Konoha Village's main gate.
Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's arrangement, a team was already waiting, and several figures in the distance gradually appeared.
"Be careful. Not long ago, Kumogakure ambushed the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron's ore caravans. This so-called alliance might be a conspiracy by Kumogakure."
In the shadows, several Anbu observed for any potential conspiracy.
"That possibility exists, but since Hokage-sama has given the order, we just need to complete the mission as commanded."
"Seriously, why doesn't Hokage-sama order a counterattack? That's an important trade for our Konoha Ninja tool resources!"
...
"So this is Konoha Village, huh? Hmph, occupying the most fertile land in the Land of Fire, how annoying!"
"They still have some strength. I heard that KawaSuke-senpai and Akiba-senpai were killed by a Konoha Village team near the Land of Fire's border."
"Who killed them? Was it Kakashi Hatake, who obtained the Uchiha Sharingan, or the famous Shisui the Teleporter, or the Hokage's direct Anbu?"
"According to the spy's intelligence, it was two Jonin dispatched by Konoha Village, leading two kids, who defeated them. One is named Hayama, and the other is named Satoru."
"It seems Konoha Village truly has a lot of talented individuals."
"Hmph, so what? As long as we complete this mission, we can strengthen our Village's power again."
"Enough talk, we've arrived at Konoha Village."
Each of the Hidden Cloud Village envoys carried a sword, and their muscles were exceptionally solid.
...
Analysis Team.
Rustle!
Satoru flipped through various documents and records left by the previous team leader, striving to understand the Analysis Team's work in the shortest possible time to figure out how to slack off.
"Some of the work is quite easy, it's just that there's a lot of brainpower involved. Good thing I have a brain."
The team leader's job, besides collecting and organise the intelligence read by his subordinates daily, and then submit important intelligence to the Hokage.
He also had to have his subordinates analyse the enemy's corpse information, summarise the pros and cons of the enemy's Ninjutsu, and make a report to be submitted to the Hokage.
The work didn't seem like much, but it was very troublesome.
Because the intelligence involved too many things.
The iteration of enemy Ninjutsu and cyphers, analysing the enemy's possible movements from various subtle pieces of intelligence.
For example, economic analysis, which modern people all know: when a certain material is suddenly bought or sold in large quantities on a certain day or during a certain period, many things can be seen.
These were his true tasks; reporting to the Hokage was the easiest part.
Fortunately, this was what he was good at.
"The Hidden Cloud Village envoys should be haggling with the Third Hokage by now, right?"
He still kept a thought in his mind, mainly because this was a famous event in the original work. He was quite curious and wanted to know what the Third Hokage was thinking to hand over Hizashi Hyuga.
...
Kumogakure's envoys stayed for three days.
After three days of haggling and frequent contact with Hidden Cloud Village, an alliance agreement was finally reached.
It was called an alliance, but it was just a non-aggression pact.
It could be broken at any time.
At the alliance ceremony, the Hokage invited the leaders of various clans and heads of various departments to attend the ceremony.
Satoru was among them.
"Boring. I wish it would end quickly so I can go back and further research sound-based Genjutsu," he sighed.
His recent promotion and the Kumogakure alliance had reduced his research time.
He had already researched Genjutsu that manipulates the enemy's hearing. If he had a few more months, he would be able to make the enemy hear whatever sound he wanted them to hear.
Sound-based Genjutsu is not just Genjutsu that affects the enemy with sound; it also uses other methods to make the enemy experience auditory hallucinations.
Visual and sound systems are intertwined, not two separate lines.
"Hidden Cloud Village and Konoha Village officially form an alliance agreement."
Finally, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Hidden Cloud Village envoy concluded the ceremony.
Tomorrow,
The Hidden Cloud Village envoys would return to Hidden Cloud Village.
...
The incident still happened.
While Satoru was at home sleeping with his wife, in the darkness, the Hyuga Clan.
Killed the Hidden Cloud Village envoy who tried to abduct the Main Family's Hinata.
The next day, Satoru received the news.
The entire Konoha Village was on edge.
Because the ceremony had just been completed yesterday, and today a Kumogakure Ninja died in Konoha Village.
It was too unexpected.
For Konoha Village's higher-ups.
And the Hidden Cloud Village envoys were very strong-willed, refusing to admit what they did, instead blaming Konoha Village.
They believed Konoha Village pretended to ally to make them drop their guard.
Finally, they claimed to have obtained intelligence about Hidden Cloud Village from the envoy's corpse, with ill intentions.
In the end, just like in the original work.
The world gained a young man who believed in destiny, and a younger brother died, sacrificing himself for his elder brother.
Kumogakure gained a useless corpse.
For a time,
Many Konoha Village high-ranking officials sighed with emotion.
...
Hyuga Neji clenched his fists, looking at his father's portrait in the mourning hall, revealing unconcealed sadness.
Hyuga Hiashi brought Hinata and also placed chrysanthemums.
...
After the Hidden Cloud Village envoy returned, Satoru suddenly received a summons from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Satoru, the Satoru Barrier Development Team has been established. You need to take on another position."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes also showed some fatigue; clearly, this incident had caused him much worry.
"Understood."
Satoru accepted.
Barrier Ninjutsu development, which had been mentioned before, was only thought of now.
Perhaps this incident made the Third Hokage think more about preventing future troubles!
And as for Barrier Ninjutsu, although Satoru hadn't seriously researched it these days, his genius mind, with just a little thought, made his previous Barrier Ninjutsu even more mature.
He hadn't slacked off.
It was just taking on an extra job, which made him busier.
However, these were all missions; with missions came money and resources, so it was acceptable.
Moreover, holding two important positions.
Both were Garrison-type, which greatly reduced his chances of leaving the Village, allowing him more time to spend with his family and wife.
He was still willing.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "At the same time, with your current ability, you should also be able to learn that Genjutsu. I have approved your application."
Upon hearing this, Satoru's face broke into a smile.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Mm, go. That Ninjutsu is very dangerous; don't force yourself."
Satoru automatically filtered that out; his talent didn't allow for any Ninjutsu he found difficult to learn.
He walked out the door with a smile, politely closing it behind him.
After Satoru left.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed: "Sigh, I'm old. If I were ten years younger, I definitely wouldn't let Kumogakure be so arrogant.
Now, I can only hope to cultivate children like Satoru, who can stand on their own, in the next few years!"
It wasn't that he didn't want to fight about the Kumogakure matter, but that he didn't dare to fight.
It had only been a few years since the Third Shinobi World War ended, and Konoha Village had just begun to recover, with residents living peaceful lives.
If they were to fight again, not to mention whether Konoha Village could endure it, the Land of Fire's higher-ups would not allow such a thing to happen in the first place.