Hatake Sakumo had been Hokage for only two days at most.
That morning, an ANBU operative knelt on one knee in the Hokage's office and presented an urgent battle report with both hands. Hatake Sakumo took it, glanced over it, and slapped it down on the desk.
The Land of Earth had made its move.
The intelligence showed that the Land of Earth had massed a large force toward the Land of Grass, clearly intending to take it in one fell swoop.
What was the Land of Grass?
It was a small country wedged between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, normally serving as a buffer between the two great powers.
The two countries might have their frictions, but when they actually came to blows, the fighting usually fell within the Land of Grass. The place was a natural punching bag, somewhere either side could vent its anger.
But now the Land of Earth's intentions could not have been clearer:
Taking the Land of Grass was only the appetizer. What it really wanted was to use the Land of Grass as a springboard to drive a knife into the Land of Fire's heart.
Hatake Sakumo pressed the report down on his desk and cursed inwardly:
How many days has it been since my inauguration? The Land of Earth sure got its intelligence fast. Did they time this just to piss me off?
He knew.
The Land of Earth had dared to make trouble because it saw that Konoha's Third and Danzo were both gone, and the village was busy with the Fourth's succession ceremony and too preoccupied with its own affairs.
Hatake Sakumo immediately ordered the heads of the major clans and all the qualified and promising jonin to assemble in the meeting room in the Hokage building.
The Sannin were naturally included.
The meeting room was packed.
Hatake Sakumo wasted no words. He spread the front-line report on the long table and gestured for everyone to read it.
Once everyone had more or less finished, he got straight to the point:
"The Land of Earth has sent a large force to the Land of Grass, intending to use it as a springboard to pressure our Land of Fire. Let's hear it. What do we do?"
No sooner had he finished than a hot-blooded young jonin slammed the table and sprang to his feet, raising his voice:
"Lord Hokage, the Land of Earth wants to walk all over us! Once they've taken the Land of Grass, won't they declare war on us next?"
"What are we hesitating for at a time like this? Send in the troops! Wipe out every soldier they've sent to the Land of Grass!"
At that, the meeting room erupted.
Several hawkish jonin voiced their agreement, all of them itching to rush to the Land of Grass and fight the Land of Earth right then and there.
Only a small number of the more seasoned and cautious men held back from taking a position, suggesting they wait and see and, if necessary, negotiate for peace.
Hatake Sakumo said nothing. He looked at each of them in turn, finally stopping at Nara Shikata.
Only then did Nara Shikata speak, laying out his thoughts clearly:
"We can't ignore the Land of Grass. If we let the Land of Earth take it without a hitch, it'll be like a fish bone lodged firmly in the Land of Fire's throat. We won't be able to swallow it or spit it out, and it'll make us miserable."
He paused, then added:
"But we can't rashly send troops to the Land of Grass and start a war with the Land of Earth either. If our Land of Fire is the one to start the war, we'll be blamed for triggering the Third Shinobi World War. That's a bad reputation we can't afford."
Hatake Sakumo was interested. "Go on."
Nara Shikata nodded.
"I suggest we find a pretext. For example, we could receive a letter requesting support from the Land of Grass's daimyo or from Kusagakure."
"We can send troops in the name of aid and contend with the Land of Earth on legitimate grounds, without giving anyone grounds to criticize us."
Hatake Sakumo picked up his tea and took a sip without replying.
Nara Shikata really was an old fox. He had thought of exactly the same thing.
This battle could not be avoided. The question was how to fight it and on what pretext.
He had called the meeting in the first place merely to go through the motions. He had already made up his mind. Whether he listened to these people depended on whether what they said suited him.
Now that he saw most of them favored fighting, Hatake Sakumo was satisfied. He looked up at the Sannin.
Tsunade was out.
The woman fainted at the sight of blood now. If he sent her to the battlefield, she would pass out before the fighting even started and only cause trouble.
He focused on Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
Jiraiya? Hatake Sakumo skipped right past him.
The guy had decent combat experience, but his intelligence was nothing special.
This involved maneuvering between two great powers and one small country. One careless move and they would be branded as the ones who started the Third Shinobi World War. It was far too risky to entrust such delicate work to him.
So Hatake Sakumo finally turned to Orochimaru and said gravely:
"Orochimaru, you'll go to the Land of Grass to negotiate and seize the opportunity to defeat the Land of Earth. How about it?"
Orochimaru looked up at him and agreed with unusual directness:
"All right."
His answer was crisp and straightforward, without a word of nonsense.
Hatake Sakumo assigned Orochimaru a thousand men on the spot.
Among those thousand were elites from ninja clans both large and small.
Even the notoriously troublesome Uchiha Clan sent people. More precisely, the Hokage had given his approval for the Uchiha to join the fighting.
That came as quite a surprise to Uchiha Fugaku's father.
He had expected the Fourth to suppress the Uchiha at every turn, just as the Third had, but he had not expected him to readily allow the Uchiha Clan onto the battlefield.
This was a fine chance to earn merit!
Uchiha Fugaku's father immediately decided to send his own fine son, Uchiha Fugaku, to earn merit on the battlefield. Once his son returned with accomplishments to his name, he would take the opportunity to retire and pass the position of clan head to him.
Orochimaru did not linger after receiving his orders. He gathered his forces and set out at once for the Land of Grass.
But before any news came from the fighting in the Land of Grass, trouble broke out on the Land of Fire's western border.
Orochimaru had barely left when the ANBU delivered urgent intelligence from the western Land of Fire to the Hokage's office.
The Land of Water had made its move too.
It had sent a large number of ninja straight to the Land of Fire's border.
Its excuse was outrageous: a rogue ninja had supposedly killed a jonin from its village and fled to the Land of Fire. Now it was ordering the Land of Fire to hand the rogue ninja over.
When Hatake Sakumo finished reading, he cursed aloud on the spot:
"Wait... the fucking Land of Water wants in on this too?"
The news had reached the Land of Fire's daimyo first.
The daimyo did not hesitate. He immediately sent some of the ninja within the Land of Fire to support the western border and passed the news on to Konoha.
Hatake Sakumo immediately summoned his people again. This time, his choice was clear, and he called Jiraiya by name.
"Jiraiya, I'll leave the western Land of Fire to you."
Hatake Sakumo also deployed troops and arranged for men to accompany Jiraiya.
Jiraiya accepted the order and hurried with his men to the Land of Fire's western border, where they fought and confronted the ninja of the Land of Water's Kirigakure.
Hatake Sakumo sat alone in his office and rapped his knuckles twice on the desk.
Would the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind find pretexts to make their moves too?
It looked like, with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō dead, the Third Shinobi World War might arrive five years early.
Over in the Land of Lightning, the Third Raikage could no longer sit still after receiving word from a spy.
What? The Land of Earth had actually gone to war with the Land of Fire in the Land of Grass? The Land of Water had also attacked the Land of Fire's western border?
The Third Raikage sat up straight and immediately summoned his trusted aides.
Once they had all arrived, the Third Raikage went over the intelligence in detail, then slapped the table:
"A perfect opportunity! The Land of Fire is beset by troubles at home and abroad. This is the perfect time for us to strike!"
He immediately decided to split his forces in two.
One force would be led by his twenty-two-year-old son, A, who would take eighteen-year-old Killer B with him and find a pretext to attack the Land of Fire.
His purpose in striking the Land of Fire was simple: he wanted to prove that the Land of Lightning was now the strongest, the new top dog.
With the Land of Fire tied down by the Lands of Earth and Water, this was the perfect chance to kick it while it was down.
The other force would be led by the Third Raikage himself in a surprise attack on the Land of Earth.
This was purely because of the old conflict between the Lands of Lightning and Earth, and the long-standing resentment between them.
Now that the Land of Earth was locked in a drawn-out fight with the Land of Fire and its rear was undefended, it was the perfect chance to settle the score.
The ninja of Kumogakure assembled overnight and poured out in force from the Land of Lightning's border.
Hatake Sakumo was still sitting in his office, completely unaware that an even greater storm was bearing down on Konoha from the direction of the Land of Lightning.
He had held the Hokage Position for only a few days, and already he was besieged on all sides.