Isamu Hyūga did not answer. He walked to the open space in the center of the courtyard, faced all the soldiers, and then slowly raised his right hand.
Chakra condensed in his palm; it wasn't ordinary Chakra, but Chakra enhanced by Hashirama Cells fluid, more than doubled in size.
He aimed his palm at an abandoned stone wall at the far end of the courtyard. The wall was two meters thick and was used by the Daming army as a target for practicing throwing Kunai.
The Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm: Modified!
No, it's Vacuum Strike Palm!
He struck out with his palm. The air in front of his palm was compressed into a dense sphere by Chakra, and then exploded with a bang.
A shockwave, visible to the naked eye, emanated from his palm, traversed the entire courtyard, and struck the stone wall.
The stone wall was torn apart like paper, and fragments of stone flew dozens of meters away onto the Gobi Desert.
The residual force of the shockwave continued forward, carving a furrow tens of meters long in the Gobi Desert before gradually dissipating.
The courtyard was deathly silent.
The captain's arms, which had been crossed over his chest, had been lowered at some point.
The soldier who had just laughed still had his mouth open, but he couldn't make a sound. The sentry who had been dozing in the corner was awakened by the shockwave, rubbing his eyes and looking around blankly, thinking he had been attacked by the enemy.
Isamu Hyūga withdrew his hand, Chakra dissipated into pale blue smoke at his fingertips. He turned to look at the captain.
"I just used half my strength. Is that answer enough?"
The captain didn't speak. He took a step back, straightened up, and then gave Isamu Hyūga a proper bow.
The soldiers behind him were stunned for a moment, then saluted in unison.
Isamu Hyūga nodded, trying hard to control his facial expression, his heart still pounding in his chest, his palms sweaty.
In his nineteen years of life, he had never spoken to anyone in this tone. But his identity as an inspector ninja forced him to speak this way.
The Hokage entrusted him with this power, so he cannot back down.
That night, Isamu Hyūga sat in the temporary office at the outpost, with a list of outpost personnel and a pile of dusty supply ledgers in front of him.
The oil lamp cast a dim, yellowish light on the corner of the table. He turned to the first page, which was filled with detailed records of the comings and goings of supplies over the past three months.
More than half of them were empty; the amount of food distributed did not match the warehouse inventory at all; and weapon maintenance costs were drawn three times in a row.
The corruption during the Daimyo's military campaign was even more shocking than what he had heard in Konoha.
He rubbed his sore eyes, took out a blank scroll from his bag, and wrote the first line.
"Reorganization Report of the Third Outpost. The following problems were found: serious discrepancies in supply records; the former captain is suspected of embezzlement; insufficient training of soldiers, with more than half lacking basic Chakra usage skills; and the outpost's defensive facilities being dilapidated."
Then he stopped writing, thought for a moment, and added a sentence at the end.
"As per the Lord Hokage's orders, the reorganization will commence immediately. Detailed plans will be submitted later."
He sealed the scroll with Sealing Jutsu, put it into the messenger box, and handed it to the messenger Ninja Hawk who was standing at the door waiting for orders.
The Ninja Hawk flapped its wings, skimming across the Gobi Desert under the moonlight, and flew towards Konoha.
Two days later, Isamu Hyūga's report, along with hundreds of other reports from all over the Land of Fire, was placed on the Development Committee's meeting table.
Shikaku spent an entire day reading through all the reports, and then took the summary to Shinsei.
The troop rotation operation is proceeding simultaneously throughout the Land of Fire, with 80% of border posts and local military units having completed the initial handover.
The main resistance was concentrated in the direct territories of several powerful nobles. Two of these nobles gathered private armies to try to resist, but were captured overnight by Asuma Sarutobi's personal forces.
Most of the rest were observing, and after seeing the fate of the resisters, they gradually relinquished control of the army.
"This is a list of ninjas monitoring various regions and a map showing their garrison locations."
Shikaku spread a map out on the table.
On the map, every border outpost and military base of the Land of Fire was marked in red, with the names and ranks of the dispatched ninjas written next to them.
Konoha is like a heart, transmitting its control to every corner of the Land of Fire through countless red veins—those dispatched surveillance ninjas.
Shinsei looked down at the map, his gaze starting from Konoha and following the red lines all the way to the edge of the border.
The areas with dense red lines are towns and passes, while the areas with sparse red lines are wastelands and mountains. But regardless of density, there is no blank space.
From this day forward, not an inch of land in the Land of Fire is outside the jurisdiction of Konoha.
"Notify all monitoring ninjas that after the shift change is complete, we will proceed to the second phase," Shinsei said.
"Phase Two?"
"Training. Retrain those daimyo's ninjas into combat-ready ninjas."
Shinsei pointed to the red lines on the map.
"I'm giving them cell fluid and A-rank Ninjutsu not so they can become local tyrants, but so that every outpost and border post in the Land of Fire has the capability to operate independently."
Shikaku nodded, scribbled a few lines in his notebook, and then asked, "What about the reactions of the lords in various regions?"
"Let them react." Shinsei straightened up. "The army is in our hands now, Council has the power to collect taxes. What can they do besides throw a tantrum in their own backyard?"
A few days later.
Isamu Hyūga stood atop the newly built watchtower at the third outpost, gazing towards the distant border of the Land of Wind.
The outpost has been completely transformed.
The stone wall was reinforced, the courtyard was paved with smooth stone slabs, and every page of the warehouse inventory ledger was clearly written.
Fifteen veterans received basic Chakra training, three of whom were able to walk steadily on Water Walking, and two of whom had a basic grasp of elemental transformations.
A messenger Ninja Hawk flew from the direction of Konoha, with a sealing scroll tied to its claws.
Isamu Hyūga unsealed the seal, revealing a document issued by the Development Committee titled "Notice on Establishing a Regular Operation Mechanism for the Border Surveillance System."
At the end of the document, there was a line of comments stamped with the Hokage's seal.
"The first phase of the garrison rotation mission has been completed. Effective immediately, all inspecting ninjas will become resident military instructors, responsible for the training and command of the local troops."
Furthermore, following committee deliberation and approval, two additional medical-nin and one Sealing Squad squad will be dispatched to each station. We expect everyone to perform their duties diligently.
Isamu Hyūga carefully folded the document and put it in his pocket.
He looked at the soldiers training on the Gobi Desert in the distance. Those veterans who were lazy and Kunai even hold a kunai properly a month ago were now being divided into groups for live-fire exercises.
Although their movements were still clumsy, at least everyone showed a serious attitude.
He walked down from the watchtower and headed towards the training ground. Today's training exercise was Chakra control and precise Water Walking.
This subject isn't difficult even for Konoha's Genin, but for these veterans who came to the ranks later in life, simply being able to stand firmly on the water is a breakthrough.
Water splashed everywhere on the training ground. A young soldier fell into the pool for the third time, climbed out of the water soaking wet, wiped his face, and saw Isamu Hyūga walking over, so he quickly stood up straight.
"Instructor Hyūga!"
"Keep practicing," Isamu Hyūga said. He squatted down by the pool, using his Byakugan to observe the distribution of Chakra on the soldier's soles, then stretched out his hand, "Your Chakra is too concentrated in the soles of your feet. Distribute it evenly to the sides of your feet."
"Understood, Hyūga."
The soldier nodded, regrouped his Chakra, and carefully stepped onto the water.
This time he stood for five seconds, then started swaying again. But he didn't fall; instead, he wobbled and managed to steady himself.
Isamu Hyūga's lips curled slightly. He stood up, patted the soldier on the shoulder, then walked to the center of the training ground and spoke loudly to everyone.
"Today's training goal: everyone must stand on the water for ten minutes. The first person to do so will get an extra serving of barbecue for dinner."
Immediately, splashes and cheers erupted from the pool.