New rules: the Five Great Villages tear down military barriers and form a united government

Sen kept both hands jammed deep in the pockets of his loose red outfit, his thick leather soles crunching noisily over the wood splinters littering the corridor.

He dug his thumbnail hard into the gap between his back teeth, pried out a bitter, rotten tea stem, and spat it into a yellow, muddy puddle beside the doorframe.

A large, murky ripple spread across the puddle.

Kakashi followed close behind, sporting dark, bluish circles under his eyes, his dead-fish gaze drooping without a shred of energy.

His green Elite Jonin vest had long since been blasted into ragged strips. Black soot and dried blood covered his face, impossible to wipe clean. He rubbed his hands together anxiously, his dry, hoarse voice cracking in the wind like a broken, leaky bellows.

"Sen, the Daimyō have a death grip on the entire world's actual money printers and purse strings.

"Our tens of thousands of crippled and wounded people in Konoha need food and medicine. They really do depend on those military appropriations to stay alive. Please don't just do whatever you feel like and completely alienate our walking cash cow. We'll all end up living on air!"

Sen stopped and rolled his eyes dramatically, his face full of disgust and impatience.

"All right, old Kakashi. Never thought that quick brain of yours would get trained into idiocy by a lousy fixed paycheck. They toss you a couple of coins like bones, and you're actually going to wag your tail and fetch them? You've become a spineless wimp. You're embarrassing our village."

Raikage A and Ōnoki exchanged looks with the other old men, their darkened faces turning the color of dried purple pig liver.

They had spent their entire lives as Kage, and fear of the Daimyo's Palace had long since taken deep root