Chapter 50: Conniving Officials, Master Chigo
Notes:
The Land of Wind is one of the more prominent countries in the Shinobi World, located to the southwest of the Land of Fire; Suna is its hidden village.
Daimyo is the political leader of a country, responsible for all decisions concerning the country including privileges to the hidden village.
Wind Daimyo is the government leader of the Land of Wind.
The Land of Hot Water is a country that shares borders with the Land of Frost, the Land of Sound, and the Land of Fire.
The Land of Lightning, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, is located northeast of the Land of Fire.
Heika, equivalent to ‘Majesty’, is the most formal style of nobility in Japan.
As Team Nine left Konoha for its first B-ranked mission, at the Daimyo Residence of the Land of Wind, a high-profiled meeting was underway.
The Wind Daimyo sat behind a curtain with his officials sitting below on both sides.
“Fire Temple’s Master Chigo is going to the Hot Water Temple to discuss Buddhist doctrine. What do you all think about this latest development?” the daimyo’s deep voice came from behind the curtain.
An old man seated in the front thought for a while and replied, “This situation is anything but reassuring. It seems to just be a Buddhist debate, but in fact, it’s the Land of Fire throwing an olive branch to the Land of Hot Water.”
The daimyo was stunned for a moment. Not convinced, he asked, “Miyaji-dono, why would you think so?”
Miyaji narrowed his eyes slightly, stroked his beard, and said, “This may be an anecdote for ordinary people, but for Buddhists, it’s a rare grand event. Even if they had to crawl all the way, they would go there. Many a grain of sand piled up to make a pagoda, and little drops of water make the mighty ocean! No one knows how many Buddhists are there in the Ninja World. When the time comes, they will flock together, and once so many gather, it will boost the economy.”
“Moreover, if this debate is brilliant and has enough influence, then, for the years to come, Hot Water Temple will become a sacred place. At that time, as long as the Land of Fire extends some assistance, the Land of Hot Water’s national power will snowball. Realizing the benefits, perhaps, the two will completely side with each other.”
The more the daimyo mulled over Miyaji’s analysis, the more he agreed. He sighed deeply and said, “At first, I thought it was just a small event. I never thought it would have such deep ramifications. It seems that the relationship between those two countries is getting closer. Just had to hear such bad news early in the morning. Miyaji-dono, I wonder if you have any countermeasures.”
Miyaji smiled inwardly, lightly coughed, and answered, “Heika, between Fire Temple’s Master Chigo and the Hot Water Temple’s monks, who do you think is better at Buddhist doctrine?”
“Master Chigo, undoubtedly.”
“I may have an inept plan.” Miyaji stood up, placed his hands behind his back, and continued, “Imagine the Hot Water Temple loses the debate, leading to a complete loss of face. And in retaliation, they issue a contract to assassinate Master Chigo. Does this sound believable?”
“Well…” The officials present exchanged awkward looks. They didn’t know whether they could speak candidly or not against a senior official. Miyaji slightly squinted his eyes and said with a smile, “It seems it’s not plausible enough, but that doesn’t matter. No matter how bad a lie is, there will always be some fools who believe it. Especially those ignorant Buddhist believers.”
The daimyo carefully asked, “Is Miyaji-dono suggesting…”
Miyaji bowed towards the curtain and slowly articulated his plan, “Make the virtuous and prestigious Master Chigo sleep forever in the Land of Hot Water.”
As soon as he voiced this, a young official stood up and refuted, “I think Miyaji-sama’s proposal is flawed. Anyone with a discerning eye could see through such an ill-founded plan.”
Once he spoke up, other officials, who disagreed with the plan, also joined in. Miyaji however, still looked confident. Completely unaffected, he said, “I know this plan has pitfalls but as long as Chigo dies, Heika can just send people to fan the rumors. The first rumor is that the Hot Water Temple monks felt inferior to Master Chigo’s Buddhist practice and became jealous enough to hire a contract killer to assassinate him.”
“As for the second rumor, the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire’s alliance threatened the Land of Lightning. Therefore, they got Master Chigo assassinated, destroying the diplomatic relations between the two nations.”
After Miyaji spoke, the daimyo and his officials fell into deep thought. Miyaji sat down on his seat and leisurely said, “If it were just one rumor, I fear not even a handful would trust it. After all, faced with a single rumor, people would subconsciously choose to either accept it or not. But with two rumors, they would choose to believe the more obvious one.”
Behind the curtain, the daimyo rubbed his palms and laughed, “It’s a good strategy. The dogs of these two countries will bite each other. Kofu, send someone to Suna to issue an S-ranked mission.”
“Wait a minute.” Miyaji interrupted, “I don’t think Suna should take this task. It’s better to send someone to the Underground Bounty Station and issue a bounty mission. Let the rogue ninjas do this. When people investigate, they wouldn’t reach our Land of Wind.”
……
After the discussion was over, all officials walked out of the Daimyo Residence. One of the older officials followed Miyaji, and asked, “Miyaji-sama, is there anything else behind this move?”
Miyaji stopped, pretending to casually look around. He lowered his voice and replied, “Do you mean I was being an alarmist just a moment ago?”
“I think we both know the answer to that.”
Miyaji placed his hands behind his back, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, “It’s not like you don’t know the situation of the last few years. Heika has begun placing new people in important positions. We few are the only officials from the older generation. If we don’t do something to make him feel a sense of crisis, showing our value in passing, I fear we’ll have to retire and return home.”
“Once we lose our powers, the question will be whether we can die peacefully or not. Just look at what happened today. Even before I finished speaking, some rookies began to counter me. They don’t attach any importance to us old fellows.”
Another official nodded hearing Miyaji’s words and said, “That’s true. The current juniors are full of idealism. They don’t see the reality. Recently, the state of affairs between the nations has become tense again. Our finance is also getting tighter. Two days ago, Suna sent a letter asking to increase this year’s military expenditure.”
Miyaji frowned and asked, “Did Heika agree?”
“No.”
Miyaji nodded, moved his head closer to the person’s ear, and whispered, “Help me take care of something. I don’t like that youth from today. Go and tell Suna that he is embezzling public money and taking bribes. Ask them to send some ninjas to investigate him. As long as conclusive proofs are placed in front of me, I’ll privately donate 500 million Ryo.”
Miyaji patted the person’s shoulder lightly and turned around to leave. Just after a few steps though, as if he thought of something, he said, “It doesn’t matter whether the proofs are real or fake. As long as it can prove his crime, it’s enough.”
………
Two days later, Namikaze Minato’s party arrived at the Fire Temple. Seeing them at the temple’s gate, a sweeper monk put his palms together and said, “You gentlemen must be the Konoha ninjas.”
Minato nodded and took out the mission sheet from his bag. He handed it to him and said, “Yes, this is the mission proof.”
After examining the sheet, the monk returned it to Minato and said, “Master Chigo is meditating. Please follow me.”
The group followed the monk to the meditation room, which was located in the temple’s backyard. At this moment, Master Chigo was mediating and chanting sutras. But suddenly he frowned. He opened his eyes and muttered, “What a pure evil desire.”
Just as he said this, there was a knock on the door.
“Master Chigo, the ninjas from Konoha have arrived.”
“Bring them in.”
Minato’s party walked into the room and bowed to Master Chigo. They greeted, “We pay our respect to Master Chigo.”
With a smile on his face, Chigo put his palms together and said, “There is no need to be so courteous. I’ll have to rely on you during this journey.”
“This is our mission.”
“You all should rest here in the Fire Temple tonight. We’ll set out early tomorrow.”
“Alright.”
At this moment, Chigo’s gaze fell on Uchiha Tonan. He took out a Buddhist scripture from his bosom and said with a smile, “Young fellow with glasses, I have a scripture here for you. You can read it if you are interested. It can cleanse the soul.”
Tonan hastily put his palms together and respectfully took the scripture. “Many thanks, Master Chigo. I will read it carefully after I go back.”
“What does this old man mean by giving me a Buddhist scripture without any rhyme or reason? Could he be another Kushina?”
