Several days later, inside the central command tent of the Hidden Leaf Camp.
The upper ranks of the Leaf Village's frontline had gathered here. Tsunade sat in the seat of honor, lightly tapping her fingers against the rim of her cup.
Tianyi sat slightly behind her to the left, with a report on transportation construction in the Land of Fire spread out before him.
Minato Namikaze stood beside the entrance of the tent, his back against one of the pillars supporting it.
Hatake Sakumo stood beside the map with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the map of the Land of Wind.
Tsunade set down her teacup and looked across the table at Tianyi. "Tianyi, I already had Orochimaru send Jiraiya back to the Leaf Village.
"The matter of Jiraiya will be handled by us Legendary Sannin ourselves. You don't need to worry about anything unexpected happening over there."
Tianyi nodded. "All right, Master."
His gaze lifted from the scroll before him and turned in another direction.
"By the way, Master, how is the Land of Fire highway project progressing?"
Tsunade reached for a scroll at the corner of the table and pushed it toward Tianyi. "This is the report Shikaku just sent over."
Her fingertips tapped several annotations on the scroll in succession.
"The highway foundations have all been completed. All earthwork and roadbed compaction along the route were finished on schedule. Next comes the paving stage."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Especially that concrete you developed—it really is incredibly useful.
"Shikaku has praised the practicality of this material more than once in his reports. From pouring to hardening, it takes just over twenty days to form a solid road surface, nearly several times faster than traditional methods."
Tianyi's eyes swept line by line over the scroll. After