Hiruzen pulled a small lacquered box from his robes and pressed it into Kakashi's hands.
Kakashi opened it carefully. Inside lay a single talisman—thin as paper, glowing faint green in the sunlight.
"I made this myself," Hiruzen said quietly. "Been feeding it chakra since the day I became Hokage. Thirty years of work." He tapped the seal. "It won't hold the Nine-Tails—not quite strong enough for that. But the Three-Tails? Should do the job."
Kakashi stared at the talisman. Three decades of the Hokage's chakra, compressed into something he could hold in one hand.
"Three uses," Hiruzen continued. "That's all you get. When to use it, how to use it—that's your call. I trust your judgment." His voice hardened. "But understand this, Kakashi: I don't care how the battle goes. I don't care if we win or lose. You bring Rin home alive. That's the mission."
Kakashi closed the box. Met Hiruzen's eyes. "I won't fail."
"I know you won't." Hiruzen's smile was warm, sad. "Your father raised you right."
He clapped Kakashi's shoulder once, then turned and left with Koharu.
The Hatake estate sat on the edge of a lake—quiet, isolated, beautiful. Hiruzen didn't rush. He and Koharu walked the shoreline in silence, watching sunlight dance on the water.
"You don't think this is going to work," Koharu said finally.
Hiruzen glanced at her. "Should I?"
She stopped walking. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Hiruzen picked up a stone, skipped it across the lake. "I feel like a gambler who's already pushed his chips in. The bet's placed. The dice are rolling. And my gut's screaming that I made the wrong call."
Koharu frowned. "Danzō's leading the operation, but the strategy's all Shikaku Nara. The kid's brilliant—you know that. And the intelligence confirms it: the Wind-Cloud main force is at Takigakure. Everything's going according to plan."
"Main force?" Hiruzen's tone was sharp. "You sure about that? Takes twenty thousand shinobi to deal with Takigakure's leftovers? Old men and academy students?"
Koharu opened her mouth. Closed it.
"They just rotated troops," she said slowly. "Fresh forces to the coast, veterans inland. Standard procedure."
"Is it?" Hiruzen turned to face her. "You're a tactician, Koharu. If you were fighting for your life, would you swap your best troops to the rear right before the decisive battle?"
Her eyes widened. "You think it's a trick."
"I think Jinghang's smarter than we give him credit for." Hiruzen's voice was cold. "If that rotation was theater—if he's been lying about his numbers—then he's got thirty thousand shinobi. Maybe more. Split ten thousand off to Takigakure for looting and misdirection." He met her gaze. "Where do you think the other twenty thousand are?"
"Gods." Koharu's face went pale. "Yuexi Peninsula."
"Waiting in the sand." Hiruzen nodded. "Dug in. Supplied. Ready."
"You bastard!" Koharu punched his shoulder—hard. "Twelve thousand of our people are marching into that! And you're just—what, theorizing?"
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Her voice cracked. "That's Konoha's future walking into a meat grinder!"
"I know." Hiruzen caught her wrist, voice steady. "But it's speculation, Koharu. I have no proof. Just a bad feeling and one suspicious detail."
"Hizashi Hyūga came back alive."
Koharu blinked. "So?"
"So his entire team died. Slaughtered. But Hizashi—the Byakugan user, the one who could see through any ambush—he survived." Hiruzen released her wrist. "Doesn't that strike you as convenient?"
She stared at him. "You think he's compromised."
"I think someone wanted him to report back." Hiruzen turned back to the lake. "I think we're being fed exactly the intelligence they want us to see."
Koharu was silent for a long moment. Then: "I'm telling Shikaku."
"Talked to him yesterday." Hiruzen's smile was grim. "Kid's got more guts than both of us. He knows it might be a trap. He's going anyway."
"That's insane—"
"Is it?" Hiruzen's voice was soft. "Twenty thousand elite shinobi. Two jinchūriki. Open desert terrain—hard to set ambushes, easy to see enemies coming. If the supply lines hold, we've got a fighting chance." He looked at her. "And Konoha needs this, Koharu. We've been on the defensive too long. People are scared. Morale's in the gutter. We need a victory."
"Or a glorious defeat," Koharu muttered.
"That too." Hiruzen started walking again. "Either way, the story gets told. Either way, Konoha's spirit comes back."
Koharu followed, shaking her head. "You're a cold bastard, you know that?"
"I'm a retired bastard," Hiruzen corrected. "There's a difference."
Allied Forces Command Center
"Logistics," Shikaku Nara said flatly, tapping the map. "That's the whole game. Forget tactics. Forget formations. If we can't drink, we die."
The command tent was packed—Danzō at the head, Amemiya and the other staff officers crowded around the sand table. A red line cut across the desert: the Tang-Yue Highway, the crystal road built after the Second Five Kage Summit.
"Scouts confirmed it a week ago," Shikaku continued. "When the coastal defense forces rotated through, they sabotaged the highway. Every service station, every well—destroyed. We're looking at six hundred miles of empty sand."
"Six hundred miles?" Amemiya's voice was sharp. "How the hell do we supply that?"
"We don't." Shikaku's tone was matter-of-fact. "Not with the existing infrastructure. But Sunagakure built those service stations over underground rivers. The wells are gone, but the water's still there."
Danzō leaned forward. "You're proposing we dig new wells."
"Every fifty miles, we stop. Dig. Build a supply cache. Post guards. Then move forward." Shikaku traced the route with one finger. "Slow. Methodical. Safe."
"Safe?" Amemiya slammed his hand on the table. "At that pace, it'll take three months to reach Yuexi! The enemy'll be back home by then!"
"Good." Shikaku didn't even blink. "Let them come. We'll have fortified supply lines, rested troops, and two tailed beasts. They'll be exhausted from fighting at Takigakure. We'll crush them in open battle."
"You're out of your mind—"
"Enough." Danzō's voice cut through the argument like a blade. He straightened, eye sweeping the room. "Staff Officer Nara's plan is sound. No water means no army. We advance carefully or we don't advance at all." He looked at Amemiya. "Dismissed."
Amemiya's jaw worked. But he bowed stiffly and left.
Shikaku waited until the tent emptied. Then turned to Danzō.
"You know it's a trap," he said quietly.
Danzō's smile was cold. "Of course I do."
"And you're sending them anyway."
"I'm sending them prepared." Danzō's voice was steel. "Hiruzen thinks I'm a fool. Thinks I don't see Jinghang's game. But I do." He tapped the map. "The difference is, I'm willing to pay the price. Konoha needs this war. Needs the blood. Needs the fire."
Shikaku studied him. "And if we lose?"
"Then we lose gloriously." Danzō's eye gleamed. "And the next generation learns what it means to fight."
Shikaku nodded slowly. "Understood, sir."
As he left, Danzō turned back to the map. Thirty thousand enemies. Twelve thousand of his own. Two jinchūriki. Open desert.
The odds were bad.
But he'd faced worse.
And Konoha would endure.
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