"The moment I handle one problem, another one arises," Shikaku said grumbling. He was sitting in front of Hiruzen, who was busy with his own work.
"As the Jonin commander of the village, it is your responsibility anyway," Hiruzen said, shrugging his shoulders while going back to work, or at least tried to appear like he was working, but he was not fooling the sharpest mind in Konoha with just this much.
Shikaku easily scanned the outline of the document Hiruzen was reading.
"That's the report from the spies. I already gave you an overview about that yesterday, Lord Third. Now please handle this. I am already busy with more important tasks that cater to the needs of some wealthy merchant who wants to make profit in ninja war," Shikaku said.
"The same merchant who will be responsible for procuring supplies when Konoha will have to face the war itself," Hiruzen corrected Shikaku.
"They are expendable anyway," Shikaku grumbled before begrudgingly looking toward the file given to him.
"20 Jonin? What, is he going to war against a minor village?" Shikaku barked as he read the demand of the client for the mission.
"I know it is excessive, but the place he is going will need this level of protection," Hiruzen said.
"But Lord Third..."
"I tried to increase the cost of the mission per Jonin, but he was ready to bear it all. Now he is paying just a little less than the Daimyo himself. If we don't agree with his request, not only will he go to other villages, but will also show that we don't have any Jonin to spare."
"Which is true. With 60 of them going on those two missions, we really don't have these many Jonin free at all. All others are either increasing the border security or are busy with their own missions. We can't even send those who just came back from their mission; all of them are injured. Considering the odds they faced, they couldn't be asked to go on another A rank mission so soon," Shikaku said, but it was more like thinking aloud. Hiruzen knew this and he let Shikaku figure things out. After grumbling for a few more seconds, he brought out various files from his storage seal, going through them one by one at incredible speed.
"Nope, we can't send these many Jonin at any cost, Lord Third. At most I can arrange 8, and that too will be stretching the line too thin for our comfort," he said after a thorough examination of all of the files in front of him, containing the details of every Jonin of Konoha and their current placement.
The document which any spy would give their life to get. Hiruzen already knew these details; that's the only reason he was pushing the task on Shikaku to figure out. Being the leader of the whole Ninja village had its perks, one of which was passing some less important tasks to your subordinates.
"He was pretty adamant on having at least these many ninja with him, for security purposes and whatnot. So what do you think we should do?" Hiruzen asked.
"What choice do we have? We have to send an S rank instead of the remaining Jonin."
"S rank?" Hiruzen asked. With three of them outside, Tsunade out of the village, and Fugaku having his own work to do, there was no S rank in the village free other than him. Surely Shikaku would not ask... 'Wait a minute, there is one more...'
"Yes, he is more than enough to fill up the gap for the remaining ninja. Even when he just awakened his Mangekyo, he went toe to toe against 10 ninja. This much should be easy for him," Shikaku said. With him being Jonin commander of the Village, one thing he always had to keep in mind was the estimated power levels of various individuals in the village, and Kaida had somehow got a place very high in the list.
He knew how Kaida was able to completely dominate various ninja in a fight easily, and that was when he had just awakened his Mangekyo. Now with ample time to adapt and understand his power, there was no doubt in his mind: Kaida could easily be considered an S rank, even if in the low range.
But the problem which would arise when suggesting him is...
"He is too young. Those merchants will have a hard time believing that Kaida is capable enough for the responsibility," Hiruzen said.
"Well, we have several ways to counter it, so I don't think it is that big of a problem," Shikaku said, already looking for the ninja to call for this mission.
"Okay, then I give you full control. Do whatever you like with this mission, just make sure we don't have a deeper hole to bury after this," Hiruzen said with a sigh and then honestly got back to work.
Shikaku stood up, ready to leave.
"I really think we should start working on our war preparation as well. If not today, it is inevitable in a few years, Lord Third," he said.
"Sigh I know, I know, but for now let's focus on the task at hand; otherwise, others may get the wrong idea about what we are planning, and they may start a war," Hiruzen said, dismissing with his hand. Shikaku bowed his head and left.
"Not once again," Kaida said, going through the memories of his clones. There was not a single good mission for Kirigakure once again.
All of those present were either for the search of missing ninja or escort missions for some small-time merchant, with only a few hours' stay in Kirigakure.
He could try taking the missing ninja searching mission, but that would need him to be in a team, effectively limiting his search options.
Not to mention any mission for Kirigakure is at least B rank and would need a team anyway. While he was thinking all this sitting in his office in the village hospital...
Knock, Knock
"Come in," Kaida said. Even though there was no schedule for him at this time, this is a hospital and emergencies can emerge like weeds, so he thought it was some nurse here to call him for an emergency.
"Kaida Uchiha, you are summoned to the Hokage office urgently. Please come with me," an ANBU ninja said as soon as he entered the office.
"Hokage office?" Kaida asked, thinking about the reason he was called, but couldn't think of any. 'Well, no use thinking unnecessarily. I will find out soon anyway,' he thought and stood up. Taking off his white coat, he followed the ANBU to the Hokage building.
To his surprise, he was not led to the Hokage office but to the other side of the corridor.
'Shikaku-san? Oh yeah, I am now a Jonin and he is Jonin commander. It makes sense that now I have to report to him.'
"He is waiting for you," the ANBU said, gesturing toward the door and then vanishing from his spot.
"Here goes nothing," Kaida said as he pushed the door and entered the office. There, Shikaku was sitting at his desk with various files present on his table, with dark eye bags present below his eyes, signifying that he had not slept well for quite some time.
'A Nara working hard? Maybe the sun has started to rise from the west,' Kaida thought, but kept his expression in check.
"Good morning, Shikaku-san," Kaida said, bowing a little.
...
(A.N: Powerstones please...)