The Daimyo Kills the Crown Prince

Outside the daimyo's bedroom in the Imperial Residence.

When Uchiha Feng and the others arrived, they saw that the group who had left them earlier were all kneeling outside, putting on a show of weeping and wailing.

Clearly, they had failed to gain an audience with the daimyo and had been shut out.

Thinking that they would all be finished if the daimyo did not help them, they could only use this method to force him to come out.

But unfortunately for them, the daimyo had long since been controlled by Uchiha Mikio and given a strict order: before Feng and the others arrived, he was to see no one.

So no matter what they did, they were doomed to fret uselessly outside.

Now that Uchiha Feng and the others had arrived, in order to keep this grand performance from developing any obvious inconsistencies, the controlled daimyo still had his attendants turn everyone away on the grounds that it was already late.

Feng had rehearsed the plan countless times in his mind, so he had naturally already figured out how to deal with the current situation reasonably.

The equally controlled Crown Prince came outside the daimyo's bedroom and shouted loudly:

"Father, you are ill and have been unable to handle state affairs for a long time.

As the saying goes, a country cannot go a day without a ruler. Please abdicate, Father, and put the affairs of the state at ease."

Once those words were spoken, aside from a handful of people, everyone else—already thrown into turmoil by the events of the day—was terrified out of their wits by what the Crown Prince had said.

When the Crown Prince had dealt with the Eldest Prince during the day, the Eldest Prince had first gathered private troops, which could be considered rebellion. So even though the Crown Prince had publicly beheaded the Eldest Prince at the city gates, and his methods had been somewhat cruel, everyone found it understandable.

That night, the Crown Prince had brutally murdered the other princes and those qualified to inherit the daimyo's position. It could be said that the Eldest Prince's rebellion had affected him, and that he had eliminated all his enemies ahead of time for the position of heir. The Crown Prince might have been at fault, but it was still barely justifiable.

More importantly, while the Crown Prince was doing all this, the daimyo had shown no dissatisfaction whatsoever.

Thus, everyone naturally assumed that these actions had received the daimyo's approval, or at least his tacit consent.

But now, the Crown Prince was directly forcing the daimyo to abdicate!

This blatant act of defiance made everyone realize that, sorry, perhaps, possibly, maybe, everything that had happened before had not been ordered by the daimyo at all. Had the Crown Prince forged the daimyo's orders in preparation for rebellion?!

Fuck! If that was the case, then this was going to become a huge mess. There would probably be another massive slaughter in the capital, with far more deaths than before.

"Heh heh, good. You truly are my good son.

Are you really so impatient to take my seat?"

A moment later, the daimyo's angry voice came from inside the room.

Yet the hearts and nerves everyone had been holding still could not settle.

The daimyo's words only expressed his displeasure at the Crown Prince's defiance. They did not reveal whether he had ordered the previous two massacres.

"Father, you only have one child left now.

The daimyo's position will be passed to me sooner or later, so why can't it be now?"

The Crown Prince spoke again, his tone full of smug confidence.

"Huh?! What do you mean, I only have one child left?!"

The daimyo shoved open the door and came out, crying out in furious shock.

"Heh heh, Father, just as you think. While you were resting in bed, I killed everyone qualified to inherit the daimyo's position."

"You unfilial bastard! You beast! They were all your own brothers and nephews.

How could you bring yourself to do it? How dare you do it?

Guards! Guards! Arrest this beast! Arrest him!"

The daimyo flew into a rage upon hearing this, and his words delighted the group that had previously been kneeling outside, weeping and wailing. They immediately sprang to their feet.

Because the daimyo's words had just shown that they had been right not to obey the Crown Prince's orders.

On the other hand, those who had obeyed the Crown Prince and attacked the daimyo's descendants had all been wrong. The ones in trouble next would be them.

Naturally, those who had previously followed the Crown Prince's orders were now almost all ashen-faced, as if their parents had died.

Of course, Uchiha Feng, the "screenwriter" and "director," was naturally not among them.

While everyone else was still thinking all sorts of pointless thoughts, he directly led Uchiha Mikio and Sada Hidemasa in grabbing the Crown Prince, forcing him to his knees before the daimyo.

Then Feng calmly said, "My lord, he has been captured."

This move left both those who had obeyed and those who had disobeyed the Crown Prince utterly dumbfounded.

?? You could do that?!

How could you do that?!

Fuck! So that was an option!

Everyone cried out inwardly in every possible way.

"You unfilial bastard! You unfilial bastard!" The daimyo ignored everyone else's thoughts and kept cursing as he pointed at the Crown Prince pinned beneath them.

After cursing him, as if he had lost his mind in rage, he actually pulled the long sword from Uchiha Feng's waist and slashed at the Crown Prince.

As he slashed, he shouted, "I'll kill you, you beast!"

"No! Father, I'm your only son left! You can't kill me, you... can't... you..."

Pinned down by three people, the Crown Prince could not dodge at all. Before he could say more than a few words, he lost his life beneath the daimyo's wild blows.

At the moment of his death, the genjutsu controlling him naturally dissipated, leaving his eyes full of confusion and incomprehension.

This scene stunned everyone else once again.

Tonight's events had twisted and turned one after another, and each turn was even more terrifying than the last.

In just one day, the Eldest Prince of Tea Country had died first, along with more than half of its ministers and nobles.

Then, the daimyo's descendants had nearly all died as well.

And all of them had been killed by the Crown Prince whom the daimyo had appointed heir not long ago.

In the end, the daimyo stepped forward and claimed that he had known nothing about what the Crown Prince had done.

That meant those who had followed the Crown Prince in committing those wrongs would likely be purged as well.

By that calculation, in a single day, the population of Tea Country's capital might be reduced by half.

Fortunately, Tea Country had a favorable geographic location. Its eastern and western sides were both bordered by the sea; to the north, it only bordered the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Nations; and to the south lay Moon Country, which was even weaker than Tea Country.

And the Third Shinobi World War had ended several years ago. Otherwise, given the current situation, they would probably have to prepare for the country to be destroyed at any moment.

"Whew... whew... Sekito Guard, have someone give this unfilial bastard and all the princes who met with misfortune tonight proper burials.

Then notify every minister still in the capital to attend a meeting tomorrow morning. I want to see every survivor there, not one missing!

As for all of you who are in the Imperial Residence tonight, every last one of you is to attend tomorrow morning as well."

Having not exercised strenuously in a long time, the daimyo was left somewhat breathless after his mad chopping spree. He stood there for a while to steady himself before speaking.

After saying that, he turned and swept his gaze across everyone present, as if committing to memory who had been there that night.

After looking over the crowd, the daimyo continued, "Sekito Guard, arrange for people to guard the Imperial Residence. Before tomorrow morning's meeting, have Aiko return home."

After saying that, he slowly returned to his bedroom with the attendants supporting him and had them close the door, leaving only the bewildered crowd in the courtyard, unsure what to do.

Uchiha Feng was one of only three people whose thoughts differed from the rest, and as the leader among those three, he paid no attention to what the others were thinking.

After the daimyo returned to his bedroom, he naturally took over command of the scene. Looking at the still-bewildered Shibata Keiichi and Furukawa Kengo, he began issuing orders:

"Keiichi, Kengo, take your men back to your posts and bring more people. Following the daimyo's orders, notify every minister in the capital household by household about tomorrow morning's meeting."

The two were Feng's subordinates and retainers who had already sworn loyalty to him, so whenever there was work to be done, Feng naturally assigned it to them first.

As for loyalty, they had all participated in killing the daimyo's descendants. If they did not listen to Feng, did they have any other way out?

"Senior, guard the daimyo tonight. Do not let anyone disturb him again."

Feng turned to Uchiha Mikio and spoke.

For the sake of caution, he would not call Uchiha Mikio by name in a crowded setting.

Especially since shinobi were people who paid extreme attention to details and intelligence, Feng naturally had to be extra careful.

Uchiha Mikio was also one of the only three people present whose thoughts differed from everyone else's.

As Feng's actions continued, the plan to completely take control of Tea Country was nearly finished.

Uchiha Mikio grew ever more impressed by Feng's wisdom and increasingly convinced that, before long, under Feng's leadership, the Uchiha Clan would welcome an incomparably glorious future.

Under such circumstances, how could he be as lost as everyone else? All he felt was growing excitement and surging passion that he could hardly restrain.

After giving Uchiha Mikio his instructions, Feng looked at Sada Hidemasa. With his own intelligence, Hidemasa had probably guessed that Feng had orchestrated the entire situation.

Therefore, he was also one of the only three people present who was not at a loss.

Like Uchiha Mikio, he was unable to contain his excitement. But while Uchiha Mikio was excited for his clan's future, Hidemasa was excited for his own.

"Hidemasa, go with the others in this courtyard and properly bury all the princes and their families.

Remember, do not leave anyone out, lest the daimyo become dissatisfied."

Feng gave the order, placing slight emphasis on the words "do not leave anyone out."

He trusted that someone as clever as Sada Hidemasa would understand what he meant.

"Yes, my lord! I will inspect everything carefully and ensure that not a single one is left out!"

Sada Hidemasa immediately replied loudly, also placing slight emphasis on "not a single one."

A broad road to success lay before him. There might be enormous risks, but compared to the splendid future it promised, he was willing to go mad once and place a bet.