The Second Five-Village War Erupted

At this time, neither Konoha nor Hidden Sand knew this disastrous news, as none of their border garrison troops in the Land of Rain had survived. Konoha Village and Hidden Sand Village still maintained an atmosphere of peace.

Seeing how effective the surprise attack had been, Hanzō wanted to press the advantage, continue expanding the gains, occupy more land, and plunder more resources.

Since most of the Land of Wind was desert, with few places suitable for survival, it was vastly inferior to the fertile lands of the Land of Fire. Thus, after leading his forces on a round of plundering, Hanzō set his next main offensive target on the Land of Fire.

On Hidden Sand's side, although its border garrison had been wiped out and Rain Village had invaded the Land of Wind, the Third Kazekage, Iron Sand, had previously ordered the border alert level raised. Therefore, on the 19th, Hidden Sand Village noticed that something might have happened when it lost contact with its border forces.

Before long, Hidden Sand Village figured out what had happened.

Though he was furious at Rain Village's unannounced war and sneak attack, Iron Sand immediately began deploying troops. He promptly stopped the Rain ninja forces' advance and prevented them from pushing the front line into the heartland of the Land of Wind.

Meanwhile, because Hanzō had gone to oversee the Land of Fire front personally, Rain Village gradually slowed its offensive. Relying on several occupied border towns of the Land of Wind, it built defensive lines and remained locked in a stalemate with Hidden Sand Village.

As for Konoha, two days had already passed, yet it had not detected anything amiss.

Soon, it was the night of September 21. A full three days had passed since Hidden Rain's surprise attack on the Land of Fire, and Hanzō's forces were aimed straight at the Land of Fire's interior. After he arrived at the Land of Fire battlefield, not a single Konoha ninja encountered along the way escaped, and the news was tightly sealed off.

Only when the Rain ninja had swiftly advanced the front to within a day's journey of Tanzaku Town did Konoha's ANBU, having exceeded the normal contact window without reaching the border troops, finally realize that something was wrong.

In the end, a small team of Root ninja under Pot Shadow Danzō Shimura happened to pass the Rain ninja forces from afar while carrying out a mission. By chance, the team included a sensory ninja, and they withdrew before the Rain ninja noticed them. Only then did they finally obtain definite intelligence that the Rain ninja had invaded the Land of Fire.

Bang!

The Hokage's office door was violently kicked open, and Danzō Shimura stormed inside with rage written across his face.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi! Look at the mess you've made! Those bastards from Hidden Rain are practically at Konoha's doorstep, and you still have the nerve to sit here so calmly!" Danzō Shimura roared furiously at Hiruzen Sarutobi, viciously hurling the intelligence scroll clenched in his hand at him.

"I told you long ago! Hanzō of the Salamander was up to no good! We should have wiped out Hidden Rain directly! If you'd listened to me sooner, would this have happened?!" Danzō continued berating Hiruzen Sarutobi while pointing at his nose. Though he had secretly done plenty of things under the banner of acting for Konoha and had always coveted the position of Hokage, that did not mean he could stand by and watch Konoha get trampled at its own doorstep. After all, he regarded Konoha as his Konoha.

For a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was stunned. He did not yet know what had happened, but hearing Danzō rush in and unleash a tirade, he first felt a trace of displeasure. Then a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

Without bothering to retort to Danzō or dwell on the fact that Danzō actually dared point at his nose and curse him, Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly opened the scroll and skimmed through it.

After reading the intelligence, Hiruzen Sarutobi's vision went dark. A mouthful of blood surged up his throat as he muttered, "Homura and Koharu have led me astray!"

Danzō continued his furious tirade. "I reminded you again and again to beware of Hanzō and Hidden Rain's wolfish ambitions, but you just refused to believe me! If only you had taken some of the ninja sent to the borders to guard against Hidden Sand, Hidden Rock, Hidden Cloud, and Hidden Mist and used them to watch Hidden Rain, this never would have happened! Wasn't I doing this for Konoha?! Huh?!"

Spittle continuously flew from Danzō Shimura's mouth, nearly drowning Hiruzen Sarutobi. At that moment, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, having received the news, arrived at the Hokage's office.

The two bunglers showed no awareness that they had caused trouble. In their view, they were merely Hokage advisors responsible for analysis and recommendations; the one who truly made the final decision was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself.

"Danzō, enough! The urgent matter is to quickly organize a ninja force and drive Hanzō and the Rain ninja out of the Land of Fire, then push the front back into the Land of Rain!" Homura Mitokado said, trying to mediate.

It would have been better if Homura Mitokado had said nothing. The moment he opened his mouth, Danzō grew even angrier. If not for him and Koharu Utatane, those two fools, confusing Hiruzen Sarutobi with their back-and-forth advice, how could Hiruzen, his good friend, have failed to consider the recommendation of his Hokage advisor?

Driven nearly mad with rage, Danzō raised his fist, intending to give Homura Mitokado a solid punch.

At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally came to his senses and stopped him. Looking at the three of them, he steadied himself and said, "Stop arguing. Danzō, take Root and intercept Hidden Rain's forces first. I'll send ANBU with you! Homura, Koharu, immediately notify the major clans and convene the Jonin council. We must form an elite force composed entirely of Jonin as quickly as possible, then send reinforcements to Danzō. I will also personally head to the battlefield and face Hanzō again. We must drive them out of the Land of Fire!"

Danzō said nothing more. He merely snorted coldly, turned, and left the Hokage's office. He would lead Root and the ANBU out first.

Though Danzō still had some private schemes of his own at this time, he had not yet become as outrageously twisted as he would later.

At this point, he was still contributing to Konoha. Thus, he was willing to empty his own reserves to defend it.

On September 22 of Hidden Mist Year 34, after repeated confirmation by spies from various sides, news that Rain Village of the Land of Rain had brazenly launched war against Hidden Sand Village of the Land of Wind and Konoha Village of the Land of Fire finally spread throughout the Shinobi World. A new Shinobi World War had begun.