Chapter 20: A Timely Rain, Nobuo

Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe City, “Ik” Ryotei.

“Our Yamaguchi-gumi has always held a welcoming attitude towards our comrades.
A senior like yourself, Mr. Yamagami, is especially worthy of our respect…”

Within the elegant, classical garden filled with the songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers, a middle-aged man whose muscular build could not be concealed by his suit was strolling with Yamagami Nobuo, chatting and laughing.

Just as Seiko had predicted, Yamagami Nobuo’s arrival was met with a warm welcome from the Yamaguchi-gumi.

On the first day of his arrival, a cadre named Watanabe Yoshinori came forward to receive him.
This Watanabe Yoshinori was no ordinary cadre.

The Fourth Kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Takenaka Masahisa, who had just been assassinated by the Ichiwa-kai, had two identities.
One was, of course, the Kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi; the other was the Kumicho of the largest direct organization within the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Yamaken-gumi.

Watanabe Yoshinori was the Second Kumicho who had inherited the Yamaken-gumi.

Assassinated along with Takenaka Masahisa was the former Wakagashira of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Nakayama Katsumasa.
The person who now filled the position of Wakagashira was also Watanabe Yoshinori.

In other words, Watanabe Yoshinori was currently, without a doubt, the second-in-command of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

By the third day, the Yamaguchi-gumi’s current acting Kumicho, Nakanishi Kazuo—the burly man in the suit beside Yamagami Nobuo now—had returned and personally presided over the sakazuki ceremony for Yamagami Nobuo to join the Yamaguchi-gumi.

“How could a useless old man like me dare to call himself a senior in front of Kumicho Nakanishi,” Yamagami Nobuo said with a smile.

In terms of age, he was indeed older than Nakanishi Kazuo, but Nakanishi Kazuo had been the Shatei-gashira of the Yamaguchi-gumi during the era of Taoka Kazuo.
In terms of debut time, Nakanishi Kazuo was not necessarily later than Yamagami Nobuo.

“Hahaha, Mr. Yamagami, you are too modest,” Nakanishi Kazuo laughed heartily and added, “Someone like you who started from scratch and built a foundation is certainly different from people like us who inherited the family business from our predecessors.”

The two exchanged flatteries.
Yamagami Nobuo couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at his granddaughter’s prescience.
At any other time, if he had come to visit the Yamaguchi-gumi, hoping for such preferential treatment would have been a fool’s dream.

In truth, the Yamaguchi-gumi was not giving Yamagami Nobuo particularly special treatment, but rather continuing the policy against the Ichiwa-kai that Takenaka Masahisa had established before his death.

When Yamamoto Hiro had split off with his supporters and formed the Ichiwa-kai, the Yamaguchi-gumi was actually at a disadvantage.
Thus, the newly appointed Fourth Kumicho, Takenaka Masahisa, proposed a strategy of “instigating defection, disintegrating, buying off, and winning over.”
The core idea of this strategy, to put it bluntly, was to find ways to reduce the number of Ichiwa-kai’s comrades and supporters, and increase the number of Yamaguchi-gumi’s partners and friends.

This strategy had to be said to be effective.
Before Takenaka Masahisa’s assassination, the tables had already turned between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ichiwa-kai, with the Yamaguchi-gumi gaining the upper hand completely.
It was precisely because of this that the Ichiwa-kai, in a desperate move, opted for a “decapitation strike,” directly eliminating Takenaka Masahisa.

The impact of Takenaka Masahisa’s death on the Yamaguchi-gumi was self-evident.
The situation, which had been improving, collapsed once again.
Panic spread throughout the organization, and even high-ranking members like Nakanishi Kazuo and Watanabe Yoshinori were inevitably shaken, feeling lost about the future.

Otherwise, how could a brawny man like Nakanishi Kazuo, who was clearly from the militant faction, act so humbly and politely in front of Yamagami Nobuo?

However, from the Yamaguchi-gumi’s perspective, the allegiance of Yamagami Nobuo and the Yamagami-gumi was indeed a godsend, or rather, a shot in the arm.

In terms of size, the Yamagami-gumi had two thousand Yakuza.
Among the Yamaguchi-gumi’s direct organizations, although it couldn’t compare to the Yamaken-gumi with its more than seven thousand members, it was already on par with the Takenaka-gumi, which had just over two thousand.
It could already be ranked in the second tier.
In terms of “family background,” the Yamagami-gumi’s base was in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which had the best economic conditions.
Although Seiko felt her own family was not far from “finished,” this pseudo-“Tokyo residency” was enough to make many within the Yamaguchi-gumi envious.

Historically, the Yamaguchi-gumi had launched several “eastward expansion campaigns” with the goal of breaking into the Kanto region, and even Tokyo.
After all, that was the most prosperous place in Japan, and even the Yakuza wanted good places to collect protection money.
But each eastward campaign was repelled by the Japanese police and the local Tokyo gangs—mainly the Inagawa-kai and the Sumiyoshi-kai.

Now, for “city folk” to come and pledge allegiance on their own initiative, didn’t that prove that their Yamaguchi-gumi was not finished yet?

Seiko knew that even without the Yamagami-gumi’s allegiance, the Yamaguchi-gumi would be able to overcome this difficulty and make a comeback.
But the current members of the Yamaguchi-gumi didn’t know that themselves.

Upon hearing that the Yamagami-gumi had come to pledge allegiance, Nakanishi Kazuo was so excited he could barely sleep all night.

“However, I know that since you dare to join our Yamaguchi-gumi at this critical juncture, you must not be afraid.
But I must solemnly remind you…” Nakanishi Kazuo took a deep breath and continued, “Yamamoto Hiro and those guys from the Ichiwa-kai are despicable and shameless, with no regard for honor.
They have already used vicious means to assassinate our Kumicho and many cadres.
If they hear that you have joined the Yamaguchi-gumi now, it is very likely they will use the same methods against you and the cadres of the Yamagami-gumi.
Please be sure to take precautions and not give the Ichiwa-kai’s assassins any opportunity.
If you feel it is necessary, I can also send some capable men to protect you.”

Nakanishi Kazuo’s words were very sincere.
He truly did not want Yamagami Nobuo to be taken out by the Ichiwa-kai right after pledging allegiance to the Yamaguchi-gumi.
That would be too great a blow to the Yamaguchi-gumi’s prestige and could very well cause the allies that the Yamaguchi-gumi had paid a great price to win over since Takenaka Masahisa’s time to choose to fly their separate ways in the face of disaster, leading to a complete collapse.

“Rest assured, I have already heard of the Ichiwa-kai’s shameless ways and will definitely be on guard.
There is no need to trouble you to send men to protect me.
However…” Yamagami Nobuo’s tone became hesitant, and it was a while before he said, “I do indeed have some matters for which I would like to seek your help.”

“Please, feel free to speak,” Nakanishi Kazuo said immediately.

“It’s like this.
There is another organization in Saitama Prefecture called the Takada-gumi.
We’ve had a small bit of friction with them…”

Yamagami Nobuo did not only mention his suspicions that the Takada-gumi had assassinated his son.
He simply said that the Takada-gumi wanted to enter Urawa and plant their flag, but had been blocked by the Yamagami-gumi.
However, although the Yamagami-gumi could hold off the Takada-gumi, they were very concerned about the Inagawa-kai behind the Takada-gumi.

Even without Seiko’s reminder, Yamagami Nobuo knew that he could not appear too weak in front of the Yamaguchi-gumi’s leadership, as that would diminish their regard for his side.
Requesting the Yamaguchi-gumi to personally deal with the Takada-gumi would be too weak.
The Inagawa-kai was the rival that was on par with the Yamaguchi-gumi in terms of status in the underworld.

“We hope that the Inagawa-kai can exercise restraint in the Urawa incident and not easily interfere in the problems between us and the Takada-gumi.”

Listening to Yamagami Nobuo’s words, Nakanishi Kazuo couldn’t help but nod.
He believed he understood why Yamagami Nobuo had come to pledge allegiance to the Yamaguchi-gumi at this dangerous time—it was because he feared the Inagawa-kai!

However, Nakanishi Kazuo didn’t think this was a big problem and immediately made a promise, “I will speak to the Inagawa-kai on your behalf.
Since Urawa is your territory, it will also be a base for the Yamaguchi-gumi from now on.
The Inagawa-kai will give us this face.”

It wasn’t that Nakanishi Kazuo was overconfident, but that the Yamaguchi-gumi had maintained a rather good relationship with the Inagawa-kai for a long time.
When the Third Kumicho, Taoka Kazuo, was in power, the Yamaguchi-gumi had formed an alliance with the Inagawa-kai.
When the Fourth Kumicho, Takenaka Masahisa, succeeded, the then-president of the Inagawa-kai, Inagawa Seijo, had personally attended the succession ceremony.

Nakanishi Kazuo felt that since he was personally making the request for such a small matter, the Inagawa-kai would not refuse to give him face.

“That would be wonderful.
Thank you so much for your help, Kumicho Nakanishi.”

Yamagami Nobuo showed a sincere smile and extended his hand, shaking Nakanishi Kazuo’s hand firmly.