The third Hokage put down the report and fell into a long silence.
Outside the window, the streets of Konoha remained peaceful, smokes curling upward, children playing and laughing, but beneath this calm surface, he seemed to already hear the distant drums of war.
A ten-year-old child, relying only on public information and his own observations, had seen this approaching storm so clearly.
A genius strategist?
The third Hokage turned this word over in his mind.
No!
More accurately, a born top-tier strategist!
A strategist is forged on the battlefield, within intelligence, through repeated life-and-death struggles.
That is the crystallization of experience, the instinct carved into one's bones after countless decisions, failures, and contemplations.
No matter how talented someone is, they must go through this process.
Even someone like the first Hokage, a legend who pacified a chaotic era, grew through countless experiences.
Even someone like the second Hokage, a wise man who established Konoha's many systems, was tempered through repeated crises.
Both previous Hokage had suffered losses, been deceived, been betrayed, and been schemed against during this process, and only then grew step by step.
Talent can let you learn faster and understand more deeply, but it cannot skip experience itself.
But what about this child?
He had not experienced great wars, had not participated in high-level decision-making, and had not been exposed to those core pieces of intelligence that ordinary people could hardly access.
What he had were only those public pieces of information anyone could see: Information in the newspapers, rumors after meals, fragments about border conflicts, even just ordinary daily things anyone could observe.
Yet from these fragmented pieces, even mixed with large amounts of false information, he pieced them together bit by bit, dismantled them, deduced from them, and forcibly tore open the underlying logic beneath the surface of the Shinobi World, seeing through the political demands and operational logic hidden beneath the table by the high levels of the major countries and ninja villages.
Before the great war sweeping across the Shinobi World had even ignited its first spark, he had already accurately predicted its direction, its scale, and even the choices each force might make at every point in time.
This could no longer be described by the word, Genius.
This was an almost terrifying, innate, absolute insight into the situation, into human nature, and into war.
A born strategist!
A born top-tier strategist!
These two phrases echoed repeatedly in the third Hokage's mind. After a moment, he withdrew his gaze and looked back at the report in his hand, his eyes sweeping over the final line.
The Land of Fire and Konoha would inevitably face the joint attack of two great nations and great ninja villages in the early stage, and might even eventually develop into a situation of fighting on four fronts.
He was silent for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
"Someone."
"Yes."
"Notify the three advisors to come see me immediately!"
"Yes!"
Inside the Hokage building's meeting room, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat behind his desk, the pipe in his hand flickering on and off.
Across from him, on three chairs, sat Konoha's three advisors, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura.
"Hiruzen, calling us here so urgently, what is it?"
Koharu Utatane spoke first.
The third Hokage did not answer directly. Instead, he nodded to the Anbu standing by the door.
The Anbu understood and held three identical documents with both hands, placing them on the desks in front of the three advisors.
"There's a document here. Take a look first."
Homura Mitokado pushed his glasses up and looked at the cover, reading the name aloud: "Shinichi Higashino?"
Koharu Utatane also picked up the document, her eyebrows slightly raised.
Danzo Shimura glanced at the name on the cover and let out a cold snort. He did not open it immediately. Instead, he raised his head and looked directly at the third Hokage.
"Shinichi Higashino? A ten-year-old brat, what valuable thing could he write? Hiruzen, you called us here in such a hurry just to look at some incomprehensible nonsense written by a child?"
"I've said it long ago, you've been too indulgent toward this boy. Letting him participate in some cooking competition, letting him draw manga, stirring up such a big commotion in the village, making it all so noisy. A ninja who doesn't properly carry out missions, doesn't focus on improving his strength, and instead messes around with these side paths all day! And you, not only do you not stop him, you keep indulging him!"
The third Hokage did not respond, only silently taking a puff from his pipe.
The office fell quiet for a moment, with only the faint sound of tobacco burning.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane did not reply. They simply opened the documents and began reading.
At first, both their expressions were calm, and just as Danzo had said, even if Shinichi was indeed a genius, what weight could an analysis written by a ten-year-old child have?
But soon, Koharu Utatane's finger paused as she turned a page. Her brows slowly furrowed, the time her gaze lingered on the paper grew longer, and the speed at which she flipped pages gradually slowed.
Homura Mitokado's reaction was more restrained, but the frequency with which he adjusted his glasses clearly increased, his eyes fixed unblinking on the document in his hands.
Danzo Shimura noticed all of this. He looked at Koharu Utatane, then at Homura Mitokado. The expressions on these two old partners' faces were something he had not seen in a long time.
It was the expression of being shaken by something.
Danzo Shimura frowned slightly, snorted coldly, and finally reached out to pick up the document on the table. He opened to the first page.
"On the inevitability and time window analysis of the Village Hidden in the Sand launching war against Konoha."
The mocking curve still lingered at the corner of Danzo's mouth, but after reading for a short while, that curve slightly stiffened.
Then, unconsciously, the speed at which he flipped pages slowed, and his brows gradually knitted together.
After a long time, Koharu Utatane was the first to raise her head. She gently placed the document back on the table and turned her gaze to the third Hokage, her eyes filled with deep shock.
"Hiruzen, was this really written by that child, Shinichi?"
The third Hokage nodded.
"Did you show him the intelligence analysis of the advisory group? Or let him access some internal documents?"
Koharu Utatane pressed, her tone full of disbelief. "Without sufficient intelligence support, how could this possibly be written?"
The third Hokage shook his head. "No. What he had access to was all public information. This was written by the child himself."
"And you should also know, even the people in the advisory group might not write something as thorough as what this child wrote."
Koharu Utatane fell silent.
Homura Mitokado also put down the document, removed his glasses, and rubbed the space between his brows. His movements were slow, as if he needed time to digest what he had just read.
"He analyzed it himself?"
After a moment, Homura Mitokado spoke in amazement, "Hiruzen, could this child be a genius strategist?"
"A genius strategist?"
A cold voice interrupted his astonishment.
Shimura Danzo raised his head, his gaze coldly sweeping over the people present before finally landing on the third Hokage, his tone stiff as he said: "The analysis does make some sense, but the current situation of the Shinobi World, anyone a bit smarter can see it. What's there to make such a fuss about? And the content that follows is really a bit too alarmist, even to the point of being sensationalist."
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