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Setting aside Haori's stingy transportation plan for now, the Third Hokage was about to arrive with the Leaf Village's elite ninjas.
Because of the major blow dealt by the Suna ninjas, the Leaf Village's preparedness on this front had temporarily entered a full-scale contraction phase.
The previous battle had resulted in a large number of casualties on the Leaf Village's side, so the number of Leaf Village ninjas who could be deployed on this front had sharply decreased, and their overall strength had weakened. They could no longer maintain the three-tiered defense formation.
If they continued to use that method, the Leaf Village's defense line would be stretched too thin. They were already short of ninjas, and if they further thinned out their forces, it would only give the enemy the opportunity to defeat them one by one.
Even if it wasn't to deter the Suna ninjas, just for the safety of their subordinates, Tsunade had to concentrate all of the Leaf Village's remaining forces.
Currently, all the Leaf Village ninjas facing the Suna ninjas on the front line had retreated. Except for the necessary reconnaissance personnel, the rest of the ninjas had gathered near the original command center.
Tsunade knew that the most important thing now was to preserve their own forces, not to fight the enemy head-on. Before the Hokage and the other ninjas arrived, they had to avoid large-scale battles with the Suna ninjas as much as possible.
Fortunately, due to the battle three days ago, the Leaf Village had suffered heavy casualties, and the Suna ninjas had also suffered enough. They didn't have the strength to launch a second attack for now.
And not only that, because they had drawn ninjas from the Iwa front line for a long-distance raid, the Suna ninja's front line was now more vulnerable than the Leaf Village's front line. Defending against Iwa was their top priority. In fact, at this moment, if the Leaf Village didn't take any action, the Suna ninjas wouldn't be able to launch another offensive.
Or rather, because their Iwa front line was currently very vulnerable, the Suna ninjas, who had lost a large number of ninjas, were simply unable to launch an attack on the Leaf Village.
So, the situation that was initially the Suna ninjas forcing the Leaf Village to cease hostilities had now become the Leaf Village wanting to defeat the Suna ninjas and force them to sign a ceasefire treaty.
That's how it was during this period of war between different countries and different villages. One wrong step, and you're in trouble.
The Hokage, leading the Leaf Village's mobile force to the battlefield, could be considered a risky move, but it could also be considered a firm grasp of the opportunity to resolve one of the wars.
Three days after three days, while Haori was recovering, the Hokage finally arrived.
Naturally, Haori had nothing to do with all the hustle and bustle and battle arrangements. He was happy to be free. But he didn't expect that when he had just settled down in the afternoon, the Hokage summoned him.
Ninjas are killing machines. No matter how much the Hokage emphasized the Will of Fire and how much he cared about the Leaf Village's younger generation, in this age of war, ninja lives were indeed difficult to cherish one by one.
Previously, when Haori and Kushina were both in danger, the Hokage's focus was on Kushina, and his attention to Haori was a level lower… Well, it was many levels lower. But there was no question about it. Even if Haori was in the Hokage's position, he would have made the same judgment. A normal ninja, even a genius ninja, was less important than the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki. It wasn't hard to judge which was more important.
Although the probability of a genius ninja appearing was low, as long as the war continued, brilliant ninjas would appear one after another. But the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, once gone, was gone for good.
But Haori was ultimately a little different. The situation that night was reported in detail to the Hokage. And Tsunade relayed Haori's explanation verbatim to him. That's why he was summoned this time.
Systematically speaking, Haori was Kushina's disciple, and Kushina herself had a close relationship with the Hokage. She was also Minato Namikaze's future wife, and Minato was Jiraiya's disciple. Jiraiya was one of the Third Hokage's favorite disciples. This roundabout relationship was actually to show that Haori was considered a direct descendant of the Third Hokage.
They were all on the same side.
However, when Haori heard the news from the Hokage's mouth, he almost spat out his drink.
"Wait, wait, Third Hokage-sama, you mean to directly promote me to Jonin?!"
"Is there a problem?" The Hokage asked back.
Of course, there was! In terms of actual rank, he was just a Genin. In terms of actual combat strength, Haori was self-aware enough to realize that if he didn't use certain special techniques, and just considered his level as a ninja, his combat strength was at most a Chunin. To put it more nicely, he could be an elite Chunin. But he didn't think he was worthy of being a Jonin.
(ShixT9: Dude is underestimating himself or just doesn't want to be promoted)
Not to mention combat strength, as a Chunin and Jonin, there was at least a requirement to be able to lead a ninja team. This wasn't something to be considered in terms of combat strength, but in terms of combat awareness. To put it simply, this was the TEAMWORK that Kakashi would later emphasize.
And Haori's fighting style was, to put it bluntly, one-man-army. He had never tried to cooperate with other ninjas.
If he was really made a leader, it would be better to give him a mission of infiltration, sabotage, murder, framing, intelligence gathering, or something like that.
However, he was overthinking. The Hokage wouldn't send him on such a high-risk mission. It had nothing to do with whether he was a direct descendant. Young ninjas didn't have the ability to carry out this kind of A-level or even S-level mission alone.
"That, Hokage-sama, I heard that ninja promotions require rigorous examinations. It wouldn't be good to give me a backdoor promotion, would it?"
The main reason was that Haori felt that he already had the title of White Yaksha on his head. On the battlefield, he would already be a giant target. If he was also given the title of Jonin at such a young age… it would be disrespectful to the previous Kage if the enemy didn't prioritize him as a target to kill.
"Well, what you said is true. But considering your performance on the battlefield that day, which everyone witnessed, you deserve a corresponding reward. How about this, let's upgrade your ninja rank to Chunin."
Haori was speechless. What did the Hokage mean? He was promoted to Jonin, then immediately downgraded to Chunin? He wasn't reluctant to give up the title of Jonin. He actually wished he didn't have it. But he didn't understand what the Hokage meant.
But being promoted directly to Chunin, wasn't this still a backdoor promotion? Backdoors come in all sizes.
"I know what you're thinking. Tsunade also told me. The technique you used to attack Shukaku that day requires a long time to accumulate chakra. But promoting you to Chunin isn't just because of that. Before that, on the front-line battlefield, your ability to kill enemies has been proven. I have a complete report here… Chunin, you're qualified."
The Third Hokage patted Haori on the shoulder. What else could Haori say? The Hokage probably had his own considerations. As his subordinate, he could only choose to accept it.
What's there to be reluctant about when your leader wants to promote you?
...
Getting rid of Haori was just a small snapshot of the Hokage's busy day. In the evening, a real high-level meeting began.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, one of the Sannin, Tsunade, the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, the Leaf Village's staff, the captains and vice-captains of various ninja squads, all gathered together.
Naturally, Haori wasn't there. Even though he had just become a Chunin, he was just a small Chunin.
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