Naruto: Hyuga Warlord

Though Danzo's face grew darker with fury, he stubbornly stayed seated instead of walking out as Shirakawa Namiko had expected.

That made him feel a bit disappointed.

Unfortunately, as long as Danzo was willing to swallow his pride, Shirakawa had no way to force his hand. Virtually every rule within the Ninja Force and all the laws of Konoha held little power over him. This special treatment came from his status as a student of The Second and a peer to The Third!

"Hyuga Soushu's achievements in battle have already been reported to the village, and today an official award decree has been issued."

Smiling slightly, Shirakawa poured salt into Danzo's wounds once more, "Now then, please read the Hokage's proclamation, Honorable Danzo!"

"After deliberation at the Hokage Tower, it has been decided that Jonin participants Yechame Hamako and Hyuga Soushu, among others, will be granted two S-rank Mission Records as recognition! All temporary Cleanup Squad ninja involved in the battle shall each receive one A-rank Mission Record for their commendable actions!"

Although pressured into this corner, Danzo still read aloud the official commendation from Konoha, though his face clearly showed his displeasure.

The content itself only served to make him even more annoyed!

Still, no matter how bold Danzo might be, he didn't dare fabricate lies openly in such a semi-public document. If exposed again, he would truly lose face completely.

"This operation to eliminate the Sunagakure ninjas was indeed very successful! A toast to everyone present!"

Immediately after the proclamation, Shirakawa raised his cup, expressing his respect toward all the ninja gathered by raising his tea in a toast.

After all, now that Danzo had been pushed into a corner, there was no need to keep pressing forward.

"A toast to Konoha!"

The Jonin swiftly joined in!

This display of unity and solidarity stabbed painfully into Danzo's heart once again.

And the main reason Shirakawa opposed Danzo so fiercely was because he wanted promotion far too much!

Moving forward is like rowing upriver—if you don't push ahead, you fall behind.

While everyone understands the saying "stepping back could open a wider sky," given his current position as commander of the border forces, even the slightest retreat could be seen as a sign of total defeat. Since Danzo couldn't gain any advantage on the Rain Country front, Shirakawa must seize every opportunity on the western border command!

If Shirakawa were to suffer complete defeat in this struggle for power, he would accept it as fate—there'd be nothing more to say.

But now that his longtime ally, Sakumo Hatake, had already returned to Konoha to take over leadership of the Jonin Unit, his ambition to rise higher burned stronger than ever. Although Shirakawa Namiko hailed merely from an ordinary ninja family, years of effort had earned him a certain following. With constant encouragement from staunch supporters like Yechame Hamako, he no longer wanted to spend his life stuck as just a high-ranking Jonin.

Though his childhood dream of becoming Hokage had vanished the moment he graduated from the Ninja Academy, if the chance arose to move up, it would certainly fulfill some of those youthful aspirations.

Especially after Sakumo Hatake's promotion and return to the village, Shirakawa Namiko had finally gained command over the western front ninja forces. Yet before he could even settle into his new role, Danzo was already trying to seize his military authority!

For a border force commander, control over the ninja army wasn't just a lifeline—it was everything!

If that can be tolerated, what can't? No way in hell!

There was absolutely no way Shirakawa Namiko could accept such a situation!

Besides, even if he could somehow tolerate it, his jonin subordinates—already unsettled by Hyuga Soushu's manipulative persuasion—wouldn't tolerate it either!

Danzo couldn't be killed—but Shirakawa Namiko would ensure he lost every shred of dignity!

"Commander Namiko!"

Just as Shirakawa Namiko was about to continue denouncing certain people's past misdeeds, the tent flap of the Central Command Tent suddenly lifted, and a chunin rushed in. Ignoring the reactions of the jonin present, the chunin cried out with obvious panic:

"Urgent report from the advancing unit in the Land of Rivers!"

"What's happened?"

He shoved internal conflicts completely out of his mind.

Without even considering Danzo's presence, [he used the Shifting Body Technique] to flash beside the messenger chunin and snatched the urgent message from the man's hands.

The message was very brief; Shirakawa read it at a glance.

His expression immediately changed.

The jonin guessed from their commander's face what had occurred—the Land of Rivers served as a buffer nation between the Lands of Fire and Wind. Any emergency report coming from there could only mean one thing: an invasion from Sunagakure.

Even more so since this report had come from their own forward unit already inside the Land of Rivers, making its implications self-evident.

"The vanguard of the Sunagakure ninja forces had already begun small-scale engagements with our advancing units."

Shirakawa's confirmation surprised no one, yet even so, everyone felt their hearts sink.

"How many shinobi did Suna deploy this time?"

Yechame Hamako stood up first and blurted.

This was exactly the question the jonin most wanted answered. As for Danzo, now that enemy forces were approaching, nobody concerned themselves anymore with internal struggles.

"Roughly three thousand."

Shirakawa hesitated slightly but still spoke the truth.

"This—"

A wave of tension swept through the jonin assembly.

After multiple campaigns and frequent troop transfers, the current strength of the western border forces—including the first and second waves of reinforcements—stood at around sixteen hundred ninja total. Among them, more than eight hundred were recently arrived reinforcements, barely better off than Soushu's unit. They couldn't be sent into battle without rest or basic orientation training first.

Even if these fresh reinforcements completed adaptation training, their combat effectiveness likely wouldn't match that of the Suna ninja who had arrived brimming with momentum and determination. Sending them straight into battle would simply be offering themselves up for slaughter!

Therefore, Shirakawa's response was entirely appropriate: "Send ninja hawks back to the village immediately to report the situation and request Lord Sakumo's personal arrival to take command!"

"That's right! Exactly!"

The senior ninja unanimously nodded in agreement.

"What about the forward unit stationed in the Land of Rivers?" 

Hyuga Soushu added cautiously.

"Uh..."

To be honest, Shirakawa Namiko was genuinely conflicted.

Deploying part of the ninja forces into the Land of Rivers as an advance unit to control the buffer zone had been a legacy left behind by his predecessor, Sakumo Hatake. Shirakawa had no intention of changing that arrangement, as doing so might make him appear disrespectful toward his predecessor and cost him the support of the ninja ranks.

After all, Sakumo Hatake's achievements while defending the western front had been nothing short of glorious!

Yet, he couldn't simply ignore the current situation either.

Because even a slight delay in withdrawing those 300-plus troops in the vanguard could result in total annihilation!

"Pull back now and reinforce our defenses!"

That suggestion caught everyone completely off guard.

It was voiced voluntarily by Danzo, who until now had been at a complete loss for words and nearly humiliated into silence.

Shirakawa Namiko could hardly believe his ears—was this really something Danzo had said?!

Now that was strange indeed!

Still, glancing at the similarly astonished expressions on the faces of the other Jonin, he confirmed he hadn't misheard anything.

"Preserve people and lose land—you'll keep both. Preserve land and lose people—you'll end up with neither."

Danzo ignored the visible shock on Shirakawa's face and others', instead fixing Hyuga Soushu with a gaze usually reserved for examining precious treasures: "That's actually very insightful."

"Pity though," he continued, "you're merely a member of the Branch House."

A wistful expression gradually crept into Danzo's eyes.

But where his gaze settled was precisely on Hyuga Soushu's forehead—the exact spot deliberately hidden beneath the Konoha forehead protector!

"This guy's perception seems unusually keen."

Hyuga Soushu couldn't tell whether Danzo had genuinely noticed something or was just trying to provoke him on purpose.

Either way, he made a decision then and there—he would return immediately and find some green ink to reinforce the fading X-shaped marking of the Caged Bird Curse Seal on his forehead!

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