The moon in Kirigakure (December) is exceptionally cold, but what's colder than the temperature is the human heart.
--Yuki Haku
A slender, fair hand caught a falling snowflake, and bright, sparkling eyes stared at it until it melted on her delicate fingertips.
The girl lifted her hood, letting the snowflakes fall on her head. The snowflakes dotted her smooth hair, and the melting snow water was icy cold, but the girl happily twirled around.
"Lord Zabuza in Kirigakure."
Covered in bandages and shrouded in a black cloak, Zabuza resembled a perverted monster who might commit a crime at any moment, which also perfectly matched his unromantic appearance.
"Why are you so happy? It gets very cold in Kirigakure when it snows, and it lasts for months. Almost no one from the Land of Water likes snow."
Zabuza's voice was as cold as the weather, devoid of any emotion. Demon Zabuza, the most outstanding assassin of Kirigakure, needed no feelings.
But the girl was still very happy, and she was excitedly planning to build a snowman when it snowed more, and to put a scarf around it, just like the other children in the village did when they were young.
The girl didn't answer Zabuza's question, Zabuza didn't ask again. Because the answer was something they both knew: on that snowy evening, a man exuding a terrifying aura reached out his hand to the girl huddled on the bridge.
"Kid, from this day forward, your abilities belong to me."
Important Notice: The inauguration ceremony for the Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure will be held at noon today at the Kirigakure Ninja Academy. The entire village is closed today, and everyone is welcome to attend!
Starting from three or four in the morning, such verbal announcements spread throughout the streets and alleys of Kirigakure. Undoubtedly, this was another tactic Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi, to enhance her influence among the people.
For a ninja village, ninjas mainly come from two sources—commoners and clans. After the " Bloody Mist " policy, the number of ninja clans in Kirigakure was almost gone. Therefore, the Ninja Academy, which trains commoner ninjas, will be the main source of ninjas for Kirigakure in the future.
Mei Terumi chose the Ninja Academy as the location for her succession ceremony. After this batch of the Ninja Academy students graduate, no Kirigakure Ninja will surpass her reputation for the next twenty years, or even longer.
If Mei Terumi and Kirigakure were given time to recuperate and develop their ninja skills, their future strength might surpass that of Kumogakure and Konoha... It's just a pity that ninjas have their limits...
Naoki Senju sighed with slight regret. Kirigakure's stage was too small, and there was no room for Mei Terumi to display her talents.
Moreover, Tsunade wasn't idle during this time. She made full use of the privileges that came with her noble status to find out most of the details about Kirigakure. Except for the Kirigakure Anbu directly under the Mizukage and couldn't be investigated, Tsunade basically knew everything about the other Kirigakure Jonin Special Jōnin.
However, this information was limited to basic details such as age and name. Some of this information was even deliberately revealed to Tsunade by Kirigakure, or more precisely, to the identity Tsunade was impersonating— 'Aya Chiba' —and the high-ranking officials of the Land of Water behind her.
Kirigakure is facing a major upheaval and urgently needs to prove their strength to the Daimyo of the Land of Water, obtain military funding, rebuild Kirigakure, and clean up the mess left by the Fourth Mizukage —all of which require money.
However, the ' Chiba Lady's' initiative to inquire was mistaken by Kirigakure as an order from the Daimyo, and by chance, Tsunade successfully completed the objective of this operation.
"Forty-nine Jonin Kirigakure, seventy-seven Special Jōnin, excluding Anbu members and other secret units." (The number of Jonin will be explained later.)
After learning the exact number, Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief. This number was far less than that of Konoha. It seemed that Kirigakure, after experiencing the ' Bloody Mist ' policy and this reform, was indeed unusually weak in a short period of time.
Naoki Senju, standing to the side, found this number strange. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Five Great Shinobi Villages assembled an allied Allied Shinobi Forces of 80,000, all of whom were Chunin or higher. How Jonin?
" Sister Tsunade, is this all the Jonin Kirigakure?"
"That's all?" Tsunade felt as if her perspective had been looked down upon, and couldn't help but grab Naoki's head and scold him.
"You're young, but you've got quite the nerve. Do you know how hard it is to become Jonin? Those Root ninjas you killed last time were only Chunin level. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio captured by Orochimaru were barely Jonin. Do you think Jonin are as easy as cabbages?"
Feeling the pain of being pressed down and unable to feel any warmth, Naoki Senju broke free from Tsunade's clutches, while also wondering just how demanding the conditions for becoming Jonin really were.
The requirement for promotion to Genin is graduating from the Ninja Academy, but the supervising Jonin has the right to revoke Genin's status.
The requirement for promotion to Chunin is to achieve outstanding performance in the Chunin Ninja Exams, but most Chunin are promoted by accumulating seniority.
" Sister Tsunade, how exactly do I become Jonin? Can I become Jonin now?"
Tsunade glanced at Naoki with a hint of disdain, cleared her throat, Naoki Senju very considerate, brought her a cup of hot tea.
"Your current strength is indeed sufficient, but it's far from enough to become Jonin." Tsunade took a sip of bitter tea before continuing, " Jonin requires not only strength, but also adaptability in battle, intelligence analysis skills, and various professional expertise."
At this point, Tsunade couldn't help but glance at a guy whose professional knowledge was practically zero.
"As for the requirements for promotion to Jonin, it's completing one hundred A-rank missions or ten S-rank missions. During wartime, these requirements may be relaxed, but they will not be lower than independently completing one S-rank mission."
Naoki Senju once again witnessed the harshness of Konoha's examination system. The genius who became Jonin at the age of twelve was an abnormal monster born under this system.
"But Naoki, you don't need to worry about that. I can directly appoint you as Jonin without any exams. How about it, are you tempted?" Tsunade winked playfully, revealing her undeniably wealthy and wicked nature.
So this is what it feels like to be 'kept'... Naoki Senju has mixed feelings. The scene he had been fantasizing about has actually come true. He feels a little happy, but also a little sad. He also wanted to achieve his goal through his own efforts!
But thinking about how miserable Naruto looked when he was getting tutoring in his professional knowledge, the words of refusal stuck in my throat... Hmm~ Rich woman, so tempting!
Knock knock knock~
Naoki Senju wanted to ask more about the details of the 'sugar baby' arrangement, but an untimely knock sounded at the door.
"Who!"
Tsunade made a shushing gesture while stealthily retracting the soundproof barrier she had previously set up.
"Miss Chiba, Kaede Shiin, I am the reception envoy from Kirigakure. The succession ceremony of the Fifth Mizukage is about to begin. Please prepare yourselves; someone will escort you to the ceremony."
The main event is finally about to begin!
Naoki and Tsunade exchanged a glance, both seeing the excitement in each other's eyes.
While Tsunade was gathering information on Kirigakure, Naoki took on a more important task. The high degree of disguise and convenience of his Wood Clone made Naoki Senju's dangerous missions less risky.
This succession ceremony for the Fifth Mizukage will definitely be a big surprise for Kirigakure!
As we all know, in the later stages of the Hokage manga, not only did the power levels become inconsistent, but the ninja rankings and numbers also became inconsistent. All the minor ninjas who appeared in Konoha in the early stages only numbered around a thousand. In one Chunin Ninja Exams, all the villages combined only had 153 Genin candidates.
Naruto had only 27 graduates from the Ninja Academy, and only nine of them became Genin; the rest were eliminated.
But in the later Fourth Shinobi World War, the Allied Shinobi Forces had 80,000 troops, and Konoha had at least 16,000, all of whom were Chunin or higher... It just goes to show that Kishimoto nothing about Hokage (just kidding).
Therefore, excluding the Shinobi World War arc, the number of Jonin and Special Jōnin is not particularly large.
Ibiki Morino, 79 A-rank missions, 3 S-rank missions, a ruthless man who once drove Kisame Hoshigaki to the point of slaughtering his comrades, is the head of the Konoha Anbu Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.
Special Jōnin.
Genma Shiranui completed 74 A-rank missions and 2 S-rank missions. He is the Fourth's bodyguard, a mysterious man known for his senbon (Senbon) paintings, and is active in many storylines.
Special Jōnin.
Gekko Hayate, 96 A-rank missions, 0 S-rank missions, a mysterious coughing man, died at the hands of Baki because his abilities were countered, but after Impure World Reincarnation, he launched a heavy attack on the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Special Jōnin.
Furthermore, during Kurenai's second appearance in the Chunin Ninja Exams arc, Asuma stated that Kurenai was a newly Jonin, the (current) number one Genjutsu user in Konoha, yet she was still only a newly Jonin.
It's easy to imagine just how rare Jonin are.