"The Two-Tails is currently sealed inside the Amber Purification Jar, a legendary artifact said to have been forged by the Sage of Six Paths."
"That big orange jar? Yeah, I caught a glimpse of it once."
Uchiha Kaien didn't waste time—he went straight to the point and laid out the intel cleanly.
He had always had a keen sense for managing people's emotions. After just finishing his little act of being cutesy and shameless to lower their guard, it was now time to get down to business.
"I see."
Hiruzen Sarutobi had been about to light his pipe when he heard that, but halfway through raising it, he paused and put it down.
There were still two kids in the room—probably best not to smoke.
The information Kaien had just provided about Kumogakure was of critical importance. It was undoubtedly S-class intelligence.
Hiruzen couldn't help but feel the Intelligence Division's budget might need some trimming. If a child could dig up this kind of intel more efficiently than his professionals, something was clearly off.
What had started as a casual indulgence—just letting the kid play around—ended up becoming a stroke of unexpected luck. Perhaps this was what people meant by a fortunate accident.
Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchūriki could be swapped at any moment, and as for the Two-Tails, they hadn't yet found a suitable candidate.
Which meant Konoha could afford to be a little more aggressive in its stance toward Kumogakure.
Without immediate access to tailed beast-level power, the only real force backing Kumogakure was the Third Raikage.
By contrast, Konoha had far more elite jōnin—and more importantly, top-tier combat power.
As he mentally compared Konoha's strength to that of the other villages, Hiruzen felt even more confident in his leadership.
Just his own inner circle was already an overwhelming force.
Besides Koharu Utatane, there was Homura Mitokado, who had barely reached kage-level capabilities, and then there was his old friend Danzo—an undisputed kage-level asset.
Then there were Akimichi Torifu and Uchiha Kagami, both kage-tier as well. Torifu, though, needed to take one of those red pills to unlock that level of strength—his Multi-Size Technique was more useful for battlefield suppression than duels.
Wait... wasn't Danzo injured?
Hiruzen's expression turned odd. Could Danzo still perform at kage-level while injured? That was... questionable.
And then there were his three disciples, all of whom had more or less crossed into kage-level themselves.
Well... one was still stuck in Amegakure, and another was too depressed after her boyfriend's death to be of any use. That only left Orochimaru available for immediate mobilization.
Hiruzen's expression grew even more complicated.
Out of three disciples, only one was available. Fortunately, there was still Hatake Sakumo.
The name "White Fang of the Leaf" struck fear into Sunagakure. Sakumo was a true kage-level powerhouse, and his mastery of the Hatake Sword Style had made him the greatest kenjutsu user in the shinobi world.
Then there was the younger generation. They now had Uchiha Kaien, a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder, and Namikaze Minato, who had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique—both vital to Konoha's future.
What Hiruzen didn't know, however, was that Kaien had also learned the Flying Thunder God Technique. With so many issues to handle recently, everyone had kind of forgotten to tell him.
After all, in the previous battles, Kaien had relied mostly on his Mangekyō Sharingan. He hadn't had a chance to showcase the Flying Thunder God at all.
"Considering the intel he gathered, little Kaien must have gone through quite a bit. Now that he's back in the village, he should take a well-earned break."
Hiruzen took the opportunity to keep Kaien in Konoha for the time being. When a need arose, they could send him on missions again.
Under normal circumstances, Kaien and Minato would've only just graduated this year. Having them constantly take on high-risk missions was far from ideal.
Now was the best time for them to grow stronger. Staying in Konoha to train and deepen their foundations was the wisest course of action.
...
Though the Second Great Ninja War seemed to be over, skirmishes were still ongoing in various regions. The hatred and anger hadn't truly been resolved—it had merely been passed on to the next generation.
That, too, was a danger looming over the entire shinobi world.
In Hiruzen's eyes, the Third Great Ninja War was inevitable. During the second war, the Five Great Nations had all held back to preserve strength. But the hatred remained. The struggle for resources and revenge would soon plunge the world into flames again.
The ones who had suffered the most were Amegakure.
This war had set their economy back at least a decade.
Their people and land were devastated. All they had left was a man known as the "Demi-God."
Kumogakure had bad blood with Iwagakure, and Iwagakure still had old grievances with Kirigakure. Sunagakure, meanwhile, had its budget slashed and had gone into hiding.
Konoha, on the other hand, was in relatively good shape.
But there was one thing that couldn't be ignored—aside from the Legendary Sannin, every single ninja sent to the Wind-Rain-Fire battlefield had perished.
That was real blood hatred.
Thousands of families were left grieving. There was no way that kind of grudge would simply vanish.
Hiruzen had already spent an enormous amount of time just managing the aftermath—and even Danzo had to step in to help with the workload while recovering from his injuries.
At least that much effort could still be appreciated.
As for Kirigakure, that was a mess left unresolved.
Hiruzen had no plans to send anyone else to Kirigakure anytime soon. Even a squad of elite jōnin had suffered casualties there—sending others would just be feeding them to the wolves.
Throwing meat buns at dogs rarely ends well.
...
"It was a little tough, sure," Kaien said, scratching his cheek awkwardly. "But overall, it was kind of fun."
He sounded a bit embarrassed as he recalled his time undercover.
Saying he ate well and lived comfortably in Kumogakure just didn't seem very appropriate...
Namikaze Minato looked thoughtful. Kaien's demeanor made it seem like he had been having fun in Kumogakure.
That expression definitely wasn't something Kaien would wear if he'd really suffered. If he had, he'd probably be wearing that usual "this mission was no big deal" look.
From the looks of it, he must've had a great time...
After handing off their mission, the group left the Hokage's office, leaving Hiruzen alone to continue pondering the fate of the shinobi world.
Uchiha Kagami returned to the Uchiha compound to help his son prepare for his wedding.
Yes—his son, Uchiha Takatoshi, was getting married. From the same generation as Uchiha Fugaku, it was finally time for him to tie the knot.
Though... his wife was probably still underage.
Kaien had made fun of that name plenty of times. Fugaku and Takatoshi—only the Uchiha could come up with names like that. No wonder Kaien found them so cringeworthy.
That was why Takatoshi kept venting to Kagami about it.
...
As for Orochimaru, he was already gleefully buried in his lab again. With piles of research and data waiting for him, he felt like he could barely keep up.
Only Kaien and Minato were left wandering Konoha's streets, aimless and bored.
Until they turned a corner—and ran into someone unexpected.
Hatake Sakumo.
"Sakumo-san, fancy meeting you here."
"Kaien, Minato—you're finally back from your mission?"
Sakumo smiled warmly. He had heard bits and pieces about Kaien's mission, mostly through Minato.
Without Jiraiya around, Minato had turned to another speed-type ninja—Sakumo—for guidance.
"Hmm? Is that your kid, Sakumo-san?"
Kaien had noticed a tiny figure clinging to Sakumo's pant leg.
A spiky white head of hair—Kaien immediately knew who it was.
"Yup, that's my son, Hatake Kakashi. He just turned two this year."
"He's adorable..."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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