Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Kirito, of course, couldn't tolerate this; he had long since passed the stage of craving money. Now, money was just a number to him.

Therefore, he readily offered to replace Orochimaru as the new commander-in-chief of the battlefield.

He didn't say anything threatening; he simply expressed what he wanted.

Finally, he got his wish. The third generation took his request very seriously and quickly issued him a new appointment, making him the new commander-in-chief of the battlefield.

Unfortunately, just as he was preparing to take action and launch a new attack on Sunagakure, Sunagakure backed down and sent out peace envoys, forcing him to temporarily halt his attacks on Sunagakure.

"It's nothing, I just got a new mission and happened to be passing by, so I thought I'd drop by and see you. How are you doing? Are you settling in? Being the commander-in-chief isn't easy, is it?"

Orochimaru gave Kirito a somewhat cold smile and replied.

"I see. It is indeed not easy to be the commander-in-chief. After all, I am still too young, which may make some seniors feel uncomfortable and make it difficult to mobilize them. However, I believe it will get better. Lord Orochimaru, you don't need to worry too much."

Kirito scratched the back of his head and smiled wryly.

At the same time, he sneered inwardly: "What kind of bullshit new mission is this? It's clearly someone sent by the Third Generation to keep an eye on me and prevent me from causing trouble."

He is now the commander-in-chief here, that's true, but what he just said is true. Because he is too young, even though he has the corresponding strength and prestige, there are still many people who are not convinced by him as the newly appointed commander-in-chief. They either drag their feet when carrying out the orders he gives them, or they pay lip service to them and deliberately mess things up.

Kirito is having a real headache. If he could, he would love to kill these guys who outwardly obey his orders but inwardly defy them. But if he did that, at least half of the high-level combatants in the military camp would be lost.

Yes, most of the ninjas who outwardly obeyed him but inwardly defied him were more or less related to the Sarutobi clan.

To be precise, they were all Orochimaru's subordinates, forces that Orochimaru had developed within the military over the years.

Each of these individuals held a significant position in the military and commanded a large number of subordinates.

Orochimaru used these people to control this ninja force of nearly five thousand.

Now that Orochimaru has returned, those who were already at odds with him have found a leader, and their rebellious spirit against his orders has intensified.

It can be said that Orochimaru's arrival caused him to lose control of this ninja force all at once.

“I completely understand your difficulties. I was in the same situation when I first became the commander-in-chief. Take it slow, there’s no rush. And at your age, there’s no need to rush. You will definitely shine in the military in the future. The future belongs to you.”

Orochimaru, seeing the wry smile on Kirito's face, offered words of comfort with the air of someone who had been through it all.

"Lord Orochimaru is right. By the way, you just returned from Konoha. Do you know what stage our peace talks with Sunagakure have reached?"

Kirito asked curiously.

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru's expression became somewhat unnatural, but he quickly composed himself and replied, "It's going quite smoothly. It shouldn't be long before Konoha and Sunagakure can end this pointless war and stop being stuck here eating sand."

"That's wonderful. I hope peace will come soon."

Kirito said happily, a cheerful smile spreading across his face.

Orochimaru looked at the bright smile on Kirito's face and said with a slight smile, "Peace is hard-won, and Konoha needs peace right now. Alright, I have to continue my mission, so I won't disturb your work any longer."

After saying that, he turned around, opened the door, and left.

"Orochimaru-sama, please take care."

Kirito escorted Orochimaru to the door.

A few seconds later, Orochimaru disappeared from Kirito's sight. The smile on his face gradually disappeared, and he became expressionless before returning to his office.

At this time, there were ten more people in the office. Among them were Uchiha Chizuru, Umino Daio, Shiranui Takeshi, and Yuhi Yukimi. The remaining six people were all about the same age as them, between 11 and 14 years old.

After Kirito became the commander-in-chief, he naturally gathered his forces in the army as soon as possible. These ten people were his core team in the army.

"Kirito-sama, Orochimaru is back. Those old bastards are definitely going to cause trouble again."

At only 12 years old, Shiranui Takeru, who was already 1.8 meters tall, immediately spoke upon seeing Kirito return, his voice showing no respect whatsoever for the senior.

"Enough, Wu. Speak more politely. Those seniors are all people worthy of respect. Stop calling them 'old man' all the time. Do you know that you're making enemies of Lord Kirito?"

Yukimi, who was one year older than Takeshi Shiranui, stared at Takeshi Shiranui and said with great dissatisfaction.

"It's all because those old guys always act like they're old and powerful. They're clearly not that strong, but they still want to boss us around."

Looking at the graceful Yukimi, Shiranui Takeru, being a taijutsu ninja, instinctively avoided eye contact and said nonchalantly.

In his view, ninjas should let their strength speak for itself; what kind of skill is it to rely on seniority and experience?

Besides, his boss Kirito Tohsaka is now the commander-in-chief here, so why should he be polite to those old guys who are not as strong as him?

If you want him to be polite, fine, just beat him.

Unfortunately, so far, none of the old guys who have been pointing fingers at him have been his match.

"So you think you're really good? Want to have a match with me?"

Seeing that Shiranui Takeru showed no remorse, Yukihi Yuki coldly said...

The next moment, her eyes changed instantly, transforming into a pair of Sharingan with two tomoe.

Upon seeing this, Shiranui Takeru immediately fell silent and decisively admitted defeat.

He is a taijutsu-type ninja, and what he fears most is genjutsu-type ninjas like Yukimi Yuhi. He wasn't too afraid of her before, but ever since she somehow obtained a pair of Sharingan, her genjutsu abilities have greatly increased, and he is completely outmatched.

This was the first time Chizuru had seen the two-tomoe Sharingan in Yuuki Yukimi's eye sockets. She frowned slightly, then looked at Kirito with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Kirito winked at Chizuru, revealing his innocent-looking eyes, and secretly explained using telepathy, "I've never bought a Sharingan."

Yukimi's Sharingan wasn't something he found for her; she bought it from the black market at a high price. Initially, it was just a pair of one-tomoe Sharingan.

However, the surgery to transplant the Sharingan was performed on Yukimi Yuhi.

The reason why Yukimi was able to keep her Sharingan until now, without it being taken back by the Uchiha clan, is because she had spoken to Homura Uchiha, the head of the Uchiha clan, beforehand.

Otherwise, with only Yukimi's strength and the power of the small ninja clan behind her, it would be impossible for her to withstand the pressure from the Uchiha clan.

"Humph."

After receiving Kirito's explanation, Chizuru snorted inwardly and stopped paying attention to Yukimi's two-tomoe Sharingan.

“Xuejian, what Wu said actually makes sense. It was those seniors who looked down on us first, and the conflict between us is difficult to resolve. I don’t think it’s necessary to try to please them.”

The honest-looking Daio Umino stood up to support Takeshi Shiranui.

"Exactly, these old guys are completely out of touch with reality. I get angry when I see their perfunctory attitude towards Kirito-sama's orders. They're clearly not that strong, but they have such big tempers. They really don't know what's good for them."

The speaker was a ninja from the Uchiha clan, none other than Kirito's junior subordinate, Uchiha Kaze. He looked at Yukimi's Sharingan with two tomoe in her eye sockets and spoke with some displeasure.

As he spoke, he quietly activated his Sharingan, which was also a two-tomoe Sharingan.

This wasn't the first time Yukimi had seen Uchiha clan ninjas express their dissatisfaction with her. There had been several conflicts before, and she had suffered some losses as a result. Because of this, she was considered very precocious among her peers.

She didn't respond to the provocation from Uchiha Kazenaketu, put away her Sharingan, and retorted, "They are seniors, not old guys. I admit that some of them have a bad attitude, but most of them are easy to talk to as long as they speak properly. We are juniors, and even if we are stronger than them, we should still give them appropriate respect."

"Xuejian is right. Seniors are seniors and should be respected. We will become seniors in the future. Do you want to see juniors look down on you just because they are stronger than you? Our biggest weakness right now is that we are too inexperienced and have a weak foundation in the military. Now that Kirito-sama has become the commander-in-chief, we should fight for more support for him in the military instead of making enemies for him for no reason."

A boy with horn-shaped haircut stood up to support Yukimi Yukihi.

"Zhuque is right."

"Agreed."

The next moment, a chubby boy and an orange-haired boy also stood up to support Yukimi Yukihi.

These three were members of the Ino-Shika-Cho triad: Suzaku Nara, Tsukasa Akimichi, and Santen Yamanaka. They were the oldest among the group of boys and girls in the room, all 14 years old.

It's now 3 against 4.

Of the remaining people, only Kirito, Chizuru, the girl with the black ninja dog Canine Fang, and the boy wearing cool sunglasses remained silent.

Shiranui Takeru and the others didn't look at Kirito and Chizuru, but instead looked at the girl with the canine teeth and the boy in sunglasses.

The two are from the Inuzuka clan and the Aburame clan, respectively. The girl with canine teeth is named Inuzuka Tsurugi, and the boy in sunglasses is named Aburame Shiguro.

"This is so troublesome. I'll listen to Kirito-sama."

When Inuzuka Tsurugi and Aburame Shiro saw Shiranui Takeshi and the others looking over, the former immediately shouted loudly, while the latter nodded in agreement with Inuzuka Tsurugi's words.

Both chose to abstain.

"The weak should obey the orders of the strong."

Chizuru suddenly spoke up.

When Shiranui Takeru, Unno Daio, and Uchiha Kazami Chizuru stood up to support them, they were overjoyed. Yuhi Yukimi and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio frowned slightly and then looked at Kirito.

The attitude towards veteran soldiers.

The current result is 4 votes of disrespect, 4 votes of respect, and 2 abstentions.

A balance has been achieved.

Upon seeing this result, Kirito sighed and said, "Of course we should respect our seniors, but the premise is that they must also respect us. I think respect should be mutual and should not be based on seniority."

When the younger generation of martial arts fighters, including Shiranui Takeru, heard Kirito say this, they all smiled happily. Shiranui Takeru and Uchiha Fu shouted, "Long live the boss!"

Yukimi, Ino-Shika-Cho, and the other two looked rather grim, with Suzaku Nara appearing thoughtful.

"Boss, should we continue to mobilize and launch an attack on Sunagakure this time?"

Takeshi Shiranui looked at Kirito with anticipation and said.

Kirito's words just now clearly leaned towards the militant faction, which means that Kirito still hopes to launch an attack on Sunagakure.

When Yukimi, Ino-Shika-Cho and the other two heard what Takeshi Shiranui said, their expressions became even more unpleasant.

They were all people Kirito trusted, so they knew from the beginning that Kirito planned to launch an attack on Sunagakure, and a major offensive at that. It was only because Sunagakure made the move to negotiate that Kirito's plan was thwarted.

The Third Hokage has already ordered that no attack be launched against Sunagakure during the peace talks. If Kirito insists on going his own way, things will get really bad.

"We are currently in the process of negotiating peace between Konoha and Sunagakure. How can we launch an attack on Sunagakure at this time?"

Kirito glanced at Takeshi Shiranui, who was eager to try, and said speechlessly.

Upon hearing this, Yukimi, Ino-Shika-Cho, and the other two breathed a sigh of relief, happy that Kirito hadn't become arrogant because of his strength.

But the next moment, they became anxious again: "Of course, if the people of Sunagakure are not sensible enough to launch an attack on us at this time and deliberately disrupt the peace, then we will have no choice but to deal with them."

Chapter 214: Becoming Stronger is the Only Way

Upon hearing Kirito's unexpected words, Shiranui Takeru, Unno Daio, and Uchiha Fu all showed expressions of surprise and delight once again.

Sure enough, the leader they were following was someone who was unwilling to suffer losses.

He's definitely a martial arts ninja.

This is fantastic.