December 15, Year 35 of the Land of Night. (Year 26 of Konoha.)
The inauguration ceremony for Oda Doichi, the Land of Night's second shogun, was held at the Central Assembly Hall in the capital, Nightview City.
The vast exhibition hall had been cleaned until its windows gleamed and not a speck of dust remained. A red carpet ran from the entrance to the ceremonial platform at the front, while the delicate scent of flowers drifted through the air.
The hall was divided into ten sections. Sections five and six stood at its center, separated by a wide aisle.
More people sat in these two sections than in the others, though the seats were still not full.
After all, everyone there was either a relative of the shogun or a senior official in the Land of Night's central or local administration.
Sections one through four were packed with the Land of Night's middle and upper management.
They included Military Bureau personnel, government workers, and researchers who had made outstanding contributions.
Finally, sections seven through ten were reserved for foreign delegations. Representatives of the Five Great Nations sat at the front, while those from smaller countries sat behind them. The hierarchy could not have been clearer.
Numerous camera crews had also been stationed around the hall to broadcast the ceremony, sound and picture alike, to the Land of Night's major towns.
The foreign guests found the ceremony novel. As far as they knew, no country had ever held an inauguration quite like this.
Some Daimyo even wondered whether they should arrange a retirement ceremony like it someday.
The delegations from the shinobi villages felt their scalps tingle. Did an inauguration really need to be this complicated?
Couldn't the new Kage or leader just stand somewhere high, announce himself to the crowd