in his home and remembered that four people had come in total, not just Sada Hidemasa.
So he said, "You three wait here as well. If you obediently follow orders, I won't shortchange you either."
Only after saying that did he bring Uchiha Mikio toward the Daimyo Palace.
Feng understood his own situation very clearly. He was still weak, so he had to keep a low profile.
Therefore, he absolutely would not leave Senior Mikio's side for even a step. Otherwise, if something unexpected happened, he would not even have a place to cry.
Before you continue