Kuro stood on the roof of his residence, the cool evening wind tugging at his cloak.
Below him, the village lights twinkled peacefully. Kirama sat on the railing, tail swaying lazily, eyes half-lidded.
"They've started moving," Kuro said calmly.
The shadows around him rippled, and Niji emerged, kneeling silently.
"The Rain shinobi withdrew after their probe," Niji reported. "But our observers confirm movement near the eastern coast. Smaller villages are aligning themselves. The Stone hasn't acted openly yet… but they're watching."
Kuro nodded. "As expected."
Behind him, Kisara stepped onto the roof, wrapping a light shawl around her shoulders. "So the game finally begins?"
"Yep," Kuro replied.
Kirama let out a soft chirp, ears twitching. Kuro reached up, absently scratching under her chin.
"Send word to the shadows," Kuro continued. "No large-scale interference yet. I want eyes everywhere, especially in the big villages and nations."
"Hai!" Niji vanished.
…
Elsewhere in the village, Minato sat on the edge of a rooftop, staring at the stars.
Nawaki lay flat beside him, hands behind his head. "You think there's going to be a war?"
Minato didn't answer immediately.
"Yes," he finally said. "One worse than people expect."
Mikoto stood nearby, arms folded, her Sharingan briefly flickering as she scanned the surrounding rooftops before letting it fade. "It hasn't been that long since the last war. Why another one so soon?"
Minato clenched his fist slightly. Kuro's warning echoed in his mind.
"He knows things we don't," Minato said. "And he's already moving."
Nawaki turned his head toward him. "Do you trust him?"
Minato exhaled slowly. "I trust that whatever he's doing… It's for the greater good of the village."
That answer didn't fully reassure any of them.
…
Deep beneath the Hokage Tower, sealed behind layers of old barriers, Hiruzen stood before a forbidden archive. Scrolls bearing ancient Uzumaki seals lined the walls.
"So you really intend to dig them up, Kuro?" he murmured
A masked ANBU behind him knelt. "Orders, Hokage-sama?"
Hiruzen hesitated, then straightened.
"Compile everything," he said. "Locations, survivors, anything unconfirmed. If Kuro is reopening this chapter… the Leaf cannot afford ignorance like last time."
The ANBU vanished.
Hiruzen looked down at his trembling hands.
"Sorry, sensei," he muttered, "The world is already on fire."
…
Far beyond the borders of Fire Country, rain fell endlessly over iron towers and flooded streets.
Within a dark chamber, a man wrapped in bandages opened a single visible eye.
"So the Leaf stirs," Hanzō of the Salamander said coldly.
A kneeling shinobi lowered his head. "Yes, my lord."
Hanzō's eye narrowed.
"Good," he said. "Let them prepare."
The rain intensified.
"War favors those who strike first."
…
The alarm bells rang at dawn.
Along the southwestern border of the Land of Fire that borders the Land of Rivers, the forests started to turn dry as a thin crack appeared on the forest floor.
Soon, a wall of dust rose on the horizon, blotting out the morning light. Shinobi stationed at the border posts barely had time to react before the wind howled like a living thing.
"Multiple signatures detected!" a Leaf sensor shouted, slamming her palm to the ground. Her face drained of color. "This isn't a raid… It's an advanced force."
The sandstorm exploded outward.
Figures burst from the swirling dust, moving with terrifying coordination. Sand shinobi, faces wrapped in cloth, eyes sharp and unblinking. Some rode the currents of compressed sand, while others flickered forward with wind-enhanced body flicker, their blades already drawn.
"Earth Wall!"
"Wind Style—break it!"
The first defensive line shattered almost instantly. Sand blades sliced through wooden barricades, wind pressure ripping apart kunai midair. Explosive tags detonated uselessly as grains of sand smothered the blasts.
High above, a Sand jōnin raised both arms.
"Formation B," he commanded coldly.
The ground trembled.
Sand erupted beneath Leaf shinobi, binding their legs, crushing their ribs, and dragging them under like quicksand. The border unit fought back fiercely as fire jutsu turned sand to glass, lightning ripping through the storm. But they were outnumbered and outmatched.
A hawk burst from the chaos, wings burning with chakra as it shot eastward toward the Hidden Leaf.
…
At the same time, Hidden Rain started its own assault on the western border. The sky near the border outpost between the Land of Fire and Hidden Rain begins to darken.
At first, it seemed like no more than a weather phenomenon.
Rain began to fall heavier than usual, drumming against metal roofs and pooling unnaturally fast at the base of the walls. Sensors on duty exchanged uneasy glances.
"This rainfall pattern is wrong," one of them muttered. "Chakra density is rising."
The outpost commander stepped forward. "Alert the village. Hidden Rain—"
Before he could finish, the rainwater on the ground shifted.
Water surged upward from the saturated earth, snapping into spear-like shapes. The perimeter barrier flared once, then shattered under sheer pressure.
Figures emerged from the rain-soaked mist, cloaks plastered to their bodies as they moved with brutal efficiency.
Supply depots were flooded and collapsed from within. Watchtowers went dark as water-cutting techniques sliced through support beams. Shinobi were dragged into deepening pools, forced into close combat where the enemy controlled every angle.
"Hold the line!"
"Wind users—break the mist!"
"Medical team, fall back!"
A messenger hawk burst skyward through sheets of rain, feathers soaked, chakra flaring desperately.
…
The fires spread.
North of the Land of Fire, where mountains clawed at the sky and narrow passes funneled trade and patrols alike, the earth moved.
Leaf scouts felt it first. "Earth chakra signatures," a sensor whispered, eyes wide. "Dozens, no, hundreds."
The mountain road collapsed in a roar as Stone shinobi surged forward, reshaping cliffs into ramparts and crushing paths beneath rolling slabs of reinforced rock. The fortified checkpoints were buried before anyone could react and send out messenger hawks.
…
To the northeast, on the border along the Hidden Hot Water Village, the mist rolled in at dawn.
Multiple burn down outposts could be seen as smoke rose into the air. Bodies litter the ground, most of which were Hidden Leaf.
…
By midday, the Land of Fire was no longer facing an invasion.
It was facing encirclement.
Inside the Hidden Leaf, the situation room throbbed with tense chakra, the silence between reports almost suffocating.
Scrolls slammed onto the table one after another.
"Stone forces advancing through the northern passes."
"Cloud raids confirmed along the northeastern border."
"Sand continues pressure in the southwest."
"Hidden Rain maintains assault on western outposts."
Hiruzen stood at the center, hands braced against the table, shoulders heavy with decades of war he had prayed never to see again.
"…They're all moving," he said quietly.
After a long pause, he snapped his fingers. An ANBU appeared instantly.
"Get Kuro for me. Tell him I need to see him."
The ANBU nodded once and vanished in a blur.
Hiruzen looks at the chaos unfolding in front of him and lets out a long, weary sigh.
"If I survive this," he said quietly, almost to himself, "I will hang up my hat and retire."