Early the next morning.
The snowstorm had stopped, but the sky was still gray and overcast.
An urgent letter bearing the Hokage's seal was delivered by special courier to the southwestern front command headquarters. Copies were then quickly transcribed and sent to the main units, as well as to the heads of logistics and medical support.
The first half of the document highly praised all shinobi on the southwestern front for their heroic performance, firm resolve, and great sacrifice during the battle for Kikyō Pass. It fully affirmed the achievements of the frontline troops, who had defended the nation's territory and homeland with blood and life, and expressed deep mourning for the fallen.
After the commendation, the document shifted into practical matters. It clearly stated that, given the ongoing and attritional nature of the current war situation, in order to maintain the front line's combat strength and morale, Konohagakure would dispatch a new batch of rested and replenished combat personnel and logistics staff to the southwestern front three days later to carry out rotation duties.
All departments were required to complete their tallies within two days.
Which wounded needed to be sent back to the village three days later for further treatment, which shinobi needed rotation and rest after prolonged combat, and which personnel could remain on duty.
Once the lists were compiled, they would be submitted to Tsunade and Jiraiya for final approval. On the day the replacement forces arrived, all handover procedures would be completed.
After the order was issued, the entire camp grew busy once again.
The captains of each squad began tallying the casualties under their command. The medical department worked through the night to organize the list of wounded who needed to be sent back. The logistics department checked material consumption and prepared for handover with the replacement forces.
Inside the command headquarters.
"Tsunade." After considering his words for a while, Jiraiya looked at Tsunade in front of him and asked tentatively, "About the personnel arrangements for this rotation... especially on the medical and logistics side, do you have any specific thoughts? In particular, what do you want to do about Shinichi?"
"Let him go back."
Tsunade pondered for a moment, then said, "That brat has been run ragged during this period, and he has caused quite a stir too. It's time he went back and got some proper rest. In any case, Sunagakure won't be able to organize any decent offensive for quite a long time. We won't need him here."
"With me here, that's enough."
Hearing this, Jiraiya nodded and said, "All right. Then it's settled."
Three days later.
At the camp entrance, a group of wounded and rotated personnel who were about to return to Konoha had gathered. All the handover work had already been completed.
Tsunade crossed her arms and watched the group gradually move into the distance. Suddenly, she said, "That brat should be promoted to jōnin once he gets back, right?"
"He should be." Jiraiya stood beside her and nodded. "Given what Shinichi has done during this period, and the merit he has earned, any one of those achievements alone would be more than enough for a jōnin promotion, much less all of them together."
"Although he's extremely young—one could even say still a child—with his accomplishments, no one will be able to say anything if he's promoted to jōnin."
"That brat won't even turn eleven until next month. A ten-year-old jōnin." Tsunade sighed, her tone complicated. "Konoha has never had such a young jōnin in its entire history. That brat has broken another record."
"Who held the previous record again?"
Tsunade muttered to herself, "I remember it was Hatake Sakumo, right? He was only fourteen at the time. That was already unbelievable. But this brat pushed the record forward by four whole years. With such a famous name and so much attention on him, who knows whether that's a good thing or a bad thing?"
Hearing this, Jiraiya fell silent. He knew what Tsunade was worried about.
She was worried that Shinichi's reputation was too great, that he had drawn too much attention, and that he would become the enemy's primary assassination target.
But in truth, Jiraiya understood very well that even without the title of youngest jōnin, with everything Shinichi had done during this period, he was no longer some unknown figure in the shinobi world.
His intelligence file had probably already entered the information networks of every major nation and shinobi village—and he would be among the key targets of attention.
Sunagakure sending Pakura to personally lead a squad to hunt him down was the clearest signal of all. Whether or not he had the title of youngest jōnin, the enemy's desire to kill him would not change.
Since that was the case, it would be better to simply give him the rank he should have received long ago.
Shape him into a symbolic representative of Konoha's new generation—a young hero who had earned unprecedented merit on the battlefield and broken the record by being promoted to jōnin—to inspire the frontline troops and reassure the people in the rear.
Although he did not know Sarutobi-sensei's exact arrangements, based on Jiraiya's understanding of his teacher, there was a good chance he would do exactly that.
Thinking of this, Jiraiya said, "As sensei, what we can do is give our students support when they need it, and then believe in them. The road ahead for young people still has to be walked by them."
"Let's go."
Hearing this, Tsunade was silent for a while. Then she lowered her crossed arms, turned around, and strode back toward the camp.
"There's still plenty of mess left to clean up. We don't have time to stand here sighing forever."
"Heh, you're right!" Jiraiya laughed and quickly followed after her.
...
'Once I return to the village this time, I should be promoted to jōnin, right?'
Shinichi led a team of nearly three thousand people along the road back to Konoha, silently thinking to himself.
More than twenty days ago, when he had followed the first large-scale medical and logistics support unit to the southwestern front, he had still only been a highly watched genius newcomer within the team, a medical backbone who needed protection, with the status of special jōnin.
And more than twenty days later, when he set foot on the road home, his status was already different.
He was no longer simply support personnel, but the overall person in charge and highest commander of this returning team of nearly three thousand people, whose makeup was complicated and varied.
Although his official rank was still special jōnin, no one in the team, from veteran jōnin to ordinary chūnin, raised any objections to this. They even felt it was only natural.
All coordination, deployment, guard arrangements, and handling of unexpected situations naturally revolved around him.
Why?
Because in these short twenty-odd days, he had done too much, and each matter had carried too much weight.
From warning of an enemy attack the day before they arrived and crushing Sunagakure's plot, led by Ebizō, to assassinate Konoha's medical and logistics unit; to being appointed in a crisis as acting head of medical and logistics support, optimizing the entire logistics system and improving efficiency; to testing poison on himself and repeatedly breaking down Chiyo's poison techniques, saving countless comrades.
Then, at the most critical moment, he had taken the initiative to draw away Sunagakure's trump card, Pakura, along with several hundred elite shinobi, greatly easing the pressure on the defensive line. In the end, he had even staged a shocking feat: striking straight at the enemy's command center, shattering it, and seizing their battle flag.
One achievement after another, each one was real, solid, and more than enough to be recorded in the battle reports and merit rolls.
The weight of those achievements, and the depth of their impact, had long since far surpassed the ordinary scope of military merit that a special jōnin, or even a formal jōnin, could normally earn.
If one were to rank individual merit on the southwestern front this time, Shinichi could even be said to sit firmly in the top three.
First was Jiraiya. As the supreme commander, he bore the greatest responsibility, so it was only natural that he held the greatest merit.
Second, strictly speaking, should have been him, Higashino Shinichi.
But in reality, the one ranked second could only be Tsunade.
Although Tsunade had spent most of her time outside pursuing Pakura, and the one truly holding down the rear and handling medical and logistics affairs had been him.
Tsunade was his teacher. Every achievement of his could, in theory, be counted under Tsunade's name.
So Shinichi could only be third.
'Speaking of which, Kumogakure should be making its move soon too, right?'
Shinichi raised his head and looked toward the northeast. The first Battle of Kikyō Pass had already ended. Sunagakure's offensive had been frustrated, and in the short term, they no longer had the strength to launch any decent offensive.
For the next period of time, the southwestern front would enter a relatively calm state of confrontation. Sporadic small-scale clashes would continue, but a true major battle could no longer break out.
As for the northeast...
Soon.
Very soon.
Shinichi withdrew his gaze and silently calculated his next plan.
Once he returned to the village this time, his promotion to jōnin was practically set in stone.
But after the promotion?
He did not plan to rest in the village for long.
The first thing he would do after being promoted was apply to go to the front against Kumogakure.
In the original timeline, why had Namikaze Minato been able to ascend to the position of Fourth Hokage with everyone's expectations behind him?
The most important factor was that his war achievements had been too outstanding.
During the Third Shinobi World War, with the Flying Thunder God Technique, he had turned the tide on multiple battlefields, reversed the course of the war, and earned dazzling military achievements.
Against Iwagakure, against Kumogakure, against Kirigakure—on almost every major front, his figure had appeared!
After that war, the name "Yellow Flash" resounded throughout the Five Great Nations. From top to bottom, there was no one in the entire shinobi world who did not know of him.
That kind of military merit, that kind of prestige, made him the undisputed choice for Hokage after the war.
Shinichi understood this very clearly.
So...
He had to do more.
In this war, he would fight from beginning to end.
On the southwestern front, he had already left his mark. If there was an opportunity in the future, he would return here. Ideally, he would personally lead it and bring the war against Sunagakure to an end with his own hands, drawing a perfect conclusion to this front.
The northeastern front—he would go.
The northwestern front—he would go too.
The southeastern coast—he would still go.
Four major battlefields.
He would walk through every single battlefield.
On every single battlefield, he would establish world-shaking merit.
Only then could he accumulate enough prestige after the war to rival Minato, or even surpass him.
Only then could he possess true confidence in the competition for the Hokage's seat.
Thinking of this, Shinichi felt an inexplicable excitement rise in his heart.
The last time he had set someone as a target like this, it had been Kakashi.
That peer of his who was hailed as a super genius, and whom he had judged to possess the qualities of a Hokage.
Shinichi had defeated him, surpassed him, established his own reputation as a genius, and in the time that followed, left Kakashi, that genius, far behind.
And this time, the target he had set was Namikaze Minato.
That man known as the "Yellow Flash," who would one day shake the entire shinobi world with his name.
That jōnin who was ten years older than him, yet had already become Konoha's most dazzling star.
That man who, in the original timeline, would become the Fourth Hokage.
That shinobi whom Jiraiya had once described by saying, "Compared to him, anyone else seems lacking."
This excitement came so suddenly and so strongly that even his body could not help trembling slightly.
Shinichi took a deep breath, and his expression returned to calm. He began rapidly searching through his mind for every piece of intelligence about Kumogakure—their fighting style, the ninjutsu they excelled in, their possible tactics, information on their powerful shinobi, even the geography and their potential weaknesses...
At the same time, he began considering how, after returning to Konoha, he could most effectively persuade the Third Hokage and the advisory council to agree to let him, the youngest jōnin who had only just returned from rotation and should, by all rights, receive commendation and rest, immediately head to another front that might be even more dangerous.
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