After leaving the Root base, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately began making covert cooperative arrangements. He first secretly mobilized the jōnin of his own clan, along with a portion of trusted ANBU, and transferred them to Shimura Danzō's Root.
Danzō likewise brought out every clan member who had reached jōnin level. Added to the elites he had cultivated and recruited through Root over the years, the total force now exceeded a hundred men.
This operation emphasized secrecy above all else. Too many people would be impossible to conceal—one hundred was already the absolute limit.
At the same time, Hiruzen fabricated a batch of intelligence reports and used them as a pretext to summon the heads of all the major ninja clans for a meeting.
"Everyone, take a look at this intelligence first."
Once all had arrived, Hiruzen had an ANBU distribute the prepared reports.
As the clan heads read through them, their expressions uniformly turned grave.
"There are signs of large numbers of ninja activity along several borders," the Senju clan head said after lowering the report. "Have they joined forces?"
"That possibility cannot be ruled out," Hiruzen replied solemnly.
Although some of the intelligence was fabricated, much of it was genuine.
The four great villages had long since prepared to initiate war, and just like the last Shinobi World War, Konoha would once again be their primary target.
With Hiruzen's confirmation, the room fell silent.
No one liked war. People died in wars. Even if most of the dead were civilians and low-ranking shinobi, the great clans would inevitably suffer heavy losses as well.
But now that the enemy had already begun mobilizing, they had no choice but to respond.
"We absolutely cannot allow the flames of war to spread into the Land of Fire," Hiruzen declared.
"We must stop the enemy at the borders. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain things to the daimyo."
Since no one spoke up, Hiruzen laid down a hard requirement for the coming war strategy: the enemy must not be allowed to advance inward.
No one objected. There was nothing to object to. This was the very purpose of a ninja village—established from the moment the one-village–one-country system was created. No one could change that.
"Next, we'll assign combat deployments. We must immediately dispatch elite forces to reach the front lines as quickly as possible, seize favorable terrain, and establish defensive lines.
"This will prevent enemy breakthroughs into the Land of Fire and buy time for our main forces to arrive."
Hiruzen's gaze shifted to the Senju clan head.
"The battlefield against the Land of Earth will likely be in the Rain Country and Grass Country. Those terrains are well suited to the Senju clan, whose strengths lie in Earth and Water Release."
The Senju clan head did not refuse and nodded in agreement.
Though their opponent was a major village, fighting in such terrain posed no great fear to the Senju—especially with Mother still present.
Hiruzen then looked toward the Uchiha clan head.
"Next is the Kumogakure front. Cloud ninja excel at close combat, particularly Lightning Release chakra-mode techniques, which emphasize extreme speed. The Uchiha clan's Sharingan can effectively counter them."
The Uchiha clan head nodded in acceptance. Having the Uchiha confront experts in taijutsu and speed was indeed the most suitable arrangement.
Hiruzen then turned to the Hyūga clan head.
"Next is the Kirigakure front. Their strongest methods rely on assassination under the cover of the Hidden Mist Technique. The Hyūga clan's Byakugan is well suited to countering this.
"In addition, for the sake of the war effort, Hyūga ninja will need to be distributed to other fronts as support."
The Hyūga clan head nodded and accepted the assignment.
"Finally, the Sunagakure front will be handled by the Sarutobi clan and the Shimura clan," Hiruzen concluded.
"Additional forces will be dispatched as needed to support each battlefield based on the situation."
As Hokage, Hiruzen had to lead by example. If the Sarutobi clan contributed nothing, the other clans would never agree.
Sure enough, once Hiruzen committed his own clan to the fighting, the expressions of the various clan heads visibly softened.
They had truly feared that the Sarutobi clan would stay in the rear and avoid sending anyone. That would have been utterly infuriating and unacceptable.
After returning to their respective clans and holding internal meetings, the clan heads began preparing supplies. The very next day, their elite forces set out for the borders to begin establishing defenses.
The war had not yet officially begun. Their task for now was simply to occupy key terrain, fortify defensive positions, and eliminate enemy scouts who had infiltrated the area. The danger level was relatively low.
This was the primary reason the clans had so readily agreed. Moreover, the village's main forces would follow later—they were not being sent to fight the great villages alone.
They could not launch an offensive, but pure defense was far easier.
However, Konoha's sudden large-scale mobilization immediately put the entire ninja world on alert.
The four great villages were completely baffled.
"What in the world is Konoha trying to do?"
Inside Iwagakure's Tsuchikage Building council chamber, the assembled leaders were utterly confused.
They had indeed deployed troops to pressure the borders of the Land of Fire as a feint, preparing for the attack on UzUzushiogakure—but the operation hadn't even started yet.
"Perhaps our plan against the Uzumaki clan has been exposed,"
Ōnoki said after a long period of thought.
"I don't think so," another voice argued.
"If it were exposed, wouldn't Konoha concentrate its forces near Uzushio to oppose us? Konoha and UzUzushiogakure have been allies for many years, and the First Hokage's wife was from the Uzumaki clan."
Ōnoki couldn't be bothered to respond to such a simplistic argument. He glanced around the room and said gravely:
"This war in the Land of Whirlpools may encounter unexpected variables. Konoha could become our enemy—or our ally.
"When the time comes, Xisi Ren, adapt to the situation as it unfolds."
His gaze settled on the middle-aged man seated to his left—one of his most trusted subordinates and the supreme commander for the Uzushio campaign.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. I understand."
Xisi Ren rose at once to acknowledge the order, a smile appearing on his face.
How interesting.
The others in the chamber quickly caught on as well, smiles spreading across their faces.
"So it seems our so-called 'Strongest Hokage' isn't having an easy time in Konoha."
"Strongest my ass. Every Third of the Five Great Villages claims to be the strongest of their lineage. Hiruzen's title is full of water."
"No wonder they sent the Senju to our front. We're far from UzUzushiogakure—by the time the Senju want to reinforce it, it'll already be too late."
Laughter rippled through the room, tinged with mockery.
What a wonderful Hokage.
"Zi," Ōnoki said calmly,
"you'll accompany them, just in case."
Despite his low opinion of Zi's intellect, Ōnoki trusted his strength.
Though Zi's tailed beast sealing was imperfect, he could already control it reasonably well, and by fusing with the Four-Tails' chakra, he had developed his own Lava Release.
If Ōnoki didn't use Dust Release, even he might not be able to defeat Zi. Calling him the village's second-strongest ninja wouldn't be an exaggeration.
With Zi overseeing the situation, Ōnoki could rest easier.
Zi was still puzzled, but he nodded and accepted the order.
Though he disliked Ōnoki's philosophy, he loved the village just as much. Moreover, the Uzushio plan was directly tied to him as well.
If he could obtain a stronger, more suitable sealing technique, he would be able to suppress the Four-Tails more effectively.
That monster was notoriously difficult to deal with. A moment's carelessness could lead to chakra erosion and a berserk rampage, causing massive damage to the village every time.
Sunagakure and Kirigakure made similar preparations, increasing their investment in the Uzushio campaign.
Though it was only a suspicion, this was one of those matters where it was better to believe than to doubt.
The Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques had to be obtained.
Only then could they create perfect Jinchūriki like the First Hokage's wife—beings capable of fully controlling tailed beast power.
Konoha already possessed a perfect Jinchūriki—and the strongest tailed beast, the Nine-Tails.
They, too, needed perfect Jinchūriki of their own.
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