Chapter 159: Meeting of the Lotus

The night sky shined brightly over the Village of Konohagakure, with the bright lanterns and lights in the Village showcasing how alive it still felt.

And in separate parts of the beautiful Village, 2 separate meetings of grand importance were taking place.

~

Around a long table, the most important members of the new generation gathered as they would discuss the issue discovered that morning.

The Gallant, Jiraiya

The Serpent, Orochimaru

The White Fang, Sakumo

The Crimson Eye, Kenta

The Dark Mind, Shikai

The Empress of Shinobi, Tsunade

These 6 people represented the pillars of the generation, with each having their own political and physical power to support them having their seat.

The organization, known as The White Lotus, was one that was established by Tsunade following the conclusion of the Second Great Shinobi World War.

Its primary focus was maintaining the peace and balance of the Village, though the hope was that it could one day grow into an international organization, which would allow a new era to arise for the Shinobi World.

"What we discovered earlier is that the civilian population may be preparing for a revolt against the standing government. What are we going to do about this?" Sakumo began the discussion, going straight into the crux of the issue.

"What do you expect us to do?" Tsunade said abruptly, stunning everyone at her tone.

"Aren't you concerned about what issues could arise due to our inaction or even the danger of us being dispatched to take the lives of civilians in mass?" Jiraiya asked back, not understanding Tsunade's point of view.

"Why should I be? Our sole purpose here is to maintain the status quo and prevent a singular party from taking over the full decision-making process of the Village. I've been aware of the growing sentiments that the citizens of the Land of Fire have, and I honestly don't find any issues with their views. If you investigate the current state of living that those outside of the Village suffer from, you wouldn't disagree with their views either." Tsunade said.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked, causing Shikai's face to grimace slightly as he knew what her answer would encapsulate.

"Well, to start with, the vast majority of citizens outside of the Land of Fire are unable to gain high-paying jobs or even sustainable work, as well as being unable to find steady education that will allow them to get the more affordable jobs that they wish. Many abandon their children or sell them to the nobles as servants or other remedial jobs that guarantee them very few rights.

Why do you think Konoha gets so many request to allow civilians to migrate here? It's because they feel that many other opportunities are exausted, and that the only hopes that they or their families may have is to become a shinobi.

These people struggle immensely because of the system that we currently have. Even essential jobs like farmers struggle deeply due to the high taxes imposed on them to pay for the war. But even if a revolt were to occur, we wouldn't be getting involved unless we were the ones leading it." Tsunade said.

"Oh, why do you say that?" Orochimaru questioned the last part of her sentence, unsure of what she meant.

"When my Grandfather first built Konoha, both Grandpa Tobirama and another thought of this issue, with them writing into the Village laws that the Village is under no obligation to get involved in any political matters, while also not holding any political power itself. This both limited the scope of the power that the Village could hold in the future, but also protected us from getting involved if the leader of the Village did not wish to. Think of it as the Daimyo preventing the Hokage from growing enough political influence to usurp him, but also preventing the Daimyo from forcing the Village to become an aimless force for him to point at anyone who disagrees with them."

"So does that mean that we will refrain from intervening?" Sakumo asks the most important question.

"No. That means that now, the only man who can decide our intervention is the leader of our Village.

The Hokage."