One morning, Yōkō was reading a scroll in his office.
Having a private office felt really good.
Purple Cat entered the office.
"Jonin Fox, there's a notice from the Jonin Corps. All ANBU Jonin are to attend the Jonin meeting."
Yōkō could now attend the Jonin meeting, not as a meeting guard, but in his capacity as an ANBU Jonin.
"Alright, I'll go right away."
Yōkō arrived at the ANBU base entrance and saw Yellow Dog, Black Ant, and Lynx.
He was now on equal footing with these Battalion Commanders. The Jonin Corps meeting had to include him.
The ANBU were known as Konoha's elite, but the number of Jonin within the ANBU wasn't high.
Many ANBU shinobi, after being promoted to Jonin, would use some opportunity to leave the ANBU and become Jonin operating in the open.
Yōkō took an extra look at Lynx; this person was Danzo's trusted subordinate. He wondered what Lynx specialized in and what his abilities were.
The four of them left the ANBU base together and entered the Jonin Corps meeting room on the second floor of the Hokage Building.
Wearing his fox mask, Yōkō sat on a cushion in the third row.
Jonin filed in one by one. Except for the Jonin at the Land of Earth front, the Land of Whirlpools front, and the Daimyō's Guardian Ninja Jonin, a total of 121 people attended this Jonin Corps meeting.
The first and second rows were reserved for Elite Jonin and the clan heads.
Those who had served as deputy commanders on the battlefield, like Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade, sat in the first row.
The last to enter were the village's top brass: Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, and Nara Rokaku.
Among the leadership, Mitokado Homura was in the Land of Earth, and Danzo was in the Land of Whirlpools, serving as the overall commanders for those two battlefronts, respectively.
Yōkō thought to himself, Is this what it feels like to be close to power?
Let me see, what kind of closed-door meetings are you having behind the backs of Konoha's Chūnin and Genin? What matters can't be discussed openly?
After Nara Rokaku signaled for everyone to quiet down, he was the first to speak:
"The war in the Land of Rivers resulted in a brilliant victory for us. However, the Second Great Shinobi War is far from over.
Kirigakure has declared war on Konoha and invaded the Land of Whirlpools.
There are two items on today's agenda.
First, summarizing the gains and losses from the Land of Rivers battlefield.
Second, conscripting shinobi for the Land of Whirlpools to conclude the war there as soon as possible.
The village plans to appoint an additional deputy commander for the Land of Whirlpools battlefield and dispatch 20 Jonin and 1000 shinobi to the Land of Whirlpools front."
Yōkō looked at Yellow Dog's back.
The Yellow Dog Battalion would definitely be sent to the Land of Whirlpools. He wondered how Yellow Dog planned to become the ANBU Vice-Commander.
The simplest method was to achieve a major accomplishment, making it impossible for Danzo to oppose Yellow Dog's promotion.
Danzo had an extremely strong desire for power and was absolutely unwilling to let others share his authority.
Nara Rokaku said:
"The war reparations from Sunagakure have been arriving successively. Death benefits for the over 900 sacrificed shinobi will be distributed in the next couple of days.
We paid a painful price but thoroughly thwarted all of Sunagakure's strategic intentions.
The Guardian Ninja slots for the Land of Rivers Daimyō and the mission share from the Land of Rivers remain firmly in our hands.
During the war, we destroyed the Land of Wind's Saba Port and a total of 21 large and small oases on the Land of Wind's border.
Both the Land of Wind and Sunagakure will fall into exhaustion and weakness, unable to threaten us in the short term."
Tsunade was the first to stand up:
"Konoha sacrificed over 900 shinobi, but the frontline medical stations also restored over 600 shinobi to fighting capability.
If the village was willing to invest more medical resources, the death toll would definitely be much lower than 900."
Listening to Tsunade's impassioned voice, Yōkō thought, only Tsunade would dare interrupt Nara Rokaku in such a setting.
Nara Rokaku quickly said:
"Princess Tsunade, I am not saying that the sacrifice of over 900 people was due to inefficiency at the frontline medical stations. This number is already much lower than Sunagakure's 1700 deaths."
Tsunade said: "My point is that the village should increase investment in medical resources to allow more Konoha shinobi to survive!
Medical supplies were in short supply on the Land of Rivers front. In the later stages, there were no medicines. All injuries and illnesses were treated purely using medical chakra by the medics.
How could the medics' chakra possibly handle that many casualties?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen said: "Tsunade, everywhere is short of medical supplies during wartime.
It's not that the village doesn't value medical care, but both the Land of Earth and Land of Whirlpools fronts need to share the medical resources, so naturally, the share allocated to the Land of Rivers was somewhat less."
Utatane Koharu also said: "Tsunade, after the meeting, you can come with me to see our storerooms. The village has been dealing with multiple battlefronts continuously, and the storerooms everywhere are empty."
It took the concerted efforts of several top brass members to finally placate Tsunade.
Next, Hatake Sakumo stood up and said:
"As the deputy commander, let me also bring up a matter.
On the Land of Rivers battlefield, the Jutsu Assessment System was implemented.
Post-war statistics show that many Chūnin and Genin achieved significant improvements in their strength.
I believe the Jutsu Assessment System can be widely promoted, teaching common elemental jutsu to Chūnin and Genin with outstanding mission records and a spirit of dedication."
Nara Rokaku seemed a bit overwhelmed, first Tsunade, now Hatake Sakumo. He said:
"Sakumo, the effectiveness of the Jutsu Assessment System still needs evaluation.
According to intelligence from spies, Sunagakure obtained a lot of information about our Konoha jutsu during the war.
The widespread dissemination of jutsu caused by the Jutsu Assessment System, leading to the leakage of shinobi intelligence and targeted countermeasures by other villages, is also one of the issues that needs consideration."
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Utatane Koharu didn't even bother to explain, merely glancing at Hatake Sakumo.
Seeing the indifferent looks from the top brass, Hatake Sakumo sat back down disappointed.
Pushing through any reforms was too difficult.
If the Jutsu Assessment System faced such difficulty and resistance, the Shinobi Position Assessment System would only be harder.
If not for the war victory, the top brass would probably want to punish Hatake Sakumo for the large-scale leakage of jutsu.
Yōkō felt the top brass must find it very difficult dealing with troublemaker Tsunade and idealist Hatake Sakumo, both causing issues.
Why couldn't all Konoha shinobi just raise their hands in agreement and applaud?
Those who raise their hands must also jump for joy, and those who applaud must shake their heads ecstatically – that would be the ideal subordinate.
"Now moving to the second agenda item." Nara Rokaku said:
"After village consideration, Tsunade is appointed as Deputy Commander of the Land of Whirlpools battlefield. She will lead 20 Jonin and 1000 Konoha shinobi to the Land of Whirlpools frontlines."
Yōkō looked at Tsunade and saw she didn't object; it seemed she had accepted the appointment.
Then, Nara Rokaku began reading the list of Jonin names.
This list did not include Yellow Dog or Yōkō. ANBU operations were solely responsible to the Hokage and did not need to be disclosed to the Jonin Corps.
After the list was read, the Jonin all calmly accepted their conscription.
Those Jonin whose names weren't called even looked somewhat disappointed.
Hatake Sakumo stood up again: "Lord Hokage, Commander Rokaku, my name should be on that list. I am willing to help the village end the war in the Land of Whirlpools quickly."
Nara Rokaku said:
"Sakumo, the overall commander for the Land of Whirlpools war is Advisor Danzo, and the deputy commander is Clan Leader Uchiha Kane. Having Princess Tsunade go will just supplement the shortcomings in frontline medical logistics."
"Commander Rokaku, I don't need to be a commander. Just let me go to the frontlines and command a single battalion."
***
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(End of Chapter)