Tsunade sprinted through the rain, panting heavily as she reached the morgue hallway. Her eyes stared blankly into the depths of the corridor, fixed upon the motionless figure lying there.
Jiraiya, standing by the door, stopped Tsunade in her tracks, saying, "You'd better not look at the corpse."
"What difference does it make? Even if you see it, you wouldn't recognize it as her younger brother anyway," Orochimaru said casually.
Jiraiya angrily snapped, "Stop it, Orochimaru."
Orochimaru went on coolly, "This is wartime after all; ninjas end up like this because there are no doctors on the battlefield. Still, kids get overly excited, especially the day after receiving a gift."
As he spoke, Orochimaru pulled out a necklace from his robe.
Tsunade stared at the necklace before snatching it away, sinking into deep regret.
Anya, who had come along with them, sighed quietly. Indeed, war was merciless—what did it matter if someone was even the grandson of the First Hokage? They could still die just like that. At this moment, Anya finally understood why his "lucky sheep" had acted strangely today. It seemed whenever Tsunade faced misfortune, her luck beforehand was unusually good. He could only blame himself for choosing the worst possible moment—he just walked right into her bad mood.
Just as Anya prepared to leave, Orochimaru—who had previously been leaning against the wall—suddenly appeared before him using Shunshin.
Faced with Orochimaru, Anya remained highly cautious and respectfully greeted him, "Good day, Lord Orochimaru."
Orochimaru clearly still remembered him and smiled coldly, "Tomorrow, the Hokage will be holding a meeting and specifically requested your attendance. Since we've met here by chance, remember to show up promptly at nine o'clock in the morning."
Though filled with questions, Anya immediately replied without hesitation, "Understood."
The next day, as Anya approached the meeting room right on time, he found it unusually lively. The moment he stepped in, all conversation stopped dead. Eyes turned to him, curious and filled with interest.
Anya hadn't expected such a reaction upon entering, nor had he anticipated the conference hall would already be packed. Hurriedly, he headed to a quiet corner and sat down without acknowledging anyone. As he glanced around, he noticed several familiar faces—Dan, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru.
He gave Dan a friendly smile; they hadn't seen each other in quite some time. Dan was still as polite and gentle-mannered as ever, looking every bit the refined gentleman.
Dan returned the smile politely. In times of war, encounters between old acquaintances were rare indeed—one never knew whether someone might vanish forever during the next mission.
At exactly nine o'clock, the Third entered the hall punctually. With a single gesture of his hands, the entire room fell silent immediately, not even the faintest sound dared to break the stillness. Anya couldn't help but marvel inwardly. The Third's mastery of authority was truly extraordinary—after all, he was likely the longest-serving Hokage, possessing not only immense strength but also remarkable wisdom.
Hiruzen now carried the dignity befitting the Third Hokage, his face more serious than ever before. In a deep voice, he said, "Since the outbreak of the Second Great Ninja War, I believe everyone clearly understands the scale of this war. Konoha's losses have reached an all-time high in history. According to statistics, three-fourths of Anbu members have died, over eight hundred regular ninja have fallen, including ninety-eight Jonin and one hundred fifty-nine Chunin. The remaining Genin were almost completely wiped out."
Hearing the grief in Hiruzen's voice, the atmosphere in the hall turned grim in an instant.
"The main responsibility for this incident lies with me," he continued. "I failed to anticipate the continuous expansion of warfare, which led to insufficient preparation in combat strength."
"Hokage-sama, please don't blame yourself..." Upon hearing this, the gathered ninjas murmured among themselves.
Meanwhile, Anya muttered under his breath. Who could've foreseen that a declaration of war from Hanzo's small nation would trigger a collective chain reaction across the Ninja World? It was evident that conflicts already existed between various nations; through Hanzo's guidance, they'd suddenly escalated.
Hiruzen raised his hand again, calming everyone down as he spoke sternly: "Mistakes are mistakes—the Hokage cannot shirk responsibility. This meeting mainly concerns our future strategic deployments in this war. Next, we'll hear intelligence reports from White Fang's disciple."
"Huh?!" Upon hearing these words, the room instantly erupted into loud chatter. Clearly, no one had known who White Fang's student was before. Was he really about to be entrusted with such an important role?
Anya, originally sitting quietly in a corner listening to the discussion, hadn't expected to get a turn to speak at all. No wonder they specifically *called* me here. But what did the old man mean by pushing me forward like this? How was I supposed to lie low and build up my strength after this?
Right now, Anya's mood was particularly bad, but on the outside, he remained expressionless. Standing up modestly, he gave a nod to the crowd and clearly presented all the intelligence information he'd gathered while traveling abroad, especially highlighting those enemy ninja worth particular attention.
Smiling faintly and stroking his beard, the Third seemed genuinely pleased with Anya's speech. Watching Anya sit back down after finishing his presentation, he continued: "Through this war, I've also noticed deficiencies in our usage of ninja. Every ninja takes on a wide range of missions, inevitably resulting in differing developmental paths—for example, some specialize in Taijutsu while others focus on Ninjutsu. Grouping them together without regard for their specialties won't maximize their combat effectiveness and may even negatively impact battlefield outcomes, since ninja aren't soldiers. Therefore, my second proposal today is this: in the future, missions will be assigned by small teams consisting of four members each, led by a single Jonin. Moreover, each team must contain individuals with specific special abilities to ensure smooth operation of intelligence and mission execution while minimizing our ninja casualties. We'll decentralize our forces. Does anyone disagree?"
"I object." Before the Third had even finished speaking, a voice rang out.
Everyone present was taken aback—who dared challenge the Third so directly immediately after he made a statement? They all turned their gazes toward the speaker. Even Jiraiya, who had nearly dozed off, suddenly woke up and looked around. None other than Tsunade, sitting right beside him.
Tsunade stood up, ignoring the astonished looks around her. "Regarding four-member squads," she said, "since they must operate alone in enemy territory for extended periods, assigning a medical expert to each squad would drastically increase both their survival rate and mission success rate. Therefore, cultivating Medical Ninjas with expert-level medical skills, developing Medical Ninjutsu, and establishing such a system should be our top priority right now."
Tsunade's words made The Third nod in agreement as he said, "Hmm, you're absolutely right, but we are currently in the middle of a war. Establishing a medical system would take too much time, and we lack both knowledge and time—our enemies won't wait for us..."
Before The Third could finish speaking, Tsunade immediately became furious and shouted, "What did you say, old man? If this keeps up, when will we ever..."
"I support her request," a sudden voice interrupted.
Startled by the interruption, Tsunade turned sharply and saw Dan rising to his feet. He looked at The Third seriously and said, "I don't want the fallen Ninjas who have already given their lives to die in vain. We must learn something from it."
Tsunade fell silent, her eyes brimming with gratitude as she looked at Dan.
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