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As for the Hidden Mist Village, Kazuki decisively ignored them.
They were already locked in combat with the Hidden Sand Village and had no spare energy to deal with anything else.
Even after suffering humiliation from the Hidden Leaf, they would have no choice but to swallow their anger.
After all, they hadn't exactly been honorable themselves. If you don't play fair, you can't expect others to treat you kindly.
In your dreams, maybe.
To put it bluntly, even if they ended up eating a mouthful of dirt right here, the Mist Village wouldn't dare lay a finger on the Hidden Leaf.
On the contrary, they had to endure—force themselves to endure. Offending the Hidden Leaf and pushing them to side with the Sand would spell disaster.
The Mist Village had the guts to declare war on the Sand, but they lacked the nerve to drag the Hidden Leaf into it as well.
Even though the Akatsuki organization desperately wanted the Hidden Leaf entangled in the war, once the Leaf got involved, the war's trajectory would turn against the Mist, potentially leading to an early defeat.
If the war situation soured, even if Rasa refused to yield and even if the Land of Water Daimyo opposed ending it, the village's higher-ups wouldn't agree to continue fighting.
Thus, the Mist Village couldn't afford to pull the Hidden Leaf in at this juncture. The best way to drain the vital forces of both the Mist and Sand Villages was to let them slug it out slowly, indefinitely.
After all, the two villages' strengths were roughly equal—the Mist had a slight edge, but fighting far away in the Land of Wind consumed massive supplies, and the environment hampered their full power.
Without external interference or major battlefield blunders, the war between the two could drag on for a very long time.
The longer it lasted, the more their foundations would erode.
Under these circumstances, let alone the delegation eating dirt in the Hidden Leaf—even if Kazuki pointed at Yagura's nose and cursed his ancestors, the Mist Village wouldn't dare provoke the Hidden Leaf.
Especially not the Hidden Leaf in its current prime.
At this stage, Kazuki could confidently declare the village's overall strength with a single sentence:
Bring it on!
The Land of Wind's territory had become the primary battlefield, with ninjas from the Hidden Mist and Hidden Sand Villages active across various regions.
Compared to the Mist's long-distance expedition, the Sand fought with the advantage of resting and waiting, maneuvering against them in the endless desert.
The entire ninja world was fixated on this war. The other major villages—the Hidden Leaf, Hidden Rock, and Hidden Cloud—even dispatched small Anbu squads into the Land of Wind to gather intelligence on the conflict.
The outbreak of war also heightened tensions within the Hidden Rock and Hidden Cloud Villages.
From the precedents of the previous three Great Ninja Wars, whenever two of the Five Great Ninja Villages clashed, the other three risked being affected—either passively drawn in or actively joining.
Along the Hidden Leaf's borders, a new batch of reinforcements was deployed for garrison duty, specifically to prevent the Mist-Sand war from spilling into the Fire Country and the Hidden Leaf.
Beyond guarding against the Sand and Mist, they also needed to watch for refugees, wandering ninjas, and deserters spawned by the war.
Many who lost their homes would transform into bandits and robbers.
A prosperous land like the Fire Country was the perfect target for such plunder.
Wars always birthed hordes of wandering ninjas and renegades, who became destabilizing factors wherever they went.
Therefore, the Hidden Leaf not only bolstered its border forces but also sent out numerous patrol teams to crisscross and scout within the Fire Country.
Any bandits, wandering ninjas, or renegades daring to infiltrate the Fire Country would be killed on sight.
"You want Naruto's class to graduate early?"
Kazuki's proposal genuinely startled Tsunade.
"Yes."
Kazuki nodded slowly and explained his reasoning: "This year's students are old enough already. There's no need to strictly wait until they're twelve to graduate. Due to the war's impact, the village needs to dispatch a large number of ninja squads to patrol within the Fire Country. I believe these newly graduated genin teams can take on such tasks. On one hand, it'll provide them with training; on the other, these missions come with solid safety guarantees."
"But the village has already sent out a massive number of patrol teams..."
"We can cut some of them."
Kazuki's stance was firm. Naruto and his peers were already around ten years old—there was no real need to keep them in the academy until twelve.
The current patrol squads were perfect as a transitional role for these fresh genin.
"If we don't let them graduate early, start growing, adapting, and getting stronger now, then once the war situation shifts, by the time they finally graduate after dawdling, they might end up thrown straight onto the battlefield."
The Hidden Leaf wasn't short on ninjas, but sending rookies to the front lines was inevitable.
Jounin instructors would head to the battlefield, and fresh genin needed experience—they needed combat to grow. Having a buffer period versus none were two entirely different things.
The former allowed steady growth for the new ninjas; the latter...
Even if they eventually matured, it would come at a bloody cost.
I'm impressed.
Tsunade was starting to get a headache.
If the Hokage Advisor wasn't pulling his weight, the Hokage would be exhausted from the workload.
But if the Hokage Advisor was too capable, the pressure on the Hokage was immense.
Right now, Tsunade was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"So, what tasks do you plan to assign to these cut patrol teams?"
They couldn't just disband squads that were already on active duty simply to train the new genin.
Doing that would definitely spark complaints from a lot of ninjas.
The Hidden Leaf had a massive ninja population. Many chunin with average strength and genin were constantly scrambling for missions with better pay.
The village had pulled some from this pool to form patrol teams responsible for scouting the Fire Country—a cushy gig, all things considered.
But now, just to train the rookies, they were chopping those teams and disbanding them?
No one would accept that outcome.
Not to mention, most ninjas didn't engage in production; they relied solely on mission rewards to live.
Kazuki already had a plan in mind.
"Send them straight to the border regions to take in war orphans and refugees."
War left countless people homeless. Those who met the criteria—after screening and verification—would be accepted.
The task volume was huge, and even though population was vital, most villages only took in a portion of the war orphans.
Accepting refugees carried risks.
But if these people settled stably in the Fire Country, both the daimyo and the Hidden Leaf would reap relative benefits.
You really dare to think big!
Tsunade was about to speak when Kazuki cut in first: "Write a letter to the daimyo. Tell him the Hidden Leaf is preparing to form squads responsible for gathering refugees and establishing villages. These squads will handle screening and collecting the refugees, as well as helping them build settlements and homes. However, the expenses for all this will need to come from the daimyo himself."