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When Uchiha Aki finally woke up again, he was told he'd been unconscious for nearly seven days. During that time, the Second Hokage had already led nearly 2,000 Konoha shinobi across the sea by ship toward the Land of Frost, heading straight for the Lightning Country's border, hoping to force the Second Raikage—who was currently surrounding the Iwa-nin—to withdraw his troops.
At the moment, Aki was lying in a hospital bed in the Land of Whirlpools, flipping through some notes the Second Hokage had left behind on Kekkei Tōta (Bloodline Elimination techniques), when Sarutobi Hiruzen walked in from outside. He immediately started complaining.
"I can't believe you're naturally gifted with three chakra natures! And you never told me!"
Aki sighed, putting down the papers. "Lord Second told me not to tell anyone! I didn't have a choice!"
Hiruzen flopped down on the bed next to him, all casual. "Man, you're seriously lucky! If it wasn't for my old man joining Konoha, and if the First and Second Hokages hadn't thought I was some kind of genius, I wouldn't have even become the Second's student. And you? You actually got taken in by the First Hokage himself! Even Lady Mito taught you a few things!"
Aki laughed. "Genius? You? Please!"
Hiruzen ignored the sarcasm. "Alright, maybe I exaggerated a bit… but I am a genius! You can't deny that!" He even gave Aki a look like, If you say no, I'm gonna beat you up.
Aki gave in and nodded, helplessly. Then, staring out the window, he suddenly asked, "Hey, Monkey Bro, how many shinobi are actually on Konoha's active roster? I've only seen less than 4,000 Konoha ninjas, and the two battles I've been in… we barely had 5,000 tops. What gives?"
Hiruzen blinked. "Why are you asking that? You don't know how our shinobi system works?"
Aki shook his head. "I heard that the Iwa-Taki alliance fielded nearly 10,000 Iwa-nin. The Sand Village used over 8,000 shinobi when they invaded the Rain Country. Even the Mist Village is fighting a two-front war with over 7,000 shinobi. But we, Konoha—didn't Danzo tell me once we had the largest force in the world? Something like 20,000 active ninja? So… where are they?"
Hiruzen chuckled. "Aside from you being a Chūnin, did you ever see any shinobi below Jōnin rank in the fighting forces?"
Aki froze for a second, then said, "Oh yeah! I'm the only Chūnin here! Everyone else is a Jōnin!"
Hiruzen nodded. "Right. In Konoha, when we say 'active shinobi,' we're talking about the non-combat units. We have 4,000 Jōnin, 8,000 Chūnin, and countless Genin. But the combat shinobi—that's a different category. Those are only deployed in large-scale battles or major wars. That's why you haven't seen any of the lower-ranked ninjas on the battlefield."
Aki looked puzzled. "Combat and non-combat ninja? What's the difference?"
Hiruzen explained, "Unlike other villages, we don't let anyone below Jōnin fight in battles involving over a hundred people. It's a rule we set up to protect our weaker ninjas. The combat units you're seeing now? They're all veterans—ninja who fought alongside the First Hokage and the Second Hokage when Konoha was first founded. Only about 5,000 of those remain. That's why you don't see regular Chūnin or Genin out there."
Then Hiruzen sat up cross-legged and continued, "Konoha is huge—we've got the biggest population and most resources in the world. We hold 30% of the Earth Country's mission rights, 10% of the Wind Country's, and we just got 15% of the Water Country's too. Do you have any idea how rich our ninjas are?"
Aki blinked. "Okay… but what does that have to do with the number of shinobi we send into battle?"
Hiruzen smiled and explained, "To keep our hold on all those missions, we have to keep sending out ninjas—even during wartime. But those missions aren't handled by the combat units; they're done by our regular roster. Just manning all the Fire Country's outposts takes 3,000 shinobi. Another 5,000 are stationed along the borders of Water, Wind, and Earth. We've got nearly 1,000 ANBU, and the rest are scattered throughout Fire Country, keeping the peace and protecting the people from enemy ninja and rogue shinobi. So yeah, it might look like we're outnumbered in battle—but didn't you notice how our Jōnin are way stronger than those from other villages?"
Aki scoffed, "Even the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"
Hiruzen winced. "Okay, those guys are a special case—and this is the ocean, their home turf. We're at a disadvantage here."
Then Aki remembered something. "Wait, weren't those swords confiscated? Lemme play with one!"
Hiruzen looked annoyed. "The Second Hokage returned them all when he signed the peace treaty with the Mizukage. Said heroes should be treated with respect."
Aki groaned, "Ugh, Lord Second is way too nice! Fine, I'll just head to the Land of Crafts when this is over and get one of their best blacksmiths to make me a badass weapon—one that can chop your Monkey Staff in half!"
Hiruzen burst out laughing. "Please! My Monkey Staff has never been broken! There's no weapon in this world that can beat it. Not even the Thunder God Sword could hurt Enma in a short fight. You? HAHAHA! No way!"
"Is Tobirama Senju an idiot? Dammit! He just finished fighting the Mist ninja, and now he's already at our border?!" The Second Raikage slammed his desk in half as he roared in frustration.
Off to the side, Ginkaku smirked. "Told you we should've attacked Konoha first. But no—you wanted to hit Iwa. And now look."
The Second Raikage pointed furiously at him. "You muscle-headed moron! I told you to attack Iwa's defensive line—and where the hell did you go? You vanished for three days!"
Kinkaku tried to explain, "That guy named Onoki was nasty. His Dust Release made it impossible to even get close. We were trying to pull off a decapitation strike!"
A big white-haired man quickly cut in, trying to calm things down. "My Lords, shouldn't we focus on what to do next?"
Kinkaku jumped up, full of energy. "Let's strike back at Konoha and kill the Second Hokage!"
Ginkaku agreed, "If we take him out, our village becomes the strongest in the world!"
But the Second Raikage barked, "You two are staying here to hold the line and crush the Iwa-nin. I'll lead the team to face Tobirama myself."
Kinkaku scowled, "No way! I want to kill Tobirama! I'm not interested in playing around with that Onoki guy!"
The Raikage glared. "Are you stupid? If we all pull back, Iwa's just going to strike right back! They already asked Konoha for help—you think they don't have a backup plan? What, you want us running out of the Land of Waterfalls with our tails between our legs?"
Ginkaku pulled his brother back. "Listen to the Raikage. He's right."
The Second Raikage nodded. "Good. I'll take 3,000 Cloud shinobi by boat back to the Lightning Country. You two—keep every Iwa ninja trapped here!"
Once Kinkaku and Ginkaku nodded in agreement, the Raikage turned and left with the white-haired man.
Konoha's camp near the border of the Land of Frost and the Land of Lightning.
"Lord Second, three days ago the Raikage left the Land of Waterfalls with around 3,000 Cloud ninja and headed back to the Lightning Country by boat. By now, they should have already arrived," an ANBU ninja reported.
Tobirama looked up from his paperwork. "Any word from the Daimyō?"
The ANBU replied, "Shimura Danzo has already finished distributing benefits among the major clans. They're all satisfied. The Daimyō is also quite pleased with Danzo's work."
Tobirama frowned slightly. "Everyone's satisfied? Hmph. Looks like Danzo did too good a job. Alright—send word. I want Danzo at the front lines. From now on, internal affairs will be left to the Daimyō. With that old fox from the Hatake Clan around, they should be able to handle things."
The ANBU hesitated. "But Lord Danzo has earned the Daimyō's full trust. What if—"
Tobirama cut him off. "I know what you're thinking. You're my ANBU captain—you should understand. If we don't put a stop to this now, it'll be too late later. And besides… Danzo isn't the best candidate for successor."
The ANBU pushed back, "If something happens to you, sir… Konoha might collapse. And you still haven't named a successor. The major clans are getting restless. I even heard Uchiha Kagami has entered the Land of Frost and is coming here to see you."
Tobirama chuckled. "Relax. The Uchiha and Hyuga are two of Konoha's Big Three Clans—they won't rush into anything. That kid's probably here on other business."
Then he got serious. "I'm not denying Danzo's ability. He's strong, and he could be Hokage. Under him, Konoha might become even more powerful. But that power would be built on the suffering of ordinary people. Nobody wants to go back to the Warring States era… but Danzo? He'd do it in a heartbeat. I trusted him—that's why I let him work with the Daimyō. But I didn't expect he'd do so well that even you guys want to support him. Sigh…"
Tobirama let out a long sigh. "True strength comes from love for the village—from wanting to protect it—not from clinging to power and sacrificing others in its name. You have to remember that. Now, after you deliver my orders to Danzo, go back to the village and find my sister-in-law. Tell her: the plan can begin. Uchiha Aki should be strong enough to handle those sealing techniques now."
The ANBU looked unsure. "That brat can't even handle basic Sealing Jutsu or Summoning. You really want him to seal the Nine-Tails?"
Tobirama groaned, "My brother's an idiot, and so is this kid. My brother's an idiot emotionally, but this one? He sucks at the one thing that actually matters—sealing! Seriously, like teacher, like student. Every master's gotta raise one idiot, I guess."
The ANBU muttered to himself, Pretty sure you've spent more time training that kid than the First ever did…
"....."