Shikaku froze.
The praise had come out of nowhere, but he appreciated it.
"Your assessment matches mine."
Uchiha En continued, "Sunagakure has asked for help. We'll talk when their people arrive. As for Kumogakure and Iwagakure watching us, let them. Akatsuki's strength is hard to gauge. Rushing won't help; we'll have to proceed carefully."
Every word matched Shikaku's own analysis.
A rare sense of exhilaration rose in his chest.
As Konoha's strategist, having the village's highest authority trust his judgment so completely was a rare affirmation.
"Then what should Konoha's next priority be?"
Uchiha En leaned forward, pulled a thick dossier from beneath his desk, and shoved it toward Shikaku.
Thud.
The dossier hit the desk, making the pastries on a porcelain plate jump.
"This is the new reform plan I worked through and refined while I was in seclusion."
"From here on, every civil and military affair in the village will follow this plan as we put it into practice."
Shikaku: "..."
He stared at the dossier, thicker than a brick, and did not dare touch it for a moment.
The four policies already announced—centralizing authority, restructuring the government, reorganizing the forces, and expanding recruitment—had upended Konoha's old order and overturned a century of precedent.
Everyone had thought those policies were the full extent of the reforms.
Only now did he realize that everything so far had been merely the opening move.
Shikaku drew a deep breath, opened the dossier, and read it line by line.
Economic restructuring, a village-run banking system, coordination of trade routes across the country, commercial legislation...
He turned the page. Further reform of the ninja profession, a points-and-rank system, rules for professional certification, registration for work across villages...
It would break the clans' hold over their private forces and reshape ninja work into an