Konoha, the Hokage Building.
It was already deep into the night, yet the Hokage’s office remained brightly lit.
Dressed in his ceremonial Hokage robes, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked noticeably older and more weathered than usual.
His gaze slowly lifted from the intelligence scrolls spread across the desk.
He took a deep drag from his pipe, allowing the bitter smoke to linger in his mouth, yet even the smoke could not dispel the gloom weighing on his heart.
According to the latest intelligence, Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning, Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, and Sunagakure of the Land of Wind had all mobilized their shinobi forces.
Following the unspoken understanding between the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they had each stationed their forces in the buffer zones surrounding the Land of Fire.
Aside from not wanting to be the first to face Konoha’s full strength, each village was also harboring thoughts of absorbing the smaller hidden villages and using them as cannon fodder.
Sunagakure coveted the routes connecting the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers.
Iwagakure was eyeing the borders of the Land of Grass and the Land of Waterfalls.
Kumogakure’s spearhead pointed directly toward the Land of Hot Water.
A number of small shinobi squads had already infiltrated the Land of Fire, hunting down Konoha shinobi.
Small-scale clashes could erupt into a true war at any moment.
Many regions were already in complete disarray, forcing Konoha’s defenders to respond wherever they could.
Even shinobi from some minor countries had begun taking advantage of the chaos to raid the Land of Fire.
With such a vast territory, there were many places where Konoha could only watch helplessly as enemy shinobi ran rampant.
Even more worrying was that Kirigakure, far across the sea, could also cross the ocean and join the war at any moment.
“We absolutely cannot sit here and wait for death.”
“Konoha’s legacy cannot end with my generation.”
A ruthless glint surfaced in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s eyes.
He drew a deep breath, and two streams of smoke poured from his nostrils.
Thick white smoke spread throughout the room.
At that very moment, the office door was gently pushed open.
“Cough, cough…”
Mitokado Homura entered first, immediately frowning as the dense smoke caught in his throat.
Behind him, Utatane Koharu glanced at her old friend, who was shrouded in smoke, and let out a quiet sigh.
Without saying a word, she walked over to the window and pushed open the tightly closed shutters.
The night breeze carried with it the distinctive damp scent of Konoha’s forests and vegetation, along with the faint lingering warmth of the distant market.
It all rushed into the office, which had been saturated with tobacco and anxiety.
The heavy smell of smoke around Hiruzen’s nose and mouth quickly dissipated, replaced by the fresh scent of night dew and earth.
” Hiruzen, there’s no need to be overly anxious.
Konoha is known as the strongest hidden village.
That foundation isn’t something they can shake easily.”
Homura walked over and sat down in a nearby chair, his tone deliberately relaxed.
“Didn’t we make it through the First and Second Shinobi World Wars like this?”
Koharu sat down as well and calmly analyzed the situation.
“Homura is right.”
“Have Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure ever truly trusted one another? They’re merely cordial on the surface and divided at heart, gathering only when their interests align.”
“As long as they realize that Konoha is a tough bone that they can’t easily chew through, all we need to do is give things a little push. Most of them will become suspicious of one another and tear each other apart over the struggle for profit.”
“Our Konoha may not be without a chance to reap the benefits.”
Her analysis was clear and well-reasoned, and the deeply furrowed brows of Hiruzen Sarutobi relaxed slightly.
But then, as though she had remembered something, Koharu looked around the room, her brows drawing together.
“By the way, at a time like this… where is Danzo?”
As soon as she finished speaking, a cold chuckle came from the doorway, striking the floor like a chunk of ice.
“Give things a little push? That’s a nice way of putting it.”
Shimura Danzo stepped out from the shadows beyond the door.
“When you get right down to it, aren’t you just asking me and my ‘Root’ to handle all those dirty jobs that can’t be brought into the light?”
He stopped beneath the lamplight.
The gloomy expression on his deeply weathered face seemed almost tangible.
Anyone could tell at a glance that this man was bad news.
“Whenever there’s something good to do, I’m never considered. But every dangerous job somehow ends up falling on me.”
“Enough, Danzo.”
Hiruzen put down his pipe and impatiently waved a hand at his sarcastic old friend, cutting off his divisive remarks.
Ever since the conclusion of the Jonin meeting, after Hiruzen had personally held a closed-door conversation with the Uchiha clan leader, Shimura Danzo had been wearing a sour expression as though he had been dead for years, leaving Hiruzen utterly exasperated.
With powerful enemies surrounding them and Konoha in desperate need of manpower, now was precisely the time when they needed to rely on the Uchiha’s formidable combat strength.
Yet Danzo stubbornly clung to his extreme views.
His profound distrust of the Uchiha was written plainly across his face, and he even seemed intent on uprooting the clan entirely.
Such an obstinate attitude, so lacking in awareness of the bigger picture and so unconcerned with the overall situation, left Hiruzen with a profound sense of helplessness.
He had no time left to patiently persuade him. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“Danzo, come over and sit down.”
As the only woman among the four senior officials, Utatane Koharu often acted as the mediator, easing the rigid atmosphere whenever the men began arguing.
Shimura Danzo sat down in the empty chair with a gloomy expression.
He then closed his eyes, making it clear that he had no intention of saying another word.
Hiruzen glanced at him.
Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he stopped wasting time and clearly laid out the severity of the current situation.
“Ultimately, the conflict between the Five Great Shinobi Villages is a struggle over interests.”
“At the same time, it will inevitably involve the nations behind them.”
After listening, Homura immediately spoke.
“I suggest that we must begin taking action on the diplomatic front.”
“I will represent Konoha and personally travel to the capital of the Land of Fire to meet with His Excellency the Daimyo.”
His tone was firm and his reasoning orderly.
“There are two main purposes for this trip.”
“First, to inform the Daimyo of the dangerous situation along the borders and request emergency financial assistance from the Land of Fire to support us through what may become a prolonged war.”
“Second, and more importantly, to request that His Excellency the Daimyo use his status and influence to issue a formal diplomatic inquiry to the other four great nations.”
“Condemn their unjust acts of aggression and pressure them to restrain their respective shinobi villages, creating even the slightest opportunity for a peaceful resolution to the dispute.”
“I believe the Daimyo would not want the Land of Fire to suffer even greater losses.”
Danzo’s eyes were half-lidded as he glanced sideways at Homura, who continued speaking at length.
Those lofty diplomatic phrases were, in his ears, nothing more than Homura’s excuse for avoiding the front lines.
An attempt to use documents and negotiations in place of genuine bloodshed and killing.
Moreover, in this storm sweeping across the entire shinobi world, were the Daimyo sitting behind the various nations truly innocent?
They appeared to stand aloof from the conflict, but who could guarantee that there was no deeper calculation behind the constant flow of supplies to the front lines and their tacit approval and indulgence of the hidden villages’ wars?
Those sanctimonious rulers might very well be playing the role of fanning the flames—or even standing on the sidelines and watching the fire burn.
“Homura, I’ll leave this matter to you. Set out tomorrow morning and reach an agreement with the Daimyo as quickly as possible.”
Hiruzen made his decision, then turned his attention to Koharu.
She presented the plan she had just finished considering in full.
“Konoha isn’t lacking in war supplies during the initial stage of the war. We can send the shinobi forces currently on standby to the front lines at any time. The biggest problem now is the commanders of the various forces.”
“If their strength is too weak, they won’t be able to withstand the advance of the other hidden villages.”