Chapter 54: A Losing Trade
After breakfast, Hiiro Rinko didn't go back to his research.
With such a big incident in the Shinobi World, the village was bound to react. It would be impossible to focus on research anyway.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before an ANBU pushed open the workshop door and notified him of a meeting.
Using the special passages, with a few Shunshin, he arrived at the Kazekage Tower's conference room. When he pushed open the door, many people were surprised to see him.
Hiiro Rinko had been a Jōnin for two years. As the youngest Jōnin in Suna's history—and perhaps in the history of all the Shinobi Villages—Hiiro Rinko rarely participated in Jōnin-level meetings.
He never participated in the squabbling over policy decisions or votes. His vote was just automatically counted as Chiyo's.
In the end, the frameworks for those policies were probably things he'd already hashed out with Chiyo (now an Elder) and the Third Kazekage at the dinner table or while feeding the 'Super Magnet Release User' in his office.
When Hiiro Rinko did show up to a Jōnin meeting, it was almost always to "grab people, grab money, or grab resources"—and usually, the Jōnin from the Sealing and Puppet Corps would be standing right behind him.
In the end, the situation would devolve into Chiyo (representing the Medical Corps) and him slamming their fists on the table and shouting at each other. A truly touching scene of mother-child devotion.
The Barrier Corps, having few material costs, stayed out of it.
Because of this, Hiiro Rinko had earned the nickname "Suna's Little Bandit Chief."
Of course, the other Jōnin had no complaints.
While it was true that 90% of his mission record was "stat-padding" from internal assignments, and some Jōnin doubted his combat prowess, absolutely no one doubted his brain.
The textbook trilogy—"Barrier Jutsu Basics Even a Boar Can Understand," "Barrier Jutsu Applications Even a Monkey Can Learn," and "Advanced Barrier Techniques (For Humans to Try)"—wasn't just read by the Barrier Corps.
After being "schooled" by his own students that "not everyone can learn calculus by age 14," Rinko had basically pulverized all the common knowledge and re-compiled it into that textbook series.
For a normal shinobi, even if they didn't plan to learn Barrier Jutsu, they could use these three books to learn how to identify and counter different barriers.
On top of that, there were his Fūinjutsu-based enhancement tattoos and Cursed Tools (Jūgu), his simplified guide to Wind Release techniques (categorized by Genin, Chūnin, and Jōnin levels), and the high-transparency reinforced glass for the village's greenhouses...
Without a doubt, both civilians and shinobi had profited from Hiiro Rinko's research.
So what if he was stat-padding? A Research Jōnin is still a Jōnin!
So what if he grabs funding? He earned that money!
Shut up and take my money!
But this time, with Kumo causing such a huge mess, not even Hiiro Rinko could ignore it.
"The Second Raikage was assassinated at the alliance meeting by the Gold and Silver Brothers. Senju Tobirama, while covering his subordinates' retreat, died after fighting the Gold and Silver Brothers and their twenty-plus elite Jōnin."
He took the distributed summary sheet and scanned it, his expression growing strange.
Although the summary was abstract, after thinking about it, it wasn't incomprehensible.
As Kumo veterans, and monsters possessing the Sage's Tools and Nine-Tails Chakra, the Gold and Silver Brothers were undoubtedly Kage-level threats. They also must have known the Second Raikage very well. With the element of surprise, two Kage-level fighters successfully assassinating him was normal.
The situation was likely: the Raikage was ambushed and fatally wounded, killed on the spot without much of a fight. Senju Tobirama used the chaos to retreat with his men.
If he were alone, with his Flying Raijin Jutsu (Hiraishin no Jutsu), Tobirama could have escaped. But he had brought six disciples as his guard. At their speed, they couldn't escape Kumo's Lightning-specialist shinobi. Therefore, Tobirama must have decided to stay behind as the rearguard.
He was sixty years old. In terms of future value, his disciples were more important to Konoha.
And this was the part Rinko couldn't get over.
Wait, those two brothers really only had twenty-something guys?
A Kage whose physical condition was in decline, long past his prime, managed to hold off twenty elite Jōnin and two "demi-Jinchūriki" by himself, and even took Kinkaku down with him?
At first glance, it sounds absurd. But for Senju Tobirama, it was understandable.
Senju Tobirama was loaded with Kinjutsu; everyone knew that. With those forbidden techniques, even if he wasn't at his peak, he was still the best Kage-level fighter in the current era for one-on-many fights. After all, most of the Kinjutsu he invented weren't the kind you could use with allies nearby.
And this was the ultimate proof that the Gold and Silver Brothers' tactics were shit.
Considering Tobirama only brought six disciples and the Raikage's entourage was small, the meeting hall must have been small. If the brothers had just brought more men—even Chūnin who would just be fodder—they could have at least bought time. If they had just surrounded the hall, their numerical advantage would have pinned the battle there, preventing Tobirama from escaping and creating a battlefield where he could unleash his Kinjutsu.
And the result? Kinkaku died with Tobirama. Ginkaku was arrested by Kumo reinforcements.
Those two idiots just woke up one day, called their boys, and 'staged a coup.' Thinking more darkly, it's even possible they were manipulated into it.
"So, are we attacking Konoha now?"
The room grew noisy. Many Jōnin were proposing similar ideas.
After the First Shinobi War, the economic gap between nations widened, and the 'warrior faction's' influence grew. Suna's culture was already assertive, and combined with their geographic and resource disadvantages, the number of hawks was exceptionally high.
"I, for one, don't think this is a good time for war."
Thinking this, Hiiro Rinko propped his chin on his hand, tapping his fingers on the table. His flat tone threw a bucket of cold water on the room's atmosphere.
"In fact, starting a war right now is a complete losing trade..."