After announcing the casualties suffered by both sides in battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other village higher-ups continued the meeting.
They discussed the village repairs, the treatment of the wounded, compensation and condolences for the families of those who had died in battle, and several other urgent matters.
One order after another was quickly arranged.
Because Konoha was still in the middle of war, most of the village's Jōnin were currently away from the village.
Because of that, many of these tasks had to be handed directly to the village's senior officials and the clan heads, who would personally take charge of them.
Once the arrangements were mostly settled, the atmosphere in the conference room gradually became heavier.
Hiruzen tapped the table lightly with his pipe.
"Then… let us move on to the next issue."
His gaze swept across everyone present.
"How should we deal with the Kirigakure forces currently outside the village?"
The moment those words fell, the conference room stirred.
This was the real reason everyone had gathered here.
The previous matters were important, but they were all things Konoha had to handle after the battle.
The Mist-nin army outside the village, however, was still an immediate threat.
One after another, the clan heads and senior shinobi began voicing their opinions.
Most of them reached the same conclusion.
Yagami should personally lead a unit and drive the Kirigakure forces out of the Land of Fire.
After listening for a while, Hiruzen finally turned his eyes toward Yagami.
"Yagami, what do you think?"
This was also the main reason Hiruzen had summoned him to attend this high-level meeting.
Right now, Konoha was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.
If they wanted to force the Mist-nin army to retreat quickly, the most reliable choice was to have Yagami move personally.
Even if Hiruzen went himself, he could not guarantee the same result.
It was not that Hiruzen was weak.
Rather, when it came to an open battlefield, Yagami's abilities were simply far more suitable.
"Hmm…"
Yagami leaned back slightly, then shrugged.
"If the village can send a squad to follow behind me and put out any fires…"
A faint, almost sly smile appeared on his face.
"Then wiping out the Kirigakure forces would not be much of a problem."
The conference room fell silent for a moment.
Yagami was not exaggerating.
Now that he could fly at high altitude, dealing with an army of several thousand people was not particularly difficult for him.
After all, no matter how many shinobi there were, could they really withstand bombardment from the sky?
Especially when the one doing the bombing was not a machine, but a humanoid weapon like Yagami.
If he did not have to worry about setting the forest on fire, Yagami could probably end the entire battle by himself.
"No."
Hiruzen rejected the idea without hesitation.
He rubbed his brow, looking slightly tired.
"That is not a good plan."
"If strong winds spread the flames, or if the rescue unit fails to contain them in time, the damage would be disastrous."
His expression turned solemn.
"The direction the Kirigakure forces are retreating toward is a dense forest stretching for over a thousand miles. If that entire region burns, the losses would be impossible to measure."
"And it would not only be a loss of territory. The ecosystem of the Land of Fire would suffer a devastating blow."
Yagami spread his hands.
"Then I'm out of ideas. If I can't launch large-scale bombardments, dealing with that many Mist-nin becomes a lot more troublesome."
Hiruzen looked at him with some confusion.
"The earlier reports mentioned that you also possess large-scale Wind Release techniques."
He paused, then asked,
"Can you not use Wind Release to attack them instead?"
Hiruzen did not understand the difference between Yagami's various power systems.
Because of that, he subconsciously assumed Yagami's Wind Release could be used as freely as his Light Release.
"Ah…"
Yagami's expression stiffened slightly.
"Wind Release consumes quite a lot of chakra."
"If I fire seven or eight large-scale attacks in a row, my chakra will probably be exhausted."
"So if I rely on Wind Release, I won't be able to maintain a long battle."
Yagami felt a little awkward as he said that.
Devil Fruit abilities consumed stamina.
Ninjutsu consumed chakra.
The two were completely different systems.
Of course, he could not explain that to everyone here.
After hearing his words, everyone in the conference room looked strangely at him.
Their expressions were almost saying the same thing.
You lack chakra?
During the previous battle, were you not throwing attacks around like you had unlimited firepower?
"…"
Seeing their expressions, Yagami immediately understood what they were thinking.
He had already prepared an excuse for this kind of situation, so he spoke calmly.
"Actually, the Light Release I developed has extremely low chakra consumption."
"That is why I can keep using it continuously and fight for so long."
Hiruzen blinked.
"Your Light Release… has low chakra consumption?"
His tone carried clear doubt.
That was not unreasonable.
Normally, ninjutsu with low chakra consumption did not possess overwhelming destructive power.
But Yagami's Light Release was different.
Calling it earth-shaking was not even an exaggeration.
The giant crater nearly a hundred meters wide, along with the mushroom cloud that rose from the battlefield that morning, was still clearly engraved in everyone's memory.
Yagami raised one finger.
A small point of light condensed at his fingertip, glowing quietly.
"Because my Light Release is formed from the fusion of four chakra natures."
He lied without changing his expression.
"Maybe because the nature transformation has reached a completely different level, the quality itself changed."
No one could verify it anyway.
So naturally, Yagami spoke with complete confidence.
"What?!"
"Four chakra natures fused together?"
"Then what level of technique is that supposed to be?"
The entire conference room erupted.
Everyone knew that techniques formed from the fusion of two chakra natures were called kekkei genkai.
Techniques formed from the fusion of three chakra natures were called kekkei tōta.
In the current shinobi world, only Ōnoki of Iwagakure possessed that level of technique.
But a technique formed from the fusion of four chakra natures?
That was something no one in the shinobi world had ever heard of.
Since no one had ever achieved it before, there was not even a proper classification for it.
"Yes."
Yagami nodded as if it were perfectly natural.
"A new technique formed by fusing four chakra natures."
"So while it may look like I'm constantly releasing powerful ninjutsu, the actual chakra consumption is not as extreme as you imagine."
"And my chakra reserves are not as monstrous as you all think."
He lowered his hand slightly.
"That is why using Wind Release to wipe out the Mist-nin army is not realistic."
As he spoke, the light at his fingertip became a little brighter.
It allowed the Konoha higher-ups present to observe his so-called Light Release from close range.
"This…"
"There really isn't much chakra fluctuation coming from it."
Several senior shinobi narrowed their eyes and focused their senses.
Just as Yagami had said, the light gathered at his fingertip did not contain any obvious chakra fluctuation.
In fact, it was so faint that it almost felt as if there was no chakra there at all.
The conference room fell into a strange silence.
Four chakra natures fused together?
Could such a thing truly cause such an enormous qualitative change?
Could it even make the original chakra signature almost impossible to sense?
The Konoha higher-ups exchanged uncertain looks.
In the long history of the shinobi world, there had never been any recorded technique created from the fusion of four chakra natures.
Because of that, they had no reference.
And because they had no reference, none of them could tell that Yagami was completely fooling them.
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