Chapter 278: Seeing Through Things As Clearly As Observing A Flame

Before officially setting out, the third Hokage stood in the main camp and, before all the northeastern Konoha ninjas, personally announced an important decision to the fully assembled members of Shinichi Battalion.

He formally granted Shinichi Battalion an official designation.

This was the highest-level public commendation and collective merit recognition for the glorious achievements they had created in the Land of Lightning campaign, achievements worthy of being recorded in the history of Shinobi World Warfare.

However, because Shinichi Battalion had been a special wartime formation numbering as many as five hundred people, far exceeding the scale of ordinary combat units, it was impossible to preserve it as a permanent standing organization over the long term.

Especially during peacetime, such a scale was excessively large, creating many practical difficulties in organization, funding, and daily mission allocation.

Therefore, the full active-duty structure of Shinichi Battalion would not be retained for the time being.

But this absolutely did not mean disbandment. The affiliation records and merit achievements of every member who had once been listed on the Shinichi Battalion roster would be permanently preserved.

When the village faced major threats or needed to execute high-risk special operations, these experienced elites, with seamless coordination, would have the right to be preferentially reconscripted at the earliest opportunity, rapidly reorganizing into the Shinichi Battalion and deploying to critical battlefields.

As for Shinichi himself, he was quite pleased with this arrangement. After undergoing life-and-death trials together in the Land of Lightning, every member of Shinichi Battalion had already developed toward him a nearly faith-like loyalty and sense of belonging.

Rather than keeping them by his side as an independent and overly conspicuous large unit, it would be better to scatter them out like sparks.

Dispersed across Konoha’s various regular forces, departments, and even every corner of the village, they would not only become the most capable backbone but also the strongest firsthand witnesses and spreaders of Shinichi’s legend.

Through daily training, missions, and casual conversations, they would subtly spread the legends of the Shinichi Battalion, the deeds, ideals, and personal charisma of Shinichi Higashino, influencing more comrades, attracting the gaze of more admirers of strength and aspirants, and continuously expanding Shinichi’s personal prestige and popular foundation.

A single spark can start a prairie fire. Only when they scattered would Shinichi Higashino’s influence truly permeate every corner of Konoha.

....

Three days later, in the morning, at the Konoha main gate.

Both sides of the road were already packed with people. Nearly the entire village, men and women, old and young, had poured out, crowding the roadside as they craned their necks in anticipation.

When the first batch of returning Konoha ninja, carrying the scent of dust and blood, stepped into Konoha’s gates in orderly yet slightly exhausted formation, the entire Konoha seemed to ignite instantly.

"They’re back! They’re back!"

"Hokage-sama! It’s Hokage-sama!"

"And Shinichi! Shinichi grew taller again!"

"Dad! Dad is over there!"

"Big brother! Look here!"

Cheers, screams, cries of joy through tears, and voices calling the names of loved ones mixed together with laughter and tears, forming an ocean of emotion.

Walking at the forefront of the procession, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, waved from time to time toward the excited crowds lining both sides of the road as he advanced.

Behind him, however, many villagers and ninja of Konoha found their eyes involuntarily focused on the young figure walking beside the third Hokage, only half a step behind, Shinichi Higashino.

This name had already spread widely throughout Konoha and even the entire Land of Fire over the past few months, especially over the past month or so.

Breaking the strongest shield, penetrating deep into the Land of Lightning, entering and leaving Village Hidden in the Cloud four times, smashing the Raikage building, being surrounded by tens of thousands of troops, yet ultimately leading his forces back alive in a miraculous survival...

Any one of these achievements alone would have been enough to make any ninja famous throughout the Shinobi World.

And all of it had happened to a boy only eleven years old.

The third Hokage clearly sensed those focused gazes. He slightly turned his head and looked at the calm-faced Shinichi beside him, a trace of gratification and emotion flashing through his eyes before he turned toward the crowd and loudly declared: "People of Konoha! We have returned!"

"This victory belongs to every Konoha ninja who fought in blood on the front lines! It belongs to every villager who silently supported us and worked diligently in the rear! It belongs to the Will of Fire that we all protect together!"

"We paid with sacrifices, and we also gained glory! We proved Konoha’s resilience and strength!"

"And today, not only must we welcome our heroes home in triumph, but we must also remember that peace and victory were hard-won, requiring every one of us to continue working hard to build an even stronger Konoha and protect this hard-earned tranquility!"

"Let us welcome our heroes home!"

"Long live Konoha!"

"Long live Hokage-sama!"

"Long live Konoha!"

The cheers once again reached their peak, the sound waves almost seeming capable of overturning the sky.

Shinichi watched this scene with a smile, occasionally nodding toward the villagers cheering for him.

At the same time, within his heart, a far more tangible tremor than the cheers around him was occurring.

It came!

Shinichi slightly narrowed his eyes.

On the system panel visible only to him, the words representing the talent, Clear Comprehension, suddenly shattered apart, then a mysterious and noble purple light burst forth and steadily floated among the sequence of talents.

[Seeing Through Things as Clearly as Observing a Flame Level 1 (purple): Your wisdom and comprehension have ascended into the representative tier of this domain within the world. You can draw inferences from one example to another, perceive subtle signs and understand greater truths, comprehend the operating laws of complex systems from a single phenomenon or object, rapidly strip away the most critical information and chains of logic from complicated appearances, and when facing new knowledge, skills, or problems, your learning, training, and analytical efficiency will achieve a leap-like improvement.]

Shinichi carefully savored this brand-new purple talent, as though some dimension of his soul had quietly opened, ascending into an unprecedented realm.

He could clearly feel that his thinking had been placed onto a clearer and loftier platform, as though he had gained a pair of fiery golden eyes capable of piercing through layers of concealment and directly reaching the essence of things.

Subconsciously, he looked toward the boiling crowd before him. Within his field of vision, information surged over like a raging tide.

Countless voices, images, smells, fragments of emotion, undercurrents of intent... An ocean of noisy and chaotic information that ordinary people would only perceive as confusion.

Yet now, it seemed to be instantly sorted, classified, and analyzed by a supercomputer.

Seeing Through Things as Clearly as Observing a Flame, literally means having a keen insight into things, just as clearly and thoroughly as observing a flame.

Then, it was time to take a look at the so-called Flying Thunder God Technique.

Shinichi slightly narrowed his eyes, a glint of brilliance flashing through them before quickly returning to their usual calm, profoundness.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Danzo Shimura did not participate in this grand triumph and celebration under the sunlight.

Instead, he silently returned with his Root forces to the base buried deep beneath Konoha.

Inside the Root hall, after remaining silent for a long time, Danzo Shimura finally spoke: "Preparations for the Wood Style experiments... Are hereby completely terminated."

Several elite Root ninjas standing in the shadows behind him all trembled slightly upon hearing those words.

Danzo offered no explanation and did not wait for his subordinates’ reactions. After giving the order, he turned and left the hall.

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