Before war declaration.
Hokate tower- Meeting Room.
Hiruzen POV.
"So gentlemen, what do you think of the situation at hand?". I gaze at my advisors. Shikaku is sitting with a hand on his temple, thinking. Danzo is stoically perched on a chair as well. Ibiki is leaving, having given us his report on the interrogation of the Kumo agents. The first to respond is Shikaku.
"It's troublesome. They are trying to bait us into war. Their shinobi force is larger than ours but we have more S-rank ninja. They're going to try to force a peace deal. We can't try to win that war in totality because then Iwa and Kiri will collectively attack to prevent us from gaining too much power. If Suna joins us then the same will happen. Both of us do not want to annex the other. Our win conditions would be identical. Forcing the other side into a peace-deal."
Danzo replies "All of the villages collectively agreed to scale down our armed forces. All of us have circumvented that agreement. We are merely the ones to do so most successfully. I propose we call their bluff. We can use our official forces to defend our territory and our hidden assets to attack theirs."
I tap my pipe, thinking "They demanded we give them the head of Hiashi Hyuga as recompense. This response can be called nothing else but an insult. To attempt bloodline theft then dare to demand recompense for getting caught means they believe to be able to win this. It is not just bait. If we agree they make us appear weak, if we do not agree they will try to bleed us dry." I pause, giving my pipe a puff. "One option we have is to give them Hizashi's head. They will not recognize the difference between the two. This would maintain the status quo, allowing us to keep gathering strength. The Kyubi drained our manpower severely. Our A and S-Rank shinobi may be of greater quality than theirs but we simply lack the manpower for a dragged out war."
Shikaku begins tapping his fingers on the table. "For the manpower issue we have the option of graduating the more abled early. Those we are certain we can be swiftly trained to defeat their squads can be graduated early, their jonin keeping them safe from anything barring Kumo's S-Rank threats."
Danzo immediately disagrees. "Why even put the future generation at risk? We can use the Edo-Tensei Jutsu and form an army of disposable puppets to throw away into the meatgrinder. Our-" "No Danzo, I will not be authorizing that. We will not defile the dead in this manner."
Silence reigns inside of the room. Danzo sighs. "I do not understand you Hiruzen, we could achieve victory with no losses from our side. All we have to do is sacrifice the enemy, whom we would be killing either way."
"And then all the other villages will immediately ally against us. We may be strong, but we cannot withstand eight Jinchuriki's, let alone all their elite forces, attacking us simultaneously. Konoha would suffer the same fate as the Uzumaki."
I take a long puff from my pipe. "Do you believe appeasement or war to be the better option?". They all sit quietly for quite some time, thinking. The first to reply is Danzo "No, even if we are to graduate certain students early, we have enough jonin to at least somewhat ensure their safety. Some will die, but it is a better sacrifice compared to what the loss of face would cause.". Shikaku waits a brief amount of time before giving his answer. "For once I find myself agreeing with Danzo, it is not just the loss of face that concerns me however. If we sacrifice one of our own in this way we risk losing the trust of our Shinobi."
I myself stayed still for some time as well before responding. "Very well. Now let us assume we have declared war, what is our strategy?"
Shikaku immediately responds. "We mobilize Guy and Jiraya. The two of them together should be able to take-out any of the jinchuriki of Kumo. The bigger threat is the eight-tails. The two-tails can likely be taken care of by any of our S-Rank shinobi, but the eight-tails will likely require multiple to ensure victory.
Danzo nods in agreement. "It is so, Those two are the biggest threats we face. They are too destructive to be used in defense and as such will be used for offense. We need to prepare for them."
We sit in silence once more. I let the discussion settle, making sure there is nothing else that needs to be said. Once I take a final puff I finalize the meeting. "We will declare war. Our strategy will be as follows: we will deploy our jonin along with the fast-tracked graduates into enemy territory, they will ironically be safer there, the Kumo jinchuriki unlikely to be used in their own territory. Danzo will mobilize ROOT, gathering information for us to act on. I will remain in Konoha, to defend against any potential attacks. The rest of our forces will be deployed in defense. To ambush any intruding Kumogakure forces and call upon our available S-Rank shinobi in case of a jinchuriki sighting. Is there anything you wish to add?"
They both pause before shaking their heads.