Naruto: The Hyuga Mastermind

Chapter 103: The Daimyo Shows His Intentions

"Fuji, I'm going to be a father!"

"This is the third time I've heard that news."

"Huh?"

In the Hokage office, Minato froze, his excitement turning into awkwardness. "Who told you?"

Hyuga Fuji pointed behind him. Uchiha Fugaku, Nara Shikaku, and Tsunade stepped into the room one after another.

Seeing this, Minato scratched his head and gave a sheepish laugh.

He had been so thrilled that he couldn't help but tell everyone he saw, leading to the news spreading quickly.

"Ahem, let's move on to something else."

Minato coughed lightly, pulling out several bounty notices from the drawer to change the subject. "You've all heard about the underground black market, right?"

"Of course." Fugaku nodded solemnly, picking up one of the notices and looking at the massive bounty on it. "Right after the black market raised our bounties, their exchange sites were destroyed. To outsiders, it surely looks like Konoha was responsible."

The timing was suspicious. The high-ranking Konoha officials had just seen their bounties increase, and immediately afterward, the underground black market in the Land of Fire was attacked and reduced to ruins.

Who else could it be?

To the outside world, it had to be Konoha.

"The timing is too perfect," Shikaku agreed, his brows furrowing. "Only the black market exchanges within the Land of Fire were targeted. Some staff managed to escape, and the ones we captured all believe it was Konoha. It's… quite a—"

He paused before finishing, then muttered, "A despicable setup."

"Do you think it was staged by the black market itself?" Tsunade, lounging on the sofa, yawned tiredly. "Any proof?"

She was exhausted from all the recent work. She didn't want to deal with this at all.

"There's no direct proof," Shikaku replied gravely. "But when I sent people to investigate the exchange sites, all the money was gone."

Shikaku continued, "There are six black market exchange sites within the Land of Fire, and together they stored a total of two billion ryo. However, none of the money safes were damaged, no keys were reported missing, and yet the funds vanished into thin air."

This was almost impossible.

The black market had strong backers, but in a world of constant conflict, there were always rogue ninja willing to risk everything.

To prevent theft, the black market safes were heavily fortified and equipped with self-destruct mechanisms. Any attempt to forcibly open them would turn the money inside to ashes.

Without the proper keys, the safes couldn't be opened safely.

Yet under interrogation, captured staff revealed where the keys had been stored—keys that showed no signs of tampering.

"It doesn't add up," Shikaku said. "And the staff claim it was attackers wearing Konoha headbands. But if Konoha really had acted, do you think they would've been left alive? The staff remained unharmed, and two billion ryo vanished, suggesting it wasn't an outside force. That's why I suspect this was orchestrated internally by the black market's own backers."

"Two billion ryo?" Tsunade, who had been half-asleep, was suddenly wide awake. Her eyes sparkled as she heard the figure repeated. "Why don't we clear out the black markets in other nations too? We'd make a fortune!"

"…"

The others stared at her in silence, but Tsunade was unfazed. "Since they're already blaming us for this, and we can't clear our name anytime soon, why not take advantage of it and gain some benefits?"

"It's an interesting idea," Minato said with a laugh. "But first, we need to identify who's really behind this. Fuji, what do you think?"

Ignoring Tsunade's expectant expression, Fuji glanced at the bounty notices on Minato's desk. His eyes flickered slightly. "Your bounty is very high—twice as much as mine."

Hearing this, Shikaku frowned, sensing what Fuji was about to say. He considered interrupting but stopped himself, recalling their private conversation.

It's fine. Minato doesn't have that kind of ambition, Shikaku reassured himself.

Fuji's calm voice echoed in the room. "Including the increases to the rest of our bounties, this isn't something that ordinary nobles could afford."

"... I understand."

Minato sighed, his gaze sweeping over the group before speaking solemnly.

"But we can't be certain the daimyo was behind the bounty increases. Even if he was involved with the black market incidents, there's not much we can do about it."

Hearing Minato's response, Shikaku finally relaxed. Fugaku, however, frowned slightly but chose to remain silent.

Fuji's expression remained indifferent as he smoothly shifted the topic. "If that's the case, then the investigation will have to focus on the black market. Let's leave it to the Root Division."

"Root… that works. I'll have the Anbu assist them," Minato said, nodding as he thought of Orochimaru's recent uncharacteristic quietness.

…

"Hey, Fuji, do you really think the daimyo is involved in this?"

After leaving the meeting, Tsunade quickly caught up to Fuji, lowering her voice as she asked, "I get that the bounty increases are tied to the daimyo, but what would he gain from destroying the black market?"

Among Konoha's leadership, Tsunade was the only one whose bounty hadn't changed. The discrepancy was glaringly obvious. Even though she usually stayed out of politics, she couldn't ignore that this was the daimyo's doing.

But what did the black market have to do with him?

Fuji gave her an odd look. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because Shikaku won't tell me what he thinks, and you're the type who doesn't see me as a senior. You're always bossing me around, so I figure you don't care much about the daimyo either."

As she spoke, she subtly expressed her dissatisfaction with Fuji.

He constantly assigned her work, as if she were his subordinate.

She wasn't even Hokage!

Why did an advisor have so many responsibilities?!

They'd agreed she only needed to work hard during the Kazekage's visit, but the Kazekage had left days ago, and her workload hadn't eased.

Fuji gave her an exasperated look. He wanted to remind her that her own gambling and work delays had piled up her tasks. But knowing she already understood this and was just venting, he chose not to respond directly.

Instead, he addressed her question about the daimyo and the black market.

"It's a demonstration," Fuji explained. "The daimyo raised our bounties as a warning, but also to show his power."

Tsunade nodded.

This much she understood.

The daimyo clearly didn't want an outright confrontation with Konoha yet. However, with voices inside Konoha calling for Minato to replace him as daimyo, the daimyo needed to make his position clear.

Raising their bounties was a subtle way of doing this—showcasing his financial strength and control without taking overtly aggressive action.

After all, high bounties had always been on the heads of Kage, yet how often did anyone successfully claim them?

Fuji continued, "The daimyo has made his stance clear, and now he's waiting to see Konoha's response. If the black market incident was orchestrated by the daimyo himself, it's likely to gauge Minato's reaction."

"Ah, I see," Tsunade said, quickly connecting the dots. "No wonder you said to involve the Root Division, and Minato immediately added the Anbu. He's showing his position."

By mobilizing both the Root and Anbu for the investigation, Minato was creating a spectacle. This public effort, while loud and thorough, would ultimately avoid exposing the daimyo as the culprit, preserving the fragile balance between them.

It was Minato's way of signaling restraint and respect, avoiding further escalation of tensions.

(End of Chapter)

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