"The war is over."
The Hokage Building beneath the Kage Rock.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, advisor Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Root leader Shimura Danzo all gathered here.
Advisor Utatane Koharu looked at the beautiful sunset outside the window, her expression relaxed, revealing her good mood.
After a brief silence in the conference room, another advisor, Mitokado Homura, spoke up, "Although the war is over, there are still issues that need to be resolved quickly. Also, Jiraiya hasn't returned yet. Hiruzen, Konoha is at a crucial rebuilding stage post-war, as a Jonin of the village, he should not be acting on impulse at this time."
Homura's dissatisfaction with Jiraiya was evident.
After the Land of Rain war ended, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were given the title of 'Konoha Sannin' by the Hidden Rain Village leader, Hanzou, honoring them in the Ninja Realm.
However, only Orochimaru and Tsunade returned; Jiraiya stayed in the Land of Rain because he took in three orphans from there.
Koharu also turned and said, "Yes, Hiruzen. As a Jonin of Konoha, he ignored orders, took in orphans in the Land of Rain, and still hasn't returned to the village. This is a serious violation of village rules."
Generally, for a ninja seriously violating village rules, they should be actively dissuaded, and if they refuse, labeled as renegade ninja, captured and returned to Konoha Prison, or killed.
Otherwise, allowing such a ninja to act recklessly would undermine the village's authority.
However, Konoha has not yet sent ninjas to dissuade Jiraiya, nor announced him as a renegade ninja.
As a disciple of the Hokage, only the Hokage could issue a capture order.
Hokage Hiruzen tapped his pipe and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Jiraiya is an excellent ninja who has inherited the Will of Fire. He knows the weight of his actions."
Homura and Koharu frowned; they were not entirely convinced by Hiruzen's words.
Hiruzen continued, "Jiraiya wrote to me before, saying this could ease relations between Konoha and the Hidden Rain Village, as a favor to Hanzou."
Hearing this, Homura's tone sounded even more displeased, knowing Hiruzen couldn't bear to punish his disciple and was making excuses for him.
"Hiruzen, you are too lenient with your subordinates. I already said this is not the time for impulsive acts. He is a Konoha ninja, not a Hidden Rain ninja!"
In this Land of Rain war, although Konoha emerged as the ultimate victor, the victory was not smooth.
The most critical point is that Konoha defeated the Hidden Rain, but not the Hidden Rain Leader, Hanzou.
Reportedly, in the final battle of the Land of Rain war, hundreds of Konoha ninjas following Orochimaru and Hanzou were all wiped out. Only Orochimaru and the other two were spared and awarded the title of 'Konoha Sannin' by Hanzou.
The hatred between Konoha and the Hidden Rain is now intense.
If Hanzou doesn't appreciate the favor or acts vindictively and kills Jiraiya, Konoha has no grounds to argue for Jiraiya.
Hanzou could simply frame Jiraiya with 'stealing critical information from another country' in public.
No doubt other ninja villages would be delighted to see Konoha embarrassed and support Hanzou, leaving Konoha in a difficult position.
"If any mishaps occur, I'll take responsibility as the Hokage."
Hiruzen's words cut off further punishment suggestions for Jiraiya from Homura and Koharu.
"Danzo, what do you think of this matter?"
Homura didn't believe Hiruzen could bear such responsibility, thinking he was simply favoring his disciple.
Thus, he turned his gaze to the Root leader, Danzo.
Danzo, who had been silent since entering, quietly sat on the side, but Homura and Koharu had to consider any suggestions he might have.
"Didn't Hiruzen say? If anything happens to Jiraiya, he'll take responsibility. He is Konoha's Hokage. Also, there's work in Root; I'll return first."
Danzo stood from his seat, walking towards the exit, not wanting to linger here longer.
Even he could not change what Hiruzen had decided.
This is the power of the Hokage.
Whatever problems Jiraiya might face, they have nothing to do with his Root organization.
If Jiraiya encountered problems, he could openly criticize Hiruzen; why not?
Homura and Koharu exchanged glances, surprised at Danzo's abrupt departure.
"Since Danzo doesn't oppose, we'll leave Jiraiya's matter as it is. Regarding the training of medical ninjas, Hiruzen, you need to pay more attention; Konoha urgently needs excellent medical ninjas like Tsunade."
Seeing the matter settled, Homura and Koharu followed Danzo's steps out, reminding Hiruzen to focus on cultivating medical ninjas before leaving.
Hiruzen shook his head; those three people were always trying to catch him off guard.
However, considering Jiraiya's stay in the Land of Rain and accepting orphans, it seemed overly rash and reckless, unlike what a ninja would do, in his sensei's opinion.
Guilt or other reasons, Hiruzen wasn't sure.
Yet if he forced Jiraiya to return with strong measures, unpleasant incidents might occur.
As long as he remained useful at critical moments, Hiruzen chose to overlook his often erratic disciple's behaviors, only writing to remind Jiraiya to ensure his safety and leave the three orphans if endangered.
The next important issue was.
—Training medical ninjas.
—Limiting the growth of Root.
These two matters were significant headaches for Hokage Hiruzen.
Especially the latter; Root, as a branch of the Anbu, has fully become Elder Danzo's private organization, becoming too mysterious for even the Hokage to intervene.
The original intention of establishing the Root was also to handle certain unsavory missions that couldn't be dealt with under the name of the Hokage's direct Anbu, so a Root division was created within the Anbu, controlled by Danzo.
Unexpectedly, it has developed to this day with the Root lurking deeply, enforcing a more thorough secrecy than the Hokage's direct Anbu. The ninjas there have also lost their emotions, becoming merely Danzo's personal armed organization.
Thus, balance is needed... How can the factions within the village be balanced next?
Hiruzen fell into thought.
When war comes, everyone temporarily sets aside their prejudices and unites against the outside; after the war, that's when the true complexity begins.
◎
The next day.
Ninja School, the first Medical Ninja experimental class.
The one teaching today wasn't the Medical Jonin from the Anbu, but a female ninja with a rather unfamiliar appearance.
She wore the standard uniform of a Konoha Jonin, with light golden twin tails tied behind her head, giving her a valiant and vigorous demeanor.
"I am Jonin Tsunade from Konoha, and I will be teaching you Medical Ninjutsu starting today."
As soon as she stepped onto the podium at the front, she introduced herself to all the students in the classroom.
The students whispered among themselves; Tsunade was not particularly unfamiliar to them.
One of the most in-demand Jonin in Konoha nowadays, granddaughter of the First Hokage, disciple of the Third Hokage, and the village's most outstanding Medical Jonin.
Her outstanding achievements in the recent Land of Rain war were acknowledged by the leader of the Hidden Rain Village, Hanzou, who bestowed upon her the title of one of the Sannin.
It was just unexpected that she would replace the previous Anbu Jonin skilled in Medical Ninjutsu to become their new teacher.
Nevertheless, this only aroused some curiosity and excitement among the students because, in contrast to the mysterious Anbu Jonin who wore animal masks all day, Tsunade, being young, beautiful, and buxom, was simply their dream teacher.
For example, during class, they could watch a wonderful game for free.
Hakushi sat in the corner of the classroom, secretly watching the game... cough cough, observing Tsunade's every move closely.
As expected of a Jonin, the granddaughter of the First Hokage, her every gesture bore no traces of flaws.
It seemed that the gap between himself and a Jonin was still very large.
Hakushi had a more direct understanding of Jonin.
After class, Ruri was waiting for him outside.
It was already five o'clock in the afternoon, with the sun slowly setting to the west, painting a beautiful sunset on the horizon.
Tsunade walked out of the classroom holding textbooks and was slightly surprised to see Hakushi and Ruri.
Of course, what she noticed was not Hakushi, an ordinary student, but Ruri.
The fan emblem on her clothes was too conspicuous, allowing Tsunade to instantly recognize Ruri's origin from the Uchiha Race.
"And you are?"
Tsunade seemed quite interested.
An Uchiha ninja actually waiting here, and for a civilian no less.
Before taking over this class, Tsunade had already reviewed the information of all the students in Hakushi's class.
Even though it was her first time teaching here, she could immediately search for Hakushi's basic information.
A civilian, orphaned.
These two must have a secret relationship!
"Lord Tsunade, I am Uchiha Ruri."
In front of this Jonin, Ruri behaved in neither an arrogant nor humble manner.
It's just a Jonin after all; it was only a matter of time before she attained that power and status herself.
Moreover, Tsunade's identity was overly sensitive, as the direct descendant princess of the Senju Clan, in some respects, an arch-enemy of the Uchiha where Ruri belonged.
If the other party wanted to make things difficult for her, she would by no means sit and wait for defeat here.
Tsunade merely nodded, said no more, and didn't trouble Ruri, the junior from Uchiha, even if she belonged to the Uchiha clan.
After asking Ruri's name, Tsunade directly left the corridor.
"Why is Jonin Tsunade here?"
Ruri asked Hakushi, puzzled as to why a Jonin like Tsunade would appear here.
"The previous teacher changed, and now Teacher Tsunade is responsible for teaching the students of the first experimental class Medical Ninjutsu."
Hakushi said blandly.
"I see, it seems the village is indeed sparing no effort in cultivating medical ninjas."
"Yes, when I first heard about it, I was quite astonished."
Looking at the smile on Hakushi's face, Ruri was slightly speechless.
How come she didn't see any sign of astonishment in this guy's expression?
Men are just hypocritical.