The temporary command post was piled high with documents.
Naruto sat at the desk, clutching a pen nearly worn down to the nub, his eyes fixed on the dense rows of numbers in the casualty report. Every number was a human life. He had to remember them.
He rubbed his aching eyes and prepared to sign another compensation disbursement order.
The curtain was lifted, and Minato walked in.
Naruto glanced up at him, then lowered his head and continued writing.
Without a word, Minato walked to the desk, picked up a casualty report, and silently began reading through it.
Shikamaru was organizing documents nearby. Seeing this, he froze for a moment. The Fourth Hokage was voluntarily helping handle postwar affairs? That was a rare sight.
Naruto stopped writing, and his gaze briefly met Minato's in midair.
"Let me help you handle these." Minato set down the report and pointed at the stack of documents concerning compensation payments, material allocation, and workplace injury assessments. "I handled similar matters back then, though not on this scale."
Naruto was silent for a few seconds before pushing over a stack of documents requiring the Hokage's signature.
Shikamaru tactfully left the command post.
The two sat side by side at the desk. One signed, the other stamped. Their coordination was surprisingly seamless.
Minato opened a materials allocation list and frowned. "Less than thirty percent of the chakra-conductive materials remain in stock?"
"Yeah." Naruto did not look up. "The battle against Madara consumed too much. The Arsenal's production lines have basically shut down. Through normal procurement channels, it will take at least two months for supplies to arrive."
"Two months..." Minato put down the list. "The front lines can't wait that long."
Just then, an engineering captain rushed into the command post, his face covered in