As he left the Hokage's tower and ignored the furtive escort of a couple of his men, the head of Anbu Ne showed outward equanimity, though inside he was seething with irritation. The meeting with Hiruzen had been quite expected, given the circumstances, and the demand to provide the Fuinjutsu materials he had received was no surprise at all.
But the cut in funding was not in the plans of the one-eyed shinobi, and even more delayed the terms of restoration of the former number of the organization. Lately, he had begun not only to recruit prospective recruits outside the village, but also to look for separate, not controlled by the Hokage, sources of finance.
As a recent meeting had shown, it was for good reason. The casino chain, which has recently changed owners, will be a great help to the Hokage in keeping part of the organization in the shadows, since the Hokage doesn't need the dirty work of the Anbu so much. After all, Konoha can be defended from the shadows, no matter what some people think. And being in the shadows Danzo was very good at it.
***
Nodding to the almost personal students who had shown up at the training ground a little early, I continued reading the scroll and devouring the apple. I gave the girls an educational talk about what they could discuss outside the clan quarter, where they had limited access, and what was best not to mention, so they just sat nearby and waited for the third member of the team.
I usually held such team trainings here, then the task for money to the wards, and at the end, already for a few hours used a personal training ground. And orders to the girls not to work out too much during the rare team sparring sessions.
As a good second-degree iryonin, for now, and a master of seals with his own shop, I have quite a few acquaintances and friends among the Chunin-Jonin members of the village's armed forces, even among the clan fighters, so it wasn't too difficult to find out who had a team hanging around their neck at the moment and agree on a joint training session where the genin would try to beat the crap out of each other.
And the girls showed not all, but the results at the level of clan, for which I was already honored with respectful looks. Naturally, the main driving force was Hoshi and Asani, with Surizawa as support and iryonin. I also taught the girls medicine, but in between, so that they wouldn't die immediately if they were seriously injured.
From my experience, most of the losers who didn't live to receive qualified iryonin help in the last war could have survived if their partners had first aid skills. Chakra users are generally resilient and if not killed immediately, usually have a chance to make it out alive, even if crippled. And then, if you have money or acquaintances, everything can be fixed.
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