Chapter 42: Start of The Third Shinobi War
At Kusagakure's borders,
Several root Anbus are discussing something while hiding in a cave.
"Danzo-sama had ordered us to attack the patrol team of Konoha. We have to disguise as Iwa Ninjas while attacking them. The order must be fulfilled at all costs and after killing one patrol team, attack another.
Make sure to leave no trace of yourself, even if you die. Also, allow at least one witness to escape from your grasp to inform the village about the attack of 'Iwa Ninjas'. Now scatter!"
"Yes!"
All Root Anbus shouts in unison as they use transformation jutsu to turn into Iwa Ninjas.
The Land of Grass is a big conflict zone between Konohagakure and Iwagakure. The previous war left both sides with a severe lack of resources. Several powerful Shinobis died in the previous war which further dwindled the powers of large nations.
The power of smaller nations starts to increase as their powers start to pose a threat to Larger nations. In an attempt to gain stability and resources, the larger nations turned towards smaller nations as the conflict between them spread all over the continent. Smaller nations became the battlefield of larger nations and a large number of skirmishes occurred between their Shinobis.
Iwagakure was left devastated by the Second Shinobi War, its power dwindled by a large margin as the Land of Stone became one of the poorest nation second only to the Land of Wind. This made Iwagakure desperate to control the Land of Grass and get hold of its resources and possibly invade the Land of Fire.
Danzo saw this as an opportunity to thoroughly eradicate the threat of Iwagakure and thus he orchestrated such a plan to initiate a war between the two Nations.
The slaughter starts when Root Anbus disguised as Iwa Ninjas start to kill the Patrol Border Team. Soon, this news reached the Captain as multiple teams were wiped out. The Captain immediately sent the message back to Konoha.
Hiruzen opened the scroll passed to by him by a messenger bird.
"Hokage-sama! We have suffered many casualties at the border. Iwa nins are continuously ambushing and killing our men. We need to counterattack. Please send reinforcements to border or Iwa will successfully invade Land of fire."
Hiruzen took a deep whiff of his smoking pipe as he signaled a nearby Anbu.
"Summon all Jounins present in the village. The war is inevitable."
After an hour, all of Jounins of Village assembled at the rooftop of Hokage's office. All of them bowed on their knee as they awaited further orders from Hokage.
Hiruzen starts to assign different jounins with their teams at various strategic places to increase efficiency.
"Disperse."
All of Jounins flickered away.
"Minato, wait here."
Minato stops and stands in front of Hiruzen.
"Minato, you and your team will go to one of the most important strategic places of the Kusagakure."
Hiruzen forks out a scroll from his pocket and marks a place on it.
"This is the Kannabi bridge of Kusagakure. If Iwa wants to invade Land of Fire, then they will definitely pass through this bridge. Your job is to guard this bridge and if the situation asks for it, then you are free to destroy the bridge."
Minato nods to Hiruzen and disappears from the spot.
'Minato, I have high expectations for you. Don't disappoint me.'
The war started in full bloom as Ninjas from both sides clashed. Several shinobis from both sides died as bloodshed continued.
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Somewhere in a mountainous region located at the north-most region of land between Takigakure and Land of Sound,
Dense forest and bones of many giant creatures could be seen jutting out from earth .
In an underground mine connected to some ruins, a secret hideout is located. Inside the hideout,
An extremely worn and emaciated old man sat on a large tree stump. The man had thin white hair that hung loosely on his shoulders with a large bang of hair covering his right eye. He wore a simple black outfit and used the Kama as a makeshift cane. His eyes were closed.
"It's about time."
The old man stands from the tree stumps as he speaks. Many white parasitic beings with half-deformed body and a mid-section with a zig-zag pattern similar to a flower of Venus flytrap starts to appear from closed walls of the hideout.
All of them nod to him as they start to move out of the underground cave. The old man walks to a large tree with a single lotus-like flower. A humanoid protrusion grew from the trunk of the tree. The old man looked at the humanoid protrusion as he speaks,
"Hashirama, I will succeed where you failed. Once my 'Eye of the Moon Plan' succeeds, true peace will fall upon this world."
The man walks back to the large tree stumps as he sat back on it.
'Izuna, Kasumi, I will create true peace in this cruel world which claimed your lives.'
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At Kusagakure borders, the fight between Konoha and Iwa ninjas intensified as more and more shinobi died.
Inside Hokage's office, Hiruzen looked at the reports of the war. A frown appeared on his face.
"Call Sakumo Hatake, right now."
One of the Anbu guarding him disappeared, Hiruzen starts to contemplate over the new report.
Kumogakure had finally bared its fangs at Konoha. In the middle of the night, various Kumo ninjas sneaked near the borders of Land of Hot Water as they launched an attack on the Land of Fire borders. The recent attack and the Chakra ore mining incident previously, armed Kumo ninjas from head to toe. During troubled times, Kumo also wants a share of the pie from Iwa and Konoha.
"Hokage-sama! You called me."
Sakumo appears in front of Hiruzen as he kneels on the ground to pay his respect to Hokage. Hiruzen passes the report to Sakumo who starts to read the information.
"Sakumo, as you can see, Kumo had launched an assault on the land of Fire. I want you to lead some jounins, chunnins, and genins to lead the war against Kumo on Land of Hot Water's battlefield." Hiruzen orders Sakumo.
"Hokage-sama! Chunnins is fine, but even genins. Genins will only serve as cannon fodders as this will only increase casualties in the war. Are you sure about it?" Sakumo questions the order.
"Sakumo, I understand your sentiment. But there is a severe lack of manpower in Konoha right now. Most of our forces are occupied at Kusagakure by Iwagakure ninjas. That battlefront is too important to be lost. Iwa is desperate to occupy Kusagakure as well as invade our Land of Fire.
As for Kumogakure, they are fishing in troubled waters and aren't that desperate. But we can't take them lightly. They have amassed large amounts of weapons and are ready for war. One moment of carelessness from us can cause our defeat."
Hiruzen explains the situation to Sakumo in all battlefronts on a map.
"I understand Hokage-sama. I will immediately gather everyone and march towards the borders." Sakumo nods as he agrees with Hiruzen.
"Oh! Sakumo, take that Uchiha kid Izuna with you. I am sure you are aware of him. It was his team that gathered some intel while on a mission to Land of Hot Water recently."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I will tag him along."
Sakumo flickers away from Hokage's office and disappears from Hiruzen's vision.
Hiruzen contemplates for a while before he starts to write a message on a scroll.
"Pass this scroll to Minato Namikaze. He has learned Tobirama Sensei's 'Flying Thunder God' Jutsu. His mobility will be very helpful in the battle. Inform him to switch battlefronts any instants when required. I am not sure what Kumogakure is up to, but whatever it is, it will only spell trouble for Konoha."
The Anbu nods as he ties the scroll to the feet of the messenger bird who arrived earlier. The bird flew away and carried the scroll.
Hiruzen sighed as he starts to complain about his old age.
"Immediately summon all clan heads to an emergency meeting. We need to mobilize their full force to gain a chance of victory in this war."
Another anbu flickered away and went to summon all clan leaders for the meeting.
"Summon Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura for the meeting too. I am sure the wisdom of my old friends will help us a lot in this war."
Another anbu flickered away to summon the elders of the village for the meeting.
In a meeting room near Hokage's office, all of the clan head and Village Elders gathered as the meeting to decide a strategy to win the war started.
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