Unlike the previous Hokage, whose vision had largely been confined to Konoha itself, Shinichi had already figured things out long ago.
Once he ascended to the position of Hokage, he had to seize actual authority over the position of supreme military commander of the Land of Fire as quickly as possible.
All military forces within the Land of Fire, whether ninja or not, would have to be placed under his unified command.
As such, how to strengthen the combat power of his future subordinates had been part of his plans for a very long time.
Even though he still lacked any forging-related talent, Shinichi had already conducted rough simulations in his mind.
With his current knowledge reserves and the analytical deduction ability of Seeing Through Things as Clearly as Observing a Flame, once he had some free time and combined that knowledge with the realities of this world, he was fully capable of developing high-explosive grenades whose power was no weaker than explosive tags, along with flashbangs and concussion grenades.
Moreover, none of these would require ninja to manufacture.
As long as civilians were trained to be industrial workers, they could be produced endlessly.
Firearms had existed in this world for nearly a hundred years.
Yet even now, they remained stuck at the primitive matchlock stage; only more than a decade later would something resembling a modern handgun suddenly appear.
Automatic rifles were still a distant dream, while explosives remained at the stage of relatively crude formulas.
The existence of ninja had caused the development of conventional weaponry in this world to stagnate almost completely.
It was not that there existed some insurmountable technological barrier.
Rather, for centuries, people had become accustomed to placing all their expectations of power on the chakra and the ninja.
They had become accustomed to the iron rule that only ninja can fight ninja.
Naturally, few people devoted much thought to the possibility that ordinary people could also threaten the ninja.
Finally, Shinichi's gaze continued moving and settled upon a somewhat unexpected new purple-tier trait.
He had originally thought the next purple level talent would be Medical Specialist.
Unexpectedly, the first one to break through was actually the comprehensive Ninjutsu talent.
[Pinnacle of Ninjutsu Level 1 (Purple): Your understanding and control of Ninjutsu and the essence of chakra have entered the ranks of the foremost representatives in this field. You can quickly penetrate the core principles of Ninjutsu, dismantle it, reconstruct it, and merge it with others. Countless techniques can be deployed freely from your hands, adapting to circumstances without being confined to any fixed form.]
However, Shinichi quickly understood why.
Whether it was Fire Style, Wind Style, or Lightning Style, accumulating related recognition inevitably also accumulated recognition regarding overall Ninjutsu talent.
The two were inherently intertwined.
When people marveled at how powerful Shinichi's and his clone Isshin's Fire Style, Wind Style, and Lightning Style were, they naturally formed broader impressions, such as extraordinary Ninjutsu talent and his astonishing genius.
The comprehensive Ninjutsu talent had likely been hovering on the verge of promotion for a long time.
It was simply that Isshin's successive performances over these past few days had provided the final crucial push in the overall perception of Ninjutsu.
These were the changes to Shinichi's talents over the past several days.
The newly generated talents were all skill-type talents.
They had not directly increased any of his basic attributes, yet his strength had still improved.
Over the years, Shinichi had gradually come to understand the deeper operating principles of skill-type talents. Besides enhancing talent and application ability in their respective fields, they also optimized his utilization of related attributes.
For example, the newly generated Proficient in Archery did not directly increase his eyesight or neural reaction speed.
However, it optimized the precision of his dynamic tracking and distance perception, allowing him to judge target positions and attack impact points more accurately while moving at high speed.
Master of Firearms optimized his instinctive prediction of enemy trajectories and his grasp of attack timing.
Meanwhile, the comprehensive Ninjutsu talent and the various chakra-nature talents were essentially equivalent to granting him a kind of bloodline talent.
Just as most members of the Uchiha Clan were naturally adept at Fire Style, and members of the Yotsuki Clan were naturally adept at Lightning Style, the existence of these talents gave him chakra affinity and elemental talent equal to, or even surpassing, those inherited by famous clans, despite his lack of such bloodlines.
A little more attribute value in one area.
A little more talent in another.
A little more optimization somewhere else.
As these talents accumulated day after day and year after year, they gradually pushed Shinichi toward an unprecedented level.
The current Shinichi still doesn't have a Kekkei Genkai; he's a complete commoner.
But in essence, he had become a monster encompassing the bloodline strengths of multiple ninja clans, and not just ninja clans, but across every field.
"In a sense, this counts as the mandatory power-up before a major war, doesn't it?"
Thinking of this, Shinichi withdrew his gaze, quickened his pace, and headed toward the main camp.
A moment later, at the Konoha headquarters.
Of the four division captains, only Shinichi and Fugaku Uchiha were present this time.
Minato Namikaze and Hizashi Hyuga had other important duties.
Three days earlier, the two had been ordered to lead an elite squad deep behind enemy lines to carry out an extremely important mission, and they had yet to return.
The usual battle report was, for the most part, full of good news.
After implementing the strategic policy proposed by Shinichi, Konoha, despite being at a disadvantage in manpower, had instead achieved one solid result after another.
The Village Hidden in the Mist's strongholds were being eliminated one by one. Their harassment and ambush tactics were becoming increasingly skillful, and coordination between squads was growing more seamless.
In terms of the overall situation, Konoha, despite its numerical disadvantage, actually held a slight upper hand.
Everyone present understood that if this advantage continued to accumulate, and the Village Hidden in the Mist still failed to transport logistics and supplies from the Land of Waves or other directions to obtain sufficient support, then the balance between offense and defense would quietly reverse.
At that point, the side launching the general offensive would instead be Konoha.
After finishing the good news, Koharu Utatane suddenly put down the battle report in her hand, her tone growing heavier as she delivered some less favorable news.
Early that morning, two Konoha squads had encountered the Three-Tails Jinchuriki while attacking an outpost, and not a single member of either squad survived.
The Three-Tails Jinchuriki, whom the Village Hidden in the Mist had concealed for decades, who had never appeared publicly, and whose existence the outside world had long begun to doubt, had finally made a move.
And with that first move, he swallowed up two of Konoha's elite squads.
The atmosphere inside the headquarters immediately became noticeably heavier.
In the end, Koharu Utatane did not say much more; she merely instructed everyone to exercise greater caution.
If they encountered the Three-Tails Jinchuriki during a mission, they should avoid him if possible and stall if necessary.
Unless there was absolutely no alternative, they were not to engage him head-on lightly.
Everyone acknowledged the order and silently departed.