But now, although he was old, he had a young man by his side whose combat power was top-tier within the clan and who possessed limitless potential.
As long as he explicitly declared Uchiha Gen as his successor, the people in his faction would see hope and gather together once again.
"I will work hard. However, after the Jounin Council Meeting, these matters will still need to be handled by you, Great Elder. Just let me make an appearance whenever I am needed."
The rest of the time, I will focus my energy on my training.
It won't be long before I should be able to fully master Uncle Kagami's Phantom Body Flicker Technique. By then, my strength will not be inferior to Uncle Kagami's current level, which will be enough to suppress the others in the clan."
Upon hearing this, the Great Elder couldn't help but pause his steps, his gaze towards Uchiha Gen filled with a hint of surprise.
"Really?"
"Indeed. Yesterday, I received guidance from the Third Hokage, and by a stroke of luck, I figured out the secret to the Phantom Body Flicker Technique. I only need to be able to skillfully apply my ocular power to the Shadow Clone Technique to succeed."
"If that is the case, then some things can indeed be pushed forward a step earlier."
Stroking his beard, the Great Elder said to Uchiha Gen, "Gen, before you become the Clan Head, are you interested in taking a seat as an Elder within the clan?"
On the afternoon of the second day after the Clan Meeting concluded, the Konoha Village Jounin Council Meeting was held on schedule.
Excluding the Jonin who were still on the front lines and at the borders, the remaining nearly one hundred Jonin in the Village sat quietly in rows before long tables.
At the long table in the very front, the Third Hokage, accompanied by two Hokage Advisors, faced the crowd of Konoha Jonin.
Konoha was a formal military organization. Although it had internal political attributes, it was ultimately not a sovereign state. The meeting room where the Jounin Council Meeting was held was not decorated in a magnificent or solemn manner; it was simply a sufficiently wide and large ordinary meeting room.
In Uchiha Gen's view, the Jounin Council Meeting did not differ much from the Clan Meetings he attended within his clan. Perhaps the Jounin Council Meeting itself had evolved from the Senju Clan's Clan Meetings, only expanded from the Senju Clan to the entire elite class of Konoha after the Village was founded.
From military arrangements such as personnel deployment for war and border defense, and the handling of various potential hidden dangers and crises within the Village, to administrative and financial matters like the appointment and replacement of authorities from the Hokage to the Elders and heads of important departments, as well as the Daimyo's military funding and mission income, and summaries of recent work by the Hokage and various functional departments—every aspect was covered quite comprehensively.
These were all established by Senju Tobirama at the beginning of Konoha's founding, so the entire process looked quite professional, but it also sounded very tedious. Sitting in the back row, Uchiha Gen felt a bit drowsy, but he tried to calm his mind and carefully understand the current situation of Konoha Village.
Konoha Village had a large establishment and deep foundations. In a situation where it had to confront multiple major Ninja Villages simultaneously, it was already nearing full capacity.
Although there were still funds and supplies left, these were reserves to prevent the further escalation of the war, and not much could be mobilized.
Hearing this, Uchiha Gen knew that what Tsunade wanted to do would be very difficult to get directly approved this time.
Konoha no longer had much spare capacity to take out a large amount of manpower and resources to establish a new Ninja department.
Fortunately, this was already within Orochimaru's expectations.
They still had a backup plan.
"In summary, I believe that Medical Ninja can drastically reduce war casualties and improve the Village's long-term combat capability during the war. Therefore, I propose establishing a relevant Medical Department to train Medical Ninja on a large scale and supplement them into various teams."
Under the gaze of nearly a hundred Jonin, the first formal proposal Tsunade made at the Jounin Council Meeting was rejected by the Third Hokage.
"I naturally recognize the value of Medical Ninja, and I have also seen what you did in the Land of Rain."
"But the Village is currently in the midst of war. Establishing a new Ninja category and an important department requires long-term investment of a large amount of manpower and resources."
"We do not have enough time to wait for these Medical Ninja to grow up, and we also need resources to cope with a war that could escalate again at any time."
"Therefore, your proposal can only be shelved for now. Only after the war ends will the Village have the spare strength to do these things."
Amid the Third Hokage's voice, Tsunade turned her expectant gaze toward Orochimaru.
The latter immediately stood up, met the Third Hokage's gaze, and said, "I support Tsunade's proposal. However, if the Village does not have the spare strength to implement it fully, we can also just allocate a portion of resources to first pilot the training of a batch of Medical Ninja, to prevent the loss of the Village's important forces due to untimely treatment of injuries."
"This way, while training the backbone of Medical Ninja for the future, we can also alleviate some of the war pressure for the Village."
Not far away, Kato Dan, feeling that he had fallen a step behind, withdrew his gaze from Tsunade and immediately stood up to agree as well.
Following them were Uchiha Gen, Mitarai Shishō, Hiruko, and one Uchiha Jonin after another, along with some Jonin who had ties to the Senju Clan.
For a moment, nearly fifty Jonin stood up to support Tsunade.
In this Jounin Council Meeting, where nearly half of the Jonin were away due to the war, resulting in fewer than a hundred people participating, having so many Jonin—more than half—created quite a stir.
And among so many Jonin, the Uchiha Jonin, numbering over thirty, appeared particularly conspicuous.
Since when did the Uchiha get involved with Tsunade, the current leader of the Senju Clan?
Although the Senju Clan had now retreated and declined, and there were no longer any conflicts of interest with the Uchiha, without someone leading the way, it would certainly have been impossible to incite so many Uchiha to stand up and provide support.
There was only one person who could possibly be leading this matter.
Uchiha Gen's young figure caught the Third Hokage's eye.
Could this young boy, who had amazed him yesterday during their guidance session, already have such influence within the Uchiha Clan?
Or was it that he achieved this by relying on others?
That must be it. After all, this child had no direct family power to rely on within the Uchiha Clan, and after awakening his Single-Tomoe Sharingan, he had been on the battlefield in the Land of Rain the entire time, having absolutely no time to build influence within the clan.
Being able to mobilize so many Uchiha Jonin to provide support—there weren't many people who could do that.
Was it the Clan Head, whom he had saved according to intelligence reports, or the Great Elder, Uchiha Gen, who had always been one of his supporters?
Both seemed possible.
Did he have some sort of scheme? What price did he pay? And what was the Uchiha Clan thinking?
As a Hokage who had been in office for nearly twenty years, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately began to think in terms of these calculations.