The Shimura clan was certainly not developing slowly by any measure!
Shihouin Naraku examined the intelligence documents in his hands with growing interest. Currently, the Shimura clan maintained two active jonin and seventeen chunin within their ranks!
Although the total numbers weren't particularly large, for a ninja family of their size and status, this represented a perfectly respectable force.
Having two jonin was more than sufficient to support the Shimura clan's continued development and expansion, while they waited for new jonin to emerge from among their current chunin ranks.
This steady development model was entirely adequate to ensure the safe survival and continued prosperity of the Shimura family within Konoha Village.
"One is a veteran jonin with extensive political connections throughout the village, and the other is a newer jonin who has held the rank for more than three years and possesses excellent combat skills," Naraku noted to himself.
"If you include all seventeen chunin in the calculation, the Shimura clan is actually in better shape than our own Shihouin clan."
The current Shihouin clan could only claim two active jonin: Naraku himself and the aging Shihouin Harumoto.
The critical issue was that Shihouin Harumoto had grown quite old, and his true combat strength had declined significantly to the point where he could no longer maintain genuine jonin-level capabilities.
There was simply no avoiding the effects of advanced age.
It was only thanks to Naraku's extensive political connections and overwhelming personal prestige that Shihouin Harumoto could maintain his current position and status within the village hierarchy.
Even the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been known in his youth as the "Hero of the Ninja" and the "Professor of Ninjutsu" due to his incredible power, would not have dared to face his former student Orochimaru in direct combat if he had been ten years younger during their final confrontation.
Everyone had to accept the inevitable effects of aging!
There was simply nothing anyone could do about this natural process!
As for Shihouin Naraku, as the other jonin of the Shihouin clan—or more accurately, as a super Kage-level shinobi—he could only be regarded as an exceptional anomaly.
Currently, the largest portion of the Shihouin clan consisted of chunin and genin. There were seven chunin and more than twenty genin serving actively.
The concerning reality was that among those more than twenty genin, very few possessed the natural talents necessary to support advancement to chunin and eventually jonin ranks.
The remaining family members basically lacked the aptitude to become shinobi at all and could only operate businesses outside the village or help maintain the family's various enterprises and operations.
"We have no shortage of financial resources, but we definitely lack natural talent," Naraku concluded with some frustration.
He set aside the intelligence documents about the Shimura clan's ninja that he had just finished reviewing. He was definitely someone who held grudges and didn't forget slights easily.
Now that he had seen these details today, he would make sure to give the Shimura clan some serious trouble at an appropriate time in the future.
He was not a particularly forgiving person!
Naraku still hadn't forgotten or forgiven what Danzo had planned to do to him during their previous conflicts.
"Speaking of which, the Shimura clan should definitely be aware of the news that Shimura Danzo died at my hands," he mused.
Naraku considered the situation carefully. By now it had become an open secret throughout the village.
The main reason for this was that Naraku himself had deliberately left substantial evidence at the scene of Danzo's elimination, and he had never particularly cared about others knowing what he had done, so the truth definitely couldn't be concealed indefinitely.
Although Danzo's former allies and political companions couldn't take any direct action against Naraku, they would certainly inform the Shimura clan about the circumstances of their patriarch's death.
However, the Shimura clan seemed to have never acknowledged this information publicly and showed no intention of causing trouble for Naraku over the matter.
This was especially true after Shihouin Naraku had led Konoha's forces to decisive victory in the war against the Cloud Village—after that triumph, there was virtually no one left who would dare blame him for anything.
Some people had even begun telling outright lies, shifting the blame for Danzo's death onto Otogakure and Sunagakure ninja.
The official story now claimed that it definitely wasn't Shihouin Naraku who had killed the former Root leader!
This was one of the clear benefits of possessing overwhelming power!
Therefore, Naraku didn't particularly care whether the Shimura clan truly didn't dare to blame him, or whether they were secretly accumulating strength and resources to prepare for future retaliation.
As the strongest individual in the entire shinobi world, even if Naraku chose to openly antagonize the Shimura clan right now, they would have no choice but to endure it silently!
Just as Naraku was still lost in these contemplations, a sharp knock on the door abruptly brought him back to reality.
"Lord Naraku!" came a voice from outside.
"What is it?" he called back.
"The Hokage requests that you gather in her office immediately!"
Hmm?
Naraku felt genuinely puzzled. They had just finished their advisory meeting, so why would there suddenly be another urgent gathering?
"I understand. I'm coming right now!" he replied.
"Yes, sir!"
As soon as Shihouin Naraku entered the Hokage's office, he immediately noticed that Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Nara Shikaku were also present.
What was happening now?
"Naraku, our intelligence operatives in the Cloud Village just sent word that Orochimaru somehow caused the Eight-Tails to go on a rampage, creating absolute chaos throughout the Cloud Village, but the Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer Bee regained consciousness afterward," Tsunade reported without preamble.
Such a thing had actually happened?
Naraku was momentarily stunned by this news, then quickly asked, "What happened to Orochimaru?"
"He managed to escape during the confusion. According to our reports, Orochimaru made off with a substantial amount of the Cloud Village's resources and eliminated several of their few remaining medical ninja."
"The Cloud Village has issued an official hunting order for Orochimaru!"
This outcome wasn't particularly surprising to Naraku.
When he had first learned about Orochimaru's capture, he had anticipated that the Cloud Village would face serious problems as a result.
Given Orochimaru's vindictive personality and exceptional abilities, he would never allow himself to be easily eliminated by the Cloud Village. Before making his escape, Orochimaru would definitely cause maximum damage in retaliation for their surveillance and whatever other indignities they had subjected him to.
The only question that remained was whether Killer Bee's awakening was because Orochimaru had genuinely saved him, or if there was some other explanation for his recovery.
"There's more..." Tsunade continued.
"What else?" Naraku prompted.
"The Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer Bee has been named as the Cloud Village's Fifth Raikage!"
"What?"
This news was even more unexpected and significant!
Actually, Killer Bee becoming the Fifth Raikage was probably the most shocking development of all.
Naraku frowned slightly as he processed these implications. His growing influence on the shinobi world was causing familiar information and predictions to become increasingly unreliable.
In addition to the Kazekage and Hokage positions, the changes in leadership among the Tsuchikage, Raikage, and Mizukage were all directly related to Shihouin Naraku's actions.
Han had become the Fourth Tsuchikage because Naraku had caused extensive damage to Iwagakure during the war, and he had severely injured Kurotsuchi's leg, forcing Onoki to relinquish the position of Tsuchikage and transfer power to Han, while bringing his granddaughter to Konoha for advanced medical treatment.
The rise of Fifth Mizukage Terumi Mei had been accelerated by Naraku's swift elimination of both Yagura and the Three-Tails. Originally, Terumi Mei's ascension to leadership wouldn't have happened nearly so quickly.
As for the newly appointed Fifth Raikage, Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer Bee, this dramatic change had been triggered by Naraku's elimination of Fourth Raikage A and the promising jonin Darui, whom the Cloud Village had invested tremendous resources in training.
The rate of changes throughout the shinobi world was suddenly accelerating dramatically.
Naraku immediately began considering what impact Killer Bee's assumption of the Raikage position would have on future events.
It didn't seem quite as significant as he had initially imagined?
Before the Akatsuki organization's plan to collect all the tailed beasts became active, it appeared that even with Killer Bee serving as the Fifth Raikage, there wouldn't be any major immediate problems.
However, when the Fourth Great Ninja War eventually erupted in the future, the impact would be enormous and far-reaching.
After all, Killer Bee undoubtedly harbored deep hatred toward both Naraku and Konoha Village at this point. When that critical time arrived, would he really be willing to teach Uzumaki Naruto how to cooperate with tailed beasts and awaken the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?
That outcome seemed highly unlikely!
But that was all a concern for the future. For now, the best approach was to take things one step at a time.
Thinking about the current situation, Naraku felt grateful that he had established contact with Black Zetsu, ensuring that if any truly unexpected events occurred in the shinobi world, he would be able to receive intelligence quickly.
This was the only reliable way to minimize the potential harm from future unpredictable changes.
However, this arrangement meant he would need to ensure that Black Zetsu remained cooperative and didn't cause him any additional problems.
"Naraku?" Tsunade called.
"Naraku!" she repeated more insistently.
"Ah?" he responded, snapping back to attention.
Naraku raised his head and looked at Tsunade, who had been trying to get his attention.
"What is it?" he asked, refocusing on the meeting.
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