Shadow of War

"Danzo..."

Minato was the Fourth Hokage; he knew exactly what was going on with Danzo.

Looking at the doddering Third Hokage, a sense of desolation washed over him, and he suddenly lost all interest in continuing the conversation.

In that instant, he understood the choice made by the Konoha Sannin.

He had fought a series of intense battles, followed by a long journey using the Flying Thunder God Technique. While his speed was indeed fast, the expenditure of energy was immense. Now that his spirits had dampened, he couldn't be bothered to keep it up any longer.

Nevertheless, he still recounted all the detailed intelligence he possessed. Once he had finished relaying everything, he bid the Third Hokage farewell.

"Lord Third, my time is running out. I intend to spend the remaining time with my child, to have a good talk."

"Is that so..." The Third Hokage had no objections to this; instead, his heart was filled with guilt toward Minato. "You've really worked hard! Even after death, you still have to run about for the sake of the village."

"Everything is for the village." The Fourth Hokage's smile remained as bright as sunshine, though it held a hint of dissatisfaction. "Also... Kushina asked me to pass a message to you, Lord Third. She said if you dare to bully her son and let Naruto be ostracized in the village, she will pluck out your beard."

"Cough, cough..." The Third Hokage coughed. "I am truly sorry. It is all because I didn't do well enough..."

However, Minato did not listen to his apology. He retreated directly into Naruto's body, leaving Naruto's unconscious form to collapse.

The Third Hokage hurriedly stepped forward to catch him and ordered someone to take Naruto away immediately to be well cared for.

"Issue the order at once: convene a Jonin Meeting!"

A short while later, the various clans had all sent their representatives, and the Jonin Meeting was officially underway.

The Third Hokage first gave a brief introduction of the intelligence, then said:

"The Land of Rain borders the Land of Fire and has always existed as a buffer zone between the two nations. Because of the existence of the Demigod Hanzo of the Salamander, it has been inconvenient for us to push too hard, so our understanding of the situation there is not deep enough."

"If it weren't for Minato bringing this intelligence back, I fear we would have remained in the dark, completely unaware that the tides have turned there."

"This is intelligence bought with the lives of elite ninjas like the Ino-Shika-Cho. Everyone, do not take this lightly. We must come up with a countermeasure today."

"What is there to discuss?" Danzo's face was flushed with excitement, a sinister glint flashing in his single eye. "For such an ungrateful little country, we should wipe them out completely and bring the Land of Rain under the rule of the Land of Fire!"

It was no wonder the Daimyo of the Land of Fire favored Danzo more than Sarutobi Hiruzen. Who wouldn't like a man like Danzo, who was always looking to expand his master's territory at every turn?

The Third Hokage slammed the table in anger. "Danzo, this is a Jonin Meeting. We are here to discuss countermeasures, not to talk about launching a war at every opportunity!"

"How long has it been since the Third Shinobi World War?"

"Have you not learned your lesson from how tragic the previous war was?"

"The village has just suffered an incident, and our strength is greatly diminished. We cannot give other nations a pretext to launch a war!"

Danzo was even more agitated than the Third Hokage, thumping his cane against the floor with a loud clack-clack.

"It is precisely because the village's strength is greatly diminished right now that we must project power externally!"

"At a time like this, if we show even the slightest bit of weakness, other villages will think Konoha's strength has declined. They will seize the opportunity to pounce and devour us!"

"It is unwise to clash with other Great Nations, but the Land of Rain happens to be a small country. Even if they have a few powerful ninja, they cannot possibly be stronger than Hanzo."

"We only need to crush the Land of Rain with the force of a thunderbolt, and no one will dare to doubt us again!"

The Third Hokage raised an eyebrow and shouted loudly:

"Did you not take the intelligence I just shared to heart at all?"

"Minato has already said that the person controlling Amegakure from the shadows is a powerful ninja who possesses the legendary Rinnegan, the same eyes as the Sage of Six Paths!"

"And it's not just one person, but two!"

"Once we start a war, what we might face is not a dying, aging Hanzo of the Salamander, but two demigods in their prime!"

"How could there be so many demigods in this world!" Danzo refused to believe it. He touched the eye beneath his bandages and said with great confidence: "Didn't Minato bring back the weaknesses of the Rinnegan's Dojutsu? Can't we just design our tactics based on that?"

"If they are truly as powerful as you say, as strong as Hanzo of the Salamander, then we must eradicate them even more!"

"Their current actions have clearly shown malice toward Konohagakure. If we don't destroy them before they are prepared, are we supposed to wait for them to grow stronger?"

"Hiruzen, being Hokage means you cannot be as weak as this!"

"If you are so worried about these so-called Rinnegan users, then why not leave it to Root to handle?"

"I will show you that Root is the most important force that keeps Konohagakure standing at the pinnacle of the Five Great Shinobi Countries!"

Seeing that even in a situation like this, Danzo still didn't forget to fish for credit for himself, the Third Hokage trembled with rage.

"Is this a question of who should deal with the enemy? This is a matter involving the lives of countless people in two villages!"

"So what?" Danzo yelled, craning his neck. "Are we just supposed to let so many ninja from our village die in vain?"

"Nara Shikaku and the others died in battle in Amegakure. Don't you need to give an explanation to the Ino-Shika-Cho clans?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Third Hokage's momentum instantly withered. He scanned the faces of those present at the meeting and saw that everyone was filled with righteous indignation; clearly, they were very resentful that a mere small village like Amegakure dared to provoke Konohagakure.

The next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans had not yet grown up, and those attending were Jonin from other clans.

They, on the other hand, were not as agitated. Although their faces carried a hint of sadness, they remained calm and restrained.

Among these people, Torifu Akimichi had the highest seniority and qualifications, so he was the first to speak:

"Hokage-sama, the matter of starting a war is of great importance. Please act with caution and do not feel pressured by the stance of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans."

"No matter what choice Hokage-sama makes, our three clans will definitely support it resolutely and will have no objections."

Yet the more he said that, the less the Third Hokage could ignore their sacrifices.

The Third Hokage sighed inwardly and said in a deep voice:

"Amegakure dares to harbor rogue ninjas from our village and attempted to abduct the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki; this has already violated the taboos of the ninja world."

"I am not against retaliating against Amegakure, but we cannot rashly launch a war without careful consideration. We must gather sufficient intelligence and concentrate all our strength. We must defeat Amegakure with overwhelming force and the greatest possible speed."

"Pass on my orders: have people find Tsunade and Jiraiya and bring them back, recall all Jonin currently out on missions, and send others to infiltrate Amegakure to gather relevant intelligence."

"Meeting adjourned!"

"Danzo, stay behind. I have something I need you to do."