A Power Grab and a Blockade

Land of Fire, Konoha, Hokage Building, Supreme Conference Room.

The smoke in the room hung thick in the air. Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table, the ember in his pipe glowing and fading, though he had not taken a puff in some time. His face looked ashen, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes as deep as the Valley of the End.

The whole conference room felt heavy enough to wring water from.

"Intelligence confirmed it. Of the more than a hundred ninja we sent, only thirty-odd made it back," the Anbu Chief reported, his voice dry as though he were reading his own eulogy.

Utatane Koharu looked grim. Her raspy voice scraped like a shovel against the bottom of a pot.

"More than a hundred capable ninja. That was the largest force the village could spare, and now they're just gone?"

The Anbu Chief gritted his teeth and forced himself to answer. "According to the survivors, the enemy has stones that explode. They're more powerful than Explosive Tags, and they have a frightening number of them. The explosions never stopped. Their village also has a large-scale Sealing Barrier."

"Damn it!" Mitokado Homura's beard trembled with anger. "That wasn't ninja warfare. It was butchery! That Lu Zeming is a madman!"

Shimura Danzō, who had worn a dark expression throughout, finally spoke. "A madman? Then the ninja we trained are trash who can't even beat a madman."

He swept his gaze over the room, his voice hissing like a snake. "We need to reassess their strength. And someone must answer for the rash decision that led to this rout!"

Danzō stared straight at the Third Hokage and continued, each word deliberate. "Hiruzen, since the Nine-Tails' Attack, the Anbu ranks haven't recovered to even half their