After Brook erased Tetsukata Kento, Minato quietly returned to his place.
"I wasn't joking just now. Anyone who wants to become the Daimyo of the Land of Fire can speak up now."
Brook glanced around the room, then sat back down casually.
As he spoke, several Rasengan formed in his hand. He casually infused them with different attributes, and soon multiple miniature Rasengan of varying natures spun in his palm.
The terrifying chakra radiating from them sent a chill through every clan head present.
These were techniques that could already be considered terrifying S rank ninjutsu, yet he was using them as casually as if he were playing with toys.
"If no one dares to take the position, then I'll abolish the daimyo system altogether and choose a few members of the Nara clan to govern the country."
His words instantly stirred the thoughts of the Uchiha, the Hyuga, and even the Sarutobi clan.
But it was only a passing temptation.
No one truly wanted to fight for the position, because everyone knew it was a scorching hot potato.
On the surface, the power of a daimyo seemed even greater than that of a Hokage.
A daimyo was the supreme ruler of an entire nation, while a Kage was only the leader of a single village.
But the roots of the daimyo system were far more complicated than they appeared.
Back in the Warring States Period, ninja clans were scattered across the land, each occupying its own territory and fighting endlessly against one another. At that time, the daimyo's authority was nowhere near as overwhelming as it was now, because the ninja clans existed everywhere, constantly waging war, and the productivity of ordinary civilians was pitifully low. Under those conditions, neither the daimyo's residence nor the ninja clans had it easy.
Then Hashirama Senju appeared.
Under the "persuasion" of his fists, the system of one village per country was established.
The scattered ninja clans were gathered into one place and made to form ninja villages. The endless direct warfare between clans was greatly reduced. At the same time, each ninja village became the strongest military institution in its respective nation, supported by the resources of the entire country.
Of course, ninja villages still needed to earn money through missions to maintain themselves and support their clans.
In order to control these increasingly powerful ninja villages, each country created strict rules governing the entry and exit of ninja villages, doing everything possible to separate ordinary civilians from ninjas.
This one country, one village system drastically reduced the wars between ninja clans scattered across different territories.
After all, the Senju and Uchiha, the two strongest clans of the age, had personally taken the lead in establishing Konoha, so countless other clans followed.
Later, when the Daimyo of the Land of Fire issued missions targeting stubborn and arrogant ninja clans, no clan could survive the combined assault of the Senju and Uchiha.
Once several clans were wiped out as examples, the remaining clans no longer had a choice. They either abandoned their own lands and moved into Konoha, becoming major clans within the village, or they remained outside the system and risked extinction.
Those who refused to join either took refuge under the daimyo or kept a low profile.
But if they kept a low profile, their inheritance gradually declined. If they acted arrogantly, they were targeted by the ninja villages and exterminated without exception.
Some clans, relying on inherited treasures, met exactly that fate. Several families that possessed the Kusanagi Sword were all slaughtered because they chose not to join a ninja village.
Hashirama's one country, one village policy rapidly reshaped the entire ninja world. There were fewer and fewer independent ninja outside the villages, and fewer and fewer large scale clan wars.
Ninjas outside the system gradually became limited to missing nin, wandering mercenaries, village shinobi on missions, or isolated individuals who knew only a little ninjutsu.
When the other nations saw that the system in the Land of Fire truly reduced internal strife between ninja clans, they followed suit.
That was how the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages were born. Even the smaller countries established their own villages, though the leaders of those places were not qualified to bear the title of Kage.
In truth, once ninja villages had been created, the position of daimyo rose to tremendous heights only because the system itself supported it.
By gathering all the powerful clans into one military institution and stripping them of independent territorial power, the daimyo came to control the economy, resources, agriculture, and logistics of the entire nation, while the ninja villages were reduced to military organs dependent on state support.
For the sake of peace, Hashirama Senju was happy to accept this arrangement and even willingly became the protector of the daimyo.
The peace policies of the First and Second Hokage nearly stripped the ninja villages of independent economic and production power. They had to rely on the daimyo's financial allocations or on mission income just to keep the village running.
They achieved the peace they had longed for, but in exchange, the great ninja clans gave up their territories, their independent support from local civilians, and even their full autonomy. In the end, they had to earn money through missions just to maintain their clans and preserve their legacies.
Of course, the major clans also maintained external industries and hidden assets in the territories they had once occupied, which allowed them to preserve their status as wealthy and powerful clans inside Konoha.
Otherwise, simply relying on missions would never be enough to make a family truly prosperous.
Ninjas still needed to remain active, because missions simultaneously generated income and tempered the next generation. Without new and powerful descendants constantly emerging, even the greatest clan would decline.
That was why the daimyo's power had become so great.
The daimyo controlled resources, money, and civilian production. The ninja village controlled war.
Each side depended on the other.
If the ninja clans were to scatter again and restore the chaos of the Warring States Period, then the daimyo would once more become little more than an arrogant local lord ruling over a shrinking patch of land.
But none of the major clans wanted to return to that era.
They had already experienced too many wars and suffered too many deaths.
Every generation of Kage longed for peace within the village and within the clan. Even if that meant handing more authority to the daimyo, they still accepted it because peace reduced casualties.
At the same time, none of the great clans wanted another ninja clan to become daimyo and sit above them all.
That was the unspoken rule of the entire ninja world.
The position of daimyo could not be held by a ninja clan.
If it were, that clan would quickly become the target of every other clan and be destroyed in a joint assault.
That was also why the daimyo family itself was forbidden from practicing ninjutsu. They could only remain ordinary people, accept protection, and focus on the development of the nation's livelihood.
So although the daimyo seemed powerful on the surface, in reality he was still just an ordinary man who could be killed by any Genin.
Only weakness allowed the daimyo to remain safe.
Weakness was the cloak of a daimyo.
Power was the balance gifted to him by all ninja clans.
If a daimyo ever truly tried to destroy the interests of all the clans, he would not live long either
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When the Daimyo of the Land of Fire moved against the commoner Hokage, Minato Namikaze, it did not actually harm the interests of many powerful clans. If anything, it suited them quite well.
After all, only if the Fourth Hokage stepped down would they have a chance to compete for the next seat.
Of course, that was under the premise that there was no longer a foreign war threatening Konoha.
Before, they had needed Minato's power to deal with the invasions launched by the Tsuchikage and the Raikage. But now, Brook had crushed the war and restored peace. If Brook had no interest in becoming Hokage, and the daimyo's side wanted to remove Minato, those powerful clans would not object.
In fact, some were quietly tempted.
Still, no one had expected Brook to go even further and speak of abolishing the daimyo of the Land of Fire and selecting a daimyo from among the ninja clans themselves.
That was not just arrogance. That was outright provocation.
Many clans longed for the power of the daimyo, but their strength simply was not enough to hold it.
With Brook's support, perhaps one of them could sit on that throne for a few decades. But what would happen after Brook died?
Even if a ninja clan became the daimyo clan, it could still be destroyed by a coalition of envious clans. Once that happened, the entire clan could be wiped out in an instant, not even leaving behind a single seed to preserve its bloodline.
So although Brook's offer was unbelievably tempting, none of them were willing to trade a few decades of glory for the destruction of a thousand year inheritance.
The room stayed silent for a long time.
"Lord Brook, the Nara clan will not interfere in the politics of the daimyo's court."
Nara Shikaku finally forced himself to speak.
The Nara had never been the sort of clan to push themselves to the front. He was not about to let his family become the target of every jealous eye in the room.
The position of Hokage was at least decided through merit, through achievements, strength, and reputation. Even then, it had still produced endless power struggles.
The Senju had vanished. The Uchiha had nearly been driven into a dead end. Even Minato Namikaze, a Hokage from a civilian background, had spent much of his reign constrained, with Root in Danzo's hands and the Anbu long shaped by the Third Hokage's influence. He had often been Hokage in name more than in truth.
The daimyo of the Land of Fire, on the other hand, came from families that had carefully preserved the proper balance. To hold that seat, one either had to be weak enough to serve as the compromise accepted by all clans, or strong enough to crush all resistance by force.
If a ninja clan claimed that position without either of those conditions, it would be destroyed sooner or later.
Even the Senju and Uchiha, the strongest clans of the Warring States era, had never chosen to seize the daimyo's seat.
They understood they could not endure the combined hostility of every other ninja clan in the world.
"Yohohoho!"
Brook suddenly burst into loud laughter.
As expected, these people were all too small minded.
Not a single one of them had the ambition to unify the world. Their greatest dream was to preserve their clan for another generation or two. For them, becoming the leader of one village was already the peak of glory.
Even men like Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, and Nagato Uzumaki, each of whom possessed terrifying power, had never truly imagined unifying the world under one rule.
All they ever did was come up with one flawed plan after another.
Everyone in the room watched Brook's wild laughter in silence. His overbearing aura made them all seem small in comparison.
Kurenai's eyes were already sparkling as she stared at him. Even Tsunade found herself studying this man with a look she herself had not noticed.
Everyone waited for Brook's final decision.
"Since none of you dare to become daimyo, then from this day onward, the daimyo's residence will disappear."
Brook's voice rang through the room.
"From today on, the Land of Fire will be ruled by the Brook Clan. My clan will be the royal family. My first child will become the first emperor. Until then, my woman will be the queen who governs the nation."
He had completely given up on these clans.
If they could not even grasp power when it was placed directly in front of them, then there was no point expecting anything more from them.
The moment those words fell, the room erupted in shock.
"What?!"
The clan heads were stunned.
Brook was too insane. He was not merely talking about replacing the daimyo. He was creating an entirely new system and establishing an imperial family.
And yet, no matter how outrageous it sounded, no one could deny that he had the right to speak that way.
"You cannot do this! You have no right!"
One member of the daimyo's delegation shouted, his voice trembling as he glared at Brook.
"My word is the law. Does any clan here object?"
Brook rose into the air. His Rinnegan activated, and a wave of Shinra Tensei slammed the man into the wall, crushing him into a bloody pulp.
Then Brook looked down at the ninja clans coldly.
"You were too cowardly to become daimyo. And now you are unwilling to surrender your pride?"
"If you want to remain in Konoha, then stay here obediently and accept the authority of the royal palace of the Land of Fire."
"The Hyuga clan and the rest will enter the Fire Country palace tomorrow and take control of the entire nation."
"I will tell you this once. My lifespan will far exceed anything you can imagine. I will be your nightmare for as long as you live."
"If you miss this chance, your lives end here."
Brook's words silenced the room once more.
Minato Namikaze was the first to kneel on one knee.
"I swear to follow Immortal Brook until death!"
Orochimaru followed immediately, kneeling with a fervent light in his eyes.
"I will follow Immortal Brook and walk toward eternity!"
Hyuga Hizashi also knelt without hesitation.
"The Hyuga clan is willing to serve Sage Brook!"
As soon as those three bent the knee, the rest of Minato's guard followed. Kurenai Yuhi, Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake, the others in Minato's direct guard, and even most of Root and the Anbu all knelt in turn.
The remaining clan heads stared in stunned silence.
They had not expected events to spiral into this.
One moment they were discussing the daimyo. The next, they were being forced to choose between submission and death.
In Konoha, every great clan had always stood more or less on equal footing. Every clan believed it had the right to compete for the Hokage's seat.
But now Brook wanted them to submit to a so called new royal family.
That was not something they could accept easily.
"Those who want the daimyo's power but lack the courage to seize it, and those who refuse to surrender their dignity, are nothing but fools."
Brook's voice grew colder.
"If you want to remain in Konoha, then kneel."
The room fell into dead silence.
Then Brook took out nine Corpse Demon Sealing masks and distributed them one by one to Minato Namikaze, Orochimaru, Hizashi Hyuga, and five members of the Hokage's guard.
"These are death masks reserved for the direct line of the royal family."
"They each contain an instant cast Corpse Demon Sealing technique, as well as my Flying Thunder God mark."
"As long as you wear one, you can seal a Kage level opponent at any moment, and I can support you whenever you call."
He glanced at Hizashi.
"Hyuga Hizashi, one is for you. One is for your father."
Those masks instantly threw the entire room into terror.
Nine masks.
Nine instant Corpse Demon Sealings.
That meant nine people here could, at any moment, drag a Kage level enemy down with them.
Most of the clans present did not even have a Kage level fighter of their own. In other words, every clan leader in this room now lived under the shadow of those masks.
If Brook's words were true, then even a mere Chunin like Kurenai Yuhi could, with one of those masks, drag down monsters like Tsunade, Jiraiya, or Fugaku Uchiha.
And the clan heads who had once looked down on the Hokage's guard suddenly realized that the balance of power in Konoha had been overturned in a single meeting.
.....
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