The Report

Xia Yan was not quite sure whether the Uchiha's madness was passed down only to men and not women.

But there was one thing he did know: Uchiha Sora would probably have a very hard time getting into the Medical Department.

The Medical Department fell within Hiruzen Sarutobi's core sphere of power, and its importance was almost unimaginable.

Hiruzen Sarutobi might have been the one who originally opposed establishing the Medical Department and developing Medical Ninja, but he had always been an exceedingly pragmatic man.

Once the Medical Department had produced unimaginable results under Tsunade, greatly boosting Konoha's morale and saving many lives in the process.

He had begun holding the entire Medical Department firmly in his grasp, continuously allocating funds through the Finance Department and greatly raising the standing of Medical Ninja, this emerging group, within the entire shinobi system.

Only then had the Medical Department grown, in just over a decade, from a small operation that no one cared about or even had any faith in into one of Konoha's largest and most powerful departments.

No shinobi was truly unafraid of death, and with the logistical support of the Medical Department, support for Hiruzen Sarutobi had surged even further.

The Medical Department's success had even brought change to the entire Shinobi World, with almost every shinobi village beginning to experiment with establishing a Medical Department of its own.

How could Hiruzen Sarutobi possibly let "outsiders" enter such a department? He would never give anyone he distrusted a chance to meddle in it.

He would not even allow anyone to entertain the idea of "contaminating" it, much less put that idea into practice.

Having the Medical Department meant having enormous support, and the Uchiha were people he distrusted. How could a girl like Sora possibly get in?

Still, Xia Yan would not tell Uchiha Sora any of this. It was a good thing that this quiet girl had ideas of her own, and he had no reason to discourage her.

After a brief warm-up, Xia Yan began his training. His routine was simple, mostly starting with the very basics.

With his cheat, his control over his own strength had already reached its peak, but Xia Yan had never neglected this kind of training.

Possessing power and having control over it did not mean Xia Yan could make the most effective use of it.

How to take down opponents easily in battle without consuming too much chakra had always been a major focus of Xia Yan's research over the years.

For the time being, he had no way to resolve the lingering consequences of his own reckless actions back then, so he could only address the problem through other means.

Uchiha Sora silently watched from the side. This was her first time seeing Xia Yan train.

Back at the academy, her grades had been fairly outstanding, while Xia Yan had been slightly behind her, though he had still been very good.

After Xia Yan left the academy, she had never seen him again.

Her memories of him had largely remained within those years at school, those relatively memorable years.

Even though she had learned something of her former classmate's experiences through their old classmates in the years that followed, that could only be considered hearsay.

Seeing Xia Yan again today, Uchiha Sora found that he seemed to have grown much stronger, but the way he kept doing basic training made her frown slightly.

"Was it because he didn't have access to enough ninjutsu?"

Sora sighed inwardly. As she remembered it, Xia Yan was a civilian shinobi, so it was hardly surprising that he had little access to ninjutsu.

Now she was considering whether she should help Xia Yan in some way, allowing him to escape this predicament...

Inside Konoha's office, Kakashi knelt on one knee while Minato Namikaze stood before him, carefully reading a scroll.

The scroll contained a complete account of Kakashi and Xia Yan's mission, including how they had identified the attackers and the entire process of capturing Yashamaru.

To be honest, even Minato Namikaze had not expected this mission to yield such substantial results.

He knew that even if they discovered who had done it, Konoha could not launch another war, nor would it necessarily be able to make trouble for the other side.

Konoha was too weak at present, and any military action could inflict even greater losses on it.

Even knowing that Sunagakure had done it-or even if it had been a small country-Konoha could do little beyond retaliating in secret.

As Hokage, there were simply too many things to consider, whether political or economic.

He even had to consider what the shinobi were currently thinking, as well as the state of morale throughout Konoha.

This was Minato Namikaze's first experience weighing so many considerations, and some of the difficulties involved were completely beyond anything he had imagined.

But Xia Yan and Kakashi had captured Yashamaru, which gave them an excellent card to play. As long as they handled it properly, Konoha would surely gain quite a lot.

It was just that the Third Hokage gave Minato Namikaze another headache.

The Third Hokage was simply too cautious. His desire to end the war had reached its limit, and he probably would not accept even a small-scale conflict.

Minato Namikaze could understand him, but he truly could not agree with him, because even if this approach benefited Konoha, it hurt Konoha's morale.

"It looks like I'll need to give this some serious thought-how to gain the Third Hokage's support."

With political affairs going poorly, Minato Namikaze felt helpless as well. Although he was Hokage now, he had discovered that there were many things he simply could not do himself.

Still, he felt he should be more patient and avoid letting his thoughts run wild. After all, he owed his position as Hokage to Lord Third's personal promotion.

"Well done, Kakashi." At that thought, Minato Namikaze could not help smiling. "You and Xia Yan worked wonderfully together. Congratulations on completing a mission like this."

After saying that, Minato Namikaze lowered his head and continued reading the scrolls. Kakashi had given him not one report, but two.

Clearly, after his previous experience, Kakashi had simply decided to convey all his information to his teacher through written reports on scrolls.

Minato Namikaze clearly understood Kakashi's thinking as well, so he appeared composed as he opened this scroll.

Although he felt it was unnecessary, the Anbu who remained hidden in the office without choosing to leave still made Minato Namikaze sigh softly.

Setting those feelings aside, Minato Namikaze began reading the scroll carefully.

Yet as he read on closely, his expression changed once again...