Where you are in a war changes how important some intel seems.
While Haseo on the front line was still tensely bracing for a possible counterattack from Hidden Mist, people in the rear at Konoha had already started celebrating this so-called "glorious" victory.
Well, that's just BS. For such news to spread almost instantly across Konoha, aside from its sensational nature, it was mainly because the Third Hokage actively fueled it.
Strictly speaking, this was a legendary win. Since Konoha's founding, no ninja from the village had ever attacked one of the Five Great Ninja Villages and left it half-destroyed… True, the First Hokage was terrifying in battle, but after establishing Konoha, his approach focused on stabilizing the world rather than showing off strength or deliberately obliterating other villages.
Otherwise, would the Five Great Villages even exist today?
So, this unprecedented feat went to someone like Haseo, while the credit quietly ended up with the Sannin…
When something not originally yours gets credited to you, it feels less like honor and more like being handed a hot potato—a burden wrapped in blame. But regardless of how those three felt about it, the Third Hokage would surely talk them into accepting it. Adults aren't truly free; they're always stuck making compromises, for better or worse.
Let Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru silently endure society's beatings and inner turmoil.
Once the news spread, their reputation within Konoha couldn't just be called "rising"—it was nothing short of exploding. In an instant, their status evolved from merely being promising students of the Third Hokage into undisputed heirs of Konoha.
You could say that with Haseo's cooperation, the Third Hokage's plans were gradually coming true... Mm, Haseo really deserves a raise.
Haseo might not be short on cash now, but there will definitely come a day when he desperately needs money.
Actually, Haseo himself didn't think what he'd done in Hidden Mist was particularly praiseworthy. That was part of why he didn't care much about getting credit… Sure, his attack looked flashy, but in terms of real punch, wasn't it basically just half of a Shinra Tensei?
And even then, achieving that required the Six-Tails giving it their all.
Although Haseo's Five Elemental Arts caused more precise and irreversible damage compared to Shinra Tensei, the latter technique was instantaneous, whereas Haseo had to carefully plan every detail before launching such an attack—at least ordinary ninja were tragically inferior compared to those with overwhelming power.
"The seal has indeed loosened slightly—likely when Haseo-sama unleashed that attack and used his chakra so intensely. But it's nothing serious—I've already fixed it again."
After attacking the Six-Tails, Haseo hadn't noticed anything unusual at the time. However, once he returned to the Konoha base, he gradually began sensing a strange inconsistency—he felt like his chakra was somehow leaking from the seal.
So he asked Uzumaki Shikou, the seal's designer, for a quick check—and indeed, that was exactly what had happened.
She then repaired the sealing mechanism which had developed a minor issue.
"Haseo-dono, although this was just a small problem, it would still be better if you avoided using your chakra in such high-consumption ways in the future..." Uzumaki Shikou reminded him afterward.
Haseo nodded in agreement. "Rest assured, this kind of thing will definitely happen only once. Even if tailed beasts appear before me in the future, I won't launch such an attack again."
Recently, he had increasingly felt like his body was made of glass—prone to breaking at any moment... Perhaps this was simply how things were when one got older?
"These scars on your chest—are they from the Third Mizukage's surprise attack earlier?"
There were visible scars across Haseo's torso from the ambush by the Third Mizukage. Back then, he only received distant healing, which wasn't very thorough. Considering it was already a life-threatening external wound, the scar naturally never fully faded.
It might remain permanently.
"Yes," he replied. "But... Could that previous attack have affected my sealing formula?"
"No," she said, "theoretically speaking, purely physical attacks shouldn't interfere with the operation of the seal itself..."
"Hmm, good to know. Actually, I think this scar looks decent. At least it's on my front. You know, wounds on one's back are usually from swords... and those are considered the shame of a ninja."
As a profession relying heavily on surprise attacks, having injuries on one's back indicates being ambushed—an unbecoming mark. An excellent ninja should always be the one hiding and attacking, never becoming the victim.
From this perspective, a certain Uchiha isn't really meeting standards, considering he was stabbed hard from behind.
"Well... What about those nail marks on your back then?"
Unexpectedly, Uzumaki Shikou followed up with a rather awkward question.
"..." Even though Haseo had a thick skin, he was momentarily stunned speechless.
"Do I really need to answer that?"
Some people who enjoy shooting games play like this—they're actually terrible at aiming but still insist on trying to control recoil with 8x zoom, clearly failing yet somehow managing to hit every shot at the same spot anyway. It's simply amazing.
Just as Haseo finally figured out how to properly respond, he looked up—only to realize she had already left long ago without waiting for his explanation...
So then, what was the point of asking such a question in the first place? Completely baffling.
After completing the raid on Mist, Haseo's next plan involved forcing the severely weakened Hidden Mist village into surrender, thereby ending the conflict on the Eastern Front ahead of schedule.
However, it would take time for military defeats to translate into political shifts. After all, there were always those who, even after losing everything down to their underwear, still refused to admit defeat. Thus, forcing the Hidden Mist village to surrender would require careful planning.
It was also something that needed to be discussed with the Third Hokage, but first things first—this could wait until after the Hidden Mist had stabilized themselves.
Haseo hoped to end the war with the Hidden Mist within a year.
Just as news of the Sannin's great achievements began spreading across Konoha, Haseo gathered once again all the ninja who had infiltrated the Hidden Mist, excluding those three individuals.
He needed to clarify the situation to everyone.
"In the end, the greatest credit for the mission into Hidden Mist will go to the Sannin. I won't get into the specific reasons, but... you should understand. Those three are students of the Third Hokage; they're the chosen ninjas destined to be pushed forward. This is simply the perfect opportunity for them."
There were certain internal political factors at play that Haseo didn't go into detail about, though everyone likely had a general idea of the underlying reasons.
"As for the rest of you...
Uchiha Kushan, you've been hiding in Hidden Mist as a spy for quite some time now. The intelligence advantage we gained was entirely established by you. Intelligence work has always represented a special kind of merit—yours will definitely not be discounted in any way."
The Sannin required battlefield achievements, which did not conflict at all with merits obtained through intelligence gathering. Therefore, Kushan lost nothing in this matter… and besides, trying to take credit from the Uchiha clan was never easy anyway. Not that Haseo wanted to steal it in the first place.
"To avoid unnecessary trouble, I'll stay entirely hidden—as if I never took part in this mission at all.
As for Might Duy… although I feel somewhat sorry, in order to highlight the role of the Sannin, you won't receive official recognition. Still, your contributions will be acknowledged in other ways. I'll push the Third for this. So..."
"Lord Haseo, there's no need to worry about me," Might Duy replied. "A ninja fading into obscurity isn't a bad thing. Besides, being recently promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin already draws more than enough attention."
"I truly appreciate your understanding..."
Excluding Haseo—who really didn't care one way or another—Might Duy was arguably the most disadvantaged by this arrangement. However, since this concerned the succession of the next Hokage, Haseo could only make up for it in other ways.
From Might Duy's perspective, however, his thoughts remained relatively pure: After all, during that major operation he had barely done anything meaningful—he didn't really have much merit to begin with…
After speaking, Haseo gave a silent nod. Yes, this should be enough—he had made himself clear to his subordinates.
"Ahem, Haseo, you haven't mentioned me yet…"
However, something seemed to have been forgotten, so Sakumo Hatake spoke up.
He didn't really care about being given credit, but he couldn't stand being summoned to a meeting just to be completely ignored like he wasn't even there.
"Shut up! You lost a Samehada—did you even realize that? I'm the one holding off pressure from above by not deducting your salary. What more do you want, a medal?"
Hatake: "..."
Well then, Sakumo Hatake was a ninja of "Shadow Flow," a completely trusted ally. So... when dealing with allies, why bother with all that fake politeness? Even if they make you work for nothing and still take money out of your pay—what're you gonna do about it?
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