"The Land of Water still has tens of thousands of ninja. We can't just leave them all there. My suggestion is to have the Sand ninja and the Land of Water ninja swap defensive posts."
The meeting in the Hokage's office was clearly meant to solve the problem of the Mist Village's remaining forces. Koharu Utatane was the first to offer her solution.
From the current perspective, both the Sand and Mist ninja held grievances against Konoha and surely had their own agendas. Making them swap defensive posts would reduce their combat effectiveness in the short term, but it would also redirect their lingering conflicts toward each other.
As expected of an old advisor, her first words were a cunning scheme.
Tsunade frowned. "During the Third Great Ninja War, the conflict between the Mist and the Sand was not small," she said in a deep voice. "If they are stationed in each other's countries and start bullying civilians to vent their anger, how should we handle it?"
"We would punish them severely, of course!" Homura Mitokado stated harshly, before softening his tone. "This would also be a way to show Konoha's fairness and impartiality."
"I have a different opinion."
Naruto Uzumaki tapped his arm. "I plan to implement a new policy in all the territories Konoha occupies: the Ninja Jurisdiction System," he said in a low voice. "This policy will require a lot of ninja..."
"What do you mean by that?" Tsunade looked at him with curiosity.
Naruto explained, "Undoubtedly, Konoha is destined to unify the ninja world and abolish all other major ninja villages. But after that, we will face a problem. The five great nations are vast. We must send people to guard them."
"That's a matter of course," Tsunade said, confused. "For example, in the Land of Water, even without the Mist Village, a Konoha military camp would have to be established..."
"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto interrupted her gently. "My point is to divide the map of the entire ninja world even further. Every city, every small town, must have ninja stationed there."
The Ninja Jurisdiction System.
This was something Naruto and Tobirama Senju had discussed. On one hand, it would strengthen the village's rule over the regions and protect civilians. On the other, it would prevent minor conflicts from escalating into full-blown crises.
If they maintained the current system, any future issue between the Land of Water and Konoha ninja would lead to chaos across the entire country. But if only one small town had an issue, the impact could be minimized.
Each city, town, and even village would have a number of ninja stationed there based on its population and size. They would not participate in administration, but would only be responsible for handling mission requests and protecting civilians.
To ensure there were no mistakes, Konoha would send ANBU to inspect every month, making sure the stationed ninja were not deceiving their superiors. An assessment would be held every six months; those who passed would be promoted, and those who failed would be demoted.
Each village would have a minimum of one genin, each small town a minimum of one chunin, each city a minimum of one jonin, and each country a minimum of one Kage-level powerhouse. If some places had many mission requests and some had few, the number of dispatched ninja would be adjusted accordingly.
Koharu Utatane immediately raised the biggest problem. "What if someone defects? If the system isn't strict, rogue ninja could easily leave the village and leak its secrets."
"That problem isn't difficult to solve," Naruto said with a light laugh. "I will establish a tracker-nin unit responsible for hunting down rogue ninja. Besides, once Konoha unifies the ninja world, where can a rogue ninja possibly escape to?"
Koharu Utatane sighed. "If so, will the village still be as united as it is now?" Once this system was implemented, many ninja would move out of Konoha, and the village itself would instantly feel empty.
"Konoha still has many things to do," Naruto said firmly. "The Ninja Academy will be greatly expanded to accommodate students from the Land of Fire, Land of Wind, Land of Water, Land of Waterfalls, and the Land of Rice Fields. Besides training them to become ninja, their other abilities will also be cultivated."
"In addition, Konoha's ninja will be specialized to some extent. For example, there will be a ninja army specifically for resolving wars, which will undergo centralized training; life-skill ninja for handling mission requests; and science ninja for research and development."
"This is a reform that will change the entire ninja world. I'm just mentioning it in advance. In a few days, I will discuss it with others and create a formal reform plan. I hope you will all consider it carefully. If possible, I'd like to start implementing this system next year."
It was the first time the young Hokage had so clearly proposed to intervene in Konoha's internal affairs, but his plan was so impactful that Tsunade knew she had to consider it carefully.
Koharu, however, was not in favor. "If we do this, Konoha's strength will be dispersed. Our numerical advantage over the Stone and Cloud Villages will be gone. I hope this plan can be implemented after Konoha has unified the ninja world."
Ever since Naruto destroyed the Mist Village, his previous pacifism seemed to have vanished without a trace. With the combined forces of the Sand, Mist, and Konoha, unifying the ninja world no longer seemed like such a difficult task.
Koharu and Homura had even begun talking about it openly. They had even gone to Danzo Shimura's cenotaph to tell him the good news. After all, their old friend had dreamed of unifying the ninja world, but unfortunately, he lacked the power.
"The times have changed," Naruto retorted in a low voice. "The methods of large-scale warfare will change. This time, when I occupied the Land of Water, I only brought a single guard with me."
"You still dare to bring that up!" Tsunade looked at him angrily. "You clearly said you were going to mediate a war, and in the end, you threw yourself into such a dangerous place again!"
"Granny Tsunade, don't be angry," Naruto said, holding up his hands. "I'm just explaining that a ninja with powerful individual strength now has the ability to destroy an entire army single-handedly. Both the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha possessed this kind of power."
"Tch!" Tsunade had to acknowledge his point. Back in the day, Konoha's wars were almost entirely dependent on the three Sannin to turn the tide and secure victory. Naruto's strength was growing stronger and stronger, but she never expected he could actually conquer the Land of Water on his own.
"Alright, you can present these systems you want to implement at the Jonin meeting after you've perfected them," Tsunade said, moving on from the topic. She brought up the other purpose of their meeting. "Now we need to talk about Orochimaru. According to ANBU reports, that fellow has started appearing in Konoha again."
"Hmm?" Naruto was unconcerned. "After the meeting, I'll find a way to track him down." As long as he looked for Kabuto Yakushi, he could pick up Orochimaru's trail. He even suspected Orochimaru might be hiding in the Konoha Orphanage.
What Naruto never expected was that Kabuto and Orochimaru had had a disagreement. The two were now in a cold war. The reason Orochimaru had appeared in Konoha was precisely because he wanted to deal with Kabuto—the traitor who always claimed to be acting for Orochimaru's own good.
And the reason Orochimaru dared to appear was that a letter from Kabuto had allowed him to successfully use the Living Corpse Reincarnation to bypass the Reaper's grasp and undo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
Of course, in the process, he also revived Minato Namikaze.
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Bonus:
Kabuto Yakushi: Lord Orochimaru, surrender. It's for your own good...
Orochimaru: Look who's standing behind me, Minato Namikaze. Didn't expect that, did you!
Kabuto Yakushi: ...I did expect it. Wasn't it I who provided you with the method to undo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?
Orochimaru: ...
Kabuto Yakushi: Lord Orochimaru, surrender. It's for your own good...
Orochimaru: I have the Yellow Flash on my side...
Minato Namikaze: Senior Orochimaru, I probably can't beat Sasuke and my son right now...
Orochimaru: ...Uh, Kabuto, could you write me a letter of recommendation for a job?