The incident of Chiyo, the Hidden Sand's senior advisor's son and daughter-in-law being killed by Sakumo's squad members caused quite a stir among the upper ranks of Konoha.
Since Hidden Sand declared war on Konoha more than two years ago, this was Konoha's only major battlefield victory.
It could be said that this victory was no less significant than winning a large-scale war.
As the son and daughter-in-law of a senior advisor, and both being top experts in the Hidden Sand Puppet Corps, the intelligence and secret techniques recorded in their minds were of paramount importance to Konoha.
So when Anbu relayed this information, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, immediately ordered the four members of Sakumo's squad to return to the village for rest and debriefing.
The most crucial thing was to glean important intelligence and puppet secret techniques from the two puppet masters' corpses, seeking ways to counter the Puppet Corps.
This was extremely important for Konoha right now.
Upon receiving the Hokage's written orders delivered by Anbu, Sakumo brought back Hakushi and the other two after months away from the Konoha Village.
"I'll submit the mission report. You three are free to do as you wish for now."
"Yes."
At the village gate, they parted ways. Sakumo headed to the Hokage Building to submit their mission, while Hakushi and the other two, with nothing pressing to do, first went to get something to eat.
They'd been on the move at top speed since morning and hadn't even had breakfast, so the three were starved—of course, now was the time to enjoy a hearty meal in the village.
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"Lord Hokage."
After knocking, Sakumo entered and bowed slightly to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who sat at his desk.
He then noticed Advisors Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were also present and nodded politely to them.
The two advisors had previously traveled to the Daimyo's Mansion to request wartime supplies and had returned safely with those supplies yesterday.
But as the mission completed by Sakumo's squad this time was extraordinary, both had stayed as witnesses.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sakumo. You did well this time. With this, there shouldn't be any more major problems with the Land of Fire's security. Leave the remaining matters to the Anbu."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
Given how heavy Hidden Sand's losses were this time, sending more elite teams deep into the Land of Fire for sabotage would be unwise.
Thus, security within the Land of Fire could now be entrusted to Anbu and other Konoha Ninja outposts.
Sakumo's squad's months-long mission came to an end here.
"Have the bodies been delivered to the Interrogation Department?"
"They've already been handed over. Not a single enemy survived."
Though Hakushi and Ruri were credited with accomplishing the most, the other Hidden Sand Ninja who fled in all directions, as well as suspected Hidden Rock Earth Style Ninja, were all eliminated by Sakumo and Ayane during pursuit—Jonin Tenchiku also contributed a portion.
Thus, the Hidden Sand squad that had plagued Konoha for so long was utterly annihilated.
The difficulty and importance of this mission can be classified as S-Class.
Hiruzen nodded, then looked to Advisors Koharu and Homura, saying, "Next, have the Yamanaka Clan's ninja investigate thoroughly; we'll be able to extract the enemy's secrets."
"Let's do just that. We must quickly find the Puppet Corps' weakness and show Hidden Sand our strength."
Koharu and Homura were also very satisfied with Sakumo's team, truly worthy of being Konoha's finest Jonin—superior even to the Sannin.
"Your squad did excellent work this time. For rewards, calculate it as one S-Class and five A-Class missions for these past months."
Hiruzen smiled in genuine relief.
Sakumo had no objections.
One S-Class and five A-Class—split up, even just Hakushi's team could each get at least a million ryo.
Of course, monetary reward was only secondary.
With Sakumo's squad earning such merit, funds were merely the foundational reward; greater rewards would surely follow.
But for the moment, the Hokage himself hadn't decided what the best reward would be, so it would take two or three more days for the reward to be delivered to each member of Sakumo's squad.
"Lord Hokage, as for my share, divide it among the other three. They need it more than I do."
Sakumo spoke.
"You never change, Sakumo."
Hiruzen looked at Sakumo helplessly upon hearing this request.
"It wasn't me who finished off those two puppet masters, was it?"
Sakumo smiled.
Hiruzen already knew the details—though the final blow on the Hidden Sand Jonin puppet masters wasn't by Sakumo, if he hadn't critically injured them first, the others would never have gotten the credit.
But, since Sakumo insisted, Hiruzen let it be.
After all, there was nothing left with which to reward Sakumo.
Even when previously permitted to study the Sealing Book, Sakumo simply smiled and declined.
He was the Konoha White Fang—swordsmanship was everything to him.
Ninja Techniques and Illusions would only slow his blade and lessen its power.
Not that Sakumo had no talent for Ninja Techniques—on the contrary, he was exceptional. But he was a pragmatist.
As far as he was concerned, as long as he could cut down his enemy with White Fang Swordsmanship before they used their Ninja Techniques, that was enough.
The White Fang Short Knife in his hand was his strongest "ninja technique"!
After the debriefing, Sakumo left the room.
"Seeing more and more talented young ninja appear in the village really makes me feel old."
Koharu suddenly sighed.
"We're only in our forties, it's not time for nostalgia yet." Homura replied, refusing to admit age.
"Exactly, I could hold this position for ten more years."
Hiruzen cut into their conversation, too.
"Hiruzen, have you decided on the next Hokage?"
Koharu asked, half in earnest, half probing.
Hiruzen fell briefly silent—he truly hadn't decided yet.
The so-called Hokage should be chosen from among the Jonin for the one with the greatest reputation, strength, and character.
Currently, Sakumo was the Jonin closest to becoming Hokage. His renown surpassed the Sannin, his strength eclipsed theirs, and his character was beyond question.
He was merciless to his enemies, yet deeply caring toward his comrades—just not good at expressing it. No matter who, he treated all with fairness.
A perfectly suitable candidate for Hokage.
Most importantly, Sakumo's strength was still rapidly rising—he was far from a ninja's peak.
Even so, he was already an outstanding Jonin in the village.
Ten years from now, he'd be even more formidable—a perpetual nightmare for Konoha's foes.
"He's not suited to be Hokage."
Hiruzen said this.
Koharu and Homura looked at him in surprise.
"As long as you know what you're doing. After all, his squad has an Uchiha ninja—someone who, so young, has already reached Jonin level, and on top of that is with the Uchiha Radical Faction. We must always be vigilant."
As Homura and Koharu once again targeted the Uchiha Clan, Hiruzen drew deeply on his pipe and exhaled with some melancholy.
"Enough. I'm prepared for this. That's all for now—you two can go."
He didn't want to bicker with them over this—it was more important to get through today's work.
Plus, figuring out additional rewards for Sakumo's squad was a pressing matter as well.
The destruction of the Hidden Sand unit was significant—not only could they extract all sorts of classified intelligence from the enemy's minds via Yamanaka Clan secret techniques, but also gain information about Hidden Sand's secret techniques and the Puppet Corps.
Even without these, just stabilizing the situation within the Land of Fire deserved the highest commendation for Sakumo's squad.
But, thinking of the two girls on the team—one from the Uchiha, one from the Hyuga… this posed a dilemma for Hiruzen.
The Hyuga girl was from the branch family, so he could vaguely come up with some ideas. The key was Ruri, who was valued by most of the Uchiha's ruling elders and certainly lacked no resources.
If she warranted a reward, the only thing to offer was one-time access to the Sealing Book, to let her choose a ninja technique to learn.
But granting an Uchiha ninja access to the Sealing Book—Hiruzen could already imagine the faces Koharu and Homura would pull, coming to lecture him at length.
Then, Hiruzen picked up Hakushi's personnel file. Hm, this one was easy—advanced ninja techniques and higher-level medical ninjutsu scrolls could all serve as this time's reward.