Chapter 44: Jonin Meeting (Ch 44)

In the meeting room of the Hokage Building.
Representatives from all the ninja clans and the best among the jonin were sitting around a long and spacious table.
Qingguang was also sitting here at this time.
As Konoha’s recent celebrity, with his extraordinary affinity, the father and son duo Togashi and Fugaku finally sent him to represent the Uchiha clan.
Orochimaru, who was sitting opposite Harumitsu, had a glimmer of expectation in his eyes: “Harumitsu-kun, I didn’t expect you to represent the Uchiha in this meeting.”
“Senior Orochimaru, today’s meeting is extremely important. The clan leader and the minister will naturally have to work harder to prevent spies from other villages from gathering intelligence.”
Not only Orochimaru, but everyone else present was also a little surprised by Harumi’s arrival.
Not long after, a man wearing a Konoha vest appeared, with black medium-length hair draped over his shoulders. He looked a little childish, but his eyes were as sharp as an eagle’s.
“Harumitsu, long time no see. The recent changes in Uchiha are good.” After sitting down with his arms folded, Senju Shulian glanced at Harumitsu.
Qingguang just nodded slightly without giving much response.
He knew Qianju Shulian’s personality. She was a man of few words and was silent most of the time.
But no one doubts his status as the leader of the jonin squad, second only to the Hokage and three assistants among the Konoha high-level officials.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen and his three assistants walked into the conference room, this meeting of jonin was officially declared to have begun.
“Everyone, according to the current intelligence from the village, not only Konoha, but also Sand Village and Iwagakure, the number of ninjas around the border of the Rain Country has increased significantly recently.”
“The New Year is approaching. In order to maintain the stability of the village until the beginning of spring after the New Year, all missions below A-rank are prohibited from leaving the Fire Country.”
Most people could understand this decision and did not raise any objections.
Preventing the coming of war was something that everyone here knew a few months ago and it was not surprising.
After each department finished reporting, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Tsunade who was sitting next to Harumitsu and said, “There is one more thing. You should all know that due to age issues, Utane Koharu no longer has much energy to serve as the director of the medical department. Not long ago, the medical department was handed over to Tsunade.”
“Tsunade, please speak your mind.”
Tsunade took a deep breath, stood up, and then distributed the copied documents in her hand, passing them to everyone present one by one.
She began to explain according to the original contents of the plan.
Most people were silent, except for Utane Koharu, who looked unhappy and had a changeable expression as she looked at the document.
You are so good, Tsunade. You are a new official and you are ready to do three things at once. Are you going to overturn my previous arrangements to prove yourself?
Humph, the game between the village’s top leaders is not as simple as you think.
After she finished explaining the plan on the document, Tsunade felt a little dry in the mouth. She glanced at everyone and then her eyes fell on Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Ultimately, whether the reform of the medical department can continue depends on the decision of the Hokage.
Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his fingers lightly on the armrests of the chair, making a continuous “tapping” sound.
Until the voice stopped, he said: “Tsunade, if in the future, Konoha’s ninja team can really have a medical ninja among each team of four, the ninja casualty rate will indeed be greatly reduced.”
When Tsunade heard this, joy immediately showed on her face.
It seems that this old thing is not as corrupt as I imagined.
Looking at Tsunade’s reaction, Orochimaru laughed. This guy is still as naive as ever.
“but.”
“But what?” Tsunade asked, already having a bad feeling in her heart.
“The village no longer has much money to continue supporting the reform of the medical department. Let’s discuss this plan later.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen stopped talking short.
The others did not express any opinion in favor of the reform of the medical department, and all agreed with Sarutobi Hiruzen’s decision.
“It’s a good idea, but now is not the right time. It’s a pity to waste Lady Tsunade’s kindness.”
“Don’t worry, Lady Tsunade. Such reforms will only benefit Konoha. It’s just that the crisis outside the village has not been resolved yet. We can discuss it later.”
“Lady Tsunade…”
These words of “adult” and “what a pity” kept pouring into Tsunade’s mind.
Tsunade looked at the hypocritical smiles on their faces and finally understood the helplessness on Haruki’s face when he talked to her about Minato that night.
So it really is like this…
She clenched her fists and lowered her head silently.
Is it going to be stranded like this indefinitely?
Just then, Haruki stood up, and his voice seemed to bring hope to Tsunade.
“Hokage-sama, although this reform plan cannot be implemented in its entirety at the moment, there are a few points that I think can be done now.”
“If a war really breaks out, the advantage of medical ninjas will greatly preserve the village’s manpower. What do you think?”
Among the left and right people, Qingguang was the first to come out and sing a different tune from the majority.
His remarks were surprising, but also reasonable.
After all, this is the “sunshine” of the village.
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and began to think about the feasibility of Harumitsu’s words. There were several items in the plan that could indeed be implemented, but doing so would also implicate several of the huge network of interests that he had maintained to this day.
In the past, this was the cornerstone for him to maintain the stability of the village as Hokage, and no accidents were allowed to happen.
But right now, the safety of the village was what he cared about most, Konoha, above all else, and he had to reconsider and examine those policies.
Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen hesitated, Senju Jurei, who had never spoken until now, opened his eyes and said, “Hokage-sama, the medical advance class of the Ninja School and the drug development team, I think it is feasible.”
“If a war breaks out, we must guard against the poison of Rain Village and Sand Village.”
Although Senju Jurei does not understand medical ninjas, as the squad leader of the Jonin squad, he knows that the former does not cost much money. Although the Senju clan was disbanded, they have integrated into the civilian population.
But like him, there are many ninjas who inherited the Senju surname, and there are at least hundreds of them in Konoha.
Except for some old seniors, most of the others are the baby boomers that emerged after the establishment of Konoha Village.
Now they are all around 30 years old, less than 40 years old, and are part of the backbone of the village.
As far as the entire jonin class is concerned, Konoha has more than a thousand jonins, the largest number of whom are Uchiha, with nearly a hundred people. The second largest number are ninjas with the surname Senju, with more than fifty people.
Not to mention, there are dozens of Jonins like Tsunade who are descendants of the Senju but did not inherit the surname.
If all are added together, the number of jonin is even greater than that of Uchiha.