The incident where the son and daughter-in-law of Hidden Sand senior advisor Chiyo were killed by members of Sakumo's squad caused quite a stir among Konoha's upper echelons.
Since Hidden Sand declared war on Konoha over two years ago, this has been Konoha's only significant victory on the battlefield.
It can be said that this victory is no less than winning a fairly large-scale war.
Being the children of a senior advisor and also top experts of the Hidden Sand Puppet Corps, the intelligence and secret techniques they held in their minds are very important and must be taken seriously by Konoha.
Therefore, upon receiving this message via Anbu, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately ordered Sakumo's squad of four to return to the village for rest and regrouping.
The most important thing was to extract some crucial secret intelligence and puppet secret techniques from the corpses of the two puppet masters, in order to find ways to counter the Puppet Corps.
This is very important for Konoha right now.
So, after receiving the Hokage's order sent by Anbu, Sakumo returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves with the three of them after a few months away.
"I'll submit the mission report. You three are free to move around."
"Yes."
At the gate of Konoha Village, the four of them parted ways, Sakumo went to the Hokage Building to submit the mission, while the other three, being idle, first went off to find a place to satiate their hunger.
Having traveled at full speed since morning without even having breakfast, the three were already famished. At such a time, of course, they needed to feast heartily in the village.
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"Lord Hokage."
Sakumo knocked on the door and entered, bowing slightly to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was sitting beside the desk.
He also noticed Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, the two advisors, and nodded slightly to them in politeness.
They had gone to the Daimyo's Mansion a few days ago to request war supplies, and had safely returned with these supplies yesterday.
However, due to the significance of Sakumo's squad's mission, the two were seated there as witnesses.
"You've worked hard, Sakumo. You did well this time. In this way, the security within the Land of Fire should not be much of an issue. Leave the rest to the Anbu."
"Yes."
Considering the heavy losses Hidden Sand suffered this time, it would be unwise to continue sending elite forces deep into the Land of Fire for covert sabotage.
Thus, the upcoming security work within the Land of Fire could be handled by the Anbu and other Konoha ninja at remaining outposts.
This marks the end of the months-long mission for Sakumo's squad.
"Has the body been handed over to the Interrogation Department?"
"They've been handed over; none of the enemies survived."
Though Hakushi and Ruri made the first achievement that day, the scattered Hidden Sand ninja and suspected Earth Style ninja from Hidden Rock Village were all hunted down by Sakumo and Ayane, with Jonin Tenchiku also contributing.
At this point, the Hidden Sand squad that had caused Konoha a great headache had been completely wiped out.
The difficulty and importance of this mission could be rated as S-Class.
Hiruzen nodded and looked at advisors Koharu and Homura, saying, "Next, have the Yamanaka Clan's ninja thoroughly explore, so we can obtain the secrets of the enemy."
"Let's do it this way; we need to quickly find out the weakness of the Puppet Corps and let Hidden Sand know our strength."
Koharu and Homura were also very pleased with Sakumo's squad's performance, deserving to be known as Konoha's best Jonin, even more outstanding than the Sannin.
"This time your squad did excellently, so let's calculate your task reward for the past few months as one S-Class and five A-Class missions."
Hiruzen smiled with relief.
Sakumo had no objections.
With one S-Class mission and five A-Class, divided up, even Hakushi and the other three could each receive at least a million ryo as a reward.
Of course, monetary rewards are secondary.
This time, Sakumo's squad made such a huge contribution, the money was just the most basic reward; there would surely be more generous rewards to follow.
It was just that the Hokage himself had not thought of a suitable reward yet, so it might take two to three days before the rewards could be distributed to each of Sakumo's squad members.
"Lord Hokage, as for my share of the reward, please distribute it to the other three members, as they are more in need."
Sakumo said.
"You're still the same, Sakumo."
Hiruzen gave him a helpless look upon hearing Sakumo's request.
"After all, it wasn't me who dealt with the two puppet masters, right?"
Sakumo chuckled.
Hiruzen was already aware of the mission's details. Though it wasn't Sakumo who defeated the two puppet master Jonin, it was he who first seriously injured them, without which others wouldn't have achieved this accomplishment.
But since Sakumo said so, Hiruzen could only let it be.
He truly had nothing to use to reward Sakumo any longer.
Even allowing Sakumo to look at the Sealing Book in the past had been warmly rejected by him.
Being the Konoha White Fang, swordsmanship was his everything.
Ninja Techniques and Illusion Techniques would only affect his speed and power of drawing the blade.
However, this did not mean Sakumo could not use Ninja Techniques; on the contrary, he was exceptionally talented in them, merely a utilitarian.
To him, as long as he could take down an enemy with White Fang Swordsmanship before they cast Ninja Techniques, it was enough.
The White Fang Short Knife in his hand was his strongest 'ninjutsu'!
After reporting the mission, Sakumo left there.
"Seeing the emergence of excellent juniors in the village makes me feel quite old."
Koharu suddenly sighed.
"We are only in our forties, far from the time to lament over the passage of life," Homura replied, refusing to admit to aging.
"Exactly, I can still hold this position for about ten more years."
Hiruzen joined in on their conversation.
"Hiruzen, have you decided on the next Hokage?"
Koharu asked with a lack of concern.
Hiruzen fell into a slight silence; indeed, he hadn't decided on this matter yet.
The Hokage must be chosen among many Jonin - the one with the most prestige, strength, and character.
Currently, Sakumo is the Jonin closest to the Hokage position, with more prestige than the Sannin, more powerful than the Sannin, and with integrity beyond doubt.
He is cold-blooded and ruthless towards his enemies, considerate of his comrades, and treats everyone with equality, even if he is not the best at expressing it.
He is unquestionably a qualified candidate for Hokage.
Most importantly, Sakumo's strength is still in a rapidly advancing state, not yet having reached the peak age of a ninja.
Even so, he is already an impressive Jonin in the village.
Ten years from now, he will be even more formidable, haunting enemies with nightmares that never fade away.
"He is unsuitable to be Hokage."
Hiruzen stated.
Koharu and Homura gave Hiruzen a surprised look.
"As long as you understand. After all, there is a Uchiha ninja in his squad, who at a young age has reached Jonin level, and is part of the Uchiha Radical Faction. We must be cautious and vigilant at all times."
Upon hearing Homura and Koharu targeting the Uchiha race again, Hiruzen sighed, exhaled a puff of smoke, and blew it out.
"Alright, I am preparing for this, you both can go back now."
Unwilling to get into wrangling over such matters with the two, he wanted to focus on completing today's work instead.
Moreover, the rewards for Sakumo's squad also needed to be properly handled.
The annihilation of the Hidden Sand unit carried significant importance; using the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques could uncover various critical intelligence from the enemy's minds, including numerous Hidden Sand secrets, even information regarding the Puppet Corps.
Even without these, just stabilizing the situation within the Land of Fire was worth a substantial reward for Sakumo's squad.
However, reflecting on the two girls in Sakumo's squad, one from the Uchiha, the other from the Hyuga family, made Hiruzen feel a bit conflicted.
The girl from the Hyuga is from a branch family, and he had some ambiguous ideas, but Ruri, who was valued by many of the senior elders from the Uchiha clan, certainly had no shortage of resources.
If he were to reward her, opening the Sealing Book for her once, allowing her to choose a ninja technique to learn, seemed like a plausible option.
However, opening the Sealing Book to a Uchiha ninja could undoubtedly result in Homura and Koharu showing up with long faces to lecture him.
Afterward, Hiruzen picked up Hakushi's personal profile book; well, this one seems easy to deal with, advanced ninja techniques, and higher-level medical-related collections, etc., could serve as the reward this time.