At this moment,
Kurenai, who had been watching for a long time, stood up and quickly trotted over. Her red eyes were full of concern as she first looked at Yuu.
"Yuu, are you okay? That last exchange made me so nervous. It really scared me!"
As she spoke, Kurenai seemed about to help Yuu wipe off his sweat. But the moment she raised her hand, Yūhi Shinku coughed beside her. She quickly pulled her fair little hand back, then turned her head and stuck out her tongue, her cheeks slightly red.
"Um… Father, how are you?"
"…I'm fine. I won't die anytime soon."
Yūhi Shinku said irritably.
By now, he had somewhat gotten used to—and even understood—his daughter's "favoring one over the other."
There was no helping it.
The white-haired boy in front of him really was talented to an almost inhuman degree. Whether in swordsmanship or ninjutsu, he stood head and shoulders above the new generation of ninja, clearly rising like a new star who might one day become Hokage.
If he himself had seen such an outstanding person of the opposite sex around him back when he was still a genin, he probably would have been confused too… wait, wasn't that basically Tsunade?
However, Tsunade in her girlhood wasn't as outstanding as Yuu. Leaving strength aside, young Tsunade had been a standard washboard. Although her face was good, her overall model wasn't as good as the current Yuu's…
At once,
Yūhi Shinku no longer felt interested in continuing to discuss sen no sen with Yuu. He picked up the broken blade pieces, then called his daughter, preparing to go home.
Kurenai still looked a little reluctant.
Just as Yuu also strapped his short blade back on and was preparing to leave with the Yūhi father and daughter,
a chakra fluctuation suddenly appeared. Then, a figure wearing an animal mask silently appeared under the tree shadows at the edge of the training ground. He wore Anbu attire and looked travel-worn.
"Jōnin Yūhi Shinku, by summons of the Third Hokage, please proceed immediately to the Hokage Building for a jōnin-class meeting."
"Hm?"
Yūhi Shinku frowned slightly. "Right now?"
"Yes."
The Anbu answered concisely, then hurriedly left with Body Flicker.
After watching his figure vanish, Kurenai looked nervously at her father.
"Father?"
"…Go home first, Kurenai."
Yūhi Shinku said in a low voice. "An urgent summons at a time like this means there is probably something important to discuss. It is likely related to frontline intelligence. I may not be home for dinner today… By the way, Mikami Yuu, do you want to come listen as well?"
"Me?"
"In theory, special jōnin also have the qualification to attend and observe. Learning about jōnin-level matters in advance won't hurt you."
"…"
Listening to Yūhi Shinku's words, Yuu pondered briefly.
To be honest, he didn't really want to go.
After all, large meetings were usually more than half useless. The truly important matters were basically decided in small meetings among a few people. There was no need to make a big production of it.
However, since Yūhi Shinku had specifically brought it up with a clear attitude of "promoting a junior," Yuu couldn't really ignore it. Besides, he didn't know many Konoha jōnin of this era. Going over and getting familiar with them wouldn't be bad. In the future, he could try finding those among them who were skilled in swordsmanship and "ask for guidance."
So,
Yuu nodded. "Alright. Then I'll trouble Shinku-senpai to lead the way."
"Then follow me."
Yūhi Shinku gave his daughter a few instructions, then left the training ground quickly with Yuu, heading toward the Hokage Building.
…
Fifteen minutes later.
Inside a large conference room on the first floor of the Hokage Building, the room was already crowded with people.
At this time, Konoha had quite a number of jōnin. Publicly, there were around two hundred. If one included the private forces of various ninja clans and the Anbu, whose identities could not be casually exposed, the total could reach three or four hundred.
However, many of these people were already stationed at various borders or were responsible for different village affairs and could not leave. So there were only several dozen people sitting in this conference room now. Among them, ninja from clans and ninja from civilian backgrounds were roughly half and half.
Namikaze Minato was naturally present.
As an elite jōnin whose strength and status were currently second only to the Sannin in Konoha, his seat was relatively far forward. His iconic blond hair was especially eye-catching. He was speaking with a Nara clan member beside him, whose hair was tied in a pineapple shape and who looked to be in his forties.
Looking farther back, there were Uchiha Fugaku, Aburame Shiguro, Akimichi Chōza, and many more jōnin faces Yuu had never seen before.
Seeing Yuu and Yūhi Shinku enter together, Minato and the others who knew him all showed some degree of surprise. Then Minato immediately stood and greeted them, gesturing for them to sit over there.
Yūhi Shinku was an old veteran among Konoha's jōnin and often served as an instructor for lower- and mid-ranking ninja, so it was reasonable for him to sit here. Only Yuu, who only held the title of special jōnin, drew curious or assessing gazes from the people around him.
"Minato, what happened?"
As soon as Yūhi Shinku sat down, he could not wait to ask quietly.
"It seems there's a problem at the northern border. And Sunagakure, which had already been probing and pulling back and forth with us, has shown movement again…"
Minato also lowered his voice and answered quietly.
Yuu listened from the side and said nothing. But in his heart, he had already vaguely guessed the situation.
It seemed Kumogakure was probably beginning to move.
The original story did not describe the exact timeline of the Third Ninja War in detail, but the general outline was still clear.
The war began with the disappearance of the Third Kazekage and lasted several years. In the first half, Konoha mainly fought Sunagakure until the Battle of Kikyo Pass brought things to a temporary close. In the second half, the main opponents became Iwagakure and Kirigakure. As for Kumogakure, fighting with them continued intermittently until after Hinata's birth, when a peace treaty was formally signed.
Previously, when they were in Wildfire City, Konoha had already learned from Pakura that Sunagakure and Kumogakure seemed to be colluding.
Now it seemed…
they were probably about to act.
Very quickly,
the conference room door opened.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, wearing the Hokage robe and hat, strode in. Behind him were the two advisors, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. All three of them had serious expressions, as if they had just reached some kind of consensus. Their sharp gazes swept across the entire room.
"It seems almost everyone has arrived, so I'll keep this brief."
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and spoke in a deep voice.
"The village has just received the highest-level warning from the border and Anbu. Evidence shows that Sunagakure and Kumogakure have already reached some sort of secret agreement. In the near future, they may launch a joint attack on the Land of Fire from two directions!"
~~~
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