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While inside the Sage's statue I did not really take the time into account as I didn't really want to go back to Konoha right away. Minato hadn't given me a vacation, not officially at least, but I had just basically done an S Rank Mission on my own so I deserve some slack.

And so that's how I ended up spending three whole days on Yami Mountain, which felt more or less like a month as I spent the vast majority of my time inside the statue.

This had allowed me to better master the S Rank Technique, Water Severing Wave. After all, although I could technically use it, I couldn't just sit around for nearly an hour to unleash the jutsu.

However, I was making progress very quickly, much faster than anyone else would.

The way the body worked was that every Tenketsu was connected to one another, and those connections, or bridges between Tenketsu Points, were naturally shrunk, meaning it would be hard to circulate chakra within them.

Of course, not every bridge was blocked the same, some were more loose than others, and that was generally called affinity.

For example, I have a Water Affinity, which means the bridges connecting to my Water related Tenketsu Points were wider than any of the other elements.

At the same time, those blockages can be resolved, one simply needs to continuously channel chakra through them to widen the bridges.

And that is basically how one learns a jutsu. Complete the necessary handsigns enough times that chakra will become capable of easily circulating through these bridges.

And the more open they are, the least handsigns are needed as the body will naturally let the chakra pass through the intended course.

I, however, was a special case. This was something I discovered later on on my own, but I had managed to open up my bridges much earlier than intended.

That is because I have circulated chakra through each and every one of my bridges several times already when I was searching for effects and jutsus.

That's why, it was considerably easier for me to learn jutsus than it was for others.

And that's why after three days within the statue, although I hadn't fully learned the S Rank technique, I was getting very close.

Granted I had technically spent a month in there, but that was only mentally. In the end, my body had only spent three days, and what mattered when learning a jutsu is the reaction of the body, so I had more or less trained the equivalent of 20ish days.

Normally, people take a matter of months, if not years to learn S Rank Jutsus. Worse than that, some people could be presented an S Rank Technique and not be able to learn it for their whole lives.

As for me, I was getting very close to using it freely. While within the statue, I can use it in two or three seconds, so in the outside world it would take me 20 or 30 seconds. This was quite the massive improvement from the initial 54 minutes.

I would have needed a little more work to use it instantly, but I had already left for long enough. And I felt like I had cheated my vacation already.

And so I returned to Konoha.

First thing I saw as I returned was my smashed door, which reminded me what happened before I left. Sighing, I tried to put it back in a somewhat normal shape, but I had been a bit too heavy handed it seems, the door was dead.

I quickly looked through my place, and was happy to find nothing was missing. Well, Konoha itself was pretty safe, and as an Anbu my place received special protection with more patrols from the police, so no one would try to attack, if they are in their right mind.

Still, until I get a new door, I should do something, and so using one of the Doton jutsus I knew I created a small wall in the place of my door. Anyone who really wanted to enter would be able to do so, but so would they with a door.

I could place an explosive tag inside, but I don't really have anything valuable in my apartment, so I would rather get stolen than blow up my place.

However, as I got out of my apartment, I noticed something was wrong right away. Something… wasn't right.

After a moment, I understood it was the people. Even from afar I could see how tense they were. They looked anxious, barely paying attention to the other people surrounding them. This wasn't good.

And I barely got to look at these people when I saw someone speeding towards me. Turning my head, I saw someone land on a roof next to me, and it was someone I recognized.

"I hope you enjoyed your vacation."

I sent a look at him, and replied, "I did, and certainly did not expect to come back to see everyone with a stick up their asses. Especially you, Shisui."

Shisui Uchiha always had a smile on while in the village, that is something I learned through the time we spent together. Now though, he looked pale, and upset.

"You need to follow me to the Hokage's Tower, now."

I rolled my eyes and joked, "Don't you think we have better things to do than punish me for an unplanned vacancy?"

Shisui was so out of it though that he did not get the joke, and replied in all seriousness, "Your punishment for leaving without telling anyone will come later. We have serious issues to deal with, first."

He jumped away, and I followed after him. He did not say anything, while I looked more around the village as we headed for the Hokage's Tower, and I realized that my feeling wasn't wrong.

There was an unusually high amount of policemen patrolling the streets, and while the civilians didn't look very good, the ninjas, whether they were from the police or not, looked even worse.

A possibility appeared in my mind, one I didn't like one bit.

We quickly arrived at the Hokage's Tower, and realized it was unusually busy, and full of people.

Shisui barely sent a look at the Hokage's assistant, who looked at him and me, before returning to her papers, not saying a thing as we walked to the Hokage's office.

Shisui knocked on the door, while I stopped behind him, and a second later he opened.

I was shocked by what I saw inside. Instead of the usually empty office, it was packed full of people. Moreover, they weren't just any people, as I could see the three Elders of the Village, that is Danzo, Homura and Koharu.

Besides them was also Jiraiya of the Sannin. As for the rest of the room, although I didn't recognize them all, I could see Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, the leaders of the strongest clans, including the Uchiha, as well as Amai-Sensei, Mikoto, Kushina…

I might know all of them personally, but they all had one thing in common. They were at least a Jonin in rank.

The moment we stepped in, all the gazes locked on us. They didn't remain very long on Shisui, but each and everyone of them stopped on me, with a myriad of emotions.

It was getting quite awkward, before Minato finally broke the silence, and said with a tired voice, "Sukaina, you are back. Right on time."

Some in the room smiled, some were indifferent, and some were obviously unhappy.

Behind Minato, Elder Koharu and Homura looked quite displeased by my presence, and made their stance known.

"Lord Hokage, this meeting is only for Jonins."

"A little girl has nothing to do in this room. It isn't time for jokes."

Before Minato or any of my friends could reply to them, it was surprisingly Danzo, out of all people, who stood up for me.

"You have before you someone capable of killing you and having any member of your family blamed for it, so I would watch my mouth if I were you."

Those who didn't know me before quickly changed the way they looked at me, including the two Elders.

They didn't want to lose any face though, and were ready to continue arguing.

Minato, seeing this, coughed lightly, shutting them up, and said, "Sukaina, for your services for the villages, your impressive talents and your deadly strength, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Jonin."