Chapter 69: Turmoil in the Shinobi World
The losses suffered by Konoha and Suna had little direct impact on Ishiro, who continued his patrol duties at the border. However, Iwa's gains this time greatly benefited him.
After Ōnoki's clever arrangement, Konoha stumbled yet again, and with the ransom from Suna arriving smoothly, Ōnoki rewarded every participating Anbu squad with an A-rank mission accomplishment.
Additionally, Ishiro was recognized for his crucial role with sensory ninjutsu, granting him another personal A-rank mission credit, making the rewards for these two A-rank missions notably generous.
More importantly, Owl had approached Ishiro during the border mission, informing him of the village's plan: Ishiro's rapid growth in strength, especially in compensating for his previous shortcomings in Taijutsu, had impressed the leadership. They intended to promote him to Tokubetsu Jōnin and have him lead an independent Anbu squad. For now, his task was to learn from Shiden about the responsibilities of leadership and continue honing his abilities.
The actual appointment would depend on two factors: the leadership reaching a unified decision, and the internal preparation within Anbu to ensure both Team 18 and Ishiro's new squad had proper personnel.
The rest of the patrol period went uneventfully. With most villages fixated on Konoha, Ishiro's team enjoyed relative peace due to their proximity to Suna, which was occupied with its own leadership transitions.
Upon returning to the village, as expected, Owl formally announced Ishiro's promotion to Tokubetsu Jōnin.
Unlike Chūnin promotions, which only allowed the study of a single ninjutsu, Tokubetsu Jōnin had broader choices:
Choosing a common B-rank ninjutsu without guidance or medicinal support.
Choosing specialized medicinal meals and guided ninjutsu training, but the technique had to be redeemed separately.
Trading for materials and currency, typically chosen by prominent clan members.
Directly receiving contribution points (though fewer than the value of a standard B-rank ninjutsu).
Choosing positions within certain village roles (not available for Anbu members).
After careful consideration, Ishiro chose to accept contribution points.
The defensive-oriented B-rank sword technique he sought required 25,000 contribution points. Currently, Ishiro had 10,000 saved, with another 14,000 earned from his recent A-rank missions. That left him short by 1,000 points, so he opted for 12,000 points, enabling him to acquire the desired technique.
Although Shiden had advised him to build more fundamentals before studying this technique, securing it early gave Ishiro peace of mind.
Learning about Ishiro's promotion, Shiden personally offered advice on leading a squad, even allowing Ishiro to command a mission as practice. This made Shironeko and Koseki deeply envious. Shironeko, worried about less frequent visits for Tuanzi if separated from Ishiro, insisted on having Ishiro take Tuanzi home after every mission.
Seeing this, Ishiro consulted the barrier team, allowing Tuanzi special entry into the natural energy sealing zone even during his absence.
Two months passed quickly. After completing two more missions with Team 18, Ishiro finally received orders to lead Anbu Division Three's newly reorganized Team 7.
Team 7's previous captain had recently left Anbu to become a Jōnin instructor, and the former members were reassigned. Ishiro's new squad members were fresh recruits around his age.
Arriving early at the training grounds previously used by Team 7, Ishiro unpacked his wooden training dummies from storage scrolls, intending to permanently leave this equipment here for his new squad. He would simply purchase new equipment for himself later.
After setting up, Ishiro took a wooden spear and tested his recent progress.
Taking a deep breath, he swiftly thrust forward twenty-six times in rapid succession—nineteen hits struck accurately, but the final seven gradually lost precision.
Satisfied with his progress, Ishiro knew that although numerically his improvement might seem modest, his true capability was now vastly superior to before. If Ishiro compared his current self to the one from two months ago, he could easily overwhelm ten versions of himself from back then in close combat.
Though his physical strength had grown considerably, the most substantial reason for his improvement was the quality of his chakra, which was now close to a true Jōnin's. This boosted all his abilities dramatically.
Had he not been in this rapid growth phase, reaching his current mastery in Taijutsu would've taken ten times longer.
Initially, Owl planned to delay Ishiro's promotion slightly, but an unexpected event rocked the shinobi world:
Konoha's White Fang had committed suicide!
Everyone, including Danzō himself, was shocked. While Danzō intended to suppress White Fang to control him or at least keep him away from the Hokage seat, he hadn't anticipated White Fang's ultimate defiance through suicide.
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt even greater remorse. He regretted not stopping the spreading rumors in time, ashamed he allowed his personal bias to cloud judgment. But now, his biggest concern became how to face Konoha's shinobi. White Fang's suicide felt like a slap in Hiruzen's face, severely damaging his reputation among the village's elite.
In the original timeline, White Fang's death occurred later, when Konoha's strength had already stabilized, thus minimizing its impact. But now, White Fang's premature death threatened to unravel the village's recent recovery.
His death forced every shinobi to question their loyalty—if even a legendary hero could be forced into suicide by village politics, how safe could they truly be?
This became Hiruzen's greatest crisis since becoming Hokage. However, he found an unexpected ally in Danzō this time, who knew he couldn't allow Hiruzen's fall now, as it would equally doom his own ambitions. After all, while Hiruzen bore direct blame as Hokage, everyone knew Danzō had instigated it.
As tensions rose externally—with Iwa, Suna, Kumo, and Kiri probing Konoha's vulnerabilities—the Leaf's internal politics took a nasty turn. To distract from their own failure, Hiruzen and Danzō redirected public anger towards the Uchiha Clan, exploiting civilian conflicts with the Military Police Force.
This successfully diverted attention and allowed Hiruzen and Danzō to survive politically, though trust within Konoha was damaged. To appease shinobi morale, Hiruzen publicly accepted responsibility for White Fang's death, clarified White Fang's innocence, and promised to personally mentor White Fang's unborn child.
Thus, Danzō once again carried most of the blame unwillingly.
Externally, the Four Great Nations seized Konoha's internal turmoil as an opportunity. Kumogakure quickly overran several Konoha border outposts, prompting similar actions from Iwa, Suna, and Kiri.
In response, Ōnoki rapidly expanded the Anbu division, hurriedly promoting Ishiro ahead of schedule to fill urgent needs. Ishiro himself felt conflicted upon learning these events—his small actions had indirectly contributed to the demise of the legendary White Fang!
Although Ishiro was confident in leading his new squad, he still felt uneasy confronting Konoha's legendary shinobi, fully aware of the numerous powerhouse shinobi there.
"Maybe I should start making a list of all Konoha's current 'bugs' just in case…" Ishiro quietly muttered to himself.
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