Koishi Chisa raised her hand, wanting to say something more, but Kōji's figure was long gone.
I hate this! Why am I so weak? I was tired out and fell asleep early every night, never discovering Kōji's true nature.
She should have guessed earlier. Kōji wasn't some rogue ninja.
How would a rogue ninja possess such obscure knowledge like hydroelectric power?
But was Kōji really an Amegakure ANBU?
And was the name 'Kōji' even real?
A large group of samurai and Koishi Chisa's maidservants caught up.
The maidservant, seeing Miss Chisa was unharmed, breathed a sigh of relief. "Miss, please return to the capital quickly. The Konoha Guardian Ninjas are in the capital. Konoha is at war with Sunagakure; anywhere outside the capital is too dangerous."
"Alright, we'll return. We must continue and complete the foundation-laying ceremony."
"Ah? The ceremony is still proceeding?"
"It is proceeding! The hydroelectric plant is an important facility for the Land of Rivers' capital. It must be completed!" Koishi Chisa rubbed her reddened eyes, her gaze firm as she said:
"Even during war, the Land of Rivers' Daimyō's family must maintain basic dignity.
The Land of Rivers' capital cannot plunge into darkness, cannot return to the Warring States Period of candlelight.
Invite one of the Konoha Guardian Ninjas to the dam site. We must ensure the dam's construction."
Seeing Miss Chisa so determined, the maidservant had no choice but to send a samurai to deliver the message.
Several hours later, the dam's foundation-laying ceremony began again.
Koishi Chisa stood on the rostrum, looking at the halved number of artisans, lowered her head to look at the blueprints personally drawn by Kōji, and spoke once more:
"Honored nobles, honored artisans, the foundation-laying ceremony for the Capital Hydroelectric Plant officially begins.
The hydroelectric plant is a project His Highness the Daimyō values most. It will solve the electricity shortage caused by the lack of coal..."
Yōkō and the White Ram squad made a detour along the Land of Rivers' border, skirting it southwards, and returned to the forward operating base.
Yōkō first went to check on the Purple Cat and Kika squads. Fortunately, in the half-month he was away, neither squad had suffered any fatalities.
The missions assigned to their two squads were both surveillance missions within the base.
The Konoha ninjas are pitiable. The Hokage doesn't trust them, monitoring them constantly.
Yōkō entered Battalion Commander Yellow Dog's tent to report.
"Battalion Commander, the target nobles, the Left Imperial Guard General and the Master of the Empress's Household, had some foresight regarding the risks of defecting to Sunagakure. One stayed in the Tenshu Castle, the other in the Department of State, living in seclusion and rarely venturing out. I had no choice but to spend some time luring them out of the capital. Disguised as Rain ANBU, I successfully assassinated both without causing significant property damage or casualties in the Land of Rivers. The Land of Rivers' Daimyō has no pretext to make an issue of it."
Battalion Commander Yellow Dog nodded, took the mission scroll, and quickly scanned it. "You did well, Fox."
He put down the scroll and picked up another one. "Here is a new mission, more troublesome. You will handle it."
Yōkō thought, Is this the pace of war? Not even a chance to catch my breath, one mission after another.
It's also possible I spent too much time in the Land of Rivers' capital, and missions have piled up for the Yellow Dog Battalion.
Taking the scroll, Yōkō saw the mission was to rescue a Shimura clan Chūnin during a prisoner exchange ceremony.
Prisoners were rare in hidden village wars. In the nearly month since the war started, Konoha had 5 captured, Suna had 4 captured.
Sunagakure proposed a prisoner exchange.
The problem was, after Konoha captured Sand ninjas, they were sent directly to the Land of Earth, to Root's for Orochimaru's experiments.
Orochimaru was severely lacking test subjects.
Orochimaru preferred to use at least fifty test subjects for control groups in his experiments.
His methods were too crude. It wasn't an experiment; it was a survivor game.
Konoha had no prisoners on hand. The exchange couldn't be completed, so Root was to snatch the target during the exchange ceremony.
Yōkō asked, "Battalion Commander, the mission scroll says to rescue the Shimura clan Chūnin. What about the other four prisoners?"
"Rescue them if possible."
Yōkō said, "Oh, understood. That means it's optional whether to save them or not."
Battalion Commander Yellow Dog nodded. Fox's comprehension ability was strong. Yellow Dog said:
"This Shimura clan Chūnin acted recklessly to complete a mission and was captured by Sand ninjas. He must be rescued."
Yōkō asked, "Why did he act recklessly?"
Shimura clan ninjas were practically privileged nobles now; there was no need for them to risk their lives like that.
Yellow Dog said:
"This Shimura clan Chūnin has an elder clansman serving as a staff officer in the command headquarters.
That clansman let it slip during a conversation with him: Deputy Commander Hatake Sakumo and Commander-in-Chief Clan Leader Rokaku had a disagreement over one matter, which ended without resolution.
Hatake Sakumo said that they should use this Land of Rivers war to trial implement an assessment system for ninja ranks at the front lines.
For a Chūnin squad leader: after leading the team to execute 2 A-rank missions and 20 B-rank missions, the headquarters would recommend them for promotion to Special Jōnin.
For a Special Jōnin squad leader: after leading the team to execute 2 S-rank missions and 20 A-rank missions, the headquarters would recommend them for promotion to Jōnin.
After this Shimura clan Chūnin heard the whispers, he wanted to be the first to complete an extremely high-difficulty A-rank mission, so he acted rashly and was captured."
Such clear and straightforward promotion criteria – even Yōkō himself was tempted, let alone ordinary ninjas.
After becoming a Root squad leader, Yōkō had completed 1 S-rank mission, 3 A-rank missions, and a number of B-rank missions in total.
The Kato Dan incident earned him an S-rank mission rating internally within Root.
Assassinating the Land of Rivers' Left Imperial Guard General and Master of the Empress's Household was an A-rank mission.
The Nine-Tails transfer seal mission, where he followed Battalion Commander Yellow Dog beneath the Nine-Tails to protect the Uzumaki Princess, ultimately earned him an A-rank mission rating.
The mission in the Land of Rain investigating Sunagakure's intelligence at Kikyō Mountain Range earned him an A-rank mission rating.
Earlier missions when he was still a squad member, like the Land of Whirlpools mission and the Battle of Ushiga Mountain, where his contribution was relatively minor, were allocated as B-rank mission ratings.
According to the assessment system Hatake Sakumo mentioned, Yōkō wasn't qualified for Jōnin yet, but the goal was clear.
As long as he kept completing missions, he would eventually become a Jōnin one day, qualify to attend Jōnin Commander meetings, and enter the village's elite stratum.
"Squadron Leader, the rumor about the assessment system hasn't spread on a large scale, has it?"
"No, it was just a single disagreement within the command tent. That Shimura Chūnin got what he deserved, prying into headquarters' secrets for no reason and suffering the consequences."
After leaving Battalion Commander Yellow Dog's tent, Yōkō went to understand the battlefield situation.
The situation in the Land of Rivers war was very unclear.
Sunagakure had dispatched over 3,500 Sand ninjas, while the Konoha base in the Land of Rivers only had 2,000 ninjas.
Puppet Masters could control multiple puppets, making their combat strength equivalent to two or three people.
Konoha was simultaneously maintaining wars in the Land of Earth and the Land of Rivers, while also having to be wary of Kirigakure, which was itching for action.
After the Third Mizukage died in Uzushiogakure, they had been unable to elect a Fourth Mizukage candidate agreed upon by all parties. The internal strife was fierce, and Kirigakure was temporarily governed by Elder Genji.
Root intelligence indicated that Kirigakure planned to use a war against Konoha to divert its internal conflicts.
If things went badly, Konoha might have to fight a three-front war.
***
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