Necessary Corruption 13: A Crack in the Shell (Patreon)

Necessary Corruption
Chapter 13: A Crack in the Shell

-VB-

I couldn’t lie to myself, because if I started to lie to myself, then who could I truly trust?

Tsunami was just a normal woman of the artisan caste.

But I didn’t care. Oh no. All I saw was a way to make her like me more. After all, what else was a boy without a father but a boy to teach and educate?

A quick investigation of her life so far yielded me quite the story.

Born to Tazuna the master bridge builder, she should have lived a life free of wants and needs. Unfortunately, Gato was not the first foreigner to have tried to subjugate the Land of Waves (and in hindsight, the sheer number of peasants rising up to kick out Gato made sense when I thought about how frustrated these people must be). Due to a series of other magnates, nobles, or plain ninja interference, the Land of Waves have been on the decline for more than a decade.

The current population of the Land of Waves hadn’t increased at all for the last two decades, which spoke a lot of the hardships currently plaguing the land. Even the most warlike provinces of the Land of Rivers saw some population increase.

But Gato… he had been smarter. He had been far more subtle. His subterfuge of the local lords, the bribery, outright coercion, and systematic division of the people kept resistances low until I came around and ruined it all.

Tsunami was a kind woman. Even when her own household’s wealth and status kept on declining, she would be out helping the elderly, volunteering in soup kitchens (which was what she just had been returning from when I first encountered her), meeting with local leaders on behalf of her father who was out in the Land of Fire seeking ninja aid, and more.

Yes, she was not a noble or of a samurai clan.

Yes, she was not beautiful like many women in my service.

Yes, she had a son she was dearly attached to.

But the more I learned about her, the more I respected and loved her.

And right now, she looked very thankful after I finished my story, which had come with a request to her to not spread the tale.

“Thank you, Lord Takanori,” she bowed. “I didn’t know that you were so instrumental in Gato’s defeat.”

Seating across from her on the low tea table, I reached out and took her hands in mine gingerly. “I had my own interest in the area, Tsunami-san. You don’t have to thank me, but I would like to thank you for coming to see me.”

She blushed. “Y-You are a noble, milord. I d-didn’t exactly have a choice. I … expected far worse.”

I frowned, because that wasn’t the kind of impression I wanted to make. I quickly changed that frown into a smile. “Don’t worry, Tsunami-san,” I ensured her. “I am not such a man, and although I am very interested in you-” she looked surprised. “- I intend to win your heart right!”

She stuttered and flustered at my declaration.

And then she couldn’t take it anymore. She quickly apologized for having to leave early, and in a stunning display of hand-eye coordination, collected everything and left in a hurry without ruffling her hair or clothes that I was really surprised by her “skill.”

I sighed in frustration. Did I just come out too hard for her? Maybe I was making her too uncomfortable. Ugh.

“Maybe I should get myself some kind of a tutor on courting women,” I mumbled with a sigh. And then I paused. “Wait, I’m a bloody lord and a clan leader. Someone in the clan or among my retinue must know how!” Straightening myself, I clapped my hands thrice.

In an instant, Washimoto was there by my side on his knees and waiting for my order.

“You know what I wish for.”

“Yes, milord.”

“Then go.”

And he was gone again.

Perfect butler, Washimoto was.

-VB-

My butler did find a woman, a courtier of the Takanori Clan’s retinue rather than my personal retinue, and had her move to the Land of Waves because my business here was no longer done.

At the same time, I focused my efforts on pushing for greater involvement of my legitimate enterprises, either owned by me directly or indirectly, from my home and recently “conquered” provinces to take part in the Land of Waves new power vacuum.

The lord regent, try as he might, couldn’t trust the new Lord Rimosumoto. The young man was too fierce, and saw the lord regent’s inability to keep his father safe as a weakness of the Land of Waves.

And I, someone who was there and unable to protect his father, was a somewhat legitimate target for him. Even though I had given him a power to perhaps rival the ninjas without pain or suffering, he had turned on me.

He was a foolish boy.

I just wished that the boy hadn’t gone and hired ninjas in an attempt to kill me.

I mean, at the very least, if he succeeded, I would be dead and wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that I had to deal with this.

At my feet were four dead Sunagakure ninjas, who had fallen surprisingly easily to my more powerful retinues.

In fact, I was confused.

Weren’t ninjas supposed to be better than this? They just kind of … charged in and failed to kill me. In fact, they died to spectacularly that the second ninja team - one hired by Tazua - ended up revealing themselves.

This was the mess I was involved in.

I sighed as I stared down.

‘In the young Lord Rimosumoto’s defense, anyone could have hired these people,’ I thought to myself. ‘But he’s the only one who glares at me, and the lord regent is well aware of the fact that I do not seek to become a major power in the Land of Waves.’ I made that very clear with him. Had to, in fact. It was one thing for a lord from another land to stay for vacation. It was another to see him stay for longer than what could be politely called a vacation.

Looking up from the cooling corpses of the four clearly Sunagakure ninjas if their headbands were any indication, I looked to an infamous man even among the nobles of the Land of Rivers.

Hatake Kakashi the Copycat Ninja.

With him were three brats - yellow, pink, and black - who had revealed their position so easily.

“I think your brats need more training,” Gilua hummed as he pointed his gun down, the tip of its barrel smoking after having eliminated all four assailants.

The pinkie struck the yellow one on the head, and considering that he had been the one to reveal the entire team with his obnoxiously loud “WHHHAATTT?” I’d say that it was deserved.

“So, Hatake-san,” I smiled genially. ‘These ninjas that Gilua had killed must have been weak,’ I thought as there was no way that Gilua, who wasn’t even properly trained yet to reach any professional level if his quip just now was any indication, could so easily kill elite ninjas. “May I ask why a Konohagakure ninja team is in Land of Waves right after a shipping magnate died after a failed coup?”

My men and women were already forging some documents and stealing what they could from the collapsing business, which haven’t had any kind of intermediate managers below Gato as the man was too paranoid to do so (and perhaps rightfully so). Was it possible that Hatake Kakashi, who could do anything, was here to steal some of those documents, deeds, and grants as well?

“Ah… I’m just here to escort Tazuna-san.”

I blinked.

Oh, so this was the team that Tsunami had been hoping her father would bring.

I looked over the children and then back at him. I frowned. “You would put children into a possible war zone?”

The way he flinched and looked away didn’t endear me to him.

Konohagakure and Sunagakure… They were not showing anything really impressive.

…

…

Were ninjas actually weak compared to my retinue?

Something to think about later. Right now, my focus had to be the thankless young Lord Rimosumoto and Tsunami. Everything else was secondary.