That night, Uchiha Tonan led the North City Guard members to wipe out all the big and small underground organizations in the entire North City area. To get his hands on a sizeable sum of money in the shortest possible time, he could only use these means.
In his rough estimate, he had harvested total assets of nearly 300 million Ryo in this trip.
The next morning, the street outside the North City Guard Residence was filled with members of several underground organizations. Tonan’s shadow clone once again gave a passionate speech on the duties of the North City Guard and the need to end the scum of society in the interest of the people.
He harshly criticized these prisoners’ crimes and even added fuel to fire in some aspects. Not to mention the serious crimes, even the smaller ones were exaggerated in great detail. As a result, the onlooking people were indignant and their sense of justice soared.
Regardless of whether these people would have been executed according to the Land of Fire’s rules or not, each of them was slaughtered by Tonan’s people. Not that he had an option in this matter. After all, he had taken their wealth secretly, and if they were judged according to the rules, then these properties would be confiscated. His only choice was to kill every last one of them.
Many civilians witnessed this act of righteousness. In recent years, they were more or less oppressed and bullied by these underground organizations. Now that they were finally brought to justice, the masses applauded it wholeheartedly. For a moment, Tonan’s reputation spread far and wide in the Fire Capital. There was no one who had not heard of his feats. He gained the acknowledgment of many people as well.
With the last haul, Tonan’s total assets now reached roughly 600 million Ryo. His short-term objective of coming to the Fire Capital was achieved.
Just like this, some time had elapsed. These days, every morning, Abe Seimei-Tonan went to the study hall on time to teach the two highnesses. And he would find various opportunities and reasons to whip Naraku out of his teacherly love.
The Daimyo obeyed Tonan’s advice. He kept Nahara with him at all times and treated him warmly, letting him play around as he pleased.
After some time, this differential treatment fell into the eyes of the people who harbored their own agendas. Soon, the entire Daimyo Residence and even some influential officials were secretly discussing the situation.
“His Majesty has been very kind to the Second Highness recently… why do I feel like he wants to pass the throne to the Second Highness?”
“No, let’s not talk about the long tradition of passing the throne to the eldest son, just taking character and temper into consideration, the First Highness is far ahead of the Second Highness.”
“But didn’t you notice a point? Although the First Highness has a steady character, he looks a bit dull. Although the Second Highness’s character is different, he is more assertive. He dares to break convention and he is a lot smarter in some aspects.”
“Speaking of this, we haven’t seen the First Highness for a long time.”
“He seems to be having big problems in his studies.”
“What leads you to think that?”
Naraku had always devoted himself to studying. In everyone’s opinion, he was a rare outstanding genius. There was no possible scenario in which he would face problems in education or any form of learning.
“I heard from the Daimyo Residence’s attendants that the First Highness is whipped by Seimei-dono almost every day because of his studying problems.”
“How can Seimei-dono treat the First Highness like that? And why is the Second Highness fine?”
“I think that Second Highness, in fact, is more intelligent than the First Highness. Haven’t you noticed it? The Second Highness’ temper has been a lot more restrained recently.”
“People grow. Otherwise, there is no reason for Seimei-dono to just teach the First Highness a lesson.”
“I think there is another possibility. The Second Highness has been concealing his true self.”
“Really!? Such endurance is truly…”
In all these years, everyone had seen Naraku’s hard work and eagerness to learn, and they all had believed he would definitely inherit the Daimyo’s position.
Therefore, many direct descendants also stood on his side, supporting and paving the path for him so that they would be placed in important positions after he inherited the throne. But now that the Second Highness suddenly gained power, many people began to gradually shift towards him.
This evening, Naraku, who had just finished applying medicine to his wounds, met his trusted confidant. During this period, not to mention having time to go out, he didn’t even have time to rest. Therefore, he could only inquire about the situation outside, from his trusted confidant.
This confidant informed the recent change in alliances and everyone’s guesses about the First Highness. After hearing him, Naraku replied with a blank expression, “I see, you can leave now.”
“Your Highness, I’ll leave you to it then.” After the trusted confidant left, Naraku sat alone on a chair. The hall seemed very empty now. Suddenly, a ferocious expression appeared on his face, and he kicked the table to the ground. Then, gasping for breath, his eyes were filled with madness as he muttered, “So what Seimei-sensei said was true after all…”
Naraku was suspicious of Tonan’s words because he was unwilling to believe that his father, who valued him greatly, would abandon him like this one day.
“I did nothing wrong, then why, father…”
Naraku sat alone in the hall until late at night. At three o’clock in the morning, he slowly got up and went to the study hall alone to wait for Tonan. After fifty minutes, Tonan stepped into the study hall and saw a dazed Naraku. His lips were pale. He blankly raised his head and stared at Tonan, “Seimei-sensei, am I too late to realize the truth?”
Tonan narrowed his eyes and solemnly asked, “Why do you say so?”
A hint of madness flashed through Naraku’s eyes but he replied in a calm voice, “My father’s transformation was too quick. I always thought I was much better than Nahara. Even so, he chose Nahara. I guess, no matter what I do in the remaining time, I won’t be able to make him change his mind.”
Tonan nodded, “You finally see it.”
A hint of a manic smile appeared on Naraku’s face, “My status is special. I always need my father’s approval if I want to leave the residence. So, it’s almost impossible to win people’s hearts.”
“That’s right,” Tonan nodded in agreement.
Naraku continued, “And those ministers seem loyal, but in fact, they are all people who sail with the wind. I guess, other than the few direct descendants that still walk beside me, all others would’ve already joined Nahara’s faction. If I had known it earlier, I would’ve thought of a way to completely control them. Unfortunately, I missed the chance.”
Recalling how they were flattering and praising him before, Naraku’s face became hideous, and his eyes were wide open. He gritted his teeth and added, “I never felt the Daimyo’s position was so important because I thought it was prepared for me since I was born. Everyone around me also said I’ll be the future Daimyo, and as long as I studied hard, my father will favor me. But now, when everything has left me, I realize how important this position is to me.”
Suddenly, he knelt in front of Tonan and crawled forward, hugging his thigh, “Sensei, please teach me. As long as you can get my position back to me, I’ll give you anything you want. Power, wealth, women, even if you want an independent land, I’ll give it to you.”
Tonan looked calm on the surface, but he was laughing in his heart. Everything was under his control. He stared at Naraku and said in an inexplicable tone, “I don’t have any solution for you right now. There’s a silver lining to everything. You would need to pay a certain price, but I wonder if you can afford it.”
When Naraku heard Tonan’s words, hope appeared on his face. He immediately nodded, “As long as I can regain my position, I can afford any price.”
Tonan pretended to think, and also pretended to have some inner struggle. He then patted Naraku’s shoulder and firmly said, “When the slumbering dragon awakens, it dares to replace the sun and the moon.”
Tonan pulled his leg out of the Naraku’s hold. He took out a sealed scroll from his pocket and put some chakra papers in front of him. “In this time, I have already taught you everything I can. So, I’ll give you a vacation. Carefully consider your future path. This is my gift to you. Perhaps, it can help you.”
After speaking, Tonan ignored Naraku’s expression and left.
In the study hall’s classroom, only Naraku was left muttering.
“Dares to… replace… the sun and the moon.”
