High-Level Meeting

The battle soon came to a complete end. Chiba Shun took stock of the casualties and gains.

Quite a few on their side had been injured, but none had died. The Konoha intelligence shinobi had initially only wanted to break away from the fight and had no intention of fighting to the death.

Later, when they wanted to fight to the death, Kumogakure's reinforcements had already arrived.

Kumogakure had only lost a dozen or so infants with poor talent.

After this battle, all eight Konoha intelligence shinobi had been killed or had committed suicide. Not a single one had been captured alive.

Oh, no, ten people.

Because Aoki Yuyi had sent over two more corpses.

One had died at the hands of the ANBU at the very beginning, while the other had sneaked in again after Chiba Shun and the others had left.

Chiba Shun was very satisfied with this result. Only after eliminating these people could he rest easy when the Third Raikage placed those children with Hyuga bloodlines in the Ninja Academy.

Otherwise, those children would be nothing but a pile of ticking time bombs.

The Third Raikage arrived soon afterward. After confirming the details with Chiba Shun, he nodded and said, "Well done. Konoha's intelligence network in our village is probably finished this time."

"All of you will be credited with an S-rank Mission. Shun will decide how the rewards are distributed."

Chiba Shun quickly agreed. Great, another S-rank Mission!

However, he could not possibly keep all the rewards for himself this time.

Those two ANBU squads had been the main force, and some of them had even been injured. He had to give them nearly half. Aoki Yuyi's side had also killed one person independently, so they needed a share as well.

And he could not forget those who had come later as reinforcements. They had to receive something, however small.

After calculating it, Chiba Shun figured that he should still have 300,000 left. Not bad, not bad!

Over the past few months, he had spent all his money again. To reduce the number of hand seals needed for his Illusion Techniques and maintain intensive training, he had first borrowed 100,000 ryo from Sakai Yushi, then advanced half a year's salary from Aoki Yuyi—300,000 ryo.

That was right. This time, Chiba Shun had not borrowed money outright, but had used the excuse of an advance on his salary.

Aoki Yuyi had been helpless. He had never seen anyone so shameless.

But considering that Chiba Shun had repaid his previous loan and had decent credit, he had still agreed.

This reward would be just enough to repay his debts. He did not need to repay Sakai Yushi's money!

After returning to the Ninja Academy, Aoki Yuyi directly asked Chiba Shun, "Does the village really have the Byakugan now?"

Thinking that Aoki Yuyi would need to look after those children once they entered the Ninja Academy, Chiba Shun said, "There are Byakugan, but they are not pure."

"Lord Raikage said that the children with the Byakugan would be handed over to the Ninja Academy for training."

Aoki Yuyi became extremely excited. "The Byakugan! The Byakugan is wonderful!"

"During the Second Shinobi World War, we suffered losses from the Byakugan too numerous to count!"

"Konoha has endless scouting methods, but whether it is the Aburame Clan's insects, the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Switch Technique, or the Inuzuka Clan's ninja hounds, all of them can be guarded against."

"Only the Byakugan is impossible to deal with! Open those eyes, and they can see everything. It is convenient, fast, and has no blind spots in heaven or on earth!"

"When fighting Konoha, any ambush or trap becomes meaningless!"

"I never thought our village would have the Byakugan too."

After getting excited for a while, Aoki Yuyi suddenly looked at Chiba Shun and tentatively asked, "Shun, the future squad leader for these children..."

Chiba Shun smiled. "That has not been decided yet. Aoki-senpai has the advantage of being close by, so you can choose one early and build a relationship."

Overjoyed, Aoki Yuyi said, "Shun, the thirty percent I promised you last time was a little too little. How about this? Half each, fifty percent apiece!"

Chiba Shun nodded. "Thank you for your generosity, senpai."

Aoki Yuyi said, "I should be thanking you."

With that, Aoki Yuyi returned to his office.

Chiba Shun guessed that he had gone to ponder how he would train a future disciple with the Byakugan.

Konoha, Root. Danzo was furious.

He was extremely angry. From the Third Raikage rewarding Chiba Shun and the others, he had already guessed what had happened.

He had mobilized every Konoha intelligence shinobi planted in Kumogakure, yet he had failed to destroy the leaked Byakugan!

This time, he had not merely used Root personnel. He had also requested people from the village's intelligence department from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

As a result, the village's intelligence network in Kumogakure was now almost completely paralyzed.

And that was not even the most important part. The most important thing was that in future wars, Konoha would very likely face a Kumogakure army equipped with the Byakugan!

That would be catastrophic!

The other four great shinobi villages were already used to fighting Konoha, which possessed the Byakugan. But Konoha itself was not used to facing an enemy with it!

Danzo also had another headache: how was he supposed to explain this to Hiruzen Sarutobi?

Confess? Beg Hiruzen Sarutobi for forgiveness? That was impossible!

But he could not hide it either! Once intelligence from Kumogakure stopped coming in, he would be exposed sooner or later.

Just then, a Root member appeared before Danzo and said, "Lord Danzo, intelligence has arrived from Kumogakure."

Danzo frowned. "Didn't I order them to go underground immediately and not send intelligence back at a time like this?"

The Root shinobi explained, "It was not our people who wanted to send a message. He has already been exposed. Kumogakure has a message for Lord Danzo."

Danzo frowned and asked, "What is going on? What does Kumogakure want?"

The Root shinobi said, "The Raikage said he could keep this channel open and periodically provide Lord Danzo with intelligence."

"In return, he wants one A-rank Jutsu, ten B-rank Jutsu, fifty C-rank Jutsu, and a method for improving Yin Release!"

Danzo nearly choked with rage. Slamming his palm onto the table, he roared, "The Raikage is trying to take advantage of me!"

But anger was anger. Danzo quickly made his choice. "Agree to it, but halve the number of jutsu. The A-rank Jutsu and the Yin Release improvement method are absolutely out of the question!"

After another round of discussion and bargaining, the Third Raikage ultimately agreed to halve the number of jutsu and gave up on the A-rank Jutsu, but he still obtained the Yin Release improvement method.

Looking at the Yin Release improvement method in his hand, along with the thirty B-rank and C-rank Jutsu placed beside it, the Third Raikage still found it somewhat unbelievable.

Was it really this easy to obtain jutsu from Konoha? Then what had they been doing for the past several decades?

There was no need to ask. This had been Chiba Shun's idea again. It was the method he had discussed with the Third Raikage before.

Chiba Shun was not sure whether Danzo or Hiruzen Sarutobi had led this operation.

If it had been Hiruzen Sarutobi, then his actions would have made him look like a clown.

But a clown was a clown. Trying would not cost anything.

Sure enough, it had been Danzo. Danzo accepted the way out Kumogakure had offered him. He could tell Hiruzen Sarutobi that he had merely lost a few intelligence shinobi in combat and that the intelligence network was still intact.

That way, he could explain himself.

After all, the Byakugan leaking out had not been Danzo's fault in the first place. He had merely failed to remedy the situation.

He was not White Fang. He did not have such a fragile heart!

Thus, while Chiba Shun sat at home, an A-Rank Mission he had completed independently fell right into his lap.

However, this time the Third Raikage did not give him monetary compensation. Instead, he used authorization to use the Yin Release improvement method as his reward.

Chiba Shun was delighted. With this, he finally had hope of learning A-rank Illusion Techniques.

Relying on Earth Release alone gave him too few tactics, and they were too rigid.

Sooner or later, someone would target him for it.

And there were already so many people who wanted him dead.

Chiba Shun had thought that after dealing with the Konoha intelligence shinobi, he could peacefully improve his Yin Release. Instead, he and the others were informed that they would be attending the village's Jonin meeting.

And the topic of this Jonin meeting was actually increasing the number of advisors and selecting new advisors.

Everyone was shocked by this topic.

Without question, this was a power struggle among the upper ranks!

The one who had called this meeting of all Jonin was the Third Raikage.

Just as Chiba Shun had told Hiruzen Sarutobi when he had been in Konoha.

There had always been conflict between the Third Raikage and the forces left behind from the Second Raikage's era.

The Second Raikage had died in Kinkaku and Ginkaku's rebellion. Afterward, the Third Raikage's rise to power had depended on the support of those old forces.

Although the Third Raikage had established his prestige through the Second Shinobi World War, most of the power still remained in the hands of those old men.

Originally, this struggle would likely have continued for another decade or so, until those people grew old and the Third Raikage replaced the advisors.

Or the Third Raikage might die in battle, allowing those people to reclaim power and find a suitable person to serve as the new Fourth Raikage.

However, Chiba Shun's series of actions had given the Third Raikage an opportunity.

He had obtained large numbers of jutsu from Konoha on three separate occasions.

Aside from the jutsu from the first time, the Third Raikage had not told those advisors about the others.

Using those jutsu, the Third Raikage won over a group of Jonin who had originally been neutral or inclined toward the old forces.

He had also allowed some Jonin to visit the hospital and see the Byakugan he had acquired!

That move immediately made many people acknowledge the Third Raikage's abilities!

After all, he was already the Raikage, possessing the legitimacy of his position, and he was also Kumogakure's strongest person.

Therefore, everything proceeded very smoothly.

The Third Raikage also used his authority as Raikage to promote a group of new Jonin during the previous Eight-Tails rampage.

Most of those people were his trusted subordinates.

Over the past few days, the Third Raikage had also sent some Jonin loyal to Advisor Yukio and the others out of the village on missions, while secretly having his own people finish their missions early and return.

At the Jonin meeting, the Third Raikage also mentioned several recent incidents involving village secrets being leaked.

For example, Konoha's attempt a few days ago to destroy the Byakugan.

It was impossible for Konoha not to have worked through people inside Kumogakure in this matter.

Although the Third Raikage did not say it outright, he implied that these incidents might be connected to the two elderly advisors.

In short, this was a surprise offensive arranged by the Third Raikage against the old forces.

However, it was not a military offensive, but an offensive in political struggle.

The facts proved that the Third Raikage had prepared extremely well.

Among all the Jonin present, more than eighty percent supported every proposal made by the Third Raikage. Around ten percent chose to abstain, and only a small number opposed him.

A powerful Kage who could obtain jutsu for them and had even acquired the Byakugan, a weapon of war.

Where else could they find a Kage like the Third Raikage, one who possessed both strength and methods?

They had misunderstood Lord Raikage before. He was not the reckless brute he appeared to be.