"It's for you, that's right," Granduncle Tobirama said evenly. "Open it and see."
Hibari gave him a puzzled look, then opened the envelope and read it without trying to hide anything.
Before long, his eyebrows rose, and his expression turned a little strange.
After a long while, he set the finished letter on the desk and said, "Have the people at the Daimyo's Court lost their minds? Of all the people they could pick, they want me? I think Uncle Shin would be a fine choice. Otherwise..."
The letter had indeed been sent directly to Hibari by the Land of Fire's Daimyo's Court. And it was no small matter, either-they were actually inviting him to join the court's Twelve Guardian Ninja.
The Twelve Guardian Ninja had a long history. Even before Great-uncle Hashirama and the others founded the hidden villages, the various daimyo had maintained forces directly under their command, though they also hired reputable ninja clans for jobs.
The strongest force under the Land of Fire's daimyo was the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
With the founding of the hidden villages, however, the military landscape of every nation had changed dramatically.
In the past, ninja had not been deployed as large-scale combat forces. They mostly carried out smaller missions, while samurai and ordinary soldiers fought on the front lines, where the slaughter was exceptionally brutal.
The founding of the hidden villages later brought other uses for ninja to the nations' attention. After years of development, the military strength of the Five Great Nations had essentially shifted toward...
It had all become concentrated in their respective hidden villages, with the Five Kage serving as the supreme leaders of those five military organizations.
Although most ninja lived in the villages, the daimyo still needed a few people around to guard their homes, didn't