Inside Konoha, the current atmosphere is completely different from the turmoil outside, showing a rare looseness and emptiness.
The streets were no longer busy with the usual hurried Ninja, and many shops had also closed early. There was a sense of tranquility during the war, but it was not depressing, but rather a kind of slowness after being drained of the core.
Since the decision was made to take a tough stance against the big powers, the entire village's war machine has been running at high speed.
Most of the elite combat forces, logistics personnel and even some administrative backbones have been transferred out.
Either to garrison the occupied areas, or to maintain communications and logistics.
Although today's Konoha's internal defense strength is not so empty that it is vulnerable, it does appear to be much weaker than in its heyday.
However, senior officials don't seem very worried about this.
Konoha Nowadays, we are fighting against a big country, and few forces dare to and can allocate enough strength to "steal the country". That is tantamount to asking for death.
Therefore, there is a kind of calmness in the village that is "dark under the lamp", or in other words, it is the inevitable desolation after the power is withdrawn.
The power structure has also become subtle and loose.
After the previous generation Hokage was resurrected, First Hokage Hashirama Senju took full charge of the village when Naruto went south.
Wait until First attacks Land of Wind and let Second Tobirama Senju manage the village.
When the souls of these two founders returned to Pure Land one after another, Hyuga Hiashi and Inoichi Yamanaka began to take turns, temporarily presiding over the daily operations of the village.
Why Hiashi and Inoichi?
Instead of the more senior Third Hiruzen Sarutobi, or the Shikaku Nara who is the most qualified to lead Konoha among the extremely powerful and famous "Sannin" and Ino-Shika-Cho?
Konoha Every Ninja who has some experience has a clear idea of this issue, but no one will put it on the table.
The Hyuga is one of the oldest and most powerful families in Konoha. The Nippon are stable and upright. They have also made great achievements in handling the relationship between the family and the village in recent years, and can represent the traditional family power and order.
Inoichi Yamanaka is not only an outstanding intelligence expert, but also has won widespread trust because of his gentle and fair character, excellent interpersonal coordination skills, and his responsibility in many crises.
And for a trivial reason, the two of them are the prospective father-in-law of Naruto.
The two of them teaming up is the least likely choice to cause internal controversy at the moment.
As for Fifth Hokage Jiraiya, the predecessor Hokage has already run away to perform a certain confidential mission, and his whereabouts are a mystery.
The other two "Sannin" who have a close relationship with him, Orochimaru is obsessed with his scientific research that is always full of taboos and unknowns, and has no interest in administrative affairs; Tsunade has great mood swings due to recent events, sometimes silent, sometimes irritable and irritable, obviously not suitable for handling complicated government affairs.
Shikaku is sitting on the front line and cannot come back.
Third Hiruzen Sarutobi actually intends to use some of his residual energy in his later years to temporarily carry the banner and stabilize the situation.
But whenever he had the slightest hint of this, he would be pressured to go back.
Naruto does not allow him to re-enter politics, and those who remain in the village are all Naruto's die-hard supporters, so no one takes the old man's words seriously in the village.
Even Namiashi Raidō and others who served as Third's Shadow Guard after Fourth Hokage's death, as well as ANBU, no longer listen to Third's command.
No one said it explicitly, but everyone knew that Naruto always had a grudge or even dissatisfaction with the older generation of consultants, especially the way they handled certain events back then.
This emotion has become more weighty as his strength has leapt and his influence has expanded.
Two consultants, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, once bumped into Tsunade who was extremely emotionally unstable because of their public proposal to "let Third temporarily coordinate". As a result, they both ended up in Konoha Hospital. It is said that their injuries were not serious.
With this lesson learned from the past, Third himself had no choice but to bury his thoughts so deeply that he didn't even dare to mention them.
In the current ambiguous state, Inoichi Yamanaka actually has certain rights to dispatch personnel and convey instructions.
Although this power is not formally appointed, it plays a role in actual operations.
Yamanaka Flower Shop is open as usual today, but there are only a few customers.
The sunlight shines through the clean glass windows and onto the colorful flowers. The air is filled with the elegant fragrance of flowers, making it seem like two different worlds from the tension in the outside world.
Ino is off today.
She originally worked at Intelligence Division, but recently the large-scale intelligence analysis work has come to an end and there is some unemployment in the class, so she took the initiative to apply to Konoha Hospital to help.
The hospital is not too busy now. Most Ninja are out on missions, and those who stay in the village are mostly ordinary villagers who are sick or non-combatants who are accidentally injured.
Even if some Medical Ninjutsu Ninja, led by Shizune, follow the frontline commander Shikaku Nara out, the hospital can still operate stably relying on the remaining manpower.
At this moment, Ino was sitting at a small table by the window in the back room of the flower shop, lowering his head and doing needlework attentively.
In her hand is a prototype of a white Hokage Robe of fine quality and solemn style. The hem and lining of the robe have been embroidered with some Flames patterns symbolizing Hokage using fine stitches.
She was embroidering the outline of the words "Sixth" stitch by stitch.
This is a private project of several of their Girl sons.
When anyone is free, he will pick up the robe and embroider it for a while, and when he is busy, he will hand it to the next person.
This is not just a piece of clothing, but also a kind of gentle expectation and silent support.
"Ino, what are you embroidering?"
A gentle female voice came from the door.
Ino looked up and saw Yoshino Nara pushing the door open and walking in.
"Aunt Yoshino."
Ino quickly put down the needle and thread in his hand and stood up to say hello, but his cheeks turned slightly red because he was seen doing what he was doing.
"Why are you here? Please sit down."
Yoshino didn't sit down immediately. Her eyes first fell on the conspicuous robe in Ino's hand. She took a closer look and then understood, and the smile in her eyes deepened.
She joked, "Hokage Robe was embroidered for Naruto, right? Tsk tsk, look at this stitch, it's really thoughtful. Naruto and Kid, I'm so lucky to have you thinking about me so much."
"Aunt Yoshino!"
Ino's face turned redder, and he said something embarrassed, but the movements of his hands did not stop. He picked up the needle and thread again, lowered his head and continued to embroider, as if this could hide his shyness, "What do you want to see me for?"
Yoshino then suppressed his smile, took out a rolled secret letter with the special Chakra mark from his sleeve, handed it over, and said in a more serious tone, "Shikamaru sent a message from the front line. If there is anything, I need to contact Inoichi. The letter is not encrypted, just give it to Inoichi directly."
I don't know at this moment whether your father is at home, in the Intelligence Department, or in Hokage Building.
I happened to be passing by, thinking you might know where he is, or could easily bring the letter to him. Please, Ino."