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The Land of Fire. Kyoto. The Daimyo's Residence.
The afternoon sun was warm and pleasant. By the edge of an exquisite garden pond, fish lazily flicked their tails as the Daimyo of the Land of Fire leisurely fished.
An elderly man dressed in formal attire, resembling a butler, approached with quiet steps. He stopped a few paces away and bowed respectfully.
"Your Highness, preparations for this year's Bamboo Harvest Festival are largely complete. Registration for the culinary competition has also closed. Renowned chefs and heirs to culinary families from all over have gathered. We can expect a truly grand event."
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire nodded slightly, his gaze remaining fixed on the bobber floating on the water.
The old man paused for a moment before lowering his voice, a different nuance creeping into his tone. "Additionally, there is one other matter that I believe Your Highness might find interesting."
"Oh?"
The Daimyo casually acknowledged him, still watching the bobber.
"Among the registrants for this competition, there is a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village."
"A shinobi from Konoha?" Hearing this, the Daimyo's grip on his fishing rod tightened slightly. He finally turned his head, a look of genuine intrigue appearing on his face.
He raised his hand and, with a crisp snap, snapped open an exquisite cypress fan, using it to half-cover his mouth. His eyes narrowed slightly behind the fan ribs. "If I recall correctly, Konoha currently doesn't have an official division for 'Culinary Ninja,' do they?"
As the ruler of the country, he was naturally aware of the "Culinary Ninja"—an obscure, nearly extinct ancient profession.
But he also knew that a mere Konoha shinobi entering the competition was absolutely not enough to warrant his head butler making a special report.
He motioned with his eyes for the old man to continue.
The butler bowed slightly and continued respectfully, "The escort accompanying this shinobi contestant to Kyoto... is Princess Tsunade."
"Tsunade?"
The cypress fan in the Daimyo's hand stopped moving.
Tsunade was called "Princess Tsunade" not just because she was the granddaughter of the First and Second Hokage and the princess of the Hidden Leaf Village.
She was also an officially conferred, fully legitimate princess of the Land of Fire.
Back when the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, forged an alliance with the Land of Fire, establishing the "One Country, One Village" system.
Some years after Konoha was founded, Tsunade was born. To highlight the unbreakable bond between them and to show his deep regard for Konoha, the previous Daimyo of the Land of Fire bestowed a special grace: he officially conferred the title of Princess of the Land of Fire upon the infant Tsunade, granting her the title of "Hime."
Although Tsunade herself didn't seem to care much about the title and spent her life active as a shinobi, her status was fully recognized by the Land of Fire's government.
And now, this princess—who had never made a public appearance in Kyoto and was rumored to have been depressed and withdrawn since the Second Great Ninja War—had personally come to Kyoto to accompany a shinobi chef?
The Daimyo slowly closed his cypress fan and tapped it twice against his palm. His interest deepened considerably.
"This shinobi..." he mused for a moment before saying, "Tell me everything you know about him in detail."
"Yes, Your Highness." The butler bowed slightly and began his structured report. "This shinobi from Konoha is named Shinichi Higashino. He is currently..."
Shinichi Higashino?
A flash of recognition crossed the Daimyo's eyes at the name.
He remembered that name. It seemed to be connected to that troublesome incident involving a cult and missing children at the border town of Narumi City. The reports at the time had vaguely mentioned an outstanding young Konoha shinobi.
However, he hadn't paid much attention to such trivial matters back then.
The Daimyo didn't interrupt the butler's report. He simply listened quietly, his fingers tapping absently on his knee.
As the butler delivered the plain facts, a clear picture began to form: He independently developed an A-rank, seal-less ninjutsu at the age of nine, shocking Konoha. Last year, he crushed the competition at the Chunin Exams held in the Sand Village, taking first place. And now, he was being personally mentored by the Third Hokage's disciple, Princess Tsunade...
The more he listened, the more amused the light in the Daimyo's eyes became.
With his experience and political intuition, he immediately gleaned a different meaning from this information.
This wasn't just a simple genius shinobi. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, placed an extraordinary amount of importance on this kid. This was practically a public declaration through actions that this boy was one of the prime candidates being groomed for Konoha's future core leadership, perhaps even the Hokage seat itself.
As long as he didn't die prematurely, given enough time, even if he didn't become Hokage, he would inevitably be a pivotal figure in Konoha's future power structure.
"Interesting. Truly interesting," the Daimyo murmured to himself, a smile curving his lips. "A young genius so highly anticipated by the Third Hokage... Instead of striving for perfection in his ninja arts and accumulating merits, he has the free time to run over here and enter my culinary competition..."
"It seems this year's Bamboo Harvest Festival will be much more entertaining than previous ones." The Daimyo chuckled lightly, then turned to the butler. "Remember to remind me when the competition officially begins. I want to see for myself exactly what kind of tricks our Konoha genius shinobi can whip up."
"Yes, Your Highness. I will remember," the butler replied respectfully.
"Also," the Daimyo added after a brief thought, snapping his cypress fan completely shut. "Munesuke, use your discretion. As long as the food our Konoha genius makes isn't atrociously unpalatable, and as long as he doesn't set his cooking station on fire on the spot... give him a decent ranking at an appropriate time, out of respect for the Third Hokage and Konoha. He's young; having a unique hobby is harmless. Who knows, it might even become a charming anecdote."
He said it lightly, as if simply instructing someone to give a slightly extra splash of water to a unique flower in the garden.
"Understood, Your Highness. I know how to handle it." The butler grasped the implication perfectly, bowed deeply once more, and quietly withdrew, leaving the tranquil, leisurely courtyard back to the deep in thought Daimyo.
Just then, a chilly breeze swept through the corridor and across the courtyard. The calm surface of the pond rippled, spreading dense, fine rings that distorted the reflected image of the exquisite pavilion and the clear sky, shattering the light and shadow.
The Daimyo stared quietly at the autumn pond disturbed by the wind. His gaze grew distant, as if seeing a much vaster, much more turbulent picture through the water.
"The calm before the storm," he murmured to himself. "The stagnant waters of the ninja world look like they're about to be stirred up once again."
"Who will start it this time? The Sand? The Rock? The Cloud? The Mist? Or some overly ambitious upstart?"
He fell silent for a moment before letting out a very faint scoff.
"Stir it up. Stir it up. Stir as much as you want! Churn the world into a raging storm, let rivers of blood flow... In the end, won't it still be us who have to clean up the mess and calm the people?"
After a brief moment of lament, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire shook his head, tossing aside those chaotic, irritating thoughts.
He leaned back in his chair, his face returning to its usual, inscrutable mask of calm and leisure.
It was as if that fleeting moment of insight and lament was nothing more than a ripple on the water caused by a passing breeze, destined to fade away quickly.