Hiruzen looked at Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.
These two old partners who had followed him for decades now had their heads lowered, one looking at the floor and the other at the ceiling. Neither said a word.
"What about you?"
"Can you lead your own clansmen into battle?"
Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses and stammered:
"I... most of the ninja in our clan do clerical work. Their combat strength is limited..."
Utatane Koharu said nothing either, lowering her head even farther.
Neither of them was a fool.
They knew better than anyone how powerful Kumogakure's ninja were.
And this time, the Raikage had even brought the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B.
He was a perfect jinchuriki, a monster who could completely control the power of his tailed beast.
Konoha, by contrast, had already lost its Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, to the Uchiha. There was not a single jinchūriki left in the village.
What were they supposed to use to fight Kumogakure?
Hiruzen closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
When he opened them again, only resolve remained in his eyes.
"Pass on my orders. Assemble the Anbu."
"Gather every jōnin currently in the village."
He rose to his feet and put on his Hokage robe.
"Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, each of you will bring five hundred ninja from your own clan and accompany me to the battlefield."
Both of them shuddered at his words.
Mitokado Homura instinctively started to refuse.
But Hiruzen fixed him with a fierce stare, forcing every word back down his throat.
"This is an order, not a discussion!"
"...Yes."
One day later, two thousand Konoha ninja assembled at the border of the Land of Fire.
There were no elites from the major shinobi clans, no tactical support from the Ino-Shika-Cho, and no Byakugan