"Sigh! Looks like another busy day." Nara Shikaku sighed, sitting at his desk, staring at the towering stack of documents piled up like a small mountain. And that wasn't even all of them—his assistant had informed him that more documents had been set aside on the coffee table because there wasn't enough space on the desk.
This was the office of the **Jonin Squad**.
Even within the village, most people were only vaguely aware of the existence of the Jonin Squad, without fully understanding its purpose. Judging from its name, they assumed it had something to do with the jonin.
And indeed, it did.
The Jonin Squad was initially established by the Second Hokage. During the First Shinobi World War, Senju Tobirama realized the difficulty and delay in mobilizing forces from different departments, leading him to create the Jonin Squad. Its purpose was to oversee the village's jonin population and general intelligence, allowing for quick deployment of forces to the battlefield.
So, even though the position of Jonin Squad Leader might seem unremarkable, it actually carried significant authority, especially during wartime. With the Hokage's support, the Jonin Squad could command more power than many other departments, pulling skilled jonin from various areas to engage in battle.
Right now, Nara Shikaku was doing just that kind of work.
"Captain, should we give your wife a heads-up?"
The deputy captain sitting at a nearby desk teased him. It wasn't a secret in the office that Nara Shikaku had a 'strict wife.' However, no one looked down on him for it. After all, anyone sitting in this office was quite intelligent, and they fully understood just how sharp their boss's mind was.
"Hmm... maybe later. If I work fast enough, I might just make it home in time."
Shikaku sighed again.
Recently, the battle with the Hidden Mist had left him overwhelmed. Just when the Mist finally surrendered and he thought he could relax for a bit, the troublemaking Hidden Cloud ninjas started stirring up conflict again. While not entirely unexpected, it was still frustrating to deal with.
"The situation with the northeastern border defense isn't looking good."
Someone sighed.
The casualty list of jonin from the frontlines was alarming.
Even for a powerful village like Konoha, jonin were limited in number. Unlike genin and chunin, who could be replenished relatively quickly, training a jonin was time-consuming and uncertain. Many geniuses met untimely ends along the way, and the strength of a ninja village was largely determined by the number of jonin it had.
"Clan Head Hyuga has already set out with reinforcements. With their support, the frontlines should stabilize, right?"
"It's hard to say. Yesterday's intel reported sightings of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki... If the Hidden Cloud deploys their Jinchuriki, our forces on the front lines have no way of dealing with it."
At this, everyone fell silent.
Shikaku didn't stop his subordinates from discussing this. As members of the Jonin Squad, they were privy to sensitive information like this. There was no point in silencing them, as long as they didn't leak anything outside.
"It's a pity our Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is too young to be of any use!"
After a moment of silence, someone sighed again.
At only five years old, the current Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was at least five or six years away from being battle-ready. If the Jinchuriki's aptitude wasn't great, it could take even longer before they could be deployed, leaving the village in a bind for now.
"Speaking of which, Captain, why isn't Lord Jiraiya leading the fight against the Hidden Cloud?"
Someone finally asked the question that had been on everyone's mind.
Jiraiya had been back in the village for some time now. At first, only a few people knew about it, but after he had been seen wandering around asking questions, word quickly spread, and most of the village's shinobi became aware of his return.
However, despite the Hidden Cloud's invasion, Jiraiya had made no move to act. Many people were confused, as they had assumed he had returned in anticipation of the conflict with the Cloud.
"Lord Jiraiya has other matters to attend to. Alright, let's focus on our own tasks. The situation at the frontlines is being handled, so leave that to the proper people," Shikaku intervened, steering the conversation away from Jiraiya.
Jiraiya's situation was... complicated.
There was still no word on whether he would accept the position of Fifth Hokage. For now, the old man (Hokage) continued to reluctantly sit in that chair. He hadn't had proper rest in days, worn down by both the stressful war front and the growing internal issues within the village.
Besides Jiraiya's matter, the Uchiha clan head and his elite team had yet to return, leaving the village short of capable hands. Shikaku found it increasingly difficult to advise the Hokage, especially with limited resources. He had managed to persuade Hyuga Hiashi to help, but it was still a matter of stretching their forces to cover all fronts.
The situation in Konoha was one of external and internal crisis.
"Let's just hope the Hidden Rock doesn't act anytime soon!"
Shikaku couldn't help but sigh again.
If that were the only problem, they could barely manage. But their spy in Iwagakure had reported that the Hidden Rock was also growing restless. The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, seemed to have intentions of coordinating with the Hidden Cloud to attack Konoha from both sides. Although the cunning old man hadn't taken any concrete action yet, it was only a matter of time.
If Konoha couldn't quickly repel the Hidden Cloud's assault, the Hidden Rock would undoubtedly strike.
"Captain Nara, the Hokage has summoned you."
A masked ANBU member appeared silently at Shikaku's desk, not bothering to knock—he hadn't used the door at all. Instead, he had used an Earth Release technique to descend from the ceiling, a common practice for the ANBU.
"I understand."
Shikaku set down his pen, knowing that getting home on time was out of the question. Overtime was inevitable. Standing up, he gave a few instructions to his deputy to maintain discipline and then followed the ANBU to the Hokage's office.
...
"Lord Hokage, is there something urgent?"
"It's a letter from the Uchiha clan head."
The Hokage, Torifu Akimichi, held up the letter.
"The Uchiha clan head is already on his way back. And he's not coming alone—he's bringing over 1,200 Hidden Mist shinobi, all of whom are at least chunin-level. Not a single genin among them," the old man shared his good news with Shikaku, his mood visibly lifted.
"1,200 chunin or higher from the Hidden Mist?"
Shikaku's tense expression softened slightly. "That's certainly good news."
In truth, 1,200 Hidden Mist shinobi weren't enough to turn the tide, but Shikaku wasn't focused on their numbers. What mattered more was the fact that the Hidden Mist had sent reinforcements at all. By spreading the news of their alliance with the Mist, Konoha could put pressure on both the Cloud and Rock villages.
That's how quickly a sharp mind works.
Elder Akimichi Torifu was still celebrating the arrival of the 1,200 reinforcements!
Right now, Konoha's military strength is stretched too thin—robbing Peter to pay Paul. Torifu simply followed Sougen's old example and squeezed out another group of troops from the Sarutobi, Shimura, and Mitokado clans. However, these clans have almost been entirely drained. Unless someone intends to wipe them out completely, there's no more to extract.
But if he couldn't squeeze more from the Sarutobi, Shimura, and other clans, he'd have to scrape together troops from other families. This is the kind of job that gets people into trouble… and the acting Fifth Hokage wasn't eager to take it on! If he were the official Hokage, it would be different—he could bear some bad reputation for the sake of the village. Unfortunately, he's not the real Hokage, just a temporary substitute.
This seriously dampened his enthusiasm for the work, as he didn't want to implicate his own family.
"And also, the Uchiha Clan leader has already sent Uchiha Shisui, Aburame Jikoku, Inuzuka Ago, and Akimichi Dōto directly to the frontlines in the Land of Hot Water to support the troops," Akimichi Torifu continued, bringing up matters mentioned in the letter and seeking Nara Shikaku's opinion. "Shikaku, do you think this is the right call?"
"There's no problem with it," Nara Shikaku replied with a slight shake of his head. "The Uchiha Clan leader's decision makes perfect sense. The situation at the front isn't looking great, and any extra strength will help. Especially with Aburame Jikoku—he alone is worth an entire hundred-man squad. Even if they can't drive the Mist ninja back, they can at least buy us some time."
Stalling for time until the Uchiha Clan leader returns with the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, along with Jiraiya still in the village. As long as they take care of these internal issues, there'll be enough strength to fend off the invasions from the Cloud and Stone ninja.
"Sigh! I hope the Uchiha Clan leader returns soon."
The acting Fifth Hokage sighed deeply.
Akimichi Torifu missed Uchiha Sougen and the Uchiha Clan's jōnin that had left with him. No matter how much the Uchiha Clan was disliked, when war broke out, the red-eyed Uchiha were the most reliable allies.
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