Chapter 22

Done with his training for the morning, Kazuo turned and started heading to the commander's tent.

Walking through the camp, the atmosphere was much less joyful than yesterday night, in fact, a lot of shinobi were mourning their comrades that they had lost during the last battle.

It was a battle that they had won by a large margin, it could be considered a huge victory however the loss of comrades who had been eating and drinking with you for a long time was never a happy occasion.

Arriving in front of the tent, the guard never stopped Kazuo anymore and simply gave him a respectful nod before allowing him inside.

'I couldn't really use the last battle to add anything to the plan as a way to increase my standing, I did increase the people's morale however so it's better than not doing anything.' Kazuo thought before heading inside.

Inside the tent, Kazuo found both Shikaru and six of the sub-commanders.

"If it isn't the young commander," The Inuzuka said with a large grin on their face.

"Hello," Kazuo said simply giving a light wave before walking to stand next to the commander.

"What you did yesterday was impressive, defeating a Cloud Jonnin isn't something just any Gennin could do." The Hyuga of the group said, his voice calm and gentle.

'He's trying to curry favor with me? There's no other reason for a hyuga to say that to someone like me. Does he think that im a good prospect to invest in?' Kazuo thought before nodding his head, showing the man a light smile.

This seemed to satisfy the hyuga who nodded his head awell.

"So how did ya do it?" The crude Inuzuka asked, their eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Kazuo stood silent for a moment before contemplating his next choice of words.

"At first I was fighting against a cloud Gennin, around the same age as me. I used earth-release hiding-like a mole technique to bring him under the ground before implanting quite a bit of explosion tags onto his body. When I got out, I saw the Jonnin heading towards the genin and quickly saving him by pulling him out of the ground, I knew that he would be able to hear the explosion tags starting to explode so I caused a distraction by sending an explosion tag kunai his way, making him think that the noise was from the kunai and not the explosives planted on the young genin, this misjudgment on his part cost both of their lives" Kazuo said straightforwardly.

'It feels annoying to have to explain just how I did it however considering that Shikaru isn't interrupting me means that he's also curious, thankfully I didn't use anything that is too out of proportion, merely a C rank jutsu and some explosion tags' Kazuo thought before he heard the Inuzuka start laughing out loud like a mad man.

'Fucking dogs, can't even control themselves in front of their commander' Kazuo thought as he stared at them.

"Are you sure that you're not some Nara descendant? With that mind of yours, it's pretty hard to believe you aren't one." One of the other men said as he looked at Kazuo, his eyes filled with interest as he looked at Kazuo.

Shaking his head, Kazuo replied with a smile.

"Thank you for the compliment however it was simply a series of arrangements that worked out because of luck, i wouldn't have had a chance to defeat a Jonin otherwise," Kazuo said, his voice gentle, clearly trying to appear humble.

Shikaru made a noise with his mouth, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.

"Since we are on this topic then I guess I'll simply say it now," Shikaru said before turning to face Kazuo.

"Gennin Kazuo, from now on you are promoted to the rank of Chunin," Shikaru said with a soft smile on his face.

Kazuo meanwhile stood still, his face betraying his emotions for but a split second as his mouth hung open, however, he quickly regained his poker face as he looked at the man.

'What the fuck? Is this how easy ninjas get promoted during wartime?' Kazuo thought as he looked at Shikaru before bowing at a ninety-degree angle to his commander.

"I humbly accept," Kazuo said, he didn't start questioning the man, and neither did he ask for a reason.

Wasn't the saying to not look a gift horse in the mouth?

'He most certainly has reasons for this promotion, I'd say that he wants to keep me closer, and by promoting me to chunin then I won't be able to leave the battlefield as every Chunin is needed in the war whilst Gennin isn't.' Kazuo thought as he quickly analyzed the situation.

'I can't be sure, however, the mind of a Nara far surpasses mine and almost everyone else's, if I were to put it into stats then he is likely to be at S rank or maybe even higher in intelligence.' Kazuo thought before he lifted his body and stood upright.

A couple of claps and words of congratulations sounded in the room as the Inuzuka gave him an almost feral smile though it didn't look hostile whilst the Hyuga simply gave him a congratulations with a light nod.

"Now, let's get back to the future plans. As you all know we have completely annihilated the enemy camp however this isn't the end of our mission, next we will be pushing until the border with the land of the cloud where we expect to have another enemy camp waiting for us. This however will take a few weeks and a change of gennin will take place as most of them here have deserved a small vacation back to the village. As for anyone above Gennin rank, they will be staying here and participating in the battle, we can't afford to lose too much power otherwise a single ambush could wipe us all out." Shikaru said as he looked at every single person inside the tent.

His gaze stayed just a tad bit longer on Kazuo, and Kazuo didn't miss it.

'This bastard, I was right' Kazuo thought however made no outward reaction to the commander's words.

"Today, most of the Gennin will start heading back to the leaf, Inuzuka and Ijuru will accompany them back," Shikaru said turning to look at the two captains.

"All right, I've been missing home for quite a while now," Inuzuka said whilst the man called Ijuru simply nodded his head.

"With that out of the way, there's not much else to talk about for now, you all are dismissed until tomorrow morning at seven when we will start planning on the road we will take for our advance to the border, Inuzuka and Ijuru can start planning when to get going on their own though I do suggest that you get going by tonight," Shikaru said before everyone nodded and started heading out.

At least until Shikaru's voice was heard again.

"Kazuo, stay back, I've got something to talk about with you." 

'Ah, what does this fucker want now. It's always bad news with him, always.' Kazuo thought inwardly before stopping and turning around whilst the others got out of the tent.

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