"Lord Tobirama, is this how shinobi treat their guests?!"
Left stranded outside the barrier, Princess Aoi, Muneshito, and their entourage had waited for hours-until dusk fell, until the moon rose over the treetops, until even the beasts in the forest began stirring. Only then did Tobirama Senju finally arrive, alone.
Among the convoy, the accompanying officials had already begun cursing in fury. Countless hostile gazes converged on the late-arriving Tobirama, as though they would execute him by a thousand cuts for his insolence in the very next instant.
"Please forgive me, Your Highnesses. It was an oversight on my part."
Tobirama did not even raise an eyebrow at malice of this caliber. Though apologies kept spilling from his mouth, anyone with two functioning eyes could see just how perfunctory and indifferent he was.
To Tobirama, curses of this level were nothing. When it came to viciousness and treachery, how could these ordinary people compare with shinobi who slaughtered one another amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood?
"Konoha was only founded recently, after all, and construction of the barrier is at a critical stage. Please forgive our inadequate hospitality, Your Highnesses."
As if Tobirama, with his extraordinary sensory abilities, could have missed their movements. He had done it on purpose.
Such an imposing convoy, such lavish, stately attendants-one glance was enough to tell that nobles were behind it. When had Konoha's country bumpkins ever seen anything like this? If he let them parade through the village in broad daylight, wouldn't the two inside the carriage steal all the limelight?
Tobirama had no intention of letting that happen.
The village had been founded six years ago, and the Daimyō and nobles still held enormous influence among civilians and some small and medium-sized shinobi clans. A procession like Princess Aoi and