High Level Meeting

In the conference room of the Hokage office, the 3rd, Jiraya, Orochimaru, the two advisers, Danzo, and all the head of clans were gathered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Jiraya has brought us the news from the Sand village. The 3rd Kazekage has disappeared along the fire country's borders. The Sand are now using this as excuse to invade our land."

The 3rd Hokage's face showed his burden. He knew that if they have a war with the Sand, they won't just have them as enemies. It will probably end up as an all out war between all villages just like before. Thinking about this, he couldn't keep himself from remembering the horrid consequences of the two previous wars.

Konoha is the hidden village of the Fire Country. This country is strategically linking the north to the south. The ecological environment it has is also the best of all 5 major countries and suitable for growing crops and for living in general. Between its location, its environment and its powerful hidden village, the fire country was the strongest in the whole world.

Such a prosperous country naturally will always have the eyes of its neighboring ones on it. They crave its land and its resources.

Originally, in Hashirama's Era, he and Uchiha Madara were strong enough to dominate the Ninja world. But after their battle in the Valley of the End and Madara's "Death", and soon after that Hashirama followed. This took away the obvious edge that Konoha had, leading to the eruption of the 1st world war to fight over those resources.

(Translator note: I think Hashirama was alive when the war broke out, but I think this is true in a sense: in the 1st Kage Summit, a fragile agreement was made, and the war went all out again after Hashirama's death.)

In the 1st world war, Tobirama Senju was Hokage. The tension between the Uchiha and Senju clans was still there. Even without Madara and Hashirama in its ranks, Konoha was still able to out pressure the other 4 villages. However, it suffered many losses as well. The five nations ended up signing a peace treaty, a chance to all of them to pick up their breaths.

After the signing of the treaty, Hiruzen led Konoha after having the position of Hokage passed on to him by Tobirama who died in the war.

On the top of Konoha, he carefully managed and developed the village for 20 years. 20 years of peace were enough to make Konoha prosperous again.

Then there was the 2nd world war. Konoha was at its peak with the likes of the 3rd's disciples the legendary Sannin, the White Fang Sakumo Hatake, and Dan Kato among its ranks. These outstanding young Ninja led Konoha to victory by the time the war ended.

"Hokage Sama, Hokage Sama, Hiruzen!" Homura Mitokado's voice interrupted the 3rd's thoughts.

"Oh I'm sorry, sorry I've been thinking about something. The meeting continues. As I just said, the Sand village are about to make their move, so what do you think?" the 3rd was back in the present and asked the people present.

"Sarutobi Sensei! The Sand ninja should get special attention because of their unorthodox methods and their use of poisons, especially because of their use of poisons!" Said Jiraya.

"That's true indeed. Back in the 2nd world war, even though we had Tsunade, many of our ninjas fell victim to the Sand's poisons. Today, we don't have her in our ranks anymore. These poisons will pose a much more serious problem." Said Koharu Utatane.

"More than that, Konoha's medical ninja have always been led by Tsunade. Now that she's gone, the deployment of the medical troops we have should also be a problem!" Added Homura.

After all these intervention, the conference room fell into silence. These are indeed grave issues that should be resolved. Shikaku Nara was wondering about the way he should take to suggest Ryo as a substitute for Tsunade.

"Sarutobi Sensei, I think that Ryo Yamanaka can take Tsunade's place." Orochimaru's voice broke the silence in the conference room.

"Oh? Orochimaru, explain your point of view." Orochimaru's suggestion made the eyes of the 3rd light up. Ryo was indeed a good choice.

"Sarutobi Sensei, 1st of all, Ryo Kun is the closest to Tsunade in level when it comes to medical Ninjutsu. Second, the Yamanaka's have been always loyal to Konoha. The only problem is his qualifications and rank. Can we make people accept his leadership?"

Listening to Orochimaru, the 3rd was nodding in agreement frequently. After he finished listening, he was more and more convinced.

"What do you think?" the 3rd asked for everyone's opinions.

"The Uchiha clan agrees!"

"The Hyuga clan agrees!"

"The Sarutobi clan agrees!"

"The Nara Clan agrees!"

"The Akamichi Clan agrees!"

"The Yamanaka Clan agrees!"

...

With the exception of the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance, none of the heads of clans were interested in the position of the Head of the medical team.

There were many medical Ninja in the village. But Ryo was a rare talent, the only one comparable to Tsunade. Everybody nodded in agreement. It seemed like Ryo's position was guaranteed.

"Wait, the old man disagrees!" The sudden opposition from Danzo wasn't easy to swallow by the Heads of clans present.

They have all just agreed and now, he's going against all of them!

Actually, Danzo just couldn't let this pass. According to his point of view, Ryo was just a 9 year old. Yes, he's great with medical Ninjutsu, but to let a child be a team captain? That's absolutely unacceptable.

"Danzo, tell us why you're against this proposition!" The 3rd didn't have a good look on his face. He just nodded, and all head of clans agreed, and now his old comrade is the one opposing?

"Sarutobi, it's just like Orochimaru said. Ryo Yamanaka's rank and qualification cannot be accepted by the public."

"Danzo san, I just said that we should convince the public, not that they cannot be convinced." Said Orochimaru.

"Well, no one should ever question Ryo's qualification again. It is enough for him that he brought Sakumo Hatake back from the dead at the age of 5 when no one else was able to do that!" As the 3rd mentioned the name of "Sakumo", Danzo backed down for a second.

He understood what the 3rd meant. The events that happened with Sakumo are ones he'll never forget. Under the Hokage's pressure, Danzo was only able to nod.

The heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance looked at each other in disbelief: They did not expect things to go so smoothly.

First, it was Orochimaru's proposal, then the agreement of the 3rd, followed by the agreement by all heads of clans! Even Danzo's opposition was suppressed by the 3rd.

"Well, now that we all agree, the captain of the medical team will be Ryo Yamanaka. So now…"

"Wait a minute, Sarutobi Sensei, Ryo Yamanaka is still a Genin. Take a look at this…" Right when the 3rd was about to move on to the next topic, Jiraya interrupted him.

Jiraya's point was very simple. By developing the Healing stone, Ryo benefited the village and all its upcoming generations. The village is being very secretive about it for many reasons.

The 3rd glared at his student. Of course he knew that Ryo was just a Genin. He intended on promoting Ryo to the rank of Chunin after the end of this meeting. But he didn't expect Jiraya to say come out about this in public.

"Ryo Yamanaka has indeed made a great contribution to the village. It is fitting that he gets promoted to the rank of Chunin." Koharu Utatane knew what the 3rd was planning to do, and just said it out loud.

This time, even Danzo had no reason to object. Ryo's healing stone gives him so much credit, and he was indeed worthy of being a Chunin.

The heads of clans wouldn't have stood against this even without if Jiraya didn't expose that Ryo was the one behind stones.

Afterwards, all the topics brought up in the meeting revolved about the specific preparations to the war against the Sand village.