The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

"And you, how's your research going?" Zabuza asked in return.

Before leaving the Land of Waves, Zabuza shared with Ishihara Akira what he knew about the daimyo and the power dynamics within the Land of Water. Combined with the information he had gathered with Gato during his recovery, while it couldn't fully explain all the issues between the noble factions in the Land of Water, it was certainly enough to give Ishihara Akira a basic understanding of the daimyo's situation.

For example, the Daimyo of the Land of Water is now an old man, over sixty years old. In the Hokage society, where most people are only in their sixties, he can be considered to be of advanced age and nearing death.

Therefore, the competition for the next daimyo in the Land of Water is currently in full swing, somewhat resembling the struggle for succession among the nine princes in the Qing Dynasty.

Although the number of children of the Daimyo of the Land of Water is not that many, only eight, two of whom died young, and two of them were girls, under extremely special circumstances, even if the Mizukage is Mei Terumi, the only female 'Kage' among the current Five Great Nations, the Daimyo would not hand over the country to a woman for the sake of the continuation of the family.

Moreover, one of her two daughters is already married, and the other, although she remains in the palace, is only around fifteen years old and cannot hold her own. If the position of daimyo were to fall into her hands, she would be someone who would eventually be sidelined by the nobles.

Therefore, the most popular candidate right now is the so-called fourth prince, who is the boy born shortly after the two who died young.

As for the third son?

Of course, it's the eldest princess who's already married.

The fifth brother was frail and sickly. He spent more time in bed than walking around throughout the year. In fact, if he hadn't been born into a powerful family with money and influence, he might have died young like his older brothers.

The sixth brother is a martial arts fanatic and a strong contender for the second-ranked position among the daimyo.

The seventh brother is an idiot...

Then there's the youngest, the eighth princess, who's fifteen years old and practically useless except for being used for political marriages.

We don't need to worry about the power struggles between noble factions; the key is the ninjas who protect the daimyo.

Yes, they are the same ninjas as the Twelve Guardian Ninjas of the Land of Fire, who are directly under the daimyo and not affiliated with any ninja village.

According to Zabuza's information and Gato's investigation, there seem to be 20 people, with wandering ninjas and several assassin-type ninjas secretly trained by the daimyo as the core. Their specific strength is not very clear, but they are definitely not as strong as regular ninjas from ninja villages, especially those from Kirigakure.

After all, they're all hothouse flowers, what great use can they be?

This is Zabuza's assessment of them.

As for wandering ninjas, they're all just wandering ninjas, what's there to say about them?

A group of guys who happened to find a ninja's corpse and then happened to cultivate chakra were only slightly stronger than bandits, nothing more.

Zabuza doesn't even deserve a proper evaluation.

"What do you think, should I just take the title and replace him?" Ishihara Akira looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to him and Zabuza, asked Zabuza with a smile.

"You want to become a daimyo? The nobles won't recognize that." Zabuza frowned. After all, he was already planning to control the daimyo, so going a step further by eliminating the daimyo and taking their place didn't seem so out of the question...

This is a typical result of breaking free from ideological constraints; otherwise, Zabuza would definitely still believe that the Daimyo is sacred and inviolable, and would never have considered targeting him under any circumstances.

"Isn't the Land of Water currently facing a headache regarding the succession issue? What do you think the daimyo would do if his two princes suddenly died together in a power struggle?" Ishihara Akira continued to ask.

When it comes to playing power struggles, even Zabuza and Haku, who only know how to kill, can't compare to Ishihara Akira, who watched a lot of historical dramas in his previous life and was used to the life-and-death struggles and constant intrigues in Qing Dynasty dramas for the throne.

"..." Zabuza remained silent. He wasn't a daimyo, so how could he know what a daimyo would do?

"And what if the daimyo has another illegitimate child at this time?" Ishihara Akira further reminded him.

"Hmm!?" Even Zabuza, who wasn't very politically astute, could tell what Ishihara was planning. He intended to kill all the legitimate heirs of the daimyo, then use his abilities to control the daimyo, forge his identity, make himself the daimyo's so-called illegitimate son, step into the limelight, gain the support of the nobles, and then inherit the position of the daimyo of the Land of Water after the daimyo's death!

"How confident are you?" Zabuza asked in a deep voice.

"As long as I can get into the palace, I'm 100% confident," Ishihara Akira said with a confident smile.

"I hope what you said is true." Zabuza gave Ishihara Sho a deep look, then turned and returned to the cabin.

……

A few days later, the ship docked at a pier in the Land of Water.

Then, Ishihara Sho, Zabuza (who had stored the Executioner's Blade in the sealing scroll and transformed himself using a transformation technique), and Haku (who, perhaps due to his bloodline limit or some other influence, had a strong preference for cross-dressing), disembarked from the ship and set foot on the land of the Land of Water.

Without lingering, they quickly slipped into the crowd, chose a route, and headed towards the Land of Water in the manner of ninjas.

Yes, Ishihara Sho also got to experience the way ninjas act.

Although he performed poorly at first, he quickly mastered the techniques under Haku's guidance and successfully kept up with Zabuza and Haku's speed, darting away like a ghost.

Chapter 83 Action

With the ninjas' exaggerated speed of travel, the three of them arrived at the Land of Water in just two days.

Afterwards, they entered the city and stayed at a hotel.

"What's your plan next?" Zabuza asked Ishihara Sho, still maintaining his disguise.

"Bai, please investigate the number of ninja guarding the Daimyo of the Land of Water, and their approximate strength. If there is any danger, return immediately. Also, please investigate the relationships between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince, especially those of their attendants who can freely enter and leave the palace. Report back to me, and I will make further arrangements." Ishihara Akira didn't hesitate and immediately instructed Bai, who should be more adept at this kind of task.

"Okay." Bai nodded, then without further ado, he slipped out of the room and began his investigation.

"As for Zabuza, you should rest for now. I'll naturally trouble you when I need you," Ishihara Sho said with a smile to Zabuza.

"Hmph." Zabuza snorted softly and turned to leave the room.

……

Meanwhile, Bai's investigation progressed rapidly. In just two days, a detailed intelligence report concerning the Fourth Prince, the Sixth Prince's associates, and the guardian ninjas under the command of the Water Country's daimyo was presented to Ishihara Sho.

The number of ninjas is correct, there are indeed 20. As for their strength, based on Haku's probing, they are all around Chunin level. However, their methods are not very diverse, but they are very varied, and all sorts of random ninjutsu can be seen.

Chakra attributes are not limited to water release; wind, earth, and lightning are also possible.

Their demeanor is rather superficial, not like someone who has experienced any brutal battles.

Their willingness to fight to the death indirectly confirms the existence of assassins among them.

Then there's the Fourth Prince, with Aida Dosaku, the Right Minister of the Land of Water, standing behind him. The Sixth Prince is accompanied by his maternal relative, Akiyama Soemon Heijiro, who currently serves as the Left General of the Imperial Guard. It can be said that the two are evenly matched in terms of strength—one is in charge of politics, and the other is in charge of the army.

Although in terms of position, the Minister of the Right is obviously more powerful than the General of the Left Imperial Guard, and when necessary, he can directly remove Akiyama Saemon from the position of General of the Left Imperial Guard with a single order.

However, it was unavoidable. The position of the Left General of the Akiyama family was almost hereditary, having been passed down for three generations. The army was filled with Akiyama family members. If the Akiyama family were pushed too far, Aida Dosaku worried that it might trigger a rebellion within the Akiyama family, leading to a dynastic overthrow and the direct use of force to place the sixth prince in the position of daimyo.

This is also why Aida Michisaku has not yet taken any action against Akiyama Saemon Heijiro.

As for other things, such as him being the commander of the Imperial Guard and in charge of the capital's security, those are not really important.

At least in Aida Dosaku's view, it was not a very important matter.

They weren't short-handed in the garrison of the capital.

After that, there were several files on suspected palace eunuchs. After carefully reading them, Ishihara Akira selected his next target to deal with—a high-ranking eunuch in charge of the palace's logistics and procurement—Arai Nomon.

"When does he usually leave the palace?" Ishihara Akira asked Shiro.

“Around 11 p.m. every night, he would leave the palace and return to his residence outside, stay overnight, and then rush to the palace gate at 5 a.m. the next morning to return to the palace with the vegetable delivery trucks,” Bai replied.

"He has a mistress?" Ishihara Akira asked in surprise.

"Yes."

"where is it?"

Since there are places that don't attract attention, Ishihara Akira would naturally choose to take action in such places rather than using force on the streets.

“My lord, please follow me,” Bai said.

The two then left the inn together and wandered around until they reached the inner city of the capital, the area where nobles and officials lived. They finally stopped near a longhouse with clean streets and soldiers patrolling the area.

"That's Arai's house in the innermost room," Bai said, pointing to a building not far away that was noticeably different from the surrounding longhouses and appeared more luxurious.

"Alright, I understand. You can go back now. I can handle the rest myself." Ishihara Akira said to Shiro beside him, having memorized the houses not far away.

"Alright, I wish you all the best, sir." After saying that, Bai bowed to Ishihara Sho and disappeared into thin air using the Body Flicker Technique.

At the same time, Ishihara Akira also flashed forward and rushed towards the Arai family.

……

Then, after 11 p.m., a strangely shaped sedan chair appeared—in China, sedan chairs have poles directly attached from the waist of the sedan chair for the porters to carry it, but the Japanese ones are different. Instead, it's as if they're carrying a box, with poles attached directly to the top of the box on both sides, with the box hanging below. The door isn't the normal front-opening door of ancient Chinese sedan chairs, but a side-opening door...

People were confined in the sedan chair like cargo; I don't know who came up with this design.

Isn’t it uncomfortable?

Then a man with a pale face, or rather, covered in white powder, who looked like a ghost in the dark night and under the light of the guiding lanterns, stepped out of the sedan chair and walked leisurely toward the mansion...

They entered the courtyard, then the inner quarters, and finally stopped in a brightly lit bedroom.

Most importantly, there was a woman in that room...

He was a eunuch, yet he kept a woman!

It seems all eunuchs are the same.

Seeing this, Ishihara Akira didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately used hypnosis to control the consciousness of the two samurai guarding the door, then opened the door himself and swaggered into the room.

Then an even more shocking scene came into Ishihara Yuki's view.

That eunuch Arai is actually playing around!

Playing with women!

In a rather perverse way, Ishihara Sho was somewhat unable to accept it for the time being!

Even though his brother's fists were hard, Ishihara Sho still released his ability immediately, knocked the woman unconscious, and then flashed into Arai's sea of ​​consciousness, suppressing his consciousness and taking control of the body in his place.

"Damn it, even a eunuch knows how to enjoy himself better than I do." Ishihara Akira glanced at the unconscious woman next to him, pursed his lips, straightened her body, and lay down next to her.

The night passed peacefully, and the next morning arrived.

"My lord, it's time for you to get up," the woman who had fainted earlier said, nudging Arai's body.

Ishihara Sho didn't linger in bed. After glancing at the other person, he put on the cumbersome eunuch's robe with the help of a woman. Escorted by a samurai, he returned to the palace and met up with the eunuch who was waiting for him to inspect the quality of the goods. Together, they went through the open palace gates and returned to the palace.

Then Ishihara Akira began to constantly change the form he controlled, and through one person after another, he finally hid himself in the consciousness of the sixth prince, who was known as a martial arts fanatic, and replaced him as the sixth prince.

"Someone come here!" Ishihara Akira shouted.

Chapter 84 Shocking Change

That very night, the sixth prince, having hastily prepared for action, decisively launched the war—

He led his personal guards, along with some soldiers from the Left Imperial Guard who had been guarding the palace and whom he had borrowed from his maternal uncle, Akiyama Saemon Heijiro, during the day. Taking advantage of the Fourth Prince's lack of preparation, they attacked the palace where the Fourth Prince resided.