A few days later, the Hidden Leaf reinforcements safely returned to the village and reported every detail of the mission to the higher-ups.
Upon confirming the failure of the rescue operation and the capture of both the Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchūriki from Hidden Rock, the Hidden Leaf leadership fell into a state of anxiety.
The Akatsuki, which had been lying low, had caused such a massive disturbance with a single move, signaling that the shinobi world was about to face a new wave of turmoil.
To counter the Akatsuki's threat, the village immediately convened a high-level meeting.
As the First Chair of the ninja academy, Shinji was already qualified to attend high-level meetings. Coupled with his outstanding performance in this mission, he not only participated but was also given a more prominent seat.
The main agenda of the meeting was to mobilize a shinobi army capable of annihilating the Akatsuki, which involved gathering intelligence and analyzing the strengths of Akatsuki members.
Kakashi spoke up during the meeting, "Based on this operation, our previous assessments of certain Akatsuki members' strengths were severely underestimated!"
The Third Hokage took a deep drag from his pipe before removing it from his mouth. "Elaborate."
"We significantly underestimated three Akatsuki members: Hiruko, Shinno, and Sasori of the Red Sand," Kakashi said, pausing to choose his words carefully. "Based on this engagement, they are extremely dangerous enemies, requiring an entire jōnin squad to confront and multiple jōnin squads to suppress. Detailed intelligence has been distributed to everyone!"
After hearing Kakashi's words, the attending leaders opened the files in front of them, carefully reviewing the intelligence on these three individuals.
When they read that Hiruko had acquired five Bloodline Limits—'Dark Release,' 'Swift Release,' 'Steel Release,' 'Storm Release,' and the 'Sharingan'—through unknown means, and that the Sharingan in his eyes wasn't ordinary but likely a Mangekyō Sharingan, everyone was stunned.
In the shinobi world, Bloodline Limit shinobi were already rare.
Those with two Bloodline Limits were exceedingly few across the entire shinobi world.
For someone like Hiruko to possess five Bloodline Limits was unheard of. Moreover, for Hidden Leaf, Hiruko wasn't some mysterious figure—Tsunade, present at the meeting, had been a childhood friend of Hiruko's. Thus, the Hidden Leaf leadership knew full well that Hiruko had no Bloodline Limits to begin with.
Turning to the page on Shinno, the mention that he had mastered the 'Eight Gates' and could open up to the seventh gate, the 'Gate of Shock,' struck everyone as particularly glaring.
Further details, such as Shinno creating an artificial Tailed Beast and becoming a 'pseudo-Jinchūriki' with chakra reserves rivaling a true Jinchūriki, and his mastery of a forbidden medical technique allowing rapid regeneration for a limited time, caused everyone to furrow their brows in concern.
The final piece of intelligence—that Sasori of the Red Sand had single-handedly defeated the entire Hidden Sand shinobi army led by the Fourth Kazekage—was simply unbelievable.
As they flipped through the reports, the leaders noticed that whether it was Hiruko, Shinno, or Sasori, who had defeated the Fourth Kazekage, all three had clashed with Shinji during this mission.
And in these three confrontations, Shinji, a mere academy student, had achieved the remarkable feats of defeating Shinno, repelling Hiruko, and forcing Sasori to retreat!
As a result, the high-ranking officials reviewing the intelligence would occasionally glance up at Shinji.
Yakumo and Sasuke, who had participated in the mission and were granted permission to observe the meeting, sat in the outermost seats. They watched this scene unfold.
Sasuke whispered, "What are they looking at?"
Yakumo sighed softly, "They're probably shocked by Shinji's accomplishments. Even Tsunade-sensei was surprised when she first heard!"
"Is Shinno really that strong now?" Sasuke asked, still somewhat skeptical. After all, when Shinno had tricked him into leaving the village, he had seemed like an ordinary physician.
Though Shinno had already mastered the 'Eight Gates' back then, his limited taijutsu foundation and combat experience hadn't made him stand out, so he hadn't drawn much attention from the village.
"Mm!" Yakumo nodded.
Only those who had faced Shinno in the 'Gate of Shock' state could truly comprehend his terrifying power.
Sasuke asked again, "Is it true that Hiruko has a Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Yakumo glanced at Sasuke before nodding again. "Yes, the pattern of Hiruko's Sharingan is completely different from Shinji's three-tomoe Sharingan. I asked Tsunade-sensei, and she said a normal Sharingan has a tomoe pattern. If it's not tomoe-shaped, it's highly likely to be a Mangekyō!"
Sasuke was furious. "That bastard dares to defile our Uchiha bloodline!"
The Mangekyō Sharingan was the source of his pride, and now some random nobody had one too—how could he accept that?
At the meeting:
After reviewing the intelligence, the jōnin squad leader, Nara Shikaku, asked Kakashi, "Kakashi, is this intelligence reliable?"
The others also cast doubtful glances at Kakashi.
The reports described the Akatsuki members as monstrous, yet also noted that Shinji had defeated or repelled them, creating a jarring sense of disbelief.
After all, how strong could an opponent defeated by a twelve-year-old academy student be, even if that student was a genius?
Kakashi responded directly, "This intelligence has been repeatedly verified, and the accomplishments mentioned are backed by at least three eyewitnesses!"
Shikaku nodded, knowing Kakashi wasn't one to speak recklessly.
Tap, tap.
The Third Hokage knocked his pipe on the table. "Let's move on to discussing the formation of the shinobi army!"
The attendees began offering their opinions. Some suggested forming a special sealing team to counter the demon Mōryō, while others proposed assembling a specialized taijutsu squad to deal with Shinno.
In short, all proposals leaned toward forming targeted squads to address the specific traits of different Akatsuki members.
Kakashi expressed his agreement.
In the battle against Mōryō, he had felt powerless.
His fighting style, similar to his teacher, the Fourth Hokage, was better suited for human targets, not large-scale monsters like Tailed Beasts or demons.
If he had faced Shinno or Hiruko instead, he would have performed much better than against Mōryō.
When someone suggested forming a specialized genjutsu team to target Hiruko, Shinji couldn't help but glance over, feeling that his accomplishments might have led some people astray.