Around a week after Fujin restarted his high-intensity training, numerous important people in Konoha received a notice from Hiruzen.


    Inoichi read the notice and wondered, ''The Quarterly Council meeting won''t happen for another couple of months. Why did Lord Hokage call for a council meeting all of a sudden?''


    The same thought ran through the minds of all but one of the remaining n leaders, elders and civilian council members.


    A couple of hourster, everyone from the Konoha council arrived in the council room and took their seats. Quite a few of them were surprised to see that even Danzo was present for the meeting.


    The council room had 15 people. They included the 7 n Leaders, that is, Hyuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume and the Senju n leader. In addition, there were the three elders, Shimura Danzo, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu. Finally, there were 5 civilians who looked after the policies for normal civilians in Konoha and helped the Hokage in issues such as Finance, Trade and other non-ninja matters.


    A couple of minutes after everyone arrived, Hiruzen stepped into the room and took his seat.


    Homura asked, "Why did you call for a council meeting suddenly? Did something unexpected happen?"


    Though Konoha was currently enjoying peace, the situation in the ninja world was very vtile. Especially in the Land of Water, where two factions were engaged in a civil war. Since nothing strange had happened in Konoha, that was their best guess.


    However, Hiruzen shook his head and said, "Nothing important took ce recently. Well, other than a new ninja being appointed as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by the Mizukage faction. Anyway, this meeting isn''t for that purpose. I have summoned you all here to discuss expanding the council."


    Hiruzen''s words surprised everyone. Homura asked, "What do you mean?"


    Hiruzen said, "When the vige was formed, all the ninjas in the vige belonged to ns. However, ever since the First Great Ninja War, we began training civilians to be ninjas.


    The three great wars inflicted heavy damage to our ns, to the extent that some of the ns are no longer considered ns and have lost their seat in the council. On the other hand, the number of civilian ninjas is continuously increasing. After this year of graduates, their number has exceeded 50% of the total forces. In the future, it will continue increasing."


    Hearing Hiruzen''s words, everyone went quiet. The n Leaders knew about the state of their ns. The Great Wars were like a grinding machine that killed their promising ninjas. So, despite the long peacetime, their numbers were a far cry aspared to their peaks.


    Hiruzen continued, "Due to the circumstances, I propose adding a seat in the council to represent Civilian ninjas, or rather, ninjas who aren''t part of any ns."


    Most of the n Leaders sighed internally.


    Hiashi thought, ''So it''s finally time to do this…''


    Tsume thought, ''Creating seats for civilian ninjas will cut into our authority.''


    Shibi thought, ''Unfortunately, even though our authority will get reduced, this step is inevitable.''


    Inoichi thought, ''Though right now there isn''t much demand for this, with time, many will start demanding this. They might even demand more seats to represent theirrge poption.''


    Choza thought, ''Besides, even at the top level, the civilian ninjas have been dominating. At the end of the 3rd Great Ninja War, almost half of our rank S ninjas were from a civilian background. Considering that Lord Hokage and Danzo had retired, that number rose to 60%. Even right now, of the three most promising uing ninjas, two have civilian backgrounds and one is from a n that no longer has a seat on the council.''


    As Inoichi had thought, one of the civilians on the council asked, "Lord Hokage, since their poption is so high, why don''t we create more seats to represent them?"


    Hiruzen immediately answered, "Let us start with one and understand whatplications happen. If it is beneficial for the vige, then an expansion can be considered in the future."


    The council member nodded and didn''t say anything else. Koharu frowned and said, "There are many problems with your proposal. The biggest one is about how a n functions. In a n, the n leader thinks about the welfare of all his n members.


    However, the same won''t work with civilians. They only look after their family and some friends. So despite having more than 50% ninjas, anyone sitting in this seat will only represent a minuscule fraction of the ninjas."


    Koharu''s points were valid. She immediately got support from some of the n leaders who put forth simr points in front of Hiruzen. For them, this represented a barricade. Once this barricade was breached, in the future, their power in the council would keep diminishing.


    On the other hand, the civilian council members saw it as an opportunity to expand their influence in the vige and gain more opportunities for them. Though they were apprehensive about opposing the strong n leaders, with Hiruzen''s support and encouragement, they defended Hiruzen''s idea and kept listing the benefits of such a move.


    The entire group kept debating for over 2 hours until they had nothing more to add. Hiruzen said, "Since the opinion is split, we will have a vote to decide this. Everyone will have 2 minutes to make a decision."


    As soon as it was announced, everyone exchanged nces. Shikaku looked at Inoichi and Choza and nodded. At the same time, Hiruzen nced at the 5 civilians before ncing at Shibi, Tsume, Hiashi and the Senju n leader, hoping that they would support him as well. Meanwhile, Danzo looked at one of the 5 Civilians. The Civilian council member became nervous on noticing Danzo ring at him.


    Finally, Hiruzen asked, "All those in favor, raise your hands."


    Immediately, Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza and 4 of the 5 Civilians raised their hands.


    Hiruzen looked at the civilian who didn''t raise his hand and was displeased. He wondered, ''He isn''t under any influence. Since when did Danzo dig his ws into him? Sigh, I will need to make a move here. Andter on, I will have to rece this guy as well.''


    Since there were only 7 votes in favor as opposed to the 8 he wanted, Hiruzen raised his own arm to support his proposal.


    A frown appeared on Danzo''s and the remaining two Elder''s faces. However, they quickly realized, ''With the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi ns supporting them, the result would be obvious. Hiruzen must have already convinced Shukaku.''


    Hiruzen nodded and said, "All those who are against, raise your hands."


    Danzo, Koharu, Homura, Hiashi, Tsuma and 1 Civilian council member raised their arms.


    Hiruzen nodded and announced, "8 in favor, 6 against it and 2 abstained. From now on, there will be a new seat on the council to represent ninjas not a part of any ns."


    Hiruzen thought, ''It''s good that those two abstained. Though even if they hadn''t, the vote would have only been a tie. I could have still pushed it through by using my second vote. Unfortunately, that would have damaged my rtionship with the n leaders.''


    Luckily for Hiruzen, he didn''t have to face that. Since the results were clear, no one argued. The Senju n leader asked, "What about the ns who have lost their seat at the table due to the losses they took? The White Fang''s son is a genius just like him."


    Hiruzen answered, "The Hatake n was badly hit in the previous war. So was the Kurama n. I gave them 5 years to increase the number of their ninjas to beyond 100, but both failed. Once they hit the minimum requirement, they will be reinstated into the council. Hopefully their ns not being in the council will spur them to raise their youngsters more passionately.


    As for the Uchiha n, Sasuke is still too young and the remaining kids are still in the academy. So, they have no ninja among our ranks currently. Considering the tragedy they faced, they might require a couple of generations to reach the minimum number. But considering their case, Sasuke will get a seat on the council once he gets promoted to Jounin.


    The n leaders nodded satisfactorily. As long as a new war didn''t happen, the Hatake n and the Kurama ns could regain their seats. Sasuke just needed time as well. Considering his father and brother, everyone believed that he would need less than 6 years to reach the Jounin rank after graduating. So the number of seats held by n ninjas would increase further.


    And, if a new war did start, then a seat on the council would be the least of their worries.


    Finally, for the first time since the meeting started, Danzo opened his mouth. And the question he asked was what everyone was thinking about. He asked, "Who do you have in mind for this seat?"


    Everyone''s eyes immediately turned towards Hiruzen. Since he had put forth this proposal, it was obvious that he would have someone in his mind.