Who was the one who researched this Lightning Release nintaijutsu?
Hiruzen couldn't help but sigh with genuine admiration.
So useful!
This jutsu had many names: Lightning Release: Lightning Armor, Lightning Release: Lightning Cloak…
From the memories extracted from Blue B's corpse, Kumogakure's official term for it was "Lightning Release: Chakra Mode."
The entry-level difficulty wasn't high, but for this ninjutsu to become truly familiar—fully proficient, and even something you could maintain as a constant state in battle—the difficulty curve rose exponentially.
"Activating the body through Lightning Release chakra, using lightning to stimulate the nerves' reaction speed…"
"And the lightning wrapped around the body also has the effect of training physical toughness; it's also a hard suit of armor in itself."
"This is a ninjutsu that can draw out the limits of the human body!"
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Hiruzen's mouth. This Lightning Release: Chakra Mode was practically tailor-made for him.
Over these past few months of running Konoha, even if he hadn't achieved any great accomplishments, overall he had still made the village a little better…
On the surface, there weren't any changes to his body, but somewhere deep within, Hiruzen gained a subtle understanding.
—It was as if his aptitude had merged into Konoha. As the village's pulse grew stronger, his original ceiling was also being slowly stretched upward along with that rhythm.
So far it wasn't much, but it was extremely solid.
Like a seed buried deep in the soil—unhurried, steadily sipping scattered traces of vitality—quietly unfurling its embryonic root.
What he needed to do was to gradually convert this newly extended ceiling into solid, tangible strength.
"Training does require bitter effort, but in this cruel shinobi world, having a ceiling you can actually reach as long as you work for it—how many people seek that and never get it?"
To develop and balance the village, yet also not slack off in personal strength—life really was full and interesting!
It couldn't be helped; being able to soar through the skies and move freely through the earth was just too interesting…
"Authority," "military," "economy," "education," "diplomacy"…
Hiruzen pondered these five sectors.
Authority and military went without saying; as for the economy, preparations were already underway.
As for diplomacy, the Hokage was waiting for Kumogakure's mad-dog-style grilling, so he could properly rack up a wave of achievements…
"Education, though, needs to be taken seriously." Hiruzen thought about the reports Sakumo had been submitting lately.
—Some of the elite students in the ninja academy were already no longer satisfied with ordinary classes.
On a monthly basis, hold an activity called "The Hokage Enters the Classroom"?
And at this moment...
In the conference room, the ninja coming to attend the meeting arrived one after another.
"You're here so early, sensei?" Orochimaru asked with some surprise.
He had clearly built in some extra time.
"You already count as arriving early, Orochimaru."
Hiruzen replied with a cheerful smile: "Holding a meeting in the Hokage Building is, to me, nothing more than changing the place where I think."
"You should all stay busy with what you need to do. Don't turn it into formalism—just arrive on time."
Beside him, Danzō frowned.
He had originally been thinking to himself about whether he should come even earlier next time—earlier than Hiruzen…
Damn it, could that monkey actually know what he was thinking?
No, it had to be a coincidence!
Danzō sat down stiffly in his seat, sulking with an awkward, pent-up irritation.
Hiruzen glanced up at the time. Everyone had arrived. He gave a light cough.
"The operation targeting Kumogakure's jinchūriki was completed very well."
"This meeting is mainly to discuss the intelligence extracted from the enemy jinchūriki and from the corpses of their ninja leaders. Everyone, take a look…"
In front of each person was a briefing copied by the Administrative Department.
The intelligence showed that one major reason Kumogakure was rushing to develop jinchūriki was that its old nemesis, Iwagakure, was suspected of having achieved preliminary control over the Four-Tails and Five-Tails it possessed.
After a short while, Orochimaru spoke slowly in thought. "Regarding contingency plans for tailed beasts and jinchūriki, we really do need to put this on the agenda."
The pressure in the conference room dropped a notch.
Dealing with the enemy's tailed beasts and jinchūriki was one thing.
But within Konoha itself, tailed beasts were a sensitive issue.
Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchūriki was Uzumaki Mito.
The First Hokage's widow, the former princess of the Uzumaki clan, and a sealing-technique master—although she possessed the ability to control the Nine-Tails, she was already advanced in age…
But could they really strip the Nine-Tails from Uzumaki Mito in advance for the sake of future wars?
That would mean death.
If they were to do that, Hiruzen's reputation and authority would collapse within the village at a terrifying speed.
After all, if he could be so ruthless even toward the First Hokage's widow, could anyone really expect him to treat other ninja well?
On this issue, even Danzō—who had always advocated toughness and sacrifice—chose to remain silent.
"Judging from the current situation of the shinobi world, if a Third Shinobi World War breaks out in the future, tailed beasts and jinchūriki will certainly be involved in the war on a large scale."
Hiruzen spoke calmly. "We cannot place our hopes on the enemy's research into tailed beasts stagnating. At the jōnin level, we must popularize and emphasize counter–tailed-beast techniques."
"Such as genjutsu, sealing techniques, and large-scale, high-power, multi-person cooperative ninjutsu specifically aimed at tailed beasts."
"The village will open up resources for this type of technique and encourage jōnin to study them, but there will also be an assessment mechanism."
"Ninja with talent should hold themselves to standards benchmarked against the strategic value of tailed beasts. If there are difficulties, they can raise them with the village…" Hiruzen glanced at Jiraiya and Danzō.
From a combat-style perspective, both of them relied on a combination of large-scale ninjutsu and summoning beasts; if used properly, they would not be much inferior to jinchūriki on the battlefield.
"By making preparations in advance, given the quality of Konoha's core combat strength, the power of jinchūriki is not something we cannot match."
Everyone nodded slightly.
Were jinchūriki who had mastered tailed beasts strong?
They were very strong.
But Konoha's elite were not weak either, and with a sense of urgency driving their preparations, they did have confidence in the future.
"As for the issue of our village's jinchūriki…" Hiruzen paused slightly.
Everyone's ears seemed to perk up unconsciously.
They were about to talk about a big figure…
The kind that even the Hokage found difficult to handle…
"A report submitted by Orochimaru, combined with Blue B's memories, is highly valuable as a reference."
Hiruzen deliberately did not mention Uzumaki Mito at first.
"From the perspectives of bloodline, talent, and personality, Blue B did possess the qualifications to control the Eight-Tails. So why did he still go berserk?"
"According to the Second Hokage's research notes, tailed beast chakra contains extremely negative emotions. And civilians, toward jinchūriki who possess immense power yet carry the risk of losing control, always harbor fear."
"Even if they don't speak harshly, they will still find ways to avoid them. This is simply the instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm."
"This leads jinchūriki to live in an environment of extreme emotional emptiness. Their hearts gradually weaken, and the tailed beast then loses control."
Hiruzen continued, "But Konoha is different. With Mito-sama holding the line, the village's fear of jinchūriki going berserk is not like that of other hidden villages where such incidents occur frequently. This is our first-mover advantage."
"Therefore, our messaging toward jinchūriki must begin laying the groundwork now. We must establish in the villagers' minds the concepts of 'controllable,' 'dedicated,' and 'hero.'"
"Blue B does not possess the special chakra of the Uzumaki clan like Kushina. That is where her disadvantage lies."
Danzō spoke coldly, "And what if control is lost?"
"Promoting them like this would cause the village to lose credibility. Who will take responsibility?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
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