Jonin

After the battle ended, everyone cleaned up the battlefield under Shikaku Nara's command, mainly dealing with the corpses and wounds and erasing traces of ninjutsu.

Half an hour later, everything had been taken care of. After another fifteen minutes of rest, they headed to the agreed location to rendezvous with Minato Namikaze and the others.

After meeting up with Minato Namikaze, they headed together for the front line against Cloud.

Konoha did not yet know of Cloud's plans or that the war with Cloud was about to end, so they still had to head to the front line to support Konoha.

After more than half a day of travel, the group finally arrived at Konoha's front-line camp late at night. Orochimaru, the front-line commander who had received the news, personally came out with others to greet them.

Long black hair, vertical golden pupils, purple eyeshadow extending to the bridge of his nose, pale skin, a black bodysuit beneath a green Jonin vest—he carried himself with confidence and composure, dignified and aloof, cold and mysterious.

Facing Minato Namikaze, a suddenly risen rival and another popular candidate for Hokage, Orochimaru neither put on a sour face nor showed excessive enthusiasm. He maintained a strictly businesslike attitude.

Minato Namikaze remained as gentle and modest as ever, expressing respect for his senior fellow disciple through his words and actions.

After exchanging pleasantries, Orochimaru, Minato Namikaze, Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Choza Akimichi went to the commander's tent to discuss matters.

Once the others had completed the handover with the Konoha Ninja in the camp, they could go rest.

Even Kakashi, despite being a Jonin, was not yet qualified to participate in the front line's decision-making circle, much less Uchiha Gen, who was only a Chunin.

Of course, it would not be long before Uchiha Gen, having accumulated so many merits, would no longer be a Chunin.

As for whether he would become a Special Jonin or a Jonin, that depended on whether Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to make things difficult for Uchiha.

Uchiha Gen himself believed that Hiruzen Sarutobi most likely would not make things difficult for him.

First, his merits were great enough.

He had participated in the encirclement of Rock and the assault on Sand. No fewer than fifty enemy ninja had died at Team 7's hands.

Although most of them had been Genin, there had also been ten Chunin, four Special Jonin, and three Jonin.

With the merit of stopping Cloud added on top, if that still was not enough for a promotion to Jonin, how would most Jonin feel?

Surely one did not need achievements on the level of Minato Namikaze or the Sannin to become a Jonin?

Second, the Nine-Tails disaster had not yet occurred. While the relationship between Uchiha and the Konoha higher-ups could not be called good, it was not particularly bad either.

Furthermore, the Uchiha Clan's main force was still on the Hidden Mist Battlefield, and the Konoha higher-ups still needed the Uchiha Clan to contribute.

After all, Hidden Mist Ninja were relatively effective at countering Uchiha Clan ninja.

Water Release countered Fire Release, while the Hidden Mist Technique also limited the Sharingan. The Sharingan was not the Byakugan; it could not see through the Hidden Mist Technique.

Under such circumstances, suppressing another rising genius of the Uchiha Clan at the rank of Special Jonin would be an obvious attempt to suppress the Uchiha Clan, would it not?

Those who played politics usually wanted to have it both ways. Even if the Konoha higher-ups wanted to suppress Uchiha, they would not make it so obvious.

In the original story, when the conflict between Uchiha and Konoha intensified, did the Konoha higher-ups not still choose to have it both ways?

Finally, the one reporting his merits was Minato Namikaze, someone Hiruzen Sarutobi thought highly of and his grand-disciple. Could he really disregard that man's face?

Taking everything into account, while a promotion to Jonin was not absolutely certain, it was nearly guaranteed. The remaining possibility was that Hiruzen Sarutobi might have a sudden lapse in judgment.

A, the Fourth Raikage, never dragged his feet. The day after making his decision, he began withdrawing his troops.

Naturally, Konoha was not foolish enough to stop Cloud's withdrawal. By this point, many ninja were exhausted and sick of the war. They merely followed from a distance to prevent Cloud from pulling any tricks.

Cloud withdrew all the way out of the Land of Fire, then left behind a force of roughly a thousand troops on the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire. The main army returned directly to the Land of Lightning.

Although Cloud had not withdrawn completely, the large-scale war with Cloud had clearly ended, and the Konoha ninja erupted in cheers.

Even a faint smile appeared on Orochimaru's ice-cold face. There was no other reason—the end of the war meant more time for experiments.

Though obtaining experimental materials had been more convenient during wartime, he had also been genuinely busy.

News of Cloud's large-scale withdrawal was relayed back to Konoha at tremendous speed.

When Hiruzen Sarutobi received the news, his face lit up with joy. He decided to add joy upon joy, issuing orders to reward the ninja on the Cloud Front according to their merits, provide compensation according to regulations, and send them back to the village in batches for rest.

The Konoha ninja on the front lines, regardless of direction, could not all return. Even in peacetime, border troops were stationed along the borders to prevent the other four great hidden villages from launching surprise attacks.

During peacetime, a considerable number of ninja had to serve in border forces for a period of time, only to be replaced by others once their term was over.

Of course, not every ninja needed to rotate through border duty. They each had their own responsibilities.

For instance, the ninja of Root, Anbu, the Military Police Force, the Medical Department, the Interrogation Department, the Administrative Department, and the Education Department.

Once the boss set the tone, the Administrative Department included Uchiha Gen in the documents for promotion to Jonin.

Even promotions to Chunin required the Hokage's personal approval, let alone Jonin, the high-end combat power and backbone of a ninja village.

While promotion to Jonin was much easier during wartime than in peacetime, it was still extremely difficult, and every case had to be considered carefully.

Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated when he saw Uchiha Gen's name, but in the end, he approved it.

Thus, Uchiha Gen became, like Kakashi, someone who skipped Special Jonin and was promoted directly from Chunin to Jonin, and he was only thirteen years old.

Although his achievement fell somewhat short of Kakashi's promotion to Jonin at the age of twelve, it was still immensely impressive. He was unquestionably a dazzling genius!

When the Hokage's orders reached the front line, the Konoha ninja were naturally overjoyed, and even their steps felt lighter.

Uchiha Gen was among the first batch of ninja to return to the village with Minato Namikaze. Orochimaru, Shikaku Nara, and the others had to arrange the border defenses and would return later.

On the third day after returning to Konoha, Uchiha Gen received his official promotion document for Jonin, drawing amazement and admiration from the ninja of the Military Police Force.

From that day onward, though no one knew who first coined the term, the Uchiha Clan began to have what people called the Twin Stars.

One was Shisui Uchiha, who had risen to fame on the Hidden Mist Battlefield. The other was Uchiha Gen, who had fought across four wars and three villages. Both were regarded by the Uchiha Clan as sources of pride!

When Kakashi and Rin Nohara learned that Uchiha Gen had been promoted to Jonin, they suggested celebrating.

Uchiha Gen naturally did not want to spoil the mood. He was quite happy himself, so he agreed and invited Minato Namikaze as well.

The four of them went to Barbecue Q and ate their fill.

As one of Konoha's frequently visited upscale restaurants, Barbecue Q did indeed have some skill. The food was genuinely delicious, though it could not be called the finest food in the world.

At least, for Uchiha Gen, who had eaten plenty of good food in his previous life, it was not extraordinary. It could only be considered good food.

Uchiha Gen had also eaten at Ichiraku Ramen after crossing over. It was indeed excellent among ramen shops, but not enough to make him obsessed with it.

Most of the time, Uchiha Gen would rather cook at home. That suited the tastes he had developed in his previous life better.

After the celebration, everyone went on leave and enjoyed the brief peace.

Mist was still holding on, so the war had not completely ended. Moreover, Minato Namikaze was competing for the position of Hokage.

To raise his chances of victory as much as possible, there was no such thing as too much merit. He would certainly fight Mist, and Team 7, as Minato Namikaze's direct subordinates, naturally could not escape the war.

Just as Uchiha Gen planned to relax properly for a day on his second day back, he received an invitation from Fugaku Uchiha...