Konoha was devastated after the ails attaot only had they suffered in the war, but they also lost thousands of ninjas, a Jinchuriki, and a Hokage iack. But even that wasn’t the end of Konoha's losses. There was one more thing a ninja vilge needs besides power: trust. The trust of their people and other tries in their power.

  The trust that they were powerful enough to help them was lost.

  'A vilge that ’t even protect the people iheir walls—how will they protect us?' This was the general se among people, and it began to spread.

  The other f ninja vilges seized this opportunity to spread the agenda as much as they could. And what did Konoha do to retaliate?

  Nothing. Nothing at all. They didn’t have the strength at that moment to do anything. The result? Konoha lost 40% of their mission revenue every year after the ails attack.

  Konoha suffered in silence while trying to rebuild its strength. The academy was filled to the brim with students, anyone who even had a shred of potential to bee a ninja. Even if they would remain Genin for their entire lives, Konoha desperately o rebuild.

  If everything had gone acc to the inal story, they would have needed another year to stabilize enough to address their damaged image. However, ret events ged things.

  Initially, Danzo hid the number of ninja Root had under his and—the number of Jonin, and especially the number of talented ninjas that he had almost ruined. Now, Hiruzen had a plete uanding of Konoha’s situation. Even though they had lost yet another S-rank ninja and the "Shadow of Konoha," which further reduced Konoha’s strength, somehow, the situation looked better than before.

  ---

  “The in Exam?” Shikaku asked.

  “Yes.”

  “… We’ve now recovered 70% of our strength. Even though the number of ninjas is the same as it was before the Third Great Ninja War, most of them are Genin and would only bee on fodder if war broke out. But… the number of Jonin we initially thought we had was wrong. By adding the Root ninjas to the Anbu, we’ve now increased our number of Jonin by 1.5 times, and in by twofold under your and,” Shikaku said.

  Hiruzen nodded, already knowing these details. There was something else he wao hear.

  “Even though we’ve recovered a lot, it still only brings us back to the starting line,” Shikaku said.

  “Yes, we’re now at the same strength as whehird Great Ninja War ended. sidering how even Tsunade left the vilge, it’s slightly less than at that time,” Hiruzen replied.

  “And if we go ahead with the in Exam, it will be like showg our power to the other ninja vilges. Though we may be powerful in one-ouations, we ’t go against them if they bine forces, like in other ninja wars,” Shikaku said.

  “They ’t do that right now,” Hiruzen responded.

  “Yes, Hidden Mist is entangled in a civil war, Sunagakure is our ally at the moment, and even if they aren’t gehey won’t be able to join the opposition in a war.

  As for Iwagakure and Kumogakure, they’re tough, but manageable. Onoki is famously known as a feter, so we don’t o worry about him initiating a war,” Shikaku said but paused.

  “I know we don’t o take this risk now. In 3-4 years, we’ll be back to peak strength, and it would be most optimal to act then,” Hiruzen said, releasing a puff of smoke from his freshly lit pipe.

  One major reason they weren’t as desperate as in the inal timeline was the Root.

  Root was an eic bck hole for Konoha. Danzo had been siphoning off every st Ryo he could without colpsing the vilge, g it was for training new Root ninjas and maintaining peace. He was also leveraging the other elders to take as much as he could. The result? Konoha often found itself near bankruptcy. If not for other ine sources like the Akimichi food businesses, Uchiha mineral mines, and Nara medie trade, the vilge wouldn’t have survived.

  But now, with Danzo dead, that bck hole had vanished, and the resources Danzo had hoarded for his grand pn after being Hokage were under Hiruzen’s trol.

  This alleviated a lot of pressure from the vilge’s shoulders. If not for that, they would have had to take risks, and like in the aachi would have demonstrated his talents in the year's in Exam, crushing his oppos and proving that Konoha was not weak. Because the in Exam isn’t just a normal exam; it’s also a way for vilges to showcase the strength of the geion, as well as a source of eai for nobles. But i few years, Konoha had been perf subpar in exams hosted in other vilges, trying to remain as unnoticed as possible.

  Even now, staying mediocre for a few more years to build strength and then ter with full force tion.

  “Yes, it would be most optimal to do that if we want tain our strength without any hiccups. sidering the talent in the younger geion, it wouldn’t be surprising if we had two or three more S-rank ninjas by then. But…” Shikaku trailed off.

  “Yes, it’s this ‘but’ that’s affeg my decision,” Hiruzen said with a sigh.

  “Our ninjas, both old and new, grew up hearing that Konoha is the stro ninja vilge. But now, they feel sed wherever they go, due to our mediocre performan the in Exams. Not only nobles, but even on people are beginning to uimate our ninjas. This is seriously affeg their morale, which has led to some is already beied by nobles of various smaller nations,” Shikaku said.

  He didn’t point out how some ninjas had killed their own ts because of the desding way they spoke, treating Konoha ninjas as mere bodyguards and threatening to choose ninjas from other vilges ime. Killing was actually tame, sidering some of the heinous crimes itted by others whose pride had been wouhese ninjas had to be punished by the Hokage himself; some were killed, others had their chakra sealed and were removed from service, depending on the severity of their crimes.

  Although these cases were still minimal, they were on the rise. There was no way to stop suts. What could they do? Tell their ninjas to accept blows to their egos for the vilge? No, that wasn’t going to happen.

  With power es a fragile ego that starts to trol your decisions, but it be shattered by the slightest blow. And desding ents from people who a in could kill without even blinking do the most damage to that fragile ego.

  “Who are you thinking of sending to the in Exam?” Shikaku asked after sidering various sarios but realizing he needed an ao this important question.

  The in Exam would not be held in Konoha; Konoha would host the oer that, which would happe year—the same exam in which Itachi had crushed his oppos in the inal timeline. Back then, Konoha had been pying defense.

  The in Exam in their own vilge had been about showg Itachi’s talent alone, so even though it showed that Konoha owerful, the other vilges hadn’t been too armed sinly one ninja was highlighted. A single ninja couldn’t ge the course of a battle uhey were at the level of Hashirama, Minato, or the Third Raikage—and Itachi wasn’t at that level yet.

  But now, the situation was different. They were going to send someoo eerritory to pletely dismaher teams and demonstrate Konoha’s superiority. This could destabilize the peace they had ehus far and put these young talents at risk. Other vilges might take this ce to kill these young ninjas and present it as an "act."

  ‘What will you do? Start a war?’ Thoughts like these were behind the idea. So, doing what they had in the inal timeline—using the in Exam to slowly turuation around—was still the best move. And si was just a year away, there was no reason to hurry. They could bear the s for one more year.

  “Kaida Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, and Kabuto Yakushi,” Hiruzen said.

  Shikaku uood pletely what Hiruzen nning.