"Firelight, how credible do you think this news is?"
The Hidden Rock ninja who first spoke looked towards Firelight sitting at the head of the meeting table and asked.
"It's very likely true." Firelight said after pondering for a moment.
"Since even the ordinary citizens of Six Paths City have heard of it, it's only a matter of time before the news spreads throughout the Ninja World.
If this is false information, then it is bound to further deepen the conflict between the Ninja Sect and Konoha, increasing the likelihood of Konoha sending troops against the Ninja Sect. Only a fool without a brain would speak rashly without considering the consequences, and Sosuke is clearly not such a fool.
The only possibility is that Sosuke is not afraid of causing conflict with Konoha as a result, so Sosuke must have defeated Sarutobi Hiruzen, and it's not just a simple win."
"This isn't good news for us, we must quickly mobilize forces to investigate thoroughly, and report back to the village." Firelight said with a serious face.
The Hidden Rock Village previously valued the Ninja Sect largely because of Sosuke's personal power.
Now the Hidden Rock Village just wants Sosuke to die soon.
Because they have realized that with Sosuke present, Hidden Rock Village will never be able to control the Ninja Sect.
Even though Onoki has already offered considerable benefits, Sosuke's attitude remains firm; economic cooperation is possible, but nothing beyond that.
Sosuke's firmness combined with the conflict between the Ninja Sect and Konoha caused Onoki to change tactics.
Sosuke is very strong, but the Ninja Sect also has Nagato, this top-tier genius, who may become even stronger than Sosuke as he grows.
However, Onoki also knows that as long as Sosuke is alive, not even Nagato, let alone ordinary Ninja Sect ninjas, will ever side with the Hidden Rock Village.
So Sosuke's death is very important; Sosuke dying at the hands of Konoha would make him a good partner for Hidden Rock.
"Yes!" The Hidden Rock ninjas all nodded.
Verification of the intelligence took less time than Firelight expected, as the Ninja Sect ninjas did not treat this as a secret at all.
The attitude of the Ninja Sect made Firelight believe it even more.
He quickly consolidated the collected information and added some of his personal thoughts, then sent it back to Hidden Rock Village.
Onoki paid great attention to the layout of the Land of Rain, and upon learning of important information coming from the Land of Rain, he directly put aside other relatively unimportant matters.
"Hm?" Seeing that Sosuke had defeated Sarutobi Hiruzen, a question mark formed in Onoki's mind.
He carefully checked and confirmed that it was indeed important intelligence from Hidden Rock in the Land of Rain, rather than a prank by someone.
Onoki continued to read the intelligence with a solemn expression, meticulously reading each and every word.
"I can't believe Sosuke has such strength." Onoki's fingers tapped rapidly on the table, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.
Upon seeing this intelligence, Onoki's first thought was not about controlling the Ninja Sect, but lamenting that Sosuke had not agreed to his plan to ambush Mokgetsu.
If they had Sosuke join, even if the Third Mizukage backstabbed, they should still be able to kill Mokgetsu.
It's just that Sosuke not only refused the ambush plan, but also refuses to die, disrupting Hidden Rock's layout.
"If only Sarutobi Hiruzen were dead." Onoki sighed.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen were dead, it would be another perfect opportunity for causing trouble.
But Onoki knows that Sarutobi Hiruzen surely isn't dead, otherwise Konoha would have shown some reaction.
Onoki is truly speechless; if either Sosuke or Sarutobi Hiruzen died, it would be beneficial for Hidden Rock, but neither of them ended up dead.
Now Onoki is stuck because the Ninja Sect's layout has been disrupted, he can't move, and he can't stir up trouble in Konoha either; he can do nothing.
"The Ninja Sect, Konoha..."
Onoki fell into deep thought.
Konoha is full of talented individuals and has acquired a lot of money and resources through war, if nothing unexpected happens, it will surely continue to flourish.
The Ninja Sect has the powerful Sosuke overseeing it, coupled with an excellent geographical location, its growth potential is plainly visible.
"No, we must determine the details of the battle." Onoki felt that Hidden Rock needed to take action.
Competing with Konoha for the title of the number one Ninja Village is unlikely, but Onoki also does not want Hidden Rock to fall too far behind Konoha.
As for the Ninja Sect, Onoki now doesn't dare to underestimate it.
If Sosuke's power has reached or even approached the level of Senju Hashirama, then the Ninja Sect could very well become the sixth great ninja force, bringing the Land of Rain to potentially become the sixth great country.
Of course, Onoki absolutely cannot sit back and watch this happen.
The cake in the Ninja World is only so big; if another major force emerges, then Hidden Rock would get an even smaller piece.
...
Land of Fire, Konoha.
The day after the Jonin meeting concluded, Kakashi went to the commercial street to buy breakfast after completing his morning exercise, noticing that the Konoha Newspaper had published a new issue, he bought a copy.
The headline read "From Chunin Teacher to Hokage Assistant".
Kakashi thought that the Konoha Newspaper surely knew how to write headlines; even if he was unfamiliar with Mokgetsu and did not know who the person in the report was, seeing such a title would stir his interest in reading it.
No wonder, the gap between these two identities is simply too vast.
Being a Chunin Teacher is a profession that ordinary ninjas are willing to take on, essentially any Chunin can become one.
The teacher's salary is low compared to the commission fee for taking on missions, it's not busy all the time but also not easy; ambitious Chunin generally would not choose to become teachers at the Ninja School.
But the Hokage Assistant is different; it's a high-level position that can decide the direction Konoha takes, only ninjas with strong power and significant contribution can serve as one.
Arriving at the breakfast shop, Kakashi skillfully ordered his breakfast and began to eat while reading.
"Eighteen-year-old Habu Mokgetsu was a young teacher who had just entered the Ninja Academy, having no teaching experience, he first consulted with seniors, then improved through actual teaching activities..."
The newspaper initially narrated Mokgetsu's experiences in the Ninja Academy.
For instance, he proposed large classes with multiple classes together, alleviating the busy situation caused by the shortage of teachers at the Ninja School at the time, and established holiday tutoring and internship systems, leading to a noticeable improvement in the quality of Genin graduates that year.
Most commendable was the performance of the class led by Mokgetsu, leading other classes by a large margin, unmatched even by records from when the Ninja Academy was first established.
Let alone comparable, nothing even slightly inferior could be found, fully showcasing Mokgetsu's teaching ability.
Producing a few brilliant students could be said to reflect Mokgetsu's good judgment in finding talent, but having an entire class be outstanding only signifies ability beyond question.
Kakashi graduated early, so when Mokgetsu was serving as a teacher in the Ninja Academy, he had already been graduated for almost three years, thus he found Mokgetsu's experiences in the Ninja Academy quite intriguing.
The Konoha Newspaper didn't focus overly on the Ninja Academy, after clarifying Mokgetsu's various achievements, it quickly turned to the Third Ninja World War.
"The strongest Konoha hero of the Third Ninja World War", just with this subtitle, Kakashi could feel the support Sarutobi Hiruzen had for Mokgetsu, even using the term 'strongest'.
However, given Mokgetsu's battle record, using 'strongest' certainly isn't over the top.
On the Hidden Mist Battlefield, Mokgetsu initially killed the well-known Hidden Mist Ice Release Ninja Minazuki Kan and several Ninja Blade members, and then reversed the situation by killing the Jinchuriki in a crucial surprise attack by the Hidden Mist.
In the war with the Hidden Rock, Mokgetsu turned the tables by using Hidden Rock's spies against them, achieving the feat of winning one thousand against two thousand.
In a second engagement with the Hidden Mist, Mokgetsu used Wood Release to capture over a thousand Hidden Mist, laying the foundation for the final victory.
These achievements of Mokgetsu, used by any Konoha ninja, would be enough to bring that person fame and success; compiled together, the effect is absolutely explosive.
After finishing his breakfast, Kakashi could hear many people discussing on Konoha's main street.
"No wonder Mokgetsu Assistant became the Hokage Assistant so young, he's accomplished so much."
"Indeed, it's hard to imagine how difficult the past years would have been for Konoha without Mokgetsu Assistant."
Kakashi listened for a while, feeling that the vote from ordinary ninjas and citizens might have a larger disparity than the Jonin vote.
After all, among the Jonin there might be staunch supporters of Orochimaru, but with a larger base of ordinary ninjas and citizens, that might not be the case.
"I heard from a merchant who came yesterday that there's a rumor outside saying our Hokage was defeated by the Ninja Sect's Sosuke."
"These minor ninja forces are truly awful, even fabricating such rumors to slander our Third Hokage."
"Yeah, claiming to defeat the Third Hokage, really, why don't they claim they're the reincarnation of the Six Paths Sage."
Kakashi paused slightly in his steps, thought for a moment, then headed towards the Southern Border Forest.