"Old man, I am back!"
"Kushina, it seems everything went well", Hiruzen said calmly as he looked at her, trying to find any irregularity in her.
"Everything went well, why?" Kushina asked, pretending not to know.
"A powerful jonin level rogue ninja appeared and was probably in the same area as you. I sent several ANBU to try to find you, but it seems I worried for nothing".
Since the ANBU had not returned yet, Hiruzen did not know the exact situation, but given Kushina's normal attitude, he assumed she had not been in a life and death battle.
However, her next words shattered that assumption.
"Oh, was it a guy with puppets? Here!", she said, throwing him a sealing scroll, used to seal the corpses of important enemies so that specialized ninjas could later view their memories and access important information from other villages.
Hiruzen saw the corpse inside the scroll and looked at Kushina in surprise.
"You defeated Sasori?"
"I ran into him on the way and he tried to kill me, so I took care of him", Kushina replied, indifferent to his shock.
Hiruzen remained silent for a moment before smiling.
"Good, you did well. I will have Sasori's body examined, as the grandson of the elder Chiyo, he likely holds many secrets of Sunagakure.
Suna's higher ups will probably pay a lot for his corpse as well.
If we add this to the mission reward, which has been raised to rank S due to Sasori's involvement, for now I will give you 2.5 million ryō. Later, you will receive a portion of what Suna pays for the body.
Normally I would give you a personal recommendation, but officially you are already a jonin after this mission, so you do not need it, and technique scrolls are useless to you since you do not use chakra.
For now, I will convert the non monetary part of your reward into merits, and when you need something you can exchange them for it".
"Then I am officially a jonin?" she asked excitedly.
"You are, congratulations".
"Thank you very much, Lord Hokage".
Despite sounding serious, Kushina could barely contain the corners of her mouth from forming a smile.
"Kushina". Hiruzen changed his tone and became more serious. "There will be a jonin meeting in half an hour, prepare yourself".
"Understood".
Kushina also responded immediately, noticing the seriousness of the matter.
A jonin meeting, despite the name, is not attended only by jonin, but also by all of Konoha's higher ups. It is a meeting of all the people with both authority and power in Konoha, and it only happens when there is something important to say or discuss.
---
Half an hour later, Kushina returned, now wearing a slightly different vest that identified her as a jonin.
There she found several familiar faces and others that were not so familiar.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, at the front.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, advisors to the Hokage.
Danzō Shimura, advisor to the Hokage and head of Root.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru, both students of the Third Hokage and members of the Three Sannin of Konoha.
Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya's student and a jonin.
Other clan leaders such as Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Chōza Akimichi, Fugaku Uchiha, Hideki Hyūga.
And then several other jonin whom Kushina had seen from afar before or did not know at all.
When she entered the room, no one reacted with surprise. Among the higher ups, news travels fast, and everyone was serious, waiting for the Hokage to begin speaking.
"I will not beat around the bush", Hiruzen said after five minutes.
Although everyone knew the situation was serious, this made them realize it was even worse than expected.
"For nearly a month now, there have been signs that the Third Ninja War is approaching.
Iwa and Kumo have been acting strangely, being extremely aggressive toward any Konoha ninja in their territory, cutting off minor relations in other areas, and recently most nearby missions have started to fail due to constant accidents.
Although we knew war was close, we did not have sufficient reasons to act. However, yesterday, during an extremely important rank A mission in the Land of Grass, with several teams protecting a shipment and led by jonin leaders, they were ambushed with no survivors left.
This can no longer be considered a minor skirmish, but a direct attack.
Between great villages, there is no need for a formal declaration, this marks the beginning of the Third Ninja War.
Shikaku".
At the mention of his name, Shikaku stepped forward and began to read the information he had investigated.
"With everyone aware of the situation, I will speak directly about the preparations for war.
Even if the other villages join, the main instigators are Iwa and Kumo, so it is most likely that the fighting will take place almost entirely in the Land of Grass and the Land of Hot Water. We will deploy the majority of our ninja teams there.
Even so, there should be rapid response teams in the Land of Waterfalls, the Land of Rice Fields, and other nearby areas.
The Land of Waterfalls is not really necessary, since they possess a Tailed Beast and the possibility of one of the great villages provoking them without reason is almost nonexistent. Even so, we will do it to prevent incidents.
As for the villages bordering the other two great villages, we will remain on alert in case of any danger.
Regarding deployment, we will follow the following formation…"
While Shikaku spoke, everyone listened attentively.
But when the Hokage began speaking afterward, everyone knew a headache was coming. As expected, he spent more than an hour talking about the Will of Fire before dismissing the meeting.
Tired of listening to so much nonsense, Kushina was ready to leave, but she was stopped.
"Kushina, stay, I need to tell you something", Hiruzen said.
Once everyone had left, Kushina approached the Hokage, curious.
"Kushina, now that you are a jonin, you have access to the village's classified information.
Many ninjas know this face, but for you it is something more important", Hiruzen said, handing her a scroll.
Kushina opened it and found a portrait of a person, black hair, red eyes, a handsome face in his early twenties, and above all, a gaze that seemed to look down on the world, not with arrogance, but with confidence.
"This is…?"
"The one responsible for the Nine Tails incident. All these years we lost all trace of him, as if he did not exist in this world, but we never stopped searching.
Someone powerful enough to defeat the released Nine Tails must be stopped, and we also do not know his objective in stealing the Nine Tails.
Perhaps he has not acted yet, but that does not mean he never will, and the moment he does, whatever his goal may be, he will be a danger to Konoha, do you understand?"
"Of course!" Kushina nodded, not understanding why he was telling her so much.
"As long as you know". Hiruzen smiled and let her go. "By the way, make sure to tell Tsunade about the situation".
Kushina nodded, and after a brief farewell, left the place.
Once outside, Kushina found Minato talking with his teacher, Jiraiya.
When he saw her, Minato immediately ran toward her.
"Kushina, congratulations on becoming a jonin.
Becoming a jonin at eighteen is impressive".
"Didn't you become a jonin at fifteen?" Kushina replied irritably.
"Y-yes… but it is different", Minato said embarrassed.
"Why? Am I not that good?" Kushina looked at him angrily.
"That is not what I meant, I… what is that you have in your hand?" Not knowing what else to say, Minato changed the subject.
Kushina did not want to talk about that either, so she went along with it.
"It is a portrait of the one responsible for the Nine Tails incident. I was unconscious, so I had never seen him before".
"And… what do you think?" Minato asked cautiously.
However, contrary to his expectations, Kushina did not look sad at all, instead she smiled as she showed the image on the scroll.
"He is quite handsome, right?"
"I… guess", Minato was once again left speechless.
"Good, at least you have good taste, bye".
Without saying anything else, Kushina continued on her way, leaving Minato standing there alone.
After a few seconds, Kushina disappeared into the distance under Minato's gaze, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Master, I am fi…"
"Pfft hahaha".
Minato, who thought he was about to be comforted, was shocked once again.
"Hahaha, that girl completely ignored you. To think I would live to see my perfect disciple with that expression", Jiraiya mocked Minato without restraint.
"Master, do you think I have any chance?" Minato asked with doubt.
Jiraiya thought for a second before answering.
"The good news is that at least Kushina does not seem interested in anyone. The bad news is that you are included in that no one. She even seems to dislike you, did you do something?"
Minato scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
"A small misunderstanding, she has hated me since we studied together".
Minato explained the story of the first day they met.
"So, Hokage, huh". Jiraiya also looked in the direction Kushina had gone.
"At this rate, it is possible she will achieve it in your place. You are falling behind, my perfect disciple".
Jiraiya recalled Kushina's reputation in the village, comparable to Minato's, despite Minato having the tacit support of the Hokage, and also her latest mission, where her reputation grew even more after defeating Sasori.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)