"Heh..."
About half an hour later, it was already six in the evening—quitting time. Chiba walked out of the Hokage Building. After bidding farewell to the two guards, he turned his back and let out a long breath.
The suggestion I made, and I'm the one who has to carry it out...
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Chiba felt a flicker of helplessness. After glancing around, he set off again toward Konoha Hospital.
Forget it. I should check on my blood test results first.
That thought passed through Chiba's mind as he walked.
After Minato Namikaze had shifted the conversation to the expansion plan, he had handed Chiba the most important task Chiba had proposed.
Namely, Chiba's key suggestion for "cutting the budget": forming a specialized Ninja Construction Engineering Team to use ninjutsu to positively impact the expansion work, thereby reducing manpower requirements and preparation time.
Moreover, until the expansion was complete, Chiba would be responsible for this area and give it priority. In other words, he could set his assistant duties aside and focus mainly on forming the Ninja Construction Engineering Team.
At that moment, Chiba carried a "list of ninjas available for deployment" that Minato Namikaze had given him. He could summon any ninja whose name appeared on it at any time. However, due to Sunagakure's call for help, the original hundred ninjas on the list had been reduced to ten.
After all, the front lines could not afford to lose personnel. If the Defense Force was to pull people away, it had to replenish its ranks. Elite ninjas were being transferred out, while ordinary ninjas were being brought in. The current defensive and frontline deployment was at a point of balance, the arrangement least likely to cause problems. Now, with troop movements underway and a hundred