As time passed.
The Demon Legion of the Moryo had already penetrated through from the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain.
Soon they would reach the Land of Fire.
When the Demon Legion passed through the Land of Rain, Konan had made a special attack once.
But it took a lot of explosive tags to blow apart a single stone golem, and the golems were quickly repaired.
Keep in mind, this Demon Legion had tens of thousands of stone golems.
No wonder the Moryo wanted to conquer the whole world with them.
Seeing that the Demon Legion was about to step into the Land of Fire, Iwagakure had already gathered five thousand troops, ready to depart at any time.
On the other side, Sunagakure had also assembled four thousand and entered the Land of Rivers.
Kumogakure was also mobilizing forces, but Kumo was too far away, and Konoha's scouts had basically withdrawn, so the specifics were unclear.
Kirigakure had not made large-scale troop movements.
At this time Konoha opened a high-level meeting to discuss matters.
On the old site of the Hokage building, a new Hokage building had already been completed.
Rengoku was using this conference room for a high-level meeting for the first time.
Shikaku attended this time as Shikai's assistant to the Hokage.
He held a piece of intel and reported to the elders present, "Our informants in the Land of Rivers have fully confirmed that Sunagakure's contingent coming over is four thousand people, led by Yagura, but we don't know if there are others."
"Iwagakure has also gathered five thousand at the border and could go to war without declaration at any time; the leader of that force is currently unknown."
"As for Kumogakure, they are moving large numbers of shinobi, but they are too far away; our intel hasn't obtained concrete details yet."
"Kirigakure has not mobilized on a large scale."
"The stone golems' strength has been tested by the Hokage."
"Genin and chunin cannot break their defenses; only heavy siege equipment can breach those stone golems' bodies."
When Nara Shikaku said this, those below immediately buzzed with discussion.
Except for Kirigakure, most of the news was bad.
If the Nine-Tails were here, the stone golems would be nothing; a Tailed Beast Ball would plow the land flat without needing anyone's lives as filler.
These elders did not know that many big names in Konoha had been resurrected, and that the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was still present.
Finding that three shinobi villages plus a Demon legion were all targeting Konoha, they were naturally very worried.
Everyone looked at Rengoku with questioning eyes.
As Hokage, it was fine if he usually didn't handle political affairs, but this was a fight for survival.
If he handled it poorly, then this Hokage would be grossly negligent.
Rengoku, however, already had a plan, "Whether it's Iwagakure, Sunagakure, or Kumogakure, they all want to use the Demon Legion to wear Konoha down."
"This time I've already dispatched the shrine maiden from the Land of Demons and asked Akatsuki's Senku to set up a large formation that will be enough to trap the march of the Demon army."
"Iwagakure's strongest forces are basically their two jinchuriki."
"Let Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi lead two thousand people to defend and hold the situation."
"Choza will lead three thousand, follow Miroku, and be ready for rapid maneuvers."
"Sunagakure now has no jinchuriki. I will lead one thousand to meet them."
"Tsunade will take the medical teams to assist with the army."
"All Hyuga clan members are to be recalled. Hyuga Aoto, your clan's mission this time is heavy: besides battlefield support."
"You must also send small squads into Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure to check how many follow-up troops they have."
"The other elders maintain Konoha's operations."
"Shikaku ensure medical supplies, combat supplies, and all logistics."
"Keep monitoring of Konoha at the highest level."
"Orochimaru will stay in Konoha to prevent any chaos."
"If I am not in Konoha, Shikai, Orochimaru, and Tsunade will handle village affairs."
Rengoku had basically prepared all sorts of plans in advance. Calling these elders together was to issue orders, not to consult them.
After all, these elders weren't experts at war.
But they needed to be told who the enemies were and how they would be fought, so they would trust and cooperate with Rengoku's deployments.
———
While Konoha actively mobilized personnel, many scouts tried to enter Konoha to gather intel.
But with the new type of barrier, various scouts simply could not get in.
Outsiders had no clear idea of Konoha's troop deployments.
Akatsuki, meanwhile, had taken Sasori, Deidara, and Konan to Kumogakure just in case.
Kirigakure, though not conducting large-scale mobilization, had Yagura and his mirror clone en route to the Demon Legion's battlefield.
———
[Border of the Land of Fire]
This was exactly the point where the Land of Fire, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Grass met.
This was an endless desert plain, the ground covered with rubble and pebbles, with not even a large tree in sight, utterly desolate.
Because there was nothing here, it was the border.
Senku and the shrine maiden Miroku, wearing masks from the Land of Waves, were arranging formations.
In truth these stone golems were just living targets; if a jinchuriki were here, they could be casually bombarded to pieces.
But Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki was gone… or so people thought.
The Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze existed, but Rengoku did not plan to reveal Minato until the other villages had committed more troops to the Land of Fire, to maximize benefit.
So Senku and Miroku did not feel too pressured; it was just that the Demon Legion had too many stone golems, and the formation they needed to lay was huge.
Even with Shinigami masks as barrier formation flags, they needed to act as the hub inside the barrier to consume the stone golems.
On the northwest battlefield, on the surface it was Senku and Miroku, but in reality Yagura and his mirror clone were also Rengoku's people.
On the west, the Sunagakure front, Rengoku had also brought Kato Dan and Kurama Yakumo as support, with Hatake Sakumo in reserve.
On the north front, on the surface were Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi, but Fugaku also had Shisui and Makumi with him.
Rengoku's margin for error was extremely high.
With Orochimaru in Konoha, Rengoku felt not the least worried.
On the east, near Kumogakure, breaking through Konan's defense also seemed no easy task.
———
At this time Onoki was not in Iwagakure village but with the frontline troops.
Because among the two jinchuriki leading the entourage, the Roshi one had a huge ego that only Onoki could control.
Onoki held a dossier in his hand, which had been reported back by Deidara.
It detailed who was in Akatsuki.
Onoki noticed that Akatsuki included a Kirigakure rogue named Kisame Hoshigaki.
He guessed that the one providing intel to Yagura must be this person.
"Tsuchikage-sama, your personal messenger bird has returned. Here's the content."
At the Anbu report, Onoki trembled all over.
It has arrived.
He pulled the scroll over, opened it, and sure enough it was from Mizukage Yagura.
The letter's content was Senku's current location; Senku was already on the way, asking them to rendezvous.
"Roshi, I'll leave this to you."
Roshi glanced at Onoki with utter indifference, "Understood."
"Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, you two come with me."
"Yes!"
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