Chapter 65: The shock of Konoha's superiors.
Even without being there, the danger of such a situation could be felt: the concept of an elite force of nearly thirty men was clear to everyone present.
Especially Danzo.
His Root, at most, had only produced about sixty elite ninja, and many more were still in training and could not be considered elites, meaning that Danzo only had two elite squads.
Only the Uchiha and Hyuga clans can match it in power, the other clans are not even capable of fighting an elite squad like this.
Even.
Let alone these clans, even if most of the small ninja villages in the ninja world gathered all their forces, they wouldn't even be able to gather an elite squad.
"..."
Hiruzen frowned slightly.
In this situation, I'm afraid they had to rely on Might Duy to reverse the situation. Once the door of the Hachimon Tonko's death was opened, the user's death was inevitable, and the loss of a ninja with Kage level strength, along with a dozen deaths, in exchange for half of Iwagakure....'s advance force was not considered a great victory, just a victory.
"The ambush of an elite Iwagakure squad put our group in a very difficult position, and the number of casualties grew rapidly. In a desperate situation, Hatake Yeruashi used a kind of self-created forbidden lightning element technique to severely injure and kill a total of thirty Iwagakure ninja, which included Chuunin, Jounin and Elite Jounin, making the Iwagakure ninja ambush fail completely..."
As Hiruzen continued reading up to this point, his voice gradually faded away.
The entire lecture hall also gradually sank into silence.
Even Jiraiya, who usually acted frivolously, showed a stunned look.
Danzo, whose demeanor had always been calm and indifferent, looked at Hiruzen with a look of astonishment and uncertainty on his face, doubting Hiruzen's words.
" ... "
Hiruzen also revealed the same look of astonishment and uncertainty on his face as he looked at the scroll.
Holding the scroll in his hands, dazed and unable to continue reading, he just kept reading in dismay until he reached the end of the scroll, and finally saw the statistics about the battle.
Thirty-three people!
This was the number of Iwagakure ninjass killed by Yeruashi!
Among them were a total of nine Jounin, and they included Honku and Dontu, two Elite Jounin of Iwagakure who enjoyed some fame in the ninja world!
There was silence throughout the room
Hiruzen slowly lowered the scroll he held in his hand, looked at the Anbu who handed it to him and said, "...this information, does it come from the battlefront?".
"Yes."
The Anbu said in a deep voice, "The scroll was sent by Orochimaru-sama's hired beast."
Then it shouldn't be a forgery.
Hiruzen took a deep breath, Orochimaru uses the Ryuichi cave snake, disguising another hired beast and impersonating it would be difficult, and going to the trouble to send "fake intelligence" like this didn't make any sense.
It wasn't that Might Duy had used the Hachimon Tonko to turn the tide on the battlefield, it was Hatake Yeruashi, a mere ten year old boy, who used a forbidden technique he created himself to turn the tables on the battlefield!
Impressive!
Unbelievable!
"Yeruashi... He's White Fang's son, isn't he?"
Uchiha Fugaku stood in the room, arms folded across his chest, and took a deep breath as he spoke slowly, breaking the silence in the room.
He had some impression of Yeruashi, after all, this is a young ninja that has been talked about a lot lately and called a genius, but it's nothing more than just an impression.
The Uchiha clan never lacked geniuses.
A young man who has not yet grown up, even if he bears the title of genius, was not worthy of their attention as the patriarch of the Uchiha clan.
But now everything is different.
If this information was correct, it meant that Yeruashi was not a genius who had yet to grow up, but was already qualified to inherit the title of "The Soft Fang of Konoha."
Even the Uchiha clan can't ignore a ninja possessing such power.
"...Unbelievable, isn't he just a kid?"
Hyuga Hiashi sat next to Uchiha Fugaku and also couldn't help but take a deep breath and speak, with a hint of surprise in his voice.
He created his own forbidden ninjutsu!
He killed thirty-three elite Iwagakure ninja, twelve of whom were Jounin!
Even if the report has some superficial hint about what kind of distraction and assistance from other ninja supporting him from the sides, and not fighting alone against thirty-three people, it was still shocking enough!
The White Fang of Konoha, who was known as a hero back then, became famous in the ninja world in the same way as Yeruashi.
And how old was Yeruashi?
"Ten years old, less than eleven."
Danzo turned away from Hiruzen, a deep light shone in the depths of his eyes.
Unexpected!
Too unexpected!
Who would have thought that Yeruashi would be able to possess such strength at less than eleven years old...If he had known this earlier, he would have used the harshest and most decisive methods to bring him to the Root!
Such a ninja, when carefully trained, will become an extremely powerful and useful tool, an ace up his sleeve, AND he can be relied upon to do many things!
Unfortunately...
Danzo was regretful.
He hadn't paid enough attention to Yeruashi before, so he had let him slip through his fingers and even become Orochimaru's disciple.
If he had acted decisively and taken some harsh measures, it wouldn't have been so hard to force Hiruzen to send Yeruashi to the Root, but it's too late now.
"If I use the war situation, maybe I can? Orochimaru alone would be a problem, but he can use Hiruzen to solve it, but after the war....
Danzo closed his eyes, hiding his emotions from the others, and fell into a dream.
Hiruzen was also thinking.
Soon, he raised his head, looked at the Anbu and said, Transmit the orders to elevate Yeruashi's rank to Tokubetsu Jounin, and report directly to Orochimaru that Yeruashi is authorized to engage in operations independently."
Yeruashi's merits and strength are certainly in line with the rank of a Jounin, but a Jounin must be a good commander and leader, able to assess the situation correctly and give the right orders.
These aspects of Yeruashi were still unknown.
Until more could be judged about Yeruashi's situation, it would be most appropriate to promote his rank to Tokubetsu Jounin, and place him under Orochimaru's command, without leading a team.
"Yes!"
The Anbu replied and disappeared from the conference room.
Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya and the patriarchs of the major clans in the conference room, and seeing that they were still somewhat shocked by the intelligence gained from the battle of Iwagakure, paused for a moment before saying, "Alright, let's move on to discuss the front line personnel against Sunagakure."
Hearing Hiruzen's words, the clan chiefs, as well as Jiraiya and the other Elite Jounins, looked at each other, took a deep breath, and suppressed the shock they felt as they prepared to discuss the topic of forming a frontline team that will fight against Sunagakure.