Ange of a Village, Yet Not an Ounce of Composure?

A moment later, the Council Chamber's side door opened again. The four guards who had delivered the reports retrieved the secret letters and returned to their respective leaders.

Each held a black-and-gold letter sealed with dark wax. The crest of the Daimyō's Office of the Land of Fire was stamped squarely over each seal.

Ōnoki glanced at the crest, and his guard went up.

The Daimyō of the Land of Fire had sent messengers all the way into the frozen Land of Iron. They clearly had not come to ask whether anyone had eaten breakfast.

"What does that fat bastard want now?"

Raikage A had the shortest fuse. He snatched the thick letter.

He dragged his thumb roughly across the seal, cracking the wax.

A first checked the end of the letter. Once he spotted the distinctive chip along the edge of the Daimyō's personal seal, he flipped back to the beginning.

The letter opened with hollow official talk of solidarity and a shared duty to uphold justice.

A had read only three lines before he snorted.

These idle nobles always talked in circles. They buried every important point under layers of bureaucratic drivel.

Two paragraphs later, A's eyes stopped on one line, and his irritation faded.

The letter stated plainly that the Daimyō of the Land of Fire wished to ally with the Land of Lightning and attack Konoha together.

If the Raikage sent troops, the Hidden Cloud would receive a share of Konoha's mineral resources and certain border interests after the war.

A checked the last page again. There was no countersignature from the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, only the chipped personal seal of the Daimyō of the Land of Fire.

This was no treaty between two nations. The Daimyō of the Land of Fire wanted