War was never just a matter of shinobi fighting on the battlefield.
Intelligence, supplies, logistics, morale-if any one of them fell through, the fighting couldn't go on.
Ever since the days of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the Land of Fire had held its place as the "big brother" of the Five Great Nations, with the greatest overall national strength.
The Land of Earth was stirring up trouble in the Land of Grass, while the Land of Water was causing trouble on the western border, but neither was much of a concern for the Land of Fire.
Hatake Sakumo sat in the Hokage's office, where two new seats had been added. Nara Shikata sat in one, and Hyūga Hajime in the other.
The two had been assigned there partly to help deal with the mountains of paperwork, and partly so they could help make decisions and discuss countermeasures if any urgent reports arrived from the front.
After finishing the documents in front of him, Nara Shikata's gaze settled on the map of the Shinobi World on the wall.
"Lord Hokage, the Land of Earth and the Land of Water have already made their moves. What worries me is... will the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind take the opportunity to get involved too?"
Hyūga Hajime nodded. "If it really comes to that, it won't be a local conflict anymore. The Third Shinobi World War could break out."
Hatake Sakumo didn't answer. He picked up his tea and took a sip.
He knew full well that the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind would definitely get involved. It wouldn't be long before the Third Shinobi World War broke out in full.
But he didn't tell the two of them outright.
Some things would only cause more trouble if said too soon. Letting those under him keep worrying and stay on their toes wasn't entirely a bad thing.
Tensions across the Shinobi World had become unusually high, but things were different in Konoha.
The villagers had heard that fighting had broken out on the Land of Fire's borders, but they went about their lives as usual.
Shopkeepers opened their shops, vendors set up their stalls, and the children attended the Ninja Academy as usual, every one of them acting as though nothing had happened.
With two capable helpers handling the paperwork, Hatake Sakumo had more time on his hands. He often stared out the window, his thoughts wandering.
I wonder how Kakashi's coming along with the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And how are my Multiple Shadow Clones doing with the Eight Trigrams Seal?
Speaking of which, Hatake Sakumo's "use of his position for personal gain" had to be mentioned.
He had learned the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique recorded in the Sealed Scroll, then taught it to Kakashi.
Once the boy had mastered it, Hatake Sakumo took him to the ANBU base beneath the Hokage building to examine the Sealed Scroll and learn the forbidden techniques inside.
Hatake Sakumo wanted Kakashi to look for himself and decide which one he wanted to learn, or try them all.
With his talent and the "cheat" that was the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, could he learn one or two powerful forbidden techniques?
Having gained access to the Sealed Scroll, Kakashi had found himself a new goal and pursued it tirelessly.
The reason Hatake Sakumo had thought to let Kakashi learn forbidden techniques was that he had first mastered the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique himself and personally tried learning the forbidden techniques in the Sealed Scroll.
There had been two he wanted to master most...
One was the Flying Thunder God Technique, and the other was the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu. Unfortunately, when he tried them, he found that learning either in a short time was simply impossible.
Even with the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, creating a dozen or twenty shadow clones to study and practice together, he still couldn't master them quickly.
That made Hatake Sakumo think that perhaps his limited Chakra was holding him back, since he could only create a little over twenty shadow clones at a time.
Then an idea struck him: he would learn the Eight Trigrams Seal first!
Once he had mastered that S-rank Sealing Jutsu, he would find a chance to seal a Tailed Beast inside himself.
Once he had an enormous amount of Chakra, he could create hundreds or thousands of Multiple Shadow Clones at once and have them learn the Flying Thunder God Technique together. Wouldn't that send their efficiency soaring?
Hatake Sakumo was already extremely powerful with Armament Haki and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit... but if he could become even stronger, why not?
Hatake Sakumo was looking forward to two things.
The first was for his Multiple Shadow Clones to learn the Eight Trigrams Seal as soon as possible.
The second was the full outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War.
Once the war really began, he would go and deal with his enemies one by one, see if he could trigger the system and get it to mistake them for other people from the world of One Piece, issue some missions, and let him draw some more rewards.
Five days had passed in a flash since Orochimaru left Konohagakure for the Land of Grass, and word had finally come back.
Hatake Sakumo opened the intelligence Orochimaru had sent back, growing more satisfied as he read.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Earth were now at war in the Land of Grass.
With his brains, Orochimaru had quickly obtained a request for aid from the Land of Grass's daimyō, giving them a legitimate reason to act.
He had also determined that the Land of Earth's commander this time was none other than Ōnoki's son, Kitsuchi.
In his letter, Orochimaru said that the situation was entirely under control.
After reading it, Hatake Sakumo silently gave Orochimaru credit.
At present, Orochimaru was the most reliable of the Sannin.
Tsunade? She fainted at the sight of blood, so he couldn't count on her.
Jiraiya? He could fight, but he was better suited to working alone. He was fine charging into battle on his own, but he couldn't be relied on to oversee the whole situation.
Hatake Sakumo was discussing their next arrangements with Nara Shikata and Hyūga Hajime.
Just then, an ANBU member brought in another urgent intelligence report.
The ANBU knelt on one knee and presented the report with both hands. "Lord Hokage, an urgent report."
Hatake Sakumo took the document, dismissed the ANBU, and read it carefully, his gaze stopping on the name "A."
"According to a message from our spy in the Land of Lightning," Hatake Sakumo read aloud, "A, son of the Land of Lightning's Third Raikage, and his brother Killer B are leading a large army straight for the Land of Fire."
The scene from the anime of Minato Namikaze fighting the A and B Brothers surfaced in Hatake Sakumo's mind.
He stared at the urgent report and tapped the tabletop with his fingertips over the name "Killer B."
The future Fourth Raikage and Killer B, the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki... both were figures who could hold their own on the biggest stages.
In the eyes of that unreliable system, nine times out of ten they would be mistaken for someone from the world of One Piece.
He could almost imagine the system popping up with a ding:
"Host, defeat him! Prove the strength of the world's greatest swordsman! Randomly reward one of his abilities!"
At the thought, Hatake Sakumo rubbed his fingers together, growing impatient.
Even if the system didn't mistake them for someone else or trigger this time, getting to deal with those two personally was enough to excite him.
As for Minato Namikaze... Hatake Sakumo had already made arrangements for the young jōnin in his mind: he would stay in the village and "stand by" for now.
As he considered this, Nara Shikata and Hyūga Hajime had already begun discussing who should be sent to intercept the Land of Lightning's raiding force.
Hatake Sakumo's hand paused, and he raised it to rub the back of his head.
He had the feeling he had forgotten something...
He smacked his lips and rummaged through his mind for a long while before finally letting out an "Ah" as he remembered.
There was still that guy whom the original owner of his body had saved, only for the man to later join in bullying him. Sakumo hadn't dealt with him yet.
Hatake Sakumo scoured his memories.
What was his name again?
Right, it was... Yano Genma!