After descending from the Flying Fortress, Minato Namikaze saw Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others watching him. He sighed. "My big brother has other enemies to stop, so he took Hinata and the others to the moon to repel invaders from beyond our world. I'm afraid we'll have to handle things in the shinobi world ourselves!"
Although Minato Namikaze knew Qingyun was planning to enter secluded training at this time, they had grown up together. Even though Qingyun had not stayed to help them through this critical moment, Minato still did not want everyone to misunderstand him.
"In that case, we'll rely on ourselves this time. According to our intelligence, although Akatsuki lost many of its strongest fighters in the battle that destroyed Kumogakure, they still have large numbers of reanimated ninja, including former Kage from the various villages.
"Here's what we'll do. On behalf of the Sarutobi Clan, I'll send five thousand ninja to the Land of Fire's front lines to build our defenses."
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Minato Namikaze had not told the truth, he did not expose him. He had practically watched Qingyun grow up. Though he did not know what Qingyun was planning, Qingyun was certainly not heartless. If Konoha truly faced destruction, he would definitely rush back to help.
If nothing else, with Minato Namikaze here, Qingyun would never leave his fate to chance. Thus, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately declared his support.
Everyone present gasped at Hiruzen Sarutobi's words. Five thousand ninja—did they realize what that meant?
Since Hiruzen Sarutobi was willing to send five thousand ninja to war, there certainly would not be many genin among them. Most would be chunin, or even jonin.
They knew Hiruzen Sarutobi had amassed resources to cultivate his clan during his years as Hokage, but they had never imagined that