Sand Shinobi Declare War

The day after the meeting ended, Yamanaka Tohru received a summons from the Third Hokage. Yamanaka Inoichi had already informed him of the meeting's outcome yesterday.

Yamanaka Tohru hadn't expected Orochimaru to speak up for him. His smooth appointment as the Medical Squad Captain was largely thanks to Orochimaru's help.

Yamanaka Tohru had been to the Hokage Building many times before. The ninja guarding the entrance recognized him and let him pass without a word.

The door to the Hokage's office was wide open, and the Third Hokage was already waiting for Yamanaka Tohru.

"Lord Hokage, hello!" Yamanaka Tohru walked straight in since the door was open.

As Yamanaka Tohru entered, the Third Hokage's brow was furrowed, his eyes fixed on the documents on his desk. Hearing Yamanaka Tohru's voice, a smile finally appeared on the Third Hokage's face.

"En, you're finally here!"

"Lord Hokage, what did you call me here for?" Yamanaka Tohru knew exactly why, but when it involved a high-level meeting, it was better to play dumb.

"En, I've called you here for two things. First: your performance as a Genin was outstanding, you saved many injured people at Konoha Hospital, and you even developed a Healing Seal. The village has decided to promote you to Chunin!"

"Thank you, Lord Hokage!" Who wouldn't be happy about a promotion and raise? Yamanaka Tohru was no exception.

"Second: Yamanaka Tohru, I, in the name of the Hokage, hereby appoint you as the Captain of the Medical Squad that will be dispatched to the Land of Wind battlefield. You will have the final say in all matters concerning the Medical Squad, and you have the right to attend war meetings." With that, the Third Hokage handed the letter of appointment to Yamanaka Tohru.

The Third Hokage's appointment was completely different from what Yamanaka Tohru had imagined. He had thought his role would be similar to that of a battlefield medical team leader in his past life, responsible only for treating the wounded.

Yamanaka Tohru had never expected that by becoming the Medical Squad Captain, he would directly become one of the decision-makers on the Land of Wind battlefield.

After reading the letter of appointment, the Third Hokage suddenly realized something was amiss. Seeing Yamanaka Tohru accepting the letter, he realized the appointment was actually for Yamanaka Tohru.

This letter of appointment granted nearly the same authority as when Tsunade was appointed Captain of the Medical Squad. The Third Hokage had been extremely troubled by the front-line war situation lately and had made such an appointment out of carelessness.

A king's word is his bond. The Third Hokage was akin to the monarch of Konoha and would naturally not go back on his word.

Furthermore, in his opinion, although Yamanaka Tohru was only a 9-year-old child, he was very sensible and wouldn't speak out of turn in meetings, even if he could attend them.

And so, Yamanaka Tohru received an appointment that wasn't rightfully his, leaping to become one of the decision-makers on the Land of Wind battlefield.

Now officially the Medical Squad Captain, Yamanaka Tohru's first order of business was to gather his team members.

At Training Ground 3, the members of the Medical Squad quickly assembled. Though called a Medical Squad, there were quite a few of them. Including Yamanaka Tohru, there were 151 people in total.

Yamanaka Tohru took a quick glance. More than half were his colleagues from Konoha Hospital, and there were twenty to thirty unfamiliar faces. Among them was an old acquaintance of Yamanaka Tohru's, Uchiha Mitsuru.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Yamanaka Tohru. Most of you here are my colleagues from Konoha Hospital, and I'm very happy to be fighting alongside you all."

Yamanaka Tohru's opening was rather subdued. There were no rousing speeches to boost morale, nor any imposing display of authority.

Yamanaka Tohru felt there was no need for such things. He believed actions spoke louder than words. He knew there would be those in the squad who wouldn't respect him, but he would prove himself through his actions.

After a brief self-introduction, Yamanaka Tohru began to assess each person's Medical Ninjutsu skills. 92 people could use nature transformation with the Healing Technique to simply neutralize poisons, and among these 92 people, only 12 could use the Mystical Palm Technique.

These 12 people were all veteran medical ninja from Konoha Hospital, and Yamanaka Tohru was familiar with all of them.

Yamanaka Tohru learned during the assessment of Medical Ninjutsu that the people he hadn't met in the medical squad were actually ninja from the village sent to protect the medical ninja.

Among them were strong individuals like Hyuga Mei, a Jonin from the Hyuga Clan. Yamanaka Tohru's old acquaintance, Uchiha Mitsuru, a Special Jonin from the Uchiha Clan. And two Chunin teams from the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

Hyuga Mei and Uchiha Mitsuru could handle ordinary Jonin without issue, and the two Ino-Shika-Cho teams could also deal with Jonin with ease.

Most of the remaining combat personnel also had their specialties. Some were skilled in sealing jutsu, some in Genjutsu, and others in detecting traps.

Yamanaka Tohru counted: there were 126 medical ninja, including himself, and 25 combat ninja. He then divided everyone into 5 groups based on their Medical Ninjutsu skills.

The 33 people who couldn't use nature transformation with the Healing Technique to detoxify were grouped together to treat minor injuries.

The remaining 92 people, excluding the 12 who could use the Mystical Palm Technique, were divided into groups of 20 each. Three of the 12 medical ninja who could use the Mystical Palm Technique were assigned to each group.

Yamanaka Tohru worked alone, going wherever problems needed to be solved.

After dividing the groups, Yamanaka Tohru had everyone disperse while he stayed at Training Ground 3, recalling the various Wind Style ninjutsu Orochimaru had demonstrated yesterday.

Yamanaka Tohru remained alone at Training Ground 3 until the afternoon, when Kushina and Namikaze Minato arrived.

"En? You're here too, saving me the trouble of looking for you. Jiraiya-sensei told the three of us to wait for him at Training Ground 3," Kushina said.

"En, I heard you were promoted to Chunin?" Namikaze Minato asked.

Yamanaka Tohru nodded. Being promoted to Chunin was a minor matter, and there was no need to hide it.

"Congratulations on becoming a Chunin, En. This is my gift." Namikaze Minato smiled and handed Yamanaka Tohru a special kunai.

Yamanaka Tohru accepted the kunai. It was the specially made Flying Thunder God Kunai by Namikaze Minato from the original story, engraved with his Flying Thunder God formula.

"Thank you, Minato-niichan!" Yamanaka Tohru thanked Minato. Kushina, standing beside them, looked a bit embarrassed. She, as his teacher, hadn't prepared a gift for her disciple's promotion.

Yamanaka Tohru noticed Kushina's awkwardness and said, "Kushina-neechan, you can give me your gift when I get promoted to Jonin!"

Hearing Yamanaka Tohru's words, Kushina was no longer embarrassed and returned to her usual carefree demeanor.

"You guys still have the mood to joke around?" Jiraiya's appearance interrupted their chat.

"The Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure has been chosen. Not long ago, the Fourth Kazekage declared that the disappearance of the Third Kazekage was the work of our Konoha, and Sunagakure has officially declared war on Konoha!"

After speaking, Jiraiya looked gravely at the three of them.

The war has begun!

The Third Shinobi World War has begun. The war is here, please give us your collection and recommendations!