Another great chapter.
Even though I dont care about Tifa much and it doesnt matter to me whether or not she joins harem I liked this chapter quite a bit as finally we see who is the one causing new trouble.
The only thing that I am confused about is the statement of Daimyos official... how could daimyo possibly demand Gaaras execution just for failure to protect his vassal? It doesnt make sense as hidden villages are supposed to be the bulk of military force for every country and kage is almost equal to daimyo.
I dont think there would be much of a standing army of 10s of thousands as what would daimyo keep hidden village running for? He would solve all his problems with army, no need to pay double and even more when missions come up.
And hidden village is the only thing protecting the country as I doubt daimyos have more developed spy network than ninjas... so the ones deciding on assassinations and sabotages of vital targets are kages and strategists in hidden villages.
So I think the only thing Daimyo would be able to do is demand that he step down and be judged by Sunas military laws. As baseless execution would be exactly what Gaara had supposedly done.
Daimyo would also have to step carefuly as he wouldnt want them to rebel. That would bring repercussions from other countries, sure, but they have a reason to be on edge with him with the low funding after the war.
I may have missed some of your points as I have come from different angle maybe. I would like to be corrected if thats the case.
Author's response
Well to hopefully clear things up for you in regards to the politics of Naruto let me explain. Before the founding of the great villages I imagine that the Daimyo would have had large standing armies. Now, after the founding while I could see these forces being scaled back I do not believe that they would completely get ride of them. Because if the shinobi ever did turn against them then who would they call on to defend them.
With that said, it seems to me that the Naruto world is much like how Feudal japan was. With the Daimyo serving the role as the emperor and the Kage serving the role of the Shogun. Now while in Japan the emperor might have simply been a figure head, in the Naruto world they seem to wield considerable power. While it may have been a movie and not necessarily cannon. In Naruto: Inheritors of the Will of Fire. After Haruko declares his intentions to start a 4th Shinobi War, Tsunade is called before the Fire Daimyo and told to solve the problem or he'd be forced to destroy Konoha. First this would point out that he has considerable forces to do such that, and second since Tsunade didn't balk she must believe he could as well.
Yet, Canon has described the Kage and Daimyo as two equal and distinct individuals. But to me this doesn't neccessarily mean that the Daimyo believe this themselves. This would be why they can order a Kage around, since as a good leader they would wish to take a path to protect their people because if they do lose the Daimyo's support the village could be destroyed or displaced.