The Ino–Shika–Chō alliance had sacrificed greatly for the village. Now, they truly wanted a period of rest.
Today, Yamanaka Ino'en and Akimichi Yamashiro had come to meet the Hokage, and Nara Shikakaku had agreed with their request.
Every Tokubetsu jōnin from the three clans was someone's nephew or junior. Losing even one was painful.
The Third Hokage's announcement — no conscription of clan shinobi for two years — was excellent news.
Danzo glanced at the relieved look in Nara Shikakaku's eyes before speaking bluntly.
"Hiruzen, recruiting clan shinobi into ANBU and Root is one of the important methods to prevent any clan from growing too powerful.
This has always been our established strategy. Why are you going back on it now?"
Yako froze for a moment and quickly looked toward Sarutobi Hiruzen.
The Third Hokage's expression was complicated — like someone who had just swallowed a fly.
Preventing any ninja clan from becoming too powerful was indeed a core strategy among the leadership.
Whether it was the Senju, the Uchiha, the Ino–Shika–Chō alliance, the Hyūga, or any other clan.
But saying it openly in front of Nara Shikakaku was another matter entirely.
Some things could be done but never spoken aloud. Others could be spoken but never done.
Did Shikakaku not know? Of course he knew everything.
But saying it to his face was humiliating. Would he erupt — or hold back?
When internal contradictions could not be resolved, there were only two options: launch a war outward, or conduct purges within.
Recruiting clan shinobi into Root and ANBU was the softer blade between war and purge, slowing the eruption of internal tensions.
During peacetime, ANBU could be used to methodically reduce clan power.
Take the Aburame clan, for example. Even Yako felt sorry for them.
They had contributed several elite members to the village, leaving this powerful yet small-numbered clan perpetually weakened.
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke sharply.
"Danzo! Do not make assumptions about Lord Second's policies!
ANBU is the village's blade for executing high-risk missions. ANBU shinobi are Konoha's heroes hidden in darkness!
ANBU is absolutely not a tool to weaken clans!
Since the Warring States era, the Sarutobi clan has been a witness to the alliance of the Ino–Shika–Chō. I have never had any intention of weakening them!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen was still clever — pushing all responsibility onto the Second Hokage.
After all, ANBU had been established by the Second. If there were any problems, they belonged to him. Hiruzen was merely continuing his teacher's legacy.
Nara Shikakaku naturally understood everything — but he would never expose it.
If he were Hokage himself, he would do the same thing.
Preventing any clan from becoming too dominant was not just Konoha's policy. The leaders of other villages did the same.
Especially Kirigakure, plagued by powerful bloodline clans, which seized every opportunity to eliminate them ruthlessly.
Konoha's internal politics were too complicated. Danzo handled the darker matters well. Whoever sat in the Hokage's seat would inevitably rely on someone like him.
Danzo said, "Two years without recruiting clan shinobi is impossible.
Clan shinobi possess abilities that cannot be replaced.
For example, the Yamanaka clan's secret technique to extract information from corpses, or the Hyūga clan's long-range sensory abilities.
At most, one year without recruitment. That is my bottom line."
After a heated argument, Danzo yielded on the spy network and recruitment issues — already giving Sarutobi Hiruzen considerable face.
In the end, they reached a compromise: one year without recruiting clan shinobi, prioritizing civilian-born shinobi instead.
By the end of their dispute, Yako no longer wanted to listen.
The other three people in the room seemed to have forgotten that Yako himself was a civilian-born shinobi.
Clan shinobi didn't want to join Root, but civilian shinobi did?
—
The full moon hung like a silver plate.
A new lunar cycle had begun.
Yako worried about Yuka. The other women had shown signs — why was there still no change in Yuka's belly?
If Yuka could bear a child, the bond between himself and the remnants of the Uzumaki would become even tighter.
Her child would carry the Uzumaki name. With careful nurturing by Yako and Yuka, it might even compete for leadership of the clan.
With Kyoi and Purple Cat already pregnant, Yako focused all his attention on Yuka.
He poured in sweat and effort, while constantly comforting her, encouraging her to relax and not feel pressured by the burdens of the Uzumaki clan.
After spending a strenuous hour with Yuka, Yako returned to Konoha.
Late at night, he arrived at the training grounds and began contemplating how to further strengthen himself.
In terms of ninjutsu, he already possessed eight mastery-level techniques.
His Fox persona could use Hidden Fish in Earth Technique, Water Release: Water Severing Wave, and the Self-Binding Curse Mark — all at mastery level.
His Sarutobi Kanosuke persona possessed five mastery-level techniques across the five chakra natures, along with the S-rank forbidden technique Five Elements Great Barrage.
As for chakra refinement, his Water Release chakra could only reach condensed form — not crystallization.
His techniques were already comprehensive, with no obvious weaknesses.
His chakra reserves were now 2.4 times that of an elite jōnin.
But natural growth through physical conditioning alone felt too slow.
If there was no specific weakness to address next, then he would focus entirely on increasing chakra quantity.
Using the system, he would push his reserves toward Kage-level as quickly as possible.
Fighting Kage-level shinobi only yielded elite jōnin-level chakra gains — a waste.
Fighting ordinary jōnin gave jōnin-level gains, only one-fifth as effective as elite jōnin — unsatisfying.
The next step was to select suitable elite jōnin targets.
But Konoha didn't have many elite jōnin. What would he do once he exhausted them?
Rely on farming ordinary jōnin? That would be a massive undertaking. Five jōnin equaled one elite jōnin.
The assassination handbook was extremely important. It contained intelligence on many jōnin and elite jōnin.
Yako waited several days but never received orders from Yellow Dog to take over the spy network.
He quietly investigated and eventually learned that Yellow Dog had gained a new assistant — Long-Arm Ape.
The intelligence network was too important. The spy systems from two major nations transferred by Root were ultimately controlled by Long-Arm Ape.
According to Yako's information, Long-Arm Ape was a Sarutobi clan jōnin — Yellow Dog's cousin, Sarutobi Einosuke.
Yako looked toward Yellow Dog's office, his gaze turning colder.
So Yellow Dog still trusted members of the Sarutobi clan more…
I shed blood for ANBU. I made contributions for ANBU. And in the end? His cousin harvested the fruit.
That fruit… was supposed to be mine…
The next morning, Yellow Dog summoned Yako and told him to go to the Hokage Tower — to Nara Shikakaku's jōnin squad leader office.
Yako's attitude showed no trace of dissatisfaction. Yellow Dog could not detect any resentment toward Long-Arm Ape.
"Fox," Yellow Dog said, "Lord Shikakaku proposes hiding some assassination handbook targets among bounty targets in the underground bounty exchange.
As ANBU's representative, go listen to his arrangements."
"Understood, Commander."
Entering Nara Shikakaku's office, Yako saw Nara Meika.
He had once saved her during the Land of Rivers war.
"Fox has arrived."
"Lord Shikakaku."
After brief greetings, Nara Shikakaku said, "Fox, I plan to forge clients for the underground bounty exchange and issue bounties on enemy village jōnin.
Nara Meika will handle the details.
You and Meika will investigate the bounty exchange and publish the missions.
Targets listed in the ANBU assassination handbook will be eliminated through bounties, avoiding limitless retaliatory assassinations from other villages.
During this operation, Meika takes the lead. You are responsible for protection."
"Understood."
After receiving the mission, Nara Meika and Yako headed toward Konoha's main gate.
From behind, Yako watched Nara Meika's back, wondering whether he should farm chakra from her…
In the next instant, cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
No — he had already died once at Nara Meika's hands.
He had even obtained Shadow Possession Technique from her.
What terrible memory…
Dying twice at the hands of the same person would mean real death.
This was a reminder — he needed to create an Arc of the Waning Moon death log, to avoid forgetting who had killed him over time.
In the future, he needed to be cautious. Anyone who had killed him once — after revival, he should eliminate them quickly to avoid future accidents.
Yako's thoughts shifted rapidly.
Nara Meika seemed to sense something and turned back to glance at Fox.
Yako acted as if nothing had happened.