After much deliberation, Minato Namikaze did not go to see Naruto, only observing him from afar.
His resurrection was an absolutely momentous event for the Ninja World; this was a dead man brought back to life, a taboo among taboos. Once exposed, to curb the surging high-end combat power of Konoha Village, the other Four Great Shinobi Villages might even unite to attack Konoha.
Furthermore, he still needed to investigate the true identity of the Masked Man. Considering Naruto was a big mouth, if he revealed their relationship, perhaps half a day later, all the Ninja in the Village would know, and then within three days, the entire Ninja World would know.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado, those two old schemers, believed he should conceal his identity, and could emerge as a trump card if war broke out.
Minato Namikaze agreed with the two Advisors' suggestion, choosing to hide his identity and protect his son by secretly safeguarding the Village.
During his recovery, to enhance the Village's military strength, he gathered several Ninja who knew the Flying Thunder God Technique formula and initiated a small-scale training program.
The participants in this training were Tsunade, Kakashi, and Ino.
Shizune, and Shiranui Genma, who had previously learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, both chose to take it easy.
Minato Namikaze imparted all his insights, training methods, and various experiences regarding the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The effect was truly not significant.
This Ninjutsu was a typical case of the mind understanding, but the body not understanding.
Tsunade had the best physical fitness, and her learning progress was faster than both Ino and Kakashi, but she was keen on gambling and drinking, with little interest in learning Ninjutsu. Remembering her grand-uncle's earnest expectations, if her two disciples urged her, and Tonton barked a few times, she would pretend to practice a bit. If no one urged her, she would go gambling.
Kakashi had no issues with his physical fitness or intellect, and he possessed the Sharingan, which granted astonishing dynamic vision. His learning progress was only slightly behind Tsunade's, but his Chakra reserves were too low, limiting his practice.
Ino was relatively the worst, but Minato Namikaze said something similar to what the Second Hokage had once said.
He believed Ino was still young, and Ninja only reached their peak at 25 years old. In other words, Ino's physical fitness still had nearly 10 years of rapid growth. Once her physical fitness increased, mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique would be a natural progression. There was no need to rush now; forcing it would only cause damage to her body.
Kakashi had already reached his physical peak, and would not see significant growth in the future. As for Tsunade, she was already past her prime and on the decline. If she couldn't learn it now, she would have no chance later.
The turmoil in Hidden Sand Village finally concluded in a state of disarray.
Chaos! The loss of the Kazekage led to the Village's order being thrown into utter confusion!
The battle between the Four-Tails and the Ichibi destroyed more than half of Hidden Sand Village, and a certain person's Yin Release music concert created many so-called "Madmen" in Hidden Sand Village. Many, after regaining consciousness, claimed to have heard profound truths from the Yin Release music, but what exactly these truths were, they did not know!
Several Ninja with relatively high Yin Release proficiency tried to recall, and it seemed the music was using notes to describe a wondrous process of the birth of heaven and man, and the growth of all things. How to reach this state, they still needed to ponder.
For a time, Hidden Sand Village gained many Yin Release musicians.
In the dead of night, sitting under a crooked-necked tree playing the shamisen became one of their ways to seek profound truths.
"Madmen" were only a minor issue. The Ninja families of Hidden Sand Village took the opportunity to seize numerous benefits. Many positions originally held by civilian Ninja were usurped by the Elder Council under various pretexts, and this was the major problem.
In fact, Gaara's final act of using his sand shield to help villagers and Ninja defend against the Tailed Beast Ball earned him much recognition, but unfortunately, these civilians and civilian Ninja had no say. Temari and Kankuro, who previously had some influence, were suppressed, and both had a difficult time.
Chiyo was missing, Ebizo was missing, Baki was injured, Yura had ulterior motives, and in the chaos, the supporters of the Kazekage faction suffered heavy losses. The Ninja families who didn't even participate in the battle instead became the victors.
The current calm was only temporary; Hidden Sand Village was bound to face more trouble.
Konoha Village was also making various preparations.
One of them was Ino's promotion to Jonin.
Her Jonin promotion order was signed by Minato Namikaze in his capacity as the Fourth Hokage. It bore Minato's signature and the Fourth Hokage's seal, but had no issue date or reason for promotion.
Jiraiya knew the inside story, and Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado also generally knew the process. This was to reward her, to thank her for "saving" the Fourth Hokage.
The two Advisors certainly had many selfish motives, but they shared in Konoha's prosperity. The fact that Konoha now had a powerful Fourth Hokage was also a good thing for them.
They had no objections to the Fourth Hokage personally vouching for and promoting Ino to Jonin.
The normal procedure for a Chunin to be promoted to Jonin was extremely complicated. Insufficient mission numbers were not allowed, disagreement from the majority of Jonin class members was not allowed, and the lack of recommendation from a well-known Ninja family was not allowed. This was why Shiranui Genma was stuck at the Special Jonin level, unable to be promoted to Jonin.
Now, with the personal recommendation of the Fourth Hokage, none of these were issues.
The promotion order went from Jiraiya to Utatane Koharu, then to Homura Mitokado, and finally got held up by Danzo Shimura.
"I don't quite understand how this promotion order involves the Fourth Hokage?" Danzo was utterly confused during the Advisor meeting.
Actually, he didn't oppose Ino's promotion to Jonin. The Yamanaka Clan, to this day, still supported his Ninja family. Ino was a true-blooded Ino–Shika–Choji, now strong, and a staunch supporter of the Hokage faction. He wouldn't make things difficult for her, but wasn't this promotion order a bit fake?
Danzo counted on his fingers for a long time. When the Fourth Hokage died, was Ino even two months old? Did the Fourth Hokage see her potential as a Jonin back then? Please, how did he see it? Did she glow golden all over when she was born, or did someone call her name in the forest?
He felt there must be some inside story he didn't know, suspecting that Jiraiya was behind it, or that the Yamanaka Clan had some secret deal with the Fourth Hokage back then, thus producing something akin to a "posthumous decree."
He had objections, but the Fourth Hokage's signature was authentic and accurate.
Procedurally, for the leader of a Village to want to promote a Jonin, as an Advisor to the Village, he truly couldn't say anything. The procedure was the procedure; this was the Hokage's authority. At most, he could raise an objection, but in reality, there was no possibility of hindrance.
The Village's upper echelons approved smoothly. The Jonin class followed a procedure. Ino took her Ninja registration card, re-registered, updated her information, and after much fuss, she was officially promoted to Jonin.
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