The Truth Behind Konoha Ninja's Slump

Nearly tangible smoke swirled through the Hokage's conference room. The Third Hokage stared intently at the battle map, pen in hand, constantly marking and revising it as he tried to find a flash of inspiration and a breakthrough.

Shimura Danzō and the others beside him wore equally grim expressions. None of Konoha's current leadership had expected the battlefield situation to become this dire.

Before the war, they had predicted that Konoha's rank-and-file ninja, and even its Anbu, would be far stronger than Sunagakure Ninja and Amegakure Ninja.

This war should have long since become one-sided. They should even have returned in triumph by now.

The Third narrowed his eyes as he recalled the prewar analysis reports, utterly baffled. Where had things gone wrong?

Judging from Anbu reports over the years, Konoha's ninja quality had unquestionably surpassed that of the other hidden villages.

When the other villages' Anbu encountered Konoha's Anbu, they had no ability to fight back at all.

The Anbu gathered Konoha's backbone, composed mostly of Chunin and Special Jonin, and could accurately reflect the average combat strength of Konoha's ninja.

The Third Hokage thought irritably. There had been absolutely no logical flaw in the combat assessment Nara Shikaku had provided.

Yet now, whether it was the fighting spirit or combat capability of Sunagakure Ninja and Amegakure Ninja, both surpassed Konoha's by a level.

What had caused this? Surely even the Anbu reports could not have been falsified?

The confusion in the Third's heart ignited into anger. He was in a very bad mood.

As Hokage, it seemed he had been deeply misled on something crucial.

The truth, naturally, had something to do with Hanma. In Konoha, he had pioneered the profession of "power-leveling."

Back when he had been in the Anbu, Hanma discovered that no matter how many enemy Anbu he killed, he could not obtain any tangible benefits.

The Third would only give him a few Konoha-Style Taijutsu techniques to brush him off, while telling him, "The path of taijutsu has limitless potential. I hope you continue blazing new trails," and so on.

He never loosened his grip on any valuable ninjutsu or notes. Even Chakra Metal was something he was too stingy to award.

In the end, they had even comically arranged an internal Anbu commendation ceremony as a form of spiritual encouragement.

There had been no actual promotion or reward at all. Otherwise, Hanma would not have only been promoted to Jonin at the age of twenty-three.

Faced with this situation, Hanma simply began exchanging military merit for benefits, carving out a path the Shinobi World had never imagined.

His methods became increasingly "gentle." He erased the obvious traces of his combat, making his enemies die as naturally as possible, then disguised it as though other Konoha ninja had killed them.

The Anbu were the Hokage's direct troops. As long as one had merit, one could receive commendation—Uchiha excluded.

One enemy after another whom he killed was credited to other ninja. Hanma collected substantial sums of money from them, while their ninja ranks and positions rose accordingly.

Everyone was happy. Everyone had a bright future.

"Chunin rank power-leveling: three million ryo."

"Special Jonin power-leveling: ten million ryo."

"Anbu squad captain power-leveling: twenty million ryo."

"Jonin power-leveling requires private customization, starting at fifteen million ryo. If the target has a Bounty Brokerage bounty, the price increases according to the bounty amount."

Hanma accepted all jobs, big or small, with the work ethic that even a little profit was still profit, diligently contributing to Konoha.

This "business," with its fair prices, enthusiastic service, and professional commitment to confidentiality, earned unanimous praise from Konoha ninja at every level.

In a sense, Hanma's "Personal Power-Leveling Studio" had pioneered power-leveling in the Shinobi World. It counted as starting his own business.

The person who benefited the most was the Third Hokage's son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

Relying on the Sarutobi Clan's formidable wealth, he placed several large orders with Hanma and gained the impressive accomplishments of repeatedly killing enemy Anbu leaders.

And on that basis, despite Danzō's objections, the Third successfully elevated his eldest son to the position of Anbu Captain.

"After all, my son is rather outstanding. As Hokage, I must recognize talent without avoiding my relatives."

The Third's words from back then were deeply etched into Danzō's heart. Danzō even regretted not having a son of his own, losing to Hiruzen by another measure.

But such revelry could be maintained during peacetime. Once real war began, the enemy would show Konoha's ninja no mercy whatsoever.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke was not unaware of this, but after ascending to the position of Anbu Captain, he discovered that there were many others just like him. They were all bound within this vast web of interests.

Whoever dared disrupt that balance would suffer the collective backlash of the other ninja. It carried something of the meaning that the livelihoods of a million workers depended on it.

Thus, the matter was concealed, while more and more people sought power-leveling and the Anbu's accomplishments became ever more dazzling.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke's status rose steadily. He was praised as "the most responsible Anbu Captain in recent years" and "the future successor to the Hokage."

He even felt that this arrangement was not necessarily unworkable; they merely needed to "let Hanma suffer a little longer."

But they had all overlooked one point: if Hanma walked away during the war, who would step in to fill the gap?

Yet due to the arrogance of the Hokage's faction, no one among them seemed to think anyone would dare disobey the Hokage's orders.

The Third rose to his feet and paced continuously. The uncertainty and tension of the situation plunged him entirely into agitation.

He had gone from being filled with lofty ambition, dreaming of becoming the ruler who would restore Konoha's prosperity, to lying awake night after night in worry, afraid of being nailed to history's pillar of shame.

In this war, the joint assault by Amegakure Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja displayed their profound understanding of Konoha's military and diplomatic style, placing him in an extremely passive position.

Sunagakure Ninja and Amegakure Ninja did not attack Konoha itself, but neither would they withdraw from the Land of Rivers. Their intentions were obvious: they were openly telling Konoha not to meddle.

Hanzo of Amegakure had also changed his usual arrogant style and did not personally lead troops into battle.

Instead, he sent small units to continuously launch harassing attacks along the borders of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, keeping Orochimaru and the others firmly pinned down.

Whenever Konoha assembled a large force in preparation for a decisive battle, all Amegakure Ninja would retreat without hesitation into the Land of Rain.

Combined with Hanma's previous report, Hanzo's ninjutsu deeply troubled him, leaving him unwilling to issue an order to counterattack the Land of Rain.

According to Hanma's report, Hanzo could join forces with Amegakure Ninja and, aided by the Land of Rain's unique environment, unleash terrifying battlefield-scale Water Release ninjutsu.

The moment the Third recalled the sky-covering Accumulated Rain Poison Cloud Hanma had described, he immediately abandoned any thought of invading the Land of Rain.

"We can't keep dragging this out. If this continues, Konoha's prestige will disappear."

"We must make sacrifices. We can't go on like this."

He was still hesitating. His indecisive nature seemed carved into his bones.

Thank you all for your votes and support! Thank you! (bows)