Chapter 286: Decay Thunder
Jōnin meeting… Heh.
The Fire Release clone—Fugaku—smiled faintly, dispersed the Amaterasu flame hovering mid-air, and stood up to walk out the door.
So-called Jōnin meetings were urgent gatherings convened by the Hokage when the village faced major crises or decisions affecting everyone. All active jōnin in Konoha were notified and required to attend.
But this had never involved the Uchiha Clan. Even though the Uchiha Police Force was technically under Konoha's structure, Hiruzen had never invited their jōnin to attend.
As head of the Police Force, Fire Release clone—Fugaku—normally had no business being at such a meeting.
That Hiruzen had now specifically sent for him could only mean one thing: Konoha was no longer holding the line.
Hiruzen had no choice but to involve the Uchiha Clan in the war effort.
Thinking of this, Fire Release clone—Fugaku smiled again, then leapt to the rooftop, dashing toward the Hokage building under the moonlit sky.
Along the way, shadowy figures moved across rooftops.
"Hm… a double blessing tonight."
Mid-run, a grin appeared on Fugaku's face.
Hatake Residence.
Outside the training room, Kakashi stood anxiously, glancing frequently at the tightly closed door.
The Hokage had just sent someone summoning his father to attend the Jōnin meeting, but since his father was deep in training, Kakashi had passed the message.
But despite calling out, there had been no response.
If not for the waves of strange cold energy emanating from inside, Kakashi would've thought something had gone wrong.
He didn't dare barge in for fear of disturbing him, so he could only wait in silence.
Inside the training room, the Lightning Release clone—Sakumo —stood and raised a hand. Pure gray lightning coiled silently around his fingers. There was no crackle, no sound—eerily quiet and seemingly powerless.
But…
He pointed at a kunai on the ground.
Instantly, a streak of gray lightning struck it.
In the blink of an eye, the metal kunai turned grayish-white and disintegrated like a pile of gray powder.
Sakumo stepped forward and pinched a bit of the powder—it felt like lime dust, carrying a scent like it had been left to rot for centuries.
Inhaling the decayed smell, Sakumo smiled.
"Decay Lightning… it's done."
"Tonight truly is a double blessing."
In a good mood, he opened the door and stepped out. Looking up at the moonlit sky, he thought the night was quite beautiful.
"Father…" Kakashi began.
"I know." Sakumo raised a hand to stop him and vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.
"So fast!" Kakashi stood there stunned. This was the first time in years he'd seen his father use a Body Flicker—it was unbelievably fast.
If they were in battle, he'd be dead in an instant.
"I'm still not strong enough…" Kakashi thought. Then he turned and headed back to his room, deciding to train more that very night.
The Hokage Building, first-floor side hall—spacious and quiet. This was where the Jōnin meeting was being held.
At the head of the hall, Hiruzen sat behind a desk with the two Hokage advisors standing beside him.
Below, all available jōnin remaining in the village had assembled.
Among them, the Fire Release clone—Fugaku—was the most unusual, being the only clan leader present.
All other clan leaders were on the front lines. Only he remained in the village.
Everyone knew why, which made his presence here all the more surprising.
Likewise, the appearance of Lightning Release clone—Sakumo —caught many jōnin's attention.
Years ago, Sakumo 's mission failure had been a village-wide scandal. It had forced him to retire from being a ninja—many still remembered.
Now that even someone like Sakumo was summoned, many realized something serious was happening.
Clearly, the front lines had taken a major turn for the worse.
"Everyone."
Hiruzen spoke, and silence fell. All eyes turned toward the Third Hokage.
"The situation at the front is dire," he said gravely. "Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure have, over the past six months, begun sending every academy graduate who has just mastered the basic Transformation, Substitution, and Clone techniques into battle. They've caused immense damage across all fronts. Konoha is now on the brink of collapse."
"Therefore…"
He looked over the stunned faces below and continued heavily, "After discussing with the two advisors, we've decided: starting tomorrow, every student at the ninja academy who has mastered the basic three techniques will be promoted to genin, and the day after tomorrow, they will be deployed with your squads to support the front lines."
Things were really this bad?
Everyone had the same thought flash through their minds.
Even kids who had only just mastered the basic three techniques were being sent into battle?
An uproar spread among the crowd. Not even in the First or Second Ninja War had children been sent to the battlefield.
During the Second War, Namikaze Minato had graduated at age eleven with the skill of a jōnin, yet he still wasn't sent into battle right away.
But now… everyone felt a powerless fury they couldn't direct at anyone.
Because the ones they blamed were themselves.
They weren't strong enough, and because of that, kids were now being forced into battle.
Though they were bitter, they also knew that if things hadn't become desperate, Hiruzen wouldn't have made this decision.
So no one voiced opposition.
Except one.
"I disagree."
Tsunade stood up, loudly objecting as she locked eyes with Hiruzen. "Sending kids who've barely mastered the basics to the battlefield is just sending them to die. It won't change the war."
She knew exactly how her younger brother Nawaki had died.
He'd joined the war right after graduating—trusting in his Senju bloodline—and despite Orochimaru watching over him, he still died.
Shinobi combat was not child's play.
Sending inexperience kids into war was nothing but slaughter. Tsunade refused to accept it.
"If the front line is that desperate, I'll go."
Her eyes were firm. Even if it cost her life, she refused to let seven- to ten-year-old children be sent to die.
Hiruzen said nothing. There were things he couldn't say.
But others could.
Koharu Utatane spoke coldly, "Tsunade, this is about the village's survival. If we don't fight, even more people will die."
Homura Mitokado echoed, "For Konoha, we have no other choice."
To the older generation, child soldiers were nothing new. Victory meant survival—for the village, and for more people.
Everyone understood that. That's why, painful as it was, no one else objected to Hiruzen's decision.
Only Tsunade remained haunted by her brother Nawaki's death and refused to let her grandfather's founding dream—to protect children from the horrors of war—be broken.
But Hiruzen's silence made it clear: her opposition meant nothing.
The decision to send children to the battlefield was final.
So Tsunade shifted her approach, once again proposing the suggestion she had made several times before—each time rejected.
"If you're sending children to war, I insist that every squad be assigned a medical ninja."
Nawaki had died because his team had no medical ninja. After being wounded by explosive tags in a trap, his injuries went untreated and he bled out before Orochimaru could reach him.
If there had been a medical ninja on the team—even one with basic first-aid skills—Nawaki wouldn't have died.
"No."
Hiruzen rejected the proposal without hesitation. Facing Tsunade's angry stare, he sighed. "Not everyone has both your healing ability and your strength. Assigning medical ninja to squads would only lower overall combat power and result in more casualties."
(END CHAPTER)
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