The Duke of Divine Might ascended the throne! The doom of the Land of Earth's old nobility!
Konoha ushered in its twilight amidst despair and bloodshed.
Meanwhile, in the capital of the Land of Earth, a thousand miles away, the rising sun was preparing to welcome a new master.
The Daimyo of the Land of Earth, once the most majestic and sacred place in the city and even the country, is now filled with an atmosphere of oppression and panic.
Inside the spacious hall, large enough to accommodate thousands of people for a court assembly, all the prominent old nobles and ministers of the Land of Earth gathered. They wore their most magnificent court robes, yet their faces were deathly pale, and they whispered among themselves, their expressions even more unsightly than those of people attending a funeral.
The obese man, who had abdicated and now only held the awkward title of "former daimyo," sat uneasily beneath what was once his throne. He kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with a silk handkerchief, his eyes glancing fearfully toward the palace entrance every now and then.
Beside him stood Ōnoki also looked solemn.
" Lord Tsuchikage... no, Ōnoki." The former daimyo lowered his voice, almost whispering, "Is Duke of Divine Might really coming? What kind of etiquette does he prefer? Should we prepare a song, dance, and feast?"
Ōnoki glanced at him, his eyes filled with a mixture of pity and disdain.
Singing and dancing? A grand feast?
Do you think you're welcoming some prince? You're welcoming a prehistoric behemoth that could devour you whole, skin and bones, at any moment!
"Shut your mouth and put away your rotten nonsense," Ōnoki said coldly. "When that person arrives, answer whatever he asks. If he doesn't ask, you'd better kneel there obediently, and preferably not let him hear you breathe. Otherwise, I can't guarantee your head will still be on your neck."
The former lord trembled with fear and fell silent instantly.
Just then, a series of uniform, metallic footsteps sounded outside the main hall.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound was not loud, but it was like a heavy hammer, striking the hearts of everyone in the hall again and again.
The two heavy golden nanmu doors of the main hall were slowly pushed open by an invisible force.
Sunlight streamed in from outside, casting a long, slender shadow.
Uchiha Gen'yō, dressed in a seemingly ordinary but actually exquisitely crafted black robe with gold trim, Earth Flow without any guards.
His steps were unhurried, his eyes calm as still water, as if he were walking not into the power center of a great nation, but into his own backyard.
But the moment he stepped into the hall, all the self-proclaimed noble old aristocrats inside felt an indescribable, terrifying pressure emanating from the level of life itself.
They seemed to see an endless starry sky, mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and a steel Divine Kingdom slowly rising, powerful enough to crush everything in the world.
Thump! Thump!
Led by the former daimyo and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, everyone in the hall, including those stubborn nobles who had previously harbored illusions and believed that the law could not punish the masses, knelt down involuntarily at this moment.
They pressed their foreheads deeply against the cold, white marble floor, their bodies trembling violently with fear.
No one dared to look up at the man.
"Greetings, Duke of Divine Might!"
The deafening roar of worship echoed throughout the main hall.
Gen'yō had no interest in such a scene. He walked straight to the very top of the hall and stopped in front of the enormous throne carved from a single piece of obsidian, which symbolized the highest power of the Land of Earth.
He didn't sit down, but turned around, looking down at the kneeling "ants" at his feet.
"Get up, everyone." His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
The crowd felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and stood up tremblingly, but still kept their heads bowed and dared not raise their heads.
"I'm not here today to hear your praises or to see you kowtow. My time is precious, so let's get straight to the point."
Gen'yō stretched out his hand, Uchiha Inabi, who was standing next to him, immediately understood and distributed a thick stack of newly printed documents to the main ministers and nobles in the hall.
A flurry of frantic flipping of paper filled the hall.
The old nobles and ministers picked up the document with suspicion. It was printed with square Song typeface that they had never seen before, and the title made them feel even more unfamiliar and absurd than ever before.
White Paper on the Five-Year Development Plan and National System Reform of the Land of Earth (First Edition)
What is this?
"From today onwards," Gen'yō's icy voice rang out again, providing them with an answer.
" The Land of Earth will no longer have 'Daimyo' or 'Nobles'. This country will be supremely governed by me and the ' National Development and Reform Commission ' appointed by me."
"Your so-called 'fiefdoms' will all be nationalized and re-divided into 'administrative districts' and 'special economic zones'."
"Your so-called 'vassals' and 'private armed forces' will all be disbanded and incorporated into the ' Divine Kingdom Territorial Strategic Defense and Logistics Support Department,' or ' Divine Kingdom Support Department ' for short."
"Your 'taxation rights' and 'trade privileges' will also be abolished. In their place will be unified 'production quotas' and 'resource allocation plans' formulated by the committee."
"In short," Gen'yō paused, his gaze sweeping over the faces contorted with shock, anger, and bewilderment, before uttering the most earth-shattering words in the calmest tone.
"From this day forward, you are no longer dukes or marquises. You have only one identity—regional managers for the development of the Divine Kingdom, or unemployed people awaiting their jobs. Your value is no longer determined by your bloodline, but by how much GDP you can generate for this country each year."
GDP?
Regional Manager?
Unemployed?
One after another, the unfamiliar new words struck like heavy hammers, leaving the feudal nobles dizzy and almost fainting on the spot.
They didn't understand the specific meaning of the words, but they understood one thing—this man wanted to take everything away from them! To strip them of all the privileges they had inherited from their ancestors and were born with!
How can this be!
"I... I object!"
Finally, an old nobleman with white hair and beard, dressed in a purple ducal robe, could no longer suppress his anger and his desire to uphold tradition, and stepped forward shakily.
He is Duke Ishida, the most senior and largest fiefdom in the Land of Earth, and his family history is even longer than that of the Land of Earth itself.
" Duke of Divine Might!" Duke Ishida's voice trembled with emotion. "By doing this, you are going against the centuries-old traditions of the Land of Earth! The lands of my Ishida Family were personally granted by the founding monarch! The samurai of my Ishida Family have been loyal to the Ishida Family for generations! This is a sacred right enshrined in the national code! You cannot simply abolish it!"
His words expressed the sentiments of most of the nobles present.
A murmur of agreement immediately filled the hall.
All eyes were on Gen'yō, who stood before the throne, eager to see how the new master would deal with the first dissenter to step forward.
Gen'yō looked at the indignant old man, his face completely expressionless.
He just found it somewhat amusing.
Tradition? Code?
Truth lies only within Susanoo's range.
You're talking to me about the law? Have you got something wrong?
Gen'yō didn't even bother to waste words with him; he simply extended his finger and gently tapped the old man.
Uchiha Itachi, who had been standing in the shadows beside him, moved like a ghost.
No one saw his movements clearly.
All anyone saw was a streak of dark purple lightning flashing by at incredible speed.
The next second.
Pfft!
The Duke Ishida was still giving his impassioned speech suddenly had his head thrown into the air without warning, and the blood gushing from his neck stained the screen behind him that was painted with the Ishida Family crest.
The head that had rolled to the ground still had a frozen expression of disbelief and astonishment on its face.
The hall fell into a deathly silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
Itachi's figure had already returned to behind Gen'yō, as if he had never moved. Not a single drop of blood was on his ferocious Susanoo Divine Armor armor, except for a faint arc of electricity remaining on the fingertips.
Gen'yō slowly withdrew his finger, looking down at the faces below, pale as paper from extreme fear.
He leaned down, close to the ear of the old minister who was trembling with fear, and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, softly yet with an undeniable magic:
"Is there anyone who still has objections to the company's new policy?"