Although Konoha Hiruzen Sarutobi Hatake Sakumo to take responsibility for the significant losses caused by the previous mission failure—even though the main reason was that the Third Hokage's eldest son was crippled— Hiruzen Sarutobi could not reveal this reason to the outside world.
In order to create the conditions for carrying out the decapitation mission, Konoha paid a considerable price and lost many people. According to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hatake Sakumo's actions directly caused Konoha's efforts to be in vain.
Even though Hatake Sakumo severely injured the Third Kazekage, rendering him unable to fight for a period of time, he had already achieved his strategic objective.
It was precisely for this reason that Dan Katō, who took over the solid Hatake Sakumo, also led the Konoha Ninja to a series of victories.
In the western part of the River Country, on a plain of low shrubs.
One month later.
Uchiha Meikyō sat on a rock, breathing heavily.
Looking around, the plains were littered with the corpses of dead Konoha Ninja and Sand Ninja.
Besides these, there were also some wounded Konoha Ninja retreating to the rear with the help of their comrades, or Konoha Ninja cleaning up the battlefield.
Judging from this situation, it's clear that Konoha will be the one to have the last laugh on this battlefield.
With the Third Kazekage unable to participate in the battle, Chiyo became the highest-ranking officer of the Sand Ninja.
This current strongest puppeteer in the Ninja World, skilled in using poison, was completely countered by Tsunade.
Chiyo is skilled in using poison, but there is no poison in this Ninja World that Tsunade cannot cure.
Chiyo is a puppeteer, but puppeteers are generally not very good at close combat. Even though Chiyo's Taijutsu are not bad, she can't stop Tsunade's Super Strength.
Rasa's injuries haven't healed yet. According to information from Root's spy ninjas, he's only just recovered to the point where he can go to the toilet independently. As for Karura, he's no match for Dan Katō, who has already reached the Kage Level.
With their high-level combat power suppressed, the Suna was also suppressed by the high-spirited Konoha Ninja in the battles below.
To the Konoha Ninja who had moved here from the Land of Rain Battlefield, these Suna were already their defeated opponents.
"Phew! With this battle over, the war between our village and Sunagakure should be over by now."
Inuzuka Ryo lay exhausted on Tetsu Maru's back, gazing at the distant sky and murmuring to himself.
Meikyō's current strength has reached the level of Jonin. Although Inuzuka Ryo and Aburame Nami are not bad either, they can only be considered as relatively good Chunin.
After a large-scale battle, Meikyō's strength allowed him to handle the situation with ease, but it was still somewhat difficult for his other two teammates.
But compared to eight months ago, their progress has been remarkably rapid.
To reach this level within two years of graduation is already an absolute genius. Among the ninjas of the same period, it seems that only a handful, such as Hyuga Tetsu, could reach this level.
"Probably."
Meikyō looked somewhat worried at this moment.
The war is about to end, doesn't that mean my plan to visit Rōran during this period is likely to fall through?
It remains to be seen whether Dan Katō will agree to his previous proposal to have someone persuade the Queen of Roran to make Rōran a vassal state of the Land of Fire, accepting Konoha's protection, and thus making Rōran an important outpost for Konoha to guard against Suna in the west.
If this is agreed upon, I hope to be sent to Rōran as a member of the Konoha delegation, representing the person who proposed the suggestion.
Meikyō chatted casually with her two teammates for a few more minutes before heading towards the temporary hospital set up at the rear.
In the past eight months, Tsunade has completed the training of the previous batch of Medical Ninja, and now it is the third batch, so the medical force is much stronger than before.
However, the three of them, including Meikyō, would still go to the temporary hospital to help out, because half of the Medical Ninja had been taken to the Land of Hiruzen Sarutobi Land of Hot Water, so there was still a shortage of manpower.
However, after being busy for a while, Meikyō was asked to leave.
It wasn't that he did something bad or messed things up; rather, Dan Katō came to inform him that something was up.
"Jonin Shirakumo, what exactly does Master Dan want with me?"
Uchiha Meikyō walked along the road and asked Shirakumo Tokinobu, who had come to inform him.
"Hehe, it's not that I need you to do something, but that I need you to do something."
Shirakumo Tokinobu had never been so happy.
Back in the Land of Rain, he had already boarded Dan Katō's ship and become Dan Katō's subordinate.
Although most civilian ninjas, as well as a considerable number of clan ninjas, chose to bet on Orochimaru, because he is indeed the person who currently seems most likely to become the next Hokage.
However, there are also people who choose to bet on Dan Katō, and most of them are from the Ninja Clan.
Although the Kato Clan is Shinobu clan, it was one of the Ninja Clan that helped establish Konoha with the help of the First Hokage. Moreover, with Dan Katō around, how could the Kato Clan not be able to revive?
The more important reason is that Dan Katō's lover is Tsunade.
Even though the Senju Clan has integrated into Konoha, they still wield significant influence among these Ninja Clan. If Tsunade and Kato Dan can truly succeed together, they have a very good chance of achieving their goal.
Furthermore, the fact that Dan Katō's three disciples were all from powerful Ninja Clan naturally made him even more attractive to these clans.
Even if things don't go well, given the close relationship between Tsunade, Dan Katō, and Orochimaru, they'll likely become Konoha High Command like Mitokado Homura or Utatane Koharu in the future. So even if the bet fails, they won't necessarily lose money in the future.
Only major Ninja Clan like the Uchiha and Hyuga Clan are still observing the situation.
It's not time for them to step in yet. The Hyuga Clan believes that the Byakugan has extremely high strategic significance, and with the Caged Bird system, no matter who becomes Hokage, it won't have much of an impact on them.
The Uchiha Clan's ideas, however, were rather peculiar.
Most of the clan elders believed it wasn't the right time for him to step down, and even Uchiha Fugaku felt he was capable of competing for the Fourth Hokage in the future...
Yes, this is no joke. In the original timeline, the other two candidates competing with Minato Namikaze for the Fourth Hokage were Orochimaru and Uchiha Fugaku.
"Just last night, the Third Hokage-sama ordered the Anbu to send a letter, agreeing to the list of ninja rank promotions proposed by Lord Dan and Lord Orochimaru."
Shirakumo Tokinobu smiled broadly and patted Meikyō on the shoulder.
By hitching a ride with Dan Katō, he successfully rose to the Jonin and shed his "special" label.
"After this, I guess I'll have to change how I address you to 'Meikyō Jonin'."
In the list that Dan Katō submitted, based on Meikyō's strength and battle achievements, he recommended his disciple to become Special Jonin.