Tobirama Senju dragged the assassin off to threaten and coax Zhixing, the head of the Date House.
Zhixing was a lord, after all. He might not have been strong, but he was a "smart man."
He learned that Saionji had actually intended to drive a wedge between the Senju Clan and the Date House by framing them.
Zhixing immediately agreed to the "price increase" Tobirama Senju demanded. Following Tobirama Senju's suggestion, he also had Senju Longshu dump the assassin at a particular location.
The Date House was filthy rich and did not care about such a small increase.
Spending a little money for peace of mind meant living to spend more. The Senju Clan's asking price was not unreasonable, so Zhixing was quite happy to pay.
And then...
Yanbai and his two brothers returned to their days of eating and drinking to their hearts' content.
Seated in the highest viewing box, Yanbai and his two older brothers had a colorful spread of the Land of Pines' traditional cuisine laid out before them.
Below the viewing box was a kabuki performance.
Yanbai could appreciate the performances if he treated them as acrobatics.
But after watching for a while, he lost interest.
A group of actors paraded about the stage in gaudy costumes, their faces powdered deathly white. Their performances seemed to depict amusing stories from contemporary society, but their outfits gave them a mysterious, frightening air. Their painted faces were especially bizarre, and their expressions wildly exaggerated.
The symbolism in these performances was rather overblown too. Red represented blood, while black represented filth and evil.
Well, red and black-the Uchiha Clan had both covered...
"Yanbai, when are you going to cook? The food in the Land of Pines tastes awful," Hashirama Senju grumbled under his breath.
They were receiving the finest