Tea Country Was Already in the Bag

After making the arrangements, Feng paid no further attention to what was happening with everyone else. He turned and went home.

He had not rested, eaten, or drunk anything since the struggle between the old and new Crown Princes began that morning. He had kept watch the entire time.

Now, just as he had expected, aside from the Lord Daimyo's three married daughters, all his other children had been eliminated.

Although all three daughters had the right to inherit the daimyo position, two had married far away. Only one remained in Tea Country's capital, and that one was Feng's wife.

Furthermore, the Lord Daimyo himself was under Feng's control. Recently, he had been spending every night selecting women and wearing out his life in the inner residence. He did not have many days left.

With all his intended goals achieved, Feng needed a good rest. After all, his body was only that of a Genin and could not endure much more.

Next, barring any surprises, the position of Tea Country's daimyo would soon be in Feng's grasp.

That night, Uchiha Feng slept peacefully.

Yet the unrest within the capital had not completely subsided. Many people were either worried, terrified, or taking the opportunity to cause trouble. Few could sleep soundly.

As for Feng, he did not lazily get out of bed until the sun was high and he had slept his fill.

He then efficiently took his wife, Aiko Hamuro, out with him and met up with Shibata Keiichi, Furukawa Kengo, and Sada Hidemasa, who had long been waiting outside Feng's residence.

The three each led their subordinates, all respectfully following behind Feng and his wife as they marched grandly toward the Daimyo Palace.

Along the way, cries of "Good day, Guardian-sama!" and "Good morning, Princess!" rose one after another.

Anyone who knew or recognized Feng and his wife respectfully greeted them.

Most of the unrest consequently vanished on its own. As for the small portion that did not, whenever Feng saw it, he had someone help those people sleep forever and cause no more trouble.

The reason for this was naturally the current status and strength of Feng and his wife.

Last night, Guardian Sekito had helped the Crown Prince slaughter the other princes, yet he still retained the Lord Daimyo's trust. He continued commanding the Guard Corps and Samurai Corps, deeply favored by the Lord Daimyo.

Meanwhile, Feng's wife, Princess Aiko, was the only heir to the daimyo position currently present in the Daimyo Palace. She was also the person most likely to inherit the position.

Unlike the other two princesses, who were far away. By the time they returned, it would already be too late.

With the husband being the strongest and commanding the most people, while the wife was the most likely future daimyo, who would dare show them anything less than utmost respect?

By the time Feng finally arrived at the Daimyo Palace, much of the capital had been stabilized. The palace itself, however, was quite noisy.

Yesterday, during the daytime battle between the old and new Crown Princes, there had been three factions: those who chose a side, those who chose the other side, and those who remained neutral.

At night, when the Crown Prince slaughtered the other princes, there had been another two factions: those who obeyed his orders and those who did not.

Then there were those wholly loyal to the Lord Daimyo, as well as some who, after a night of investigation and thought, had thrown their lot in with Feng and his wife.

Seven, or perhaps even more, different factions had gathered here under the Lord Daimyo's command. It was only natural that the place was full of shouting.

Yet Feng, despite being one of those factions, did not participate in the arguments within the palace. He had also ordered his subordinates not to participate.

As the planner, executor, and manipulator behind all of this, he had already arranged the outcome. There was no need to waste words here.

"Lord Daimyo has arrived. Silence, everyone."

Not long after, following the loud announcement of an attendant, the Lord Daimyo, whose face was ashen and whose eyes were clouded and dull, slowly took his seat of honor with the support of another attendant.

Clearly, Uchiha Mikio had done something to the Lord Daimyo last night. In merely one night, he had become like an entirely different person.

Feng naturally walked to the Lord Daimyo's side and performed his duties as captain of the samurai guard. Of course, those who understood knew the true situation.

As for Feng's wife, the Third Princess Aiko Hamuro, Feng led her by the hand to stand between her daimyo father and Feng.

She kept her head lowered the entire way, biting her lip and repeatedly twisting her clothes with one hand. She was lost and helpless in the face of the current situation, while her other hand tightly clutched her husband's, giving herself at least a little peace of mind.

After a while, once everyone had quieted down, the Lord Daimyo spoke indifferently.

"Because of the Crown Prince's frenzied actions, yesterday's tragedy occurred.

"The country has suffered grievous losses as a result, and its strength has greatly declined.

"Moreover, I have recently been afflicted by serious illness, and my health worsens by the day.

"I no longer have the strength to restore the affairs of the country, even if I wished to do so.

"Therefore, after thinking through the night, and for Tea Country's future,

"I have decided to pass the position of daimyo to my third daughter, Tea Country's Third Princess, Aiko Hamuro.

"This order takes effect immediately. Any who refuse to obey shall be treated as traitors.

"Guardian Sekito, from now on, Aiko and Tea Country will be in your care."

After speaking, the Lord Daimyo first looked at his daughter, Aiko Hamuro, then turned his gaze toward the crowd.

Aiko Hamuro was still at a loss. She first raised her head to look at her daimyo father, but his eyes were indifferent, offering no indication of anything.

Not knowing what to do, Aiko Hamuro turned to look at her husband, Uchiha Feng.

Feng gave her a reassuring smile, then nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Aiko Hamuro finally calmed down somewhat. She turned back toward her father and softly said,

"I will follow Father's arrangements in all things."

The others only discussed it briefly before tacitly agreeing.

Given Tea Country's current situation, everyone had expected Third Princess Aiko to take the throne. It was also a relatively good choice for Tea Country at present.

Naturally, no one had much to say about it.

After all, everyone had more pressing concerns. The capital was now fragmented into numerous factions, and what mattered was how the Lord Daimyo would deal with each faction.

This concerned the futures and lives of most people present. Everyone needed to devote all their attention to dealing with it.

The Lord Daimyo—or rather, Uchiha Feng behind the scenes—did not keep them waiting long before delivering his judgment.

"Brothers slaughtering each other, relatives turning against relatives—such conduct pains me deeply.

"But what pains me even more are those who ignored my commands and were insufficiently loyal to the Hamuro Clan.

"If not for you, yesterday's tragedy would never have happened."

The Lord Daimyo spoke angrily. He slapped the table and rose to his feet, raising his hand to point at the nobles and officials who had sided with the Eldest Prince yesterday.

He then took a breath, sat back down, and continued.

"I had publicly issued an edict, handing the position of Crown Prince to the fifth.

"Yet you people refused to obey the edict and instead continued associating with the deposed eldest.

"That gave the eldest other thoughts and led him to take arms against his brothers.

"And because of that, the fifth temporarily lost his reason and slaughtered his other relatives.

"So everything, all of it, was caused by you people who refused to obey my orders."

After saying this, the Lord Daimyo turned to Uchiha Feng.

"Guardian Sekito, throw all these people disloyal to the Hamuro Clan into the death cells.

"Investigate them thoroughly. If they merely participated in yesterday's events and committed no other crimes, demote them to commoners, confiscate their assets in Tea Country, and drive them out of Tea Country.

"If they have also committed other acts disloyal to the Hamuro Clan or harmful to Tea Country, confiscate their households and behead them all."

After saying this, the Lord Daimyo changed the subject. He turned to those who had not participated in the Crown Prince's slaughter of his relatives the previous night.

"Oh, and there is you lot as well.

"The Crown Prince is the heir. Even if he acted improperly, you could have remonstrated with him or offered your lives in protest.

"But what did you take Tea Country's heir for? You ignored his orders and distanced yourselves from him.

"Hmph. In consideration of your past contributions, I will not punish you severely. All officials shall be demoted one rank and have one year's salary withheld.

"Those originally in the samurai guard shall be demoted to the Guard Corps, while those in the Guard Corps shall be demoted to commoners.

"Guardian Sekito, you are also the captain of the samurai guard. You will handle this matter as well."

After saying all that, the Lord Daimyo spoke no further.

The scene was silent for a moment. Once everyone understood the Lord Daimyo's orders, cries of despair, pleas for mercy on their knees, and sounds of people beating their chests in regret immediately became endless.

The Lord Daimyo listened impassively, showing no reaction.

He was still under Uchiha Mikio's genjutsu and was unable to react anyway.

Since Feng intended to control Tea Country from behind the scenes, he naturally had to purge the ministers serving under the current Lord Daimyo and replace them with newcomers who would obey Feng's commands.

Only then could he ensure that, before his strength had risen enough to contend with Konoha, even if his true identity were accidentally exposed, it would not spread. That would give him more time to lie low and develop.

Therefore, no matter what the people before him did, they could not escape being cleared out of the shogunate. It was only a matter of sooner or later.

After a long time, seeing that pleading softly could not move the Lord Daimyo or make him rescind his order,

the crowd stopped acting and began to take a harder approach.

"Lord Daimyo, many nobles and ministers have already disappeared from this shogunate.

"Now you intend to move against loyal ministers and capable generals like us, who barely survived.

"Then no one will be left to govern the country, and great chaos will surely break out.

"Moreover, many people across the country are in the same boat as us, sharing honor and disgrace with us.

"If something happens to us, the people below may do something undesirable."

The Left Minister, second only to the Grand Minister among all officials, was the first to speak as the representative of those being punished today.

Then officials of every rank—councilors, advisers, administrators, and more—followed one after another, all speaking at once.

Their words all conveyed the same meaning: without us, the country will fall into disorder, and we have deep networks of connections.

In response, Uchiha Feng merely chuckled and said to the Lord Daimyo,

"Heh, it's fine. Three-legged toads are hard to find, but people who want to be officials are easy enough to find.

"Lord Daimyo, please issue an order. The vacant positions left by those being punished shall be filled by their deputies.

"If both the principal and deputy are convicted, then officials one rank below shall be promoted.

"As for convicted officials at the lowest rank, their current or newly promoted superiors shall appoint replacements."

The moment Feng finished speaking, the officials who had spoken earlier all gasped sharply, their faces turning pale with fright.

As officials, they understood the nature of officials all too well.

The pursuit of higher office and the thirst for greater power were enough to make them fight to the death even when nothing was happening.

Now that they could rightfully remove their superiors and take their positions, how could that possibly end well for them?!

Those convicted would likely be picked clean to the bone and squeezed until not even dregs remained.

As for networks bound by shared fortune and shared disgrace?

Heh, that sounded nice, but they were nothing more than communities of shared interests where officials protected one another.

The new officials would build new networks of collusion and new communities of shared interests.

The old community of interests would only try to squeeze its way into the new one so that everyone could rise in rank and get rich together.

Very few would do anything for these people who had lost their power merely because of some supposed bond of shared honor and disgrace.

They understood this well, because as officials, that was exactly how they themselves behaved.

For example, why had the Left Minister, who had been the first to threaten the Lord Daimyo, gathered with the old Crown Prince—the Eldest Prince?

Was it not because he wanted to bring down the Grand Minister, the only person above him among all officials, and take that position for himself?

"Very well. Do as Guardian Sekito has said."

Without waiting for anyone else to speak, the Lord Daimyo directly accepted Feng's proposal, completely crushing the last shred of hope in the hearts of those convicted.

Knowing they would certainly be punished, the group looked as though their souls had been sucked out. They instantly collapsed to the ground, utterly motionless.

"Very well. From today onward, Aiko, you are Tea Country's daimyo. Move back into the Imperial Residence.

"If anyone has business, they should seek the new daimyo. There is no need to come to me anymore.

"Starting today, I will no longer manage affairs. I will remain at home and peacefully enjoy my retirement."

The Lord Daimyo continued. After saying this, he ignored everyone's reactions and returned to his room under the support of an attendant. In truth, however, Uchiha Mikio was controlling him and sending him back to the inner residence to continue selecting women day and night, striving to send him to his grave as soon as possible.

After the Lord Daimyo left, Feng helped his wife, Aiko Hamuro, sit in the daimyo's seat.

Knowing that his wife most likely understood nothing about the situation, he leaned close to Aiko's ear and softly said,

"Aiko, don't be nervous. Just say, 'My ministers, follow my father's orders and withdraw to carry out your duties.'"

"Oh... o-okay.

"My ministers, follow my father's orders and withdraw to carry out your duties."

After hearing him, Aiko Hamuro first took a moment to settle her nervous, helpless emotions, then gave the order as Feng had instructed.

Once Aiko Hamuro had spoken, Feng took Aiko and left as well.

He was going back with Aiko to move their belongings. From now on, the two of them would live in the Daimyo Palace.

As for the matter of dealing with people, which the Lord Daimyo had mentioned, Feng handed it over to the clever Sada Hidemasa.

Even many of Tea Country's future governmental affairs would be handed over to those below him.

As for himself, he would naturally focus on training and improving his strength.

This was the Ninja World, a world with the extraordinary power known as chakra. In such a world, individual strength was the foundation of everything.

Feng would not be foolish enough to think that controlling Tea Country meant he could rest easy and enjoy himself.

Although in the near future, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, he could indeed do nothing and rely on Naruto and Sasuke to save the world,

what about afterward? The anime had not shown it, but how would he deal with the future, which was almost certain—the Ōtsutsuki Clan descending and destroying the Ninja World!?

Would he sit and wait for death? Or pin his hopes on some new savior?

Feng had been Chinese in his previous life. His ancestors had long carved the spirit of relying on oneself rather than begging others, of saving the world oneself rather than hoping for a savior, into the bones and souls of every Chinese person. He could not do something so foolish as to rely entirely on others.

Even everything Feng was doing in Tea Country now served only one purpose: helping him improve his own strength more effectively.

Otherwise, why would he go to such lengths and expend so much effort on all this? While it allowed him to control Tea Country more completely, it also made him famous, drew the attention of many people, and greatly increased the chances of his true identity being exposed.

If he had been like Orochimaru or Obito Uchiha in the anime, secretly controlling a daimyo or Kage from the shadows, he could have lain low more simply, safely, and with less chance of exposure.

But that would have helped his strength grow far too little, which was why Feng had not done so.