As one of the most prominent rising stars in modern-day Konoha, Hyuga Soushu—whose achievements rival even those of the White Fang—is seen by both ninja and common villagers alike as an undoubtedly inspiring, albeit controversial, figure.
This perception largely stems from secret smear campaigns orchestrated by the village's top leadership, who've assigned numerous agents to spread rumors questioning his conduct, morality, and even fabricating serious offenses. Yet despite these efforts, many uniquely-minded Konoha shinobi continue regarding Hyuga Soushu with deep admiration.
Born into the Hyuga Branch House where life and death lay in others' hands, he fought his way upward through the bloody battlegrounds of the Land of Rain. Rising swiftly during the war against the Land of Wind, achieving a legendary victory crushing Kumo at the Northern Front, and rushing a thousand miles to confront the Iwagakure–Rain Ninjas Alliance in battle while showing great righteousness—an objective review reveals that this man, whom some critics dismiss as an opportunistic meteor destined to vanish as suddenly as he appeared, has actually carved out a truly remarkable legacy throughout the years of the Great Ninja World War!
Therefore, despite constant defamation and never bothering to defend himself, Hyuga Soushu has become a model of unyielding willpower and disregard for trivialities among the villagers. After shaking up the Hyuga Clan, he picked up yet another label—the cunning rebel.
But human emotions are never simply black or white; they're inherently complex.
For every voice raised in criticism, there's also resolute support.
Especially among the Martial Faction shinobi, who hold him in highest esteem. In particular, his initiatives focused on external expansion and enlarging the overall pie are considered by them the best remedy for inherent flaws in the village-and-country system.
Consequently, countless letters of self-recommendation flooded into the Hyuga Clan Headquarters through various channels—all pledging firm loyalty and promising faithful service to Hyuga Soushu.
Already facing severe personnel shortages, Soushu accepted every applicant without exception. He personally replied to each applicant, crafting personalized responses tailored to their described abilities cross-checked with intelligence data held by the Hyuga Clan, ultimately offering each one suitable employment positions.
Thus, immediately after concluding talks with Sakumo Hatake, nearly a thousand additional shinobi joined Hyuga Soushu's ranks, being dispatched to various Ninja Force units along the Northern Front and eastern regions on fixed salaries.
In Konoha's traditional mindset, serving outside the village borders was often seen as tantamount to exile. But for these hot-headed martial arts-oriented ninja, it symbolizes following Soushu's footsteps—carving a glorious future with their own blades. Moreover, the guaranteed income paid to military shinobi under Soushu significantly surpasses typical earnings from regular missions performed inside the village.
Driven both by the Martial Faction's will to expand their influence beyond the village and by tangible material incentives, a wave of Konoha shinobi began abandoning the village to join border forces.
However, this unexpected trend simultaneously caused two major consequences: first, Konoha's traditional system of ninja population control began collapsing, and secondly, Hokage Tower's planned reduction of ninja troop numbers was aborted before implementation.
As a heavily militarized fortress settlement, Konoha maintained extremely strict management over its ninja population.
"According to Anbu records, thirteen hundred registered ninja have left the village without authorization. Additionally, over three hundred Uchiha and their affiliated clan ninja have headed toward the Eastern Coastal Defense Garrison."
Inside the Hokage Office, Konoha's F4 looked grim as they silently listened to the Anbu ninja's report on political and economic matters.
"Three days! Thirteen hundred people! Plus another three hundred from the ninja clans!"
Danzo couldn't hold back his sarcasm. "Hiruzen, this is the consequence of your appeasement policy!"
"Is the number of Uchiha leaving the village accurate? Among those three hundred, how many are actual Uchiha clan members and how many are from allied clans?" Homura Mitokado asked cautiously.
"Well..."
Cold sweat was beading up on the Anbu ninja's forehead. "Due to various reasons, we haven't yet obtained specific details about exact numbers or family backgrounds."
"In other words, this count of over three hundred Uchiha is merely an estimate?"
Homura pressed further. "And was this estimate based on conservative calculations or generous approximations?"
"It came from conservative estimates," the Anbu ninja replied softly after glancing at the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"If that's the case, let's temporarily assume five hundred then!" Homura made his judgment. "They've received authorization for five units at the Eastern Coastal Defense Garrison; they wouldn't only dispatch three hundred personnel!"
"Given the Uchiha's greedy nature, they'd never show restraint when it comes to something like this," Koharu Utatane agreed with Homura's assessment.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had already reviewed this monitoring report, remained silent as he sat frowning and smoking, deep in thought.
In theory, without official documentation or mission orders from the Hokage Tower, Konoha ninja shouldn't remain outside the village long-term. This restriction formed one of the primary purposes of establishing Hidden Villages—to manage these powerful beings whose abilities made them seem like natural disasters to ordinary civilians, preventing ninja conflicts from harming defenseless non-combatants.
In reality, however, most ninja clans consistently disregarded these personal regulations. Especially during wartime when large numbers of clan ninja were conscripted into village service, unsanctioned family ninja who previously held no official status frequently came and went through the village—either performing missions for their families or conducting business beyond the village for clan profits. They completely ignored the established system.
The secret agreement between Hyuga Soushu and the Uchiha Clan took this defiance even further, effectively rendering the village rules meaningless. Groups of Martial-Faction ninja boldly marched to and fro without seeking departure clearance from the Hokage Tower. They felt no wrongdoing at all in directly leaving the village using identity documents signed personally by Hyuga Soushu, heading straight for their [Promised Lands] project.
The loss of ninja from within the village, together with the revival of foreign standing ninja forces, turned the planned reduction of ninja numbers into mere empty words.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't quite believe it. If he insisted on cutting the budget—and even dissolving—the overseas Standing Ninja Army, and if Hyuga Soushu simply went along with it and took full control of the military funds, what kind of awkward situation would Konoha find itself in? After all, ninja serve the one who pays them—that's just how things work.
Moreover, there was a systemic loophole in the Northern Border Defense Force directly commanded by Hyuga Soushu: He had full military authority—including the power to recruit volunteers and even promote ninja to the rank of chunin. This was a legacy issue dating back decades, but after the fall of the Hyuga Main House and increasing inter-clan relationships among the various ninja clans, even Konoha's F4—the elder ruling council—found it problematic.
The Third truly wanted to take back this power, but if confronted head-on, it would certainly provoke an overreaction from the ninja clans. After all, they saw it as the easiest path for their less accomplished clan members to quickly rise to chunin status. Losing this privilege would force their clan members back into the deadly grind of peace-time Chunin Exams, something the ninja clans feared most.
Even more crucially, unless Hokage Tower stubbornly issued direct orders, neither the Ninja Clan Summit nor the Jonin Unit would allow the Hokage to reclaim this authority—even if Sakumo Hatake offered support. Everyone had relatives or close friends whose kids needed a helping hand when moving up from genin.
"Hiruzen! What exactly are you thinking!"
Danzo continued pressing hard: "In just three days, the village has already lost 1,300 ninja. If we keep letting this slide, Konoha will become an empty shell!"
"I know you're anxious, but try to calm down first," Third Hokage shot Danzo a look for speaking disrespectfully, then fell silent in deep thought.
"If we don't act fast, all our ninja will be poached," Danzo muttered quietly under his breath, though he didn't push further.
Being long-time acquaintances, they understood each other well enough. From Hiruzen's tone and attitude right now, Danzo realized he wasn't just helplessly avoiding the issue, but genuinely pondering solutions.
"Secretly freeze the ninja status of all those village ninja lured away to the border forces!" Sarutobi finally spoke after some time. "I suppose the Administrative Department should be capable of that?"
"Well, technically possible, but…" Homura Mitokado hesitated slightly.
After all, this was essentially denying their status as ninja—an action almost certain to provoke problems if opposition arose.
"There's no need for hesitation!"
Unable to contain his inner agitation and anger, Danzo shouted loudly, "Not sending in Anbu or Root to hunt them down is already showing restraint! You must consider their actions tantamount to rogue ninja!"
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Danzo had a flash of insight and immediately connected some dots in his mind. "Rogue ninja?"
"Not quite yet," Hiruzen shook his head, dismissing Danzo's wild idea before the latter could speak. "If Konoha suddenly had over a thousand rogue ninja, we'd be the laughingstock of the entire Ninja World!"
"Then I'll drop it."
Danzo could only give up reluctantly.
But after all this commotion, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane no longer felt inclined to resist.
However, unlike the other three, Homura thought more deeply. Within his own clan alone, many self-proclaimed hardline warriors had already abandoned the honor of being a high-ranking family to serve under Hyuga Soushu.
Of course, some were spies planted by Homura himself, but precisely because of that, Homura actually gained more information than his three old friends.
The enormous wealth now controlled by Hyuga Soushu both fascinated and terrified him!
Compared to waiting in the village for funds allocated by the Daimyo and collecting commissions from mission rewards, directly controlling territories and implementing development policies was clearly far more lucrative!
Yet he couldn't voice these thoughts outright—after all, he was one of Konoha's four top leaders. This kind of behavior would be seen as playing both sides. It was okay to keep it secret, but if exposed, his three old friends would definitely come down on him hard.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Homura decided not to reveal the truth.
And this small omission ultimately derailed Hiruzen Sarutobi's entire plan.
"The main reason why ninja choose to leave and join the Border Forces," Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly analyzed, "is ultimately for personal gain and prestige."
"Therefore, our top priority should be increasing the income of our village's ninja; doing so will stabilize morale while also boosting their enthusiasm toward taking missions."
"So, I propose lowering the mission commission rate to five percent. What do you all think?"
With that, he started packing his pipe without waiting for a response.
The three elder advisors exchanged glances, each visibly troubled.
A sudden drastic reduction like this would undoubtedly create a significant financial shortfall for the village. Even with increased mission volume due to such stimulus policies, it still wouldn't be enough to cover such a massive deficit.
Without precise data at hand, Koharu Utatane—who had managed Konoha's treasury for years—nonetheless quickly estimated: "If we do this, the village will face a deficit of 300 million ryō (a common currency unit) this year."
"Only three hundred million?"
Hiruzen dismissed it casually. "The war reparations from the Land of Lightning can cover this shortfall."
"But those reparations are already earmarked for other uses!"
Upon hearing this, Danzo immediately objected. "Besides, Hiruzen, you cannot reduce Root Division's budget!"
"Furthermore, three hundred million is just this year's deficit," Koharu sighed, pointing out another difficult issue. "If next year's mission volume decreases, the deficit might grow even larger."
"I'm not planning to keep this reduced commission permanently, so there's no need to worry too far ahead."
Hiruzen waved it off casually. "There are simply too many missions right now. This policy is merely short-term stimulation. Besides, adjusting the commission rate back to its original level can be done anytime."
"Well, that's manageable."
Hearing this, Koharu Utatane dropped the issue.
"Additionally, the entire Rain Country military camp will be completely disbanded. All conscripted ninja must return to the village while the Standing Ninja Army will be integrated into the Northwest Border Defense Forces. Also, all Hokage's direct subordinates stranded in the Land of Lightning must be recalled immediately."
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi systematically arranged the troop reduction matters.
However, these were all within the purview of Konoha's F4. The most critical and urgent matter involved the two border forces controlled by the Hyuga Clan.
But something felt off to Homura Mitokado.
"Furthermore, troop reductions must continue even though the Hyuga-controlled border forces are still expanding," Third Hokage continued firmly. "The village will not increase funding quotas for ninja forces any further! The Northern Border Forces' budget will be capped at three thousand personnel while the Eastern Coastal Defense Garrison will be restricted to one thousand!"
"This..."
Homura Mitokado frowned.
The Northern Border Forces weren't a major concern since their numbers had already dwindled significantly after successive wars. As long as they withdrew all Hokage's direct subordinates still stationed at the Lightning Daimyo's court, the ninja presence in both the Northern Border and Land of Lightning would drop below three thousand.
However, the Eastern Coastal Defense Garrison was a jointly managed area between the Hyuga and Uchiha clans. The Uchiha clan had specifically dispatched ninja from the village to the eastern front.
This straightforward yet heavy-handed approach to reducing ninja troop numbers would inevitably provoke resistance from these two powerful ninja clans.
Moreover, although Konoha was currently negotiating peace treaties with Hidden Cloud and Hidden Stone villages, they'd been unable to contact Hidden Mist, which remained isolated overseas. These two villages were technically still in conflict.
If Hidden Mist launched a sudden seaborne assault on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire after these force reductions, the village would face serious trouble.
"Don't worry! They won't pull back their troops."
Third Hokage read Homura's concern and explained, "However, reducing maintenance funds for ninja forces is necessary during peacetime. If they want to maintain current troop levels within the limited budget, let them sort it out themselves!"
"You're still too weak-willed," Danzo muttered under his breath to himself.
Third Hokage shot him a fierce glare.
Homura gave a slow nod after a moment's thought.
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