The Land of Fire, the Daimyō's residence.
Standing atop the Tenshu, Zou Hyuga looked down at the Land of Fire Daimyō drinking and making merry below, and at the Daimyō's Twelve Guardian Ninja protecting him from the shadows.
Even for the ruler of a nation, having so many Jonin as guards was far too extravagant.
The only explanation was that the Land of Fire Daimyō wanted to use this arrangement to establish an armed force independent of the Shinobi Village.
In fact, the Daimyō already commanded considerable military strength.
There were the monks of the Fire Temple who wielded natural energy, the samurai among the nobility who cultivated chakra, and now the first-generation Chakra Armor and weapons purchased through cooperation with the Tailed Beast Merchant Association.
Zou Hyuga was here partly because he was passing through, and partly to complete the S-rank mission the Third had assigned him: investigating the connection between the person behind the Tailed Beast Merchant Association and the Akatsuki.
Investigating himself did put Zou Hyuga in an awkward position, but he would still provide the Third with satisfactory intelligence.
The Tailed Beast Merchant Association's rapid growth owed much to the support of the Land of Fire's nobility.
And at the head of those nobles stood the restless Land of Fire Daimyō. Zou wondered whether, after receiving this intelligence, the Third would purge the villains surrounding the Daimyō.
Then again, the Third was probably still mired in scandal. He might even resign soon.
Leaving the Tenshu, Zou Hyuga returned to the Tailed Beast Merchant Association's base. He had intended to meet the Land of Fire Daimyō under another identity, but several messages from the Akatsuki immediately put that idle notion out of his mind.
Besides a summons for the members to attend a meeting, the messages included