"Hokage-sama, urgent intel! Azuma Shibito is leading an Iwagakure army against the border. Lord Mimura Yoken is holding them off with Konoha's defense corps. Please dispatch reinforcements at once!"
The scout finished and drew ragged breaths. He had clearly sprinted here the instant he received the report. War tolerated no delays.
Everyone present tightened their gaze at the words. Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke as soon as the briefing ended.
"Form a relief force immediately! Minato, you are the fastest. You lead this one. Go, now!"
"Yes, sir." Namikaze Minato vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God.
Only then did Hiruzen rip open the red envelope. From Mimura Yoken's wording, the situation was already dire, the unit seconds away from annihilation.
"Iwagakure..."
A flash of killing intent cut through Hiruzen's eyes. He slammed the desk with a sharp crack.
"Damn it! Why Iwa, and without warning? So they saw Kumo and Suna already at each other's throats and decided to move as well?"
Konoha's border posture against Iwagakure was the thinnest. The two sides barely interacted day to day. For Iwa to be the first to challenge the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages was brazen.
"Lord Hokage, the war has begun. We need to reach the front at once," Utatane Koharu said quietly.
This was no time to fume. With Sunagakure and Kumogakure already in open conflict, either could strike Konoha at any moment. They would have to split their forces. High-tier combatants like them would decide the war's outcome.
"I know. Everyone, make ready for deployment, and do it fast."
The Hokage's Office plunged back into frantic motion. Orders flew out in waves, and the village's currents shifted beneath the surface.
Shimura Danzō's eyes glinted as he sank into thought. This war was a perfect stage to bleed Sarutobi's faction and build his own prestige. He suspected Hiruzen was already contemplating abdication. To become the Fourth Hokage, Danzō needed a decisive, beautiful victory. Root would soon break the soil and bask in applause, but he also had to preserve that strength. He would need patience picking his opponent.
He cast one last look at the busy room, then returned to Root to marshal his men. Whoever dared invade Konoha would find him anything but merciful.
Orochimaru's eyes, meanwhile, shone with a different excitement. He too would head eagerly for the front. War meant many deaths. He happened to need them.
Deep in Shikkotsu Forest, Uchiha Senya slowly opened his eyes, still ground down by the snail's pace of his Sage Body progress. Uchiha Obito had come to the Guard Tower, a hint of urgency clinging to him.
"Something must have happened."
Senya's thought flicked, and Spirit Flash folded space.
He dispelled his shadow clone the moment he returned, then slid the door open to find Obito on the stoop.
"Senya-nii, I'm being sent to the front. Please look after Grandma for me."
Minato's summons had reached him moments ago. He was to head for the Earth Country border at once. Obito did not fear war, but leaving his grandmother gnawed at him. He had run here to see Senya and entrust that worry.
"Relax. I would have, even if you hadn't asked."
Senya smiled. "Though how do you know I'm not going to war?"
The clan would never think of Senya, and he himself had no wish to go. Yet Obito would be targeted by the old schemer Uchiha Madara at the Earth border. Senya planned to guard him from the shadows and intervene at the critical moment. He needed to draw Madara out and force the fox to give up. If Senya stood in the open from the start, Madara might never take the bait. At peak super-kage level, Senya could grab the dying relic by the ankle and spin him like a top.
"Given your post and your temperament, I figured the clan head probably..." Obito trailed off. He had almost said, probably has no idea you exist, but that felt rude.
"Enough. Go. And keep the sealing scroll I gave you on you at all times. Remember?"
"Got it. No time to chat. I'm off!"
Obito waved and sprinted away from the Guard Tower. Senya said little. They would be meeting again very soon. He had already inscribed Spirit Flash marks on the three youngsters without their noticing and could feel their positions with perfect clarity.
As Obito passed through Konoha's gate with the column, a pitcher-plant-like stalk sank quietly into a patch of grass.
At the same time, Uchiha Fugaku received his orders. The Uchiha would deploy as reconnaissance for several divisions and head to the front together. He looked down at the swaddled infant in his arms, and a rare softness touched his eyes.
He would come back alive. By then, his son would be able to call him Father.
Under Mikoto's worried gaze, Fugaku led the clan's elite onto the road to war.