Chapter 95.1- One Thousand Hands

Where Toshiro had seemed to stroll into the room, comfortable in his skin, Shiba seemed to lumber. Every step he took seemed to weigh more than the last. Not with a physical weight, but a metaphysical one. This was a man with a burden on his shoulders, and he wore it on his extra long sleeves for the world to see.

“Are you well, my friend?” I found myself asking, bot. Out of concern for him, for he had always been this way, but to break the silence that stretched between us like a taut string, waiting, aching to snap.

“I am, Hokage-sama” He said as he dropped to a knee on arriving before my desk.

“I remain at your service, Hokage-sama. Always.”

“Rise, Shiba.” I said.

“So I assume you have come with your arguments to convince me to entrust the group of recently orphaned to your care.. I will hear them now. O be warned however, Toshiro has been especially convincing.” I said, prompting him to begin.

“I have seen Takehade-san’s plans, and while admirable, they did not convince me of their utility in this present case,, and I doubt they convinced you either, Hokage-sama. Why? Because they simply will take too long to come into fruition. Eight years of training to produce more shinobi suited for being naught but cannon fother who will then have too be trained further by Jounin-sensei for another year or two of dedicated training to make them useful and productive members of the Nina force. In that time, another war could even have come and gone.” Shiba said, taking a pause. His voice calm and soothing in a way that drove his point home without the need to scream it.

“My plan on the other hand will require only between six and twelve months to turn each one of them into a competent spy to plug our biggest blindspots.” He began.