"So, what does Uncle Nara think of my idea?" Jie asked, leaning in and staring intently at Shikaku.
"This is..." Shikaku trailed off.
Even without Jie spelling out every detail, a man of his intellect easily grasped the core of this 'Three Departments and Six Ministries' system.
Simply put, Jie would keep the ultimate authority as Hokage, but all the daily, trivial matters would be pushed onto subordinate departments. Even if Jie was absent or busy, Konoha would run flawlessly under these new administrative branches.
A look of genuine admiration surfaced on Shikaku's face as the brilliance of the structure clicked into place.
'This Uchiha is truly a monster', Shikaku thought. 'Not just in chakra control and combat, but his insight into political administration was profound. No wonder the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had liked him at first sight and handed him the mantle of the Fifth Hokage.'
"The system is excellent and highly feasible. It would be a massive benefit to the village," Shikaku finally said after some careful thought.
"However, for institutional reforms this big, we should wait until the war officially ends. We need to convene with all the shinobi clans to discuss the changes."
He paused. "It will also make it easier to iron out the details and pick the right people to head each department."
Jie thought it over. It made sense. He was the Hokage, but he couldn't just ignore the rest of Konoha's populace.
Plus, a system was only as good as the people running it. The best candidates for these new roles were all out on the battlefield right now. Handing out appointments was premature.
But then the reality of that delay hit him, and Jie's heart sank.
If they had to wait for Orochimaru, Tsunade, and the others to get back... didn't that mean he was still stuck doing the village's endless paperwork all by himself for the foreseeable future?
"No way!" Jie wailed. He slumped over his desk in total defeat, all his energy draining away.
Meanwhile, on the Land of Earth border...
Onoki, Kitsuchi, and Orochimaru were dealing with the postwar fallout.
Compared to Konoha's previous wars, this conflict had been incredibly brief. It ended even faster than the clash with Kumogakure. The administrative cleanup, however, was just as grueling.
"Lord Orochimaru, the final casualty statistics are in," a shinobi reported, stepping into the command tent with a scroll.
"Speak. How many did we lose this time?" Orochimaru asked calmly.
His expression didn't change. This was war; death was inevitable. Even with Konoha holding the absolute upper hand, he expected a fair number of casualties from Iwagakure's desperate counterattacks.
"Lord Orochimaru, Konoha suffered nearly a hundred casualties overall," the shinobi read from the scroll. "Of those, only a little over thirty were killed. More than sixty sustained severe injuries."
He looked up. "Thanks to Lady Tsunade's Katsuyu, minor injuries are practically non-existent, and the lightly wounded have essentially kept their full combat effectiveness."
"Hmm?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in genuine surprise.
It wasn't that the death toll was too high. It was far, far too low.
In past conflicts, even total victories came with terrifyingly high body counts. Konoha had never lost so few personnel before.
"And Iwagakure's casualties?" Orochimaru asked sharply.
"According to our rough estimates, we've recovered over a thousand Iwa bodies," the shinobi replied.
"An untallied number were completely dissolved by the acid from Lady Tsunade's Katsuyu, making an exact count impossible."
"On top of that, their severely and lightly injured exceed fifteen hundred. We are still investigating the full extent of their losses."
Hearing this data, Orochimaru inhaled sharply.
He had served as a commander and directed countless battles, but he had never witnessed such an absurdly disproportionate casualty ratio. Iwagakure had suffered well over two thousand casualties.
Konoha hadn't even lost a hundred.
A staggering twenty to one ratio. If Orochimaru hadn't personally fought in this war, he would have suspected the reporting shinobi was an enemy spy feeding him fake intelligence.
'A twenty to one casualty ratio... Is this the impact of Jie Uchiha taking the field? What a terrifying clan!' Orochimaru shook his head, sighing internally. 'If Onoki hears these numbers, he'll probably want to drop dead on the spot.'
At that very moment, in the Iwagakure camp...
Onoki's face was as dark as a thundercloud as he listened to his own scout's report.
"Lord Tsuchikage, we have suffered catastrophic losses."
The scout swallowed hard...
"Over fifteen hundred shinobi were killed in action, and more than three hundred bodies are entirely missing. Some were melted by the acid from Konoha's Slug Princess, while others were devoured by Orochimaru's summons. We have over a thousand severely injured shinobi, and the minor injuries are innumerable."
Hearing these figures, Onoki's expression darkened even further. He forced the next words out through gritted teeth.
"And Konoha? What are the casualties for the Konoha shinobi?"
"L-less than a hundred people," the messenger stuttered, shrinking back in panic at the sight of Onoki's murderous aura.
"How many?!" Onoki couldn't believe his ears. He reflexively roared the question again.
"Less than a hundred."
This time, Onoki heard it clearly. But the clarity only made the humiliation sting deeper.
"Trash! A bunch of useless trash!"
"In a mere twenty-minute battle, we lost nearly two thousand shinobi! Even if I had lined up two thousand pigs for them to slaughter, the Konoha ninja couldn't have killed them all that fast!" Onoki roared, his face flushed a furious purple.
Listening to the tirade, Tōshi wished he could shrink his head into his chest like a turtle.
If he hadn't been the one to suggest fleecing Konoha in the first place, Onoki probably never would have considered it. This disastrous war never would have happened. It wasn't an exaggeration to say Tōshi bore at least half the blame for this catastrophe.
Naturally, he kept his mouth firmly shut, desperately hoping to avoid Onoki's wrath and escape becoming the official scapegoat.
Of course, his cowering didn't escape Onoki's notice. But the old Tsuchikage simply didn't have the energy to punish Tōshi's failures right now.
Konoha's astronomical compensation demands were looming over his head like a guillotine, and Onoki had absolutely no idea where he was going to find the funds to pay them.
With the surrender documents finalized, Orochimaru and Tsunade led the Konoha forces back toward the village.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, had been whisked away to Mount Myoboku by Gamabunta. Word was that the Great Toad Sage had received a new prophecy, though the specific details remained a mystery.
But with the war concluded, his absence was hardly noticed.
As for the compensation treaty, Orochimaru had negotiated a rough baseline figure, but the official signing had to be handled by the Hokage, Jie Uchiha.
To complicate matters, Orochimaru had just received fresh intelligence...Kumogakure had recently elected their Fifth Raikage.
It was highly likely that both Iwagakure and Kumogakure would be sending their diplomatic delegations to Konoha at the exact same time to formally sign their reparation agreements.
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