Naruto: Tango with Death

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The room was thrown into a deathly silence, but my two Anbu did not show a shred of hesitation regarding Hirahisa's identity as they grabbed one of his arms each.

As he was grabbed and forcefully made to stand, Hirahisa looked stunned, not even saying anything as his eyes looked lost.

They quickly moved, but as they reached the exit Hirahisa finally struggled, to no result, and yelled, "Lord Daimyo! If you dare let that mongrel imprison me…"

He did not get to finish his sentence when one of the two Anbu carrying him sent a chop strike at the back of his neck, knocking him out.

He was then quickly carried out of sight, to one of the cells. As this happened, the Daimyo seemed to have been awakened from his daze and fear as he approached me and whispered, "Hum, Lady Shogun… well, hum, about Lord Hirahisa…"

I interrupted with a 'kind' look, "As I just said, he is no Lord anymore. He is nothing more than a convict waiting for his trial."

He tried to say, "B-but you can't just do that! He is the most powerful of the nobles, he has built himself a fearful influence over…"

I grabbed his shoulder with some force and insisted, "Let me handle this, alright? Why don't you go stand next to your son, and show a united family?"

He looked like he still had something to say, but I slightly increased my grip on his shoulder, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make my point. He looked down and nodded as he walked toward Takashi, who was looking at the entire thing with a gasp.

Pff, no wonder the country is falling apart, the Daimyo is bitch to anyone with a bigger voice. But who knows, maybe that's the exact reason he is there in the first place, maybe Hiruzen put him in place for that, and with his death, the bitch changed masters.

If that wasn't obvious enough, I don't like Daimyos. They're all pretty much useless wastes of space, they rarely contribute to anything themselves, and mostly are the tools for other people to control the masses.

Before the ninja villages, back then they were rightful leaders, but with the arrival of the villages, the Daimyos had mostly become the symbol of nostalgia, rather than power.

Just like the Emperors in Feudal Japan, the Daimyos were more symbolic than anything, with other people holding the real power. And this was especially bad with the current Daimyo.

Anyway, now that I had firmly established my dominance over the room, I said, "Now that things have been made clear, and a traitor has been apprehended, let me explain to you how things are going to go out."

I placed a hand on my sword's handle and continued, "Whatever illusions you held towards power, consider them gone. I am hereby disbanding the Council while the rebellion is still going. Also, I have noticed a sharp decrease in the harvests of the people present in the room in recent months, resulting in a famine through the country."

This time, several of them got up, one of them shouting louder than the others, "L-Lady Shogun, there is nothing we can do about this! The harvests have simply been worse than other years, so…"

"So, if I were to conduct an investigation on the ex Council, and check your books, I wouldn't find additional traces of income, or larger than usual reserves of food, would I?"

They all shut up, and the ones who stood up sat back down obediently. This made me shake my head as I added, "You all are even worse than I thought. Here's how things are going to happen. I will do what I was sent here to do, that is crush the rebellion, and you people are not going to get in my way, or things won't end well for you.

"So before any of you even think about doing something you would end up regretting, please remember that I am the Shogun, and I hold the power to bring all of you to the ground."

And with that, I am 100% certain I have made myself enemy number one for all the nobles, many of whom certainly are part of the rebellion, and the rest is corrupt. Once I'm done with the rebellion, they will be coming next.

"Alright, séance adjourned. I don't want to see any of you here again without a valid reason, or you will be thoroughly investigated, and believe me, if there's dirt, I'll find it."

They all got up, and they had learned better than talk. They all looked at their feet as they left the room like a good bunch of well trained dogs, not daring to say a word.

As they all left, I walked next to Takashi and the Daimyo, and announced, "I will be familiarizing myself with the place, and visit our newest prisoner. Once I'm done, I want to get a good look at the state of the capital, and on a larger scale, of the country. Could you send the necessary paperwork to my mansion?"

The Daimyo did not respond as Takashi nodded seriously and replied, "It will be done."

I smiled at him, a smile he returned, and I walked off. I quickly toured around the mansion, before heading to the prison, where Hirahisa was locked. As I arrived, the soldiers were surrounding his cell, looking on curiously, while the prisoner seemingly was trying to coerce them into releasing him.

But that stopped with my arrival, as it seemed word about my reputation had already spread through the palace as they not only recognized me, but got back to their post as soon as they saw me.

Hirahisa also became completely silent as he me approaching, returning to sit on his bed. I stopped near his bars, and looking at his haughty look, I said loud enough for all the nearby guards he had been talking to to hear, "This convict was stripped of everything he had before he was imprisoned, so don't believe any promise he may have made, as he will not be able to honour them."

Hirahisa looked angry, but I ignored that to ask, "Hirahisa, do you confess your crimes? Do you confess colluding with the rebellion and actively working against the Daimyo for your personal interest?"

Hirahisa spat down and replied, "Don't think you will be getting away with this, I will not stand here and take this abuse without retaliating! You should watch your back!"

"Do you confess?"

This time, he merely spat, no longer speaking. I nodded slowly and said, "Fine, have it your way. In a week's time, you will face your final judgement, and if you stand guilty, then you shall be executed."

Hirahisa looked shocked, but I walked away before he could say anything.