Chapter 177 - 175: Yet Another One

"Sigh, I feel like I've attended more conferences this year than in all my previous life combined." Azula couldn't help but complain at the beginning of yet another meeting that she definitely had not missed while she was away.

Shikoku's mouth twitched. "If that's the case, then I feel like I've worked more in the past few days than ever before. How about I take a vacation now that you're back?"

He looked at Azula with genuine hope in his eyes. During her absence, Tajima had been in charge in general, but Shikoku had been in charge of all the paperwork, because whether it was Tajima or Orochimaru, neither of them cared about such 'boring' work.

Through heaven and earth, the Nara had been buried alive by forms, requisitions, and mission reports, and his only consolation had been the fantasy of dumping it all back on Azula the moment she returned.

Azula smiled at him, giving him a brief flicker of hope before shattering it with her next sentence. "I, your Hokage, went on a mission to Kumo, Ame, and Kiri in the span of a few days without rest, and you, who stayed in the village in warmth and comfort, are thinking about a vacation?"

She tilted her head, her expression suggesting she was already calculating how to double his workload. "It seems your duties aren't big enough if you have time to think about such ridiculous ways of slacking."

"Hey, no, no, no," he waved his hands rapidly. "I was just joking. You know me, we've been together since we were children, I'm not the type to slack off. Among the Nara, I have a very good reputation. Ask anyone. Please don't ask anyone, just trust me."

Tajima watched the exchange between Azula and Shikoku and chuckled. Some dynamics never changed, no matter how many world-shaking events happened around them.

"It just so happens that I may need a hand organizing some data that I haven't yet had the time to process," Orochimaru interjected smoothly, completely ignoring the deeply resentful look Shikoku immediately aimed at him.

Outside the meeting room, there was someone whose thoughts were spiraling into complete and utter chaos.

Every office and chamber in the Hokage's mansion was covered in so many seals that eavesdropping was basically almost impossible unless the person inside allowed it.

So Tobirama was absolutely certain Azula had let him listen on purpose, which was precisely why he was doing his best not to enter the room and blast everyone inside with a Water Dragon Bullet.

What exactly happened to the village elders? How dare they let three children, none of them even sixteen, occupy such important positions?

And the oldest among them is an Uchiha, of all things.

Tobirama, who had been slowly, grudgingly accepting Azula after witnessing her prowess firsthand, was now experiencing a full-scale mental breakdown.

He realized he really needed to find Hiruzen and give him a very thorough beatdown. He had given that man his trust, his village, his legacy, and Hiruzen had led it to this?

A teenage Uchiha running the show while a Nara kid handled the paperwork and his own student was just a background character?

'Maybe I should have chosen Danzō after all. At least he was decisive.' Tobirama sighed internally, genuinely entertaining the possibility. 'Though he did freeze up at the critical moment. Still, he wouldn't have let children take over the village.'

"Speaking of managing, how do you plan to deal with Danzō?" Tajima said, steering the conversation back to more immediate concerns, "And the Hyūga too? I feel that internal problems should be solved before anything else."

If there was one thing Tajima hated to his core, it was traitors and those who created problems from within.

"Danzō?" Orochimaru raised his eyebrows. "So he did have a problem, just as I suspected."

Shikoku, who had been buried in paperwork for the past few days and completely out of the intelligence loop, asked the obvious question. "What did Danzō do?"

As for the Hyūga, he didn't need to ask. He already knew it would be nothing more than certain elders causing trouble for Azula, since plenty of clans and families had issues with her reforms but especially the Hyūga, as she specifically seems intended to deal with their Caged Bird Seal.

Even his own Nara clan had their objections, though they were wise enough to keep those objections to themselves and wait to see how things played out.

Azula and Tajima both looked at Orochimaru, catching something in his tone that went beyond mere deduction.

"Danzō contacted me two days after you left," Orochimaru said, a small, intriguing smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "He was being all mysterious about it, saying we could cooperate, though he didn't state what exactly he wanted. Just told me that I would eventually come to see him once I understood what he was offering."

Outside the door, Tobirama felt a cold knot of unease begin to form in his stomach.

"Hmph." Tajima snorted. "He planted a seal on several ANBU operatives. The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, created by the Second Hokage himself. He wants to control the ANBU from the shadows."

"Oh?" Shikoku could smell trouble from miles away, and this particular trouble stank of decades-old conspiracy.

"It seems I overestimated him," Azula said, and she sounded genuinely disappointed, like someone who had been promised a grand feast and received a cold bowl of plain rice. "I thought he would do something more interesting, but then again, one shouldn't have expectations for someone who appears strong on the surface but is a coward deep down."

"But what about the Hyūga clan?" she asked, her voice dropping into something much more serious. "How deeply are they involved?"

The Hyūga's Caged Bird Seal did protect the Byakugan from theft, and it did prevent many branch members from being targeted by foreign enemies. Azula acknowledged that much.

But the way the main branch used it, the way they treated their own family like servants and disposable tools, that was nothing more than an excuse wrapped in tradition.

She had become Hokage not long ago and had far too much to deal with initially, so apart from issuing a warning at the beginning, she hadn't paid them much attention. And yet they dared to cause trouble for her now?

She was almost hoping they were planning something serious. Something serious enough that she could wipe out all their old fogies while holding the moral high ground and looking completely justified doing it.

"From what I've gathered, it's mostly Hisashi who seems most dissatisfied with you," Tajima said. "Not only did he ally himself with Danzō, he also managed to convince most of the conservative elders to his side. Though until now, his faction hasn't taken any concrete action."

He sighed, as if genuinely pitying Hisashi for not acting and therefore not giving them a reason to eliminate him.

Hisashi was from the same generation as Tajima's father, a man who used tradition and age as shields, clinging to power with both hands while remaining fundamentally cowardly toward anyone truly strong, licking Hashirama and Tobirama's boots.

"It doesn't matter," Azula waved her hand dismissively. "He's not acting yet? Then I'll give him a reason to act."

Shikoku watched the father and daughter calmly scheming about the ex-patriarch of the Hyūga clan and felt a bitter smile creep across his face.

'Is this really alright?' He thought about it from every angle.

According to the education he'd received, it should be wrong to scheme against an elder who was merely dissatisfied and seeking alliances but hadn't actually done anything yet.

But he also knew Azula had never been the type to wait for someone else to make the first move. She was always proactive. Always ten steps ahead.

'What a drag,' he concluded. 'Anyway, I'm just the paperwork guy. I don't have much say or real power, so this doesn't concern me, right? Right.'

Tajima and Orochimaru, meanwhile, had no such internal conflicts. To them, this was simply how things should be done. How could anyone talk about leading a village without doing exactly this?

"Alright, since you have a plan, I'll trust you on that," Tajima said, visibly relaxing. He was no longer anxious about what kind of strange ideas his daughter might come up with.

At worst, once she had her Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, all problems would become insignificant in the face of her absolute power anyway.

Seeing the subject being set aside for now, Orochimaru finally asked a question that had been nagging at his curiosity. "I heard that you proposed some kind of world-shattering plan at the summit, something that would fundamentally change the ninja world. What exactly is it about?"

They all knew Azula had gone to the Kage Summit with the mentality of watching an entertaining show and hadn't cared much about the proceedings.

And yet, apparently, she had pulled something massive out of nowhere. But then again, Azula was exactly the kind of person who did things the moment she found them interesting, regardless of what anyone else expected.

"It was about uniting the shinobi world under one banner," she explained. "The cooperation between villages that I've discussed before, but on a much larger scale this time. Other villages cooperating with each other as well, not just with Konoha."

Although she didn't explain it thoroughly, everyone in the room had a high IQ and understood exactly what she was planning. The implications were clear. The scale was staggering. It was just arriving far earlier than any of them had anticipated.

"Wait!" Shikoku suddenly exclaimed, his face going pale. "You want to create an international government? Do you have any idea how many forms that requires?"

His brain was already starting to smoke just imagining the sheer volume of paperwork, even if he wasn't doing it all himself, he would definitely have to supervise the nightmare.

Before Azula could respond, Orochimaru, standing off to the side, realized another implication entirely. "A unified shinobi world with shared resources and open borders. The scientific implications alone are staggering."

He was already thinking about what excu—reasons he could come up with to borrow Forbidden Jutsu and rare research materials from other villages.

"Anyway, this is a project that will take some time," Azula said, bringing them both back to reality. "There are far more urgent matters that require your energy right now."

Orochimaru and Shikoku nodded, though Shikoku's nod was noticeably reluctant. He knew that even in the earliest planning stages, he would probably be the one most buried in the work. Some things never changed.

(END OF THE CHAPTER)

Yup, end of the busy schedule finally