"Lord Hokage, the battle report has arrived..."
Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to summon everyone for a meeting, someone suddenly arrived and presented a battle report with both hands.
"Oh? A report from Sunagakure?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi thought little of it. He assumed it was another report of victory; he had grown tired of reading those lately.
"No... it's the detailed casualty report from the Iwagakure front..."
The ninja spoke with his head lowered.
He was not as fast as the Root ninja, so he had arrived a step behind Root.
"Is that so? Let me see!"
Smoking his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi took the battle report from the ninja.
"Wh... what?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew uglier and uglier. He had thought the defeat mentioned in his old friend's letter meant losses of a quarter at most.
But now the figures in the report said only a quarter remained?
Several clans had even lost most of their forces! Apart from the Yamanaka, Uchiha, and Inuzuka Clans, which were fine, nearly all the others had been wiped out?
Hiruzen Sarutobi had never imagined this when reading Shimura Danzō's letter. He had thought it was just an ordinary defeat.
But now it seemed this was a crushing defeat! One that affected the entire course of the war!
Hiruzen Sarutobi began pacing back and forth.
"Danzo, oh, Danzo, you..."
As he paced, Hiruzen Sarutobi inwardly blamed his old friend for not making things clear.
Had he known things were like this, he would not have called a meeting now. He would at least have delayed it a few days, until he had worked out what to say.
But Otsu had already gone to notify everyone. Unless something unexpected had happened, most of them had already been informed, so calling him back would be pointless.
Telling these clan heads at the last minute that the meeting was canceled would arouse their suspicions all the same.
"Ah! You've really landed me in trouble, Danzo!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, then slumped into his chair.
He now had to consider how to compensate these clan heads. The three whose clans were fine would be easy enough, but the clans that had suffered losses would be another matter...
But now Hiruzen Sarutobi could only think of a way to handle it. After all, he had already sent for the heads of the various clans.
"Lord Hokage, everyone has been notified!"
While Hiruzen Sarutobi was still thinking, Anbu Otsu returned.
"You... how were you so fast?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was shocked. He had not expected Anbu Otsu to be so fast. He had not worked out how to handle things yet!
"The heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans were having a meal together, so I notified all three at once. That made it a little faster."
Anbu Otsu answered truthfully.
In fact, he had not been that much faster. The main issue was that Hiruzen Sarutobi had been frantically trying to come up with a plan, and Anbu Otsu had returned before he could think of one, even a little earlier than Hiruzen Sarutobi had estimated.
"You... never mind..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi had not expected his luck to be so bad. He could only wave a hand, signaling Anbu Otsu to withdraw.
Anbu Otsu bowed respectfully and withdrew, but he wondered why the Third Lord Hokage had not praised his efficiency.
The Third Lord Hokage usually praised him when he worked this quickly, didn't he?
Puzzled, Anbu Otsu withdrew.
"Never mind. I'll head to the meeting room first."
Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead, intending to tell the truth.
He could only shoulder a little more blame himself and say his mistaken assessment of the battlefield had caused this. That way, these clan heads would not direct all their anger at Orochimaru and Shimura Danzō.
"What exactly did the Third Lord Hokage call us here for?"
Akimichi Chodai, head of the Akimichi Clan, was somewhat puzzled.
"Who knows... but I don't think it's anything good."
Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara Clan, looked solemn. He could sense it: anything that brought all these clan heads together had to be something major.
And this was wartime. Something major during a war was certainly not going to be good.
"Let's go. Lord Hokage has probably grown impatient waiting for us."
Yamanaka Hoshi, head of the Yamanaka Clan, spoke.
The other two nodded, and the three hurried toward the Hokage Building.
The heads of the other clans had also arrived at the Hokage's office.
"Uchiha Shin, you old bastard, you're still not dead?"
Hyūga Ranichi, head of the Hyuga Clan, had always been at odds with Uchiha Shin. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan had always been at odds.
"You're still alive, so why would I be dead? But one of your sons will have to become a slave. Just thinking about it makes me laugh!"
The Uchiha Clan Head scoffed. He knew perfectly well what to say to get under a Hyūga's skin, and that single remark was enough to make Hyūga Ranichi lose his composure.
"Uchiha Shin, you..."
"Enough. Quiet down, everyone, and come in!"
Before the Hyūga Clan head could finish, Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared.
Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted their quarrel, leaving the Hyūga Clan head no choice but to swallow the rest of his words and glare fiercely at the Uchiha Clan Head.
"First, let me apologize to everyone. The news I'm about to share may not be very pleasant for you."
Once everyone had taken their seats, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke.
"Not very pleasant? Third Hokage, what do you mean by that?"
The Uchiha Clan head immediately bristled at his words. He could not accept the deaths of the clansmen he had sent to the battlefield.
"According to the battle report from the Iwagakure front, the Aburame Clan and the Hyuga Clan's forces on that front were wiped out..."
"How is that possible!"
"They're all dead? There must be more to this!"
The instant Hiruzen Sarutobi finished, the Hyūga and Aburame Clan heads below erupted.
They could not accept that all their people had died. Even one or two survivors would have been something. With everyone dead, how could they answer to their clansmen?
The Hyūga Clan head was slightly better off. After all, at worst, the Branch Family would hate the Main Family even more. But the Aburame Clan head was in a difficult position.
"Then there are the Sarutobi Clan... the Shimura Clan... and the Akimichi Clan... Only a handful from these clans survived: two Akimichi, three Sarutobi, and three Shimura."
Hiruzen Sarutobi continued. The spacious meeting room fell utterly silent.
Everyone stared at Hiruzen Sarutobi. In particular, the four clan heads whose clans had yet to be named swallowed.
They feared hearing bad news from Hiruzen Sarutobi as well.
"Nara Kawahiro, the strategist sent by the Nara Clan, was killed in action. The Yamanaka Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Inuzuka Clan did not suffer particularly heavy losses."
Hiruzen Sarutobi finished in one breath, then watched the seated clan heads intently, ready to gauge their reactions before deciding how to respond.
"Our clan didn't lose many people? Thank goodness..."
The Inuzuka Clan head breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into his chair.
The pressure on him just now had truly been immense. He had thought the Inuzuka Clan's forces had all died as well.
The Uchiha and Yamanaka Clan heads had thought the same.
The other clan heads, however, looked as grim as could be.
Especially the Aburame Clan!
"Third Hokage, life and death on the battlefield are a matter of fate. I won't say anything more about that, but what exactly have you called us here for?"
The Aburame Clan head took a deep breath, then looked coldly at Hiruzen Sarutobi as he asked.