"Good. More people need to be interested in things other than their blades, younger generation especially. Doubly so, for politics."

"It's harder to train with politics. More of a group effort sort of thing."

"That it is! There's some studying you can do, dusty old theory books and all that, but hell if I know what good it does."

"I've always found practice more engaging than theory in my studies."

"A diving in sort? Good, as long as you land on your feet. You two have aspirations, or are you just testing the waters?"

"We are interested in the village's success, but not for ourselves."

More genuine smile. "Good. It seems a bit silly, but people will be listening to you guys. Watching, mostly, but listening some. I think letting new blood have a say - improves things. Keeps us from stagnating."

"Time's always moving on. You don't want to get stuck behind it."

"You must have- thoughts of your own, about the village."

"Bluntly? Our previous path was stupid. We need to coalition build, not waste time, manpower, and energy on posturing." She has Opinions about the daimyo and the relative appropriateness of his nephew as a leader, but she's hardly going to voice those out in public like this. "That probably means a relatively new face; most of the likely candidates are already in their diplomatic ruts. And, no offense, but the Fourth took an ill view of potential threats to his power, which effectively hamstrung us on powerful new blood."

"We are well aware of our father's mistakes. But we are not entirely bereft of young and powerful shinobi, despite his best efforts."

"Hm. Anyone stand out to you? It's interesting to see who the younger generation hears of..."

"The current host of the Ichibi."

"Her? Strong, I'll give her that. Wouldn't have taken her as one for politics," she says, voice mild.

"She's not, really. That's one reason you're talking to us instead of her. She's smart enough to know when she needs help and not too proud to ask for it. The invasion made her... reevaluate her priorities."

"Smart. Certainly a refreshing approach, though the usual method is presenting a singular, trustworthy leader. People feel more confident that way, for some reason."

"A single target to take the blame, maybe."

"Does tend to be like that. Means one big screw up doesn't tend to drag everyone with experience down, though."

"But there's less of a chance of that happening, if it's a group that can work well together."

"Perhaps. I can name a few problems a group approach might have avoided, at least - if you're serious about this, I would suggest studying your history. Theory can't substitute for experience, but there's something to be said for letting other people make the inevitable mistakes for you."

"Good advice, thanks."

"Hm. Any other steps you're planning, beyond having conveniently timed political debates in conveniently public places?"

"We're still fishing for ideas and potential support, at this point."

"Good. You'll have a harder time convincing most people, and you'll need to convince the daimyo, too, and he's unlikely to take hints of things changing well."

"Do you think he might take actual change better than hints?"