A man regaled in robes sat upon his thrown or desk in this sense. Many would proclaim him their protector, their commander, or even their greatest enemy. A man feared throughout the continent for the last three decades now sat at his desk with a bead of sweat running down his cheek.
"I apologize Toru, my hearing might be getting the best of me. Will you please repeat your report" The robed Kage asked calmly, it seemed he had been in this same spot throughout the entire night. Patiently waiting for the news that had just arrived, he wasn't the only one either. Four more men with the same standing as he sat at their desks slightly stunned at this revelation.
"Yes Hokage-sama. The entire battalion led by your students has been defeated, less than ten have survived, and among them are your students." Toru was one of the root, like many under Danzo's domain he was without emotion, without a hint of care at what the news he was tasked to deliver was.
Fifty genin, twenty chunin, fifteen Jonin, and my three S-ranked students lost against the Amekage. An impressive feat, Danzo developed gray hairs setting up his agents to mastermind a situation where they could face the Amekage in single combat.
It was an impressive feat I could admit. It seemed another man had joined me and the Raikages level without anyone knowing. Those were the only three I could see my students losing to in a three versus one situation, well now. My students still had room to grow, in my eyes they were still children, they had just grasped S-rank in the last few years. In another decade? I doubt I could handle all three at once, I'd be hard-pressed to battle two maybe even one of them.
"I understand. You may leave, report my thanks to Danzo and inform him I will join him on the lightning front by the end of the week" I said after I probably let out the longest sigh of my Kage career, the robotic shinobi bowed once in a perfectly trained movement before disappearing into the floor.
This would surely not be received well by the clan heads or the Daimyo, it was my plan after all. The intent most would get from this move was that I wanted to length the war or even make an attempt to conquer the Land of Rain. No, it was a play for the future.
It was a simple concept if there was a world war there would be a second, we're living it now.
So after a second, there would surely be a third, too many toes have been stepped on, pride has been tested, and vendetta checks needed to be cashed.
As my most troublesome student would say was 'bullshit'. The cycle of hatred is never ending, it was a proven fact in my opinion despite my student's attempts to argue against that fact. It would take a power above Lord Hashirama to even attempt a real lasting peace.
There isn't a Kage alive that would push away their hatred to try for a lasting peace, too much risk involved to even attempt such a thing, not even to mention the fact the Daimyo thrives from war. They were the reason for the Second War, The Sand's Daimyo hungered for a more fertile land to rule over. The Lightning Daimyo wanted more land to rule, those two were the triggers of this war and everyone knew it.
No, the point of my move was to set the stage for the next war, the intent was to make Ame the battleground between Suna, Iwa, and us. A three-way battleground that I wouldn't bat an eye in competing in.
This War has been hell on the Leaf village, fighting on three fronts is costly and extremely risky and without our red-haired allies I fear we would've been forced to surrender. Cutting the war down to two fronts would be a recipe for success with the assets we have now, five S-rank shinobi and the highest number of Jonin and anbu in the five great nations.
But the move was a failure.
I wouldn't be surprised if Suna played the entire third war defensively either, the amount of damage Sakumo and Tsunade have caused is not minuscule. That wound will surely fester for a decade maybe even two.
Lightning was handled, as well as Iwa was stuck in the mountains to test Suna's Kage and gather strength.
Iwa would surely be the most dangerous player in the Third War, even I would sweat at the sight of their army by that point. Without a doubt, they would have the largest though the quality would remain to be seen.
Kiri was stunned. A blow they never expected to receive toppled the weakest of the great five. The weakest title was one that many would rage at such disrespect but in this instance it was justly earned.
The whirlpool village has taken the Seas from the country named after it. Though without my student I doubt they could've stopped Kiri, he has grown from the idiot child that would mess up even the simplest of tasks. His rise to prominence was worthy of study, I trained the boy and I'm still surprised he has risen to such a height and at this speed.
At this point, I wouldn't bet against him if he and Orochimaru were to battle, something I never thought I would say.
'Speak of my perverted student and he shall respond' I swiveled from my chair a moment before a small cloud of smoke appeared on my desk. A small yellow spotted toad with a scroll in its mouth appeared, I took it deftly as I patted the amphibian creature to either get off my desk or return home.
The message was short as well as simple, but it brought something out of me that I rarely showed while in the village. The fist came down on my desk almost reflexively, the desk snapped completely in half and a perfect line of destruction carved through my office that blew the door off its hinges thirty feet away.
However, the scroll remained undamaged and the message was clear.
'Hanzo fought us off for three days, he let us live even though he had a decent chance of finishing the battle. Tsunade and Orochimaru are already in transit to return to the village they will provide a more detailed report by tomorrow.
I Jiraiya have decided to resign from active duty for three years. I understand there will be consequences for these actions and will accept them wholeheartedly upon my return.
I have found three students along with one I believe might be the 'child of prophecy', forgive me sensei but I must chase this destiny.
Jiraiya of The Sannin.'
"God dammit Jiraiya, we are at war!" I raged as my greatest affinity turned the scroll to nothing, no smoke, no embers, not even ash remained.
—---
"How long do you have until you are required to return to the Suna Front?" Koshu asked me as he stood in front of me in one of the few Uchiha training grounds that was solely reserved for the Konoha Police Force.
"Eleven days, on the twelfth I have to meet up with my squad to return to the front" I answered as I stood at attention in front of my uncle. My usual childish demeanor was gone as I answered quickly and to the point, the reason for this change was simple.
My uncle had an air about him I'd never seen, authoritative to the point I could tell that his 'cool uncle' mask was gone and I was standing in front of the Jonin, the shinobi Koshu Uchiha.
"Ok, so we have two hundred and sixty-two hours to work with..." He said as he trailed off and began thinking. I just waited patiently and with a renewed fear to improve that had just developed, I after all received a startling peace of information the morning before.
The village no…. Possibly the whole shinobi world was left stunned after word spread this morning.
Hanzo of The Salamander repelled the three now known as 'The Leaf's Legendary Sannin'.
"So there are two ways we could go about this, well really there are only two ways I could train you that would make a substantial difference," He said and I could tell he was offering me a choice so I waited for the options.
"One also what I would prefer to do is turn into a pure ninjutsu user." He said simply and I was left confused.
"You along with your clone will spend the entire week copying every jutsu I know that doesn't require extreme shape manipulation or nature change. That would consist of most jutsu B rank and under, it would take you a few days to copy them all due to Chakra constraints. The rest of the time would be spent developing your hand sign knowledge and your reaction time to be able to send an elemental counter jutsu at every turn." He said and I was slightly stunned he believed we could accomplish that much in a few days.
I could understand it though, it would make me a menace in the field, I had a decent-sized chakra pool now. I could probably defeat most chunin with a fighting style like that.
Still, I was becoming great at Kenjutsu so I already had a decent idea of how my fighting style would be. A Kenjutsu specialist with one-handed seals would be enough to give some Jonin pause.
"Ok, and the other option" I said even though I could see the idea behind learning a plethora of elemental jutsu, I wasn't exactly sold on it.
"We'll develop your bloodline...Forcefully." I could tell something was up with this option. Rarely did Koshu flinch at something and I didn't know if I even wanted to ask the question but something tried to coax me into it, well what else could it be?
{Hidden Quest}
The Old Way
Objective: Allow Koshu Uchiha to help you develop your Sharingan to its next stage.
Reward: 1 Perk Point, ???.
"I almost don't want to ask but how would we do that?" I asked simply. A perk point, something I would kill for, literally. But why does Koshu look so downtrodden at just the question of it?
"It was something that was put in practice during the warring states period. A way to force a Uchiha to develop a third tomoe. I can't explain the process to you but it is not pleasant, at all" Koshu said as he looked into my eyes in a way that really drove home how much pain or suffering I would be in.
"Ok, I just have one more question. What would the benefits be and what would you teach me afterward?" I asked simply. The pain didn't scare me anymore, losing all my limbs and becoming a talking torso rocked my sense of self. So something that wouldn't debilitate me or kill me? I had no fear, only caution.
I could tell Koshu understood that as well, with the shake of his head and him muttering 'dumbass children' under his breath.
"If it works, we would begin with getting you used to your new senses. The third tomoe gives the Sharingan a boost to most abilities. At the second tomoe level, you could probably barely notice but you begin to be able to tell what your enemy is going to do, at the third level it's heightened to an insane degree. Depending on the strength of your eyes you could even predict movements at the highest level of combat." Koshu said and I nodded in response. I noticed how I could be able to guess what the next hand sign would be or which way a ninja I was fighting was going. Especially during my battle against the ten Suna genin on my way to the war front.
"You would obviously need the training to get used to being able to counter an enemy at that speed and to get used to that new form of combat. Next and in my opinion the most dangerous ability of the Sharingan is genjutsu. Eye contact genjutsu is a dangerous art that no other ninja in the world could even attempt without a Sharingan. Don't look at me like that" Koshu said as he noticed the small frown on my face at the mention of my least favorite ninja art.
"You're a fool if you disregard an ability, a shinobi uses every tool at their disposal. It made our Clan feared throughout the elemental nations, enemy ninjas won't even meet our eyes" Koshu said with a note of clan pride and a frown that forced me to return my face to neutral.
"The third Tomoe would also allow you to take your Kenjutsu to the next level, the ability to know what your opponent is going to do will give you ample to counter or attack in an extremely debilitating manner." Koshu said and finally finished explaining what I would gain.
"Know that it would usually take at least a few years or more to develop a third tomoe, some it will take a decade or longer. But I will again tell you to think this through, it is not without cost"