Shiranui Genma was fiddling with his newly acquired equipment. Black armor and a black sword—the armor aside, he was particularly taken with the weapon, finding it novel and utterly captivating. After getting his hands on this new "epic gear," it was clear his excitement wouldn't fade for at least a day or two.
Chakra blades were rare, let alone one this size. Yet, in this newly established organization, such items were distributed as standard sets. This was probably what people meant by "deep pockets."
Honestly, if all the ninjas in this small organization appeared before the Hidden Mist Village fully equipped like this, the Mist… well, let's just say adult breakdowns often happen in an instant. "You have no idea how hard it was for us to put together the equipment for the Seven Swordsmen!" they might scream.
That afternoon, Aburame Shibi received a new mission: go directly to the Hidden Mist. This signaled the official start of preparations for the Five Kage Summit.
The next day, when Habara arrived at the small earthen building, he found Genma admiring his new weapon. He immediately went over and greeted him, "Senior Shiranui, pretty nice weapon, right? Even if you end up doing some… specific security work, it'll make you look even more imposing."
"Yeah, it's pretty good," Genma nodded, completely missing Habara's implied meaning.
Habara chuckled, saying nothing more.
Truthfully, Genma and his group had never actually worked as gatekeepers. However, people often associated them with that role, and there must have been a reason for it… He really was a Konoha ninja who could be taken down by the Sound Four.
Small organizations had their advantages, one of which was ample space. The little earthen building might not have looked like much, but for now, each of them had their own office.
With a newly formed organization, sometimes it felt like there was nothing to do, and other times it felt like there were a thousand loose ends with no starting point.
Habara entered his office and, after sitting down, immediately began to write and draw.
He was currently considering two things. The first was how to continue improving his strength. To be honest, that feeling of rapidly increasing power early on was a little addictive, but such opportunities were rare. It seemed Habara would have to advance step by painstaking step from now on.
About a year ago, Habara began using the "threshold method" to learn fire-style chakra nature transformation. As for whether he had succeeded by now… well, at least he didn't need to bring a lighter when he went camping.
And that was the only benefit. He just did not have to bring a lighter when camping.
It could be said that, apart from the secret technique inherent to his body, Habara had no outstanding talent for ninjutsu.
Improving his strength was a long and arduous road.
The second consideration was how this organization should develop. Because Uzumaki Kushina's identity was so unique, this small organization could use her status to gain a voice in various Konoha circles. However, this was ultimately a "shortcut," and the foundation was to improve the overall strength and influence of the organization.
As for how to do that, well, how about starting by trying to make everyone in the organization a Jonin?
Within the true Jonin were Uzumaki Kushina, Aburame Shibi, Hatake Kakashi, and Habara. The Special Jonin were Shiranui Genma, Yamashiro Aoba, and Inuzuka Tsume. There was one Genin, Tenzo, and the rest were Chunin… Tenzo could be disregarded; his Wood Style would quickly elevate him to Jonin status. So, who was left?
Okay, forget about "who was left". There were only two left.
He needed to find a way to make those two Special Jonin. But that didn't seem like a simple task.
Habara's head began to throb again.
But, when he thought about it, it seemed that in this small organization, five out of ten people were considered quite capable fighters. This ratio actually looked pretty good.
The establishment of a small organization within Konoha Village went unnoticed for the time being. Most ninjas' attention was focused on two things. The first was the Five Kage Summit, which concerned the future direction of the entire Shinobi World War. Everyone had to pay attention, whether they wanted to or not.
The second was the establishment of a temporary organization called the "Merit Evaluation Committee," spearheaded by the Third Hokage. It was said that this organization was established to assess the contributions and roles of ninjas in the Shinobi World War, and that the village was planning to implement a medal system… In any case, the heads of the major and minor ninja clans were already buzzing with activity.
In this post-war period, the Merit Evaluation Committee was a temporary organization, and because of the large number of ninjas to be evaluated, the committee's initial scale would be quite large, allowing various factions to engage in plenty of squabbling. But once this wave of post-war matters was dealt with, the nature of the committee might change… It was very likely that it would be scaled down and become a permanent organization.
Therefore, everyone needed to behave themselves in front of the Hokage, do more work, and cause less trouble. Otherwise, being kicked out of the council later would be embarrassing.
In a new organization like the council, the Third Hokage, who initiated its formation, had unlimited authority in the early stages. In the future, the rules might dictate things, but for now, it was his word that mattered… As expected, Habara's "Forest of a Thousand Hands Honor Medal" was practically guaranteed.
However, the council's matters were still in the preliminary stages. Everything depended on the Five Kage Summit. Once the war ended, all merits and demerits could be slowly assessed.
Six days after departure, Aburame Shibi returned safely to Konoha, bringing good news… The new Fourth Mizukage of the Hidden Mist had expressed approval for the Five Kage Summit.
This showed that messengers were not all the same. Sometimes, changing the messenger could lead to success.
Afterward, Konoha, Hidden Mist, and Hidden Sand jointly requested the Land of Iron to host the Five Kage Summit. The Land of Iron readily agreed and immediately sent invitations to the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.
The Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud were somewhat hesitant, but ultimately, substance won over pride, and they agreed to participate in the Five Kage Summit.
The meeting would be held in the perpetually neutral Land of Iron.
Including the Kage of each major ninja village, each side was allowed to bring ten people to the venue to discuss the major issues of the Shinobi World War and peace.
This meant that, in addition to the Hokage himself, he needed to bring nine more people to the Land of Iron.
After internal deliberations within the village, the participants from Konoha were:
The Third Hokage, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio; Uzumaki Kushina, Hatake Kakashi, Habara, Tenzo; Hyuuga Hiashi, Aburame Shibi.
Clearly, someone's willfulness was present in this list, but her willfulness had been granted.
Initially, the Third Hokage had considered bringing his disciples, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, to the meeting. But he quickly abandoned the idea… If the Third Hokage brought Jiraiya and Orochimaru to the meeting, the other Kage might not even show up.
Bringing those two? Are you really here for a meeting? What are you actually planning?
This showed that having too much of a deterrent presence wasn't always a good thing.
You want to compare firepower?
I've got an RPG.
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