Naruto scrutinised the report for what felt like the fifth time, tossing it back on the pile with an undignified huff. Being in this office for so long must have been doing strange things to his head. "It doesn't matter how many times I look through these, they just don't make sense."
Hiruzen nodded absently, similarly entrenched in field reports. He was lending whatever aid he could while the potential war with Iwa loomed on the horizon. Already countless plans had been discussed as counter-measures for actions Iwa might take, including a few that took advantage of Suna's lacking border patrols to the north of their desert. However, the picture these reports were painting…
"I admit this is rather unusual; certainly not Oonoki's usual way of handling things," he agreed, aged brow furrowing lightly as his eyes scanned another document. Different writing, same message.
"You think there's been a shift in leadership, maybe in response to me?" Naruto asked, pushing back from the desk to wander over to the map table. There were now a few icons littering its surface showing some of the larger forward outposts, updated in real-time by sealing scrolls his gave to certain members of various teams. Rather ingenious if he was honest with himself; they would flash red if the shinobi pushed Chakra through them in a certain way, alerting the need for reinforcements. He was hoping to work on them so that the seals could relay different kinds of messages for more specific scenarios.
"Oonoki is too stubborn for that, and our spies in the village haven't alerted us of anything as important as that," Hiruzen mused. "No, I think the Tsuchikage will do his best to take that hat to his grave."
Naruto grunted, throwing a folder back onto its pile. "Then I can't make sense of it."
What had them so befuddled were odd reports of certain squads of Iwa shinobi pulling back to their village. This alone wouldn't have been so unusual, just a sign that the Tsuchikage had decided against aggressive action. The problem was there had already been a few skirmishes, and normally when Oonoki committed to an action he never second-guessed himself, at least in Hiruzen's extensive history with the man.
Then there was the manner of the withdrawal; usually such an order would be a unified action across all engaged squads, pulling back roughly at the same time. What they were seeing instead was individual squads pulling back in turn, as though one messenger was being sent on a round-trip; a ludicrously inefficient system when some teams were actively engaged while others were retreating. It was almost as if the leaders of each squad had just decided to up an abandon their duty; however, this was no disorganised rout. There was a pattern in the order the squads pulled out… neither Naruto of Hiruzen could make sense of it though.
"I fear we may not be able to understand our turn in luck, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take advantage of it my boy."
On that the two of them were most definitely agreed. The moment they had reports in of Iwa Shinobi returning to their borders Naruto already had orders on the go to re-distribute their own squads. It was time for the decisive action he and the older Hokage had been planning for weeks. It would take some time to get everything in position, but when they were, Konoha would finally be in a position to end this war.
Taki was already crippled by the loss of their Jinchuuriki and as long as Konoha kept up a strong border between the two countries, they would retreat to their isolationist tendencies, easily brought to the negotiating table. Kusa on the other hand posed slightly more of a problem given the still-tenuous situation with Iwa. They couldn't launch a devastating offensive on the minor village; that would be like putting down a welcome mat for Iwa to take the initiative again. Instead they planned to destroy all but one of the major transport routes between the two countries. The small nation was filled with valleys and dense jungle, so were rather reliant on the bridges and roads already cleared. Most of them would be destroyed within the next few hours, leaving them with only one, tightly-controlled route in and out of the country. This would also serve to bottle up Iwa if this turned out to be some elaborate ploy.
The idea was for their opponents to be distracted with re-constructing the routes long enough for Konoha to launch a crushing attack against Otogakure. There was little mercy in that offensive; orders to capture if possible, but no addendums to go out of their way if it was too risky. Orochimaru would be made to regret fanning the flames of this uprising. Even Hiruzen looked decidedly unsympathetic as he recommended certain squad positions that would ensure a full cordon of the village.
The two men couldn't take all of the credit though; the operation was only possible thanks to the information Tayuya had volunteered. That wasn't the facetious 'volunteered' that Ibiki might have used either; the redheaded spitfire had surprised the T&I department a few days after Naruto's visit by, quietly and without struggle, offering up everything she knew about Oto, Orochimaru and the shinobi under his command in exchange for swapping sides and protection from potential retaliation.
Naruto wasn't sure whether this was because of what he'd said, or if she simply didn't believe in Orochimaru like many of his brainwashed underlings seemed to. For all he knew she had some vendetta against the man and this was some final form of revenge; she wasn't exactly the type to wax poetic about her many woes, or even really talk about herself. There had been some concerns with the validity of the information, but a few ANBU scouting parties had confirmed the locations of various bases and outposts without alerting the Oto shinobi.
Likewise, the problem of the girl's curse mark, and the fact that she seemed rather attached to its power – unsurprising considering its addictive nature and the amount of time she had been using it – had been brought up. Luckily Naruto hadn't been idle since he had removed Anko's. That procedure four years ago had been enlightening as to the inner workings of the ugly seal, and when it came time to removing Tayuya's he didn't even need Hana on hand.
It wasn't entirely the same, granted. He finally learned what the medical aspect of the seal was for; a kind of enzyme that altered the body's physiology and allowed the passive – if not slightly corrupted – absorption of Natural Chakra from the environment. There was unfortunately little he could do about that, and Tayuya was currently in the hospital being treated for the effects of the enzyme on her system. It would be a while before she was in fighting condition again; it was rather like being treated for severe drug withdrawal.
He paced back and forth along the edge of the map table, scrutinising the positions of his forces, anxious that he couldn't be out there with them. Hiruzen seemed to anticipate his thoughts, taking a long drag from his pipe while giving the younger Kage – it was all but made official at this point – a knowing look.
"You should become used to that feeling; as a leader, you will have to learn the stark lesson that you cannot always be leading every charge." He glanced down at the landscape the elemental nations, poised for war, with a sigh. "Although I had hoped under more forgiving circumstances."
"No, I understand that just fine but…" The redhead struggled with his words for a moment.
"You don't trust your shinobi to do the job well?" Hiruzen offered with a hint of amusement, purposefully baiting the comment.
Naruto shot him a quick glare. "You know that's not it." he returned to his pacing; it was a bad habit to get into, he knew, but moving helped him focus his thoughts. "It's just… if things go wrong I have to wonder if it wasn't because I could have done better."
"Trust Naruto. You must trust that you have chosen your people well. Trust that everybody will do their job when the time comes. Trust in the Will of Fire."
"You really mean that, don't you?" Naruto asked, half bemused at the thought. He believed flowery words were all well and good in the academy, to get the students inspired; moral boosting really. But in a theatre of war like this? He had to trust in individual abilities, careful strategies and proven capabilities; not nebulous concepts like the Will of Fire.
"Every word, since the first day Tobirama-Sensei shared it with me." He gave a long puff of his pipe and looked thoughtfully out the window. "What is the Will of Fire to you Naruto?"
The redhead was a little caught off guard by the question, taking a moment to wave his hand lamely. "You know, the unity of the village, the whole… brotherhood of shinobi that unite under a common cause."
Hiruzen smiled softly. "A nice thought, and admittedly… a part of it." He raised himself up to walk over to the window. "I see the Will of Fire in every merchant peddling their wares, in every child playing at being ninja, in every shinobi talking with the regular citizens. It's an understanding, one of responsibility and gratitude. When a merchant sells his goods, the tax he generates goes towards arming and training the ninja that ultimately allows him to sell for another day. The shinobi protect the civilians, and the civilians give the shinobi purpose."
"So, it's reciprocity?" Naruto had never heard the Hokage speak so bluntly about something like this before; he enjoyed hiding behind his half-truths and riddled words.
"At its most fundamental, it's human nature." The older Hokage explained. "The Will of Fire isn't some special concept exclusive to Konoha, but here… it is our foundation. The other Shinobi villages, they prize their military above all else; the citizenry are simply ways to feed and arm their ninja. Here though, the implicit understanding is that the Shinobi serve the client, never the other way around." He smiled lightly as he turned, partially framed by the light coming in through the window. "There is a reason Konoha is the most popular village, why we receive the most foreign clients."
Naruto actually had to process that for a minute. He supposed he implicitly knew all of this before, vaguely in the back of his mind. But to hear it said aloud…
"You've weaponized human decency." Konoha's most dangerous weapon wasn't its military strength… it was the civilians; the heart-blood of the village that allowed it to thrive. Other villages bled the surrounding area dry to sustain themselves, subsidized by their Daimyo. In Konoha though it was a community, damn-near independent from the capital itself. In fact – if it wouldn't have launched the country into a horrendous civil war – Konoha could have cut ties with the Daimyo a long time ago.
He would have thought this was transcendent strategic planning on the part of the Shodaime if he also didn't know a bit about the man from Hiruzen's stories. As it was, this was all likely a happy accident resulting from an idealistic man with the monstrous power required to put those ideals in place. His brother on the other hand… if anybody could have honed such a concept into such a sleek and weaponized form it was Tobirama Senju.
"We Hokage are not exempt from that Will either; the bond of trust has to run both ways. They trust us to lead them to prosperity and victory, and we in turn trust in them to deliver it."
"So basically, your telling me to stop worrying so much," Naruto summed up with a weak smile; he felt like a house had been dropped on him.
"Oh no, by all means worry away. Hashirama-Sama was a wonderful worrier, He nearly paced a groove into the floor of this very office every time he sent people on tough missions. I'm asking you to simply trust in yourself. That you have made the right decisions."
"Hard to do when you don't know the result."
Hiruzen just gave that knowing smile again. "Quite." He glanced down at the map. "Although in this case I understand if the sensation is a tad more… personal."
Naruto tried to hide it but Hiruzen easily caught the flicker of his eyes moving down to a small icon on the map, a ways west of Otogakure itself. It was the site of one of Orochimaru's more valuable research facilities, apparently housing many of his captive bloodline prisoners he used in his experimentation. When Tayuya was asked which base Orochimaru was most likely to reinforce personally if threatened she had pointed to this facility without even thinking about it. There were some irreplaceable subjects housed there that the man would be genuinely pained to lose.
Which made it the ideal target of a feint, designed to draw Orochimaru out of Otogakure for the duration of the operation. Kami knew that if the man was allowed to meet the attack himself it had a much high probability of failing. Konoha just didn't have many shinobi of his calibre; Kakashi came close, but the older Sannin would still get the better of him. Gai might stand a chance for a while, but there was a great deal more to Orochimaru than his Taijutsu prowess.
There were maybe four ninja who could put the man down. Jiriaya was off… somewhere, unreliable as ever. Tsunade was a non-factor as far as Hiruzen was concerned; although Naruto personally described it as acting like a petulant child. Hiruzen was already in the mindset that he was no longer able to keep up with his wayward student. And Naruto was stuck here, coordinating; he was currently the only person able to operate the various sealing mechanisms that signalled when Orochimaru had left the village.
That's what had Naruto so anxious; he felt like he should be there to deal with his fiancée's old teacher. The more logical side of his mind assured him that if it was just leading Orochimaru on a merry chase for an hour or two, Kakashi was more than capable. That's what he was forced to do, remind himself over and over that everyone was where they were because they had to be. There were roles necessary to end this war right here and his was in this room, where he had the most expansive view of the situation.
"It's painful, I know," Hiruzen consoled softly, "but there will be opportunities to flex your legs in the future, you can be sure of that." The fact that Orochimaru would definitely survive all of this went unsaid. There were still monsters in the world that needed put down; whether it was him, the Akatsuki or something else. He now had to be a scalpel, a precision instrument, a trump card; he couldn't just be thrown into every situation. That would set a bad precedent. There was a reason Kage only showed up to fight when things got bad.
A knock came from the door and Ami walked in without waiting for a response. Naruto bit back a smile at the sight; he had almost forgotten he had given his genin an open-door policy when they had shared a team. He supposed technically he had never revoked it; although he could tell Ami was being cheeky by abusing it.
"Sensei, you said you would be training us today." She knew that, again technically, Naruto wasn't her sensei anymore. However, there was something of a precedent for Hokage keeping on their old teams together for a while longer than normal. Tobirama kept his through a war, right up to his final sacrifice; the Sannin had never really stopped being Hiruzen's students, despite their scattering; and Kakashi still only thought of one man as his teacher.
"I don't remember saying anything of the sort; and you're supposed to be on leave." Naruto shot back, somewhat glad for the interruption; his thoughts had been going in a bleak direction. Ami always managed to lighten his mood.
"Yeah you did." She replied without hesitation, ignoring the accusation. "I asked if you would train us yesterday and you said:" She held a hand to her throat for a moment; a trick he knew came from Anko when the woman wanted to do a particularly eerie impersonation. "Uhum."
The redhead blinked; that was a pretty spot on impression of the noncommittal answer he'd give when distracted. "Well, I'm a little busy at the moment."
"Oh, please. By all means," Hiruzen said with a treacherous smile. "Nothing should be happening here for a few more hours yet. Enjoy some time with your students."
Naruto turned but found himself cornered on both sides, especially now that Ami was beaming at him; he couldn't fight that smile. His shoulders slumped theatrically but he was still wearing a small smile. "Well, how am I supposed to argue with that?"
"See you at the training ground," Ami called, secure in her victory. It was an old joke for Team Seven; the three students would always say it, knowing Naruto would likely beat them there regardless.
The redhead was about to follow when Hiruzen caught him by the shoulder. "Naruto, be careful." The teen just stared at him in confusion. "I know you went through a… scare, with young Ami. But don't allow yourself to become overprotective; they are your students, but they are also Shinobi of the village." He released Naruto with those cryptic words, returning to the table to tweak a few of the unit positions.
Naruto tried to put it out of his mind as he flashed to the training ground but something about the words stuck. He wasn't coddling his students, was he? He understood there would come a time when they didn't need him anymore, when they were strong enough without him; it's just that time hadn't come yet. Until then he would do everything possible to ensure they survived that long. He nodded to himself as he appeared in the old training ground, distracted just enough that he barely leaned back when a sandaled foot cleaved the air in front of him.
Obviously Sasuke was expecting the dodge as the talented Uchiha was already using the momentum to twist, launching a barrage of kunai. Naruto had no real difficulty dodging them; no ninja worth their salt ever did when fresh and rested. But apparently, a single step back was all Ami needed as the girl suddenly launched herself from the shadow of a nearby tree, turning the step into a stumble with a deft movement from the back of her blade. There was no way she had beaten him to the training ground, so the Ami in the Hokage's office had been a clone.
Now when had Anko gone and taught her that?
Although that did mean his cute little students had been planning this ambush from the beginning; admirable. That meant at any moment… Yep, he felt the edges of his vision waver slightly and the next time Sasuke came in for a Taijutsu melee he made sure to dodge slightly more than was necessary, unable to trust his depth perception. If the Uchiha was irritated the genjutsu wasn't helping him he didn't show it, instead flipping back while rushing through a well-worn string of hand seals.
The real reason for messing with his vision became obvious when Ami suddenly appeared in his now limited periphery, already brining her blade around in a wind-sheathed slash that would enhance the fireball to actually dangerous levels. Well, dangerous for most opponents. It was an admittedly smoother version of the combo they had used in their chuunin exams; but well-coordinated or not, Naruto was the sensei for a reason.
With almost languid ease the redhead kicked up one of the discarded kunai Sasuke had thrown earlier. Another kick had it tearing through the air to impact the very edge of Ami's blade. It was barely a tap, but it was enough to throw off the girl's aim just enough that the blade of wind went wide of the fireball. Instead, it sheared right through the base of the tree Naruto assumed Sakura was hiding in as he almost casually side-stepped the roaring ball of flame.
In the brief lull as Sakura did indeed jump out of the collapsing tree he broke the genjutsu, pulsing his chakra twice to be sure; Sakura could be a tricky one. Sure enough, Sasuke and Ami suddenly changed positions; that was likely meant to catch him off guard with some sort of planned manoeuvre later. He was just a little surprised then when a pair of gloved hands suddenly grasped his ankles, attempting to pull him right into the ground.
They got him down to his shins before he pulsed his chakra, disrupting the earth technique. But, as with all of their plans so far, they had gone in with the expectation of failure. Ami was suddenly rushing forward, blade poised, but at the last minute he noticed a slight discrepancy with her stance and pulsed his Chakra. Instead of a blade aimed at his throat he found two feet wreathed in flames streaking towards him like a javelin. Sasuke was getting creative with his elemental manipulation, and Sakura even more paranoid if she was beginning to triple-layer her illusions.
Deciding to reverse the situation Naruto suddenly sank into the ground, hoping to catch the pinkette off-guard. Apparently, they'd planned for that too, as he suddenly found himself staring at an already lit explosive-tag. Anko was really going to have to stop telling Ami all these insider secrets; it was ruining his teacher mystique. He slipped out of the ground just as it detonated, spreading dust and random clumps of dirt into the air. Nothing too damaging then, which meant…
Ami from one side, sword already level with his neck, Sasuke from the other, hands wrapped in flames. He turned to face the more pressing threat of a blade only to realise too late that at some point Sakura had swapped all the directions on him. He was about to flash to the kunai he had surreptitious dropped amongst the others at the start of this little ambush only to feel his connection to it severed. Just out the corner of his eye he could spot Sakura grinning as she held up the kunai, ripped clean in half.
That girl was getting scary.
Not scary enough to have noticed the one he'd left underground though, which had promptly been scattered by their explosion. Ami's blade sliced through nothing but air as Sasuke flicked his hands to remove the flames, a vaguely irritated scowl pulling at his lips. Naruto held up his hands magnanimously as he reappeared a few feet away.
"Come now, I couldn't let you guys have a win that easily. I'd be a terrible teacher if-" He took a step forward only for the ground beneath him to explode rather gloriously.
From the outside of the near-column of flames the twenty-something tags hidden just beneath the ground had created, Ami watched with a hint of worry.
"You don't think it was too much, do you?"
Sasuke simply grunted as Sakura alighted next to them, the pinkette looking equally worried. It had been her job to place the stacks of tags where she thought it most likely their sensei would appear, so it would be on her head if he got injured. Their worried were replaced by irritation when the dust settled, revealing a slowly dispersing cloud of all-too-familiar smoke.
"Just a clone," Sasuke muttered, clicking his tongue as his Sharingan raked the training field for any sign of their teacher. There was no need though as he appeared a moment later, completely unharmed, sitting up on a sturdy branch of a tree.
"Well, now I'm starting to think I trained you guys too well. That was mean and sneaky even by Anko standards."
Ami had the decency to quash her victory fist-pump.
"Still only managed to get your clone though." Sasuke grouched, his irritation ebbing at the praise.
"More than most can say," Naruto countered, giving the three a good look. They really had come a long way in such a short time and he had to crush a deep welling of pride before he gathered them all up in a massive group hug that would have been monstrously unprofessional. Maybe worth considering if he ever wanted them properly mortified though; something to think on. "Your teamwork is excellent, even after so long apart."
He gave a sideways glance at Sakura. "Your genjutsu are superb, but you could have left the disorientation a little later if you wanted Sasuke's manoeuvre to properly catch me off guard." He turned to said Uchiha. "The trick with the fire is neat, but when you're trying to be stealthy it gives away your position. I could feel the heat even through the genjutsu." Finally, he turned to Ami. "You're too cautious to engage, some of those opening shots designed to trip me up could have been pushed a bit further. A combined assault from you and Sasuke might have seriously harried me."
His expression relaxed as a bright grin spread his whiskered cheeks. "Now, I believe I was called here for some training?" All three of his students brightened at the prospect and the redhead felt something warm spread through his chest.
Naruto gently stroked Haya's hair, the seven-year old long having dozed after almost an hour of 'Naruto Niichan doing nothing but reading boring old pieces of paper.' But Naruto felt he could be given this small indulgence; a boring moment after all this anxiety and chaos was a blessing.
The war was over, or as good as.
The operation was a success, mostly. Kakashi had given the snake a good run around, but Orochimaru was a clever man and quickly realised he was being played. Luckily Kakashi was good enough at his job that Orochimaru only returned to a sufficiently harried and cowed Otogakure. The attack had been swift and ruthless, with known squads outside the walls – that had been discretely followed for the past few days – being taken down almost simultaneously, many now finding a home in the cells below the ANBU headquarters. The attack on the village itself was less an invasion, or an outright siege as it was a surgical strike. As one, multiple key installations in the village had been demolished by carefully written seals designed specifically for each situation; a luxury only a few like Naruto could bring to the table.
When the dust settled a good quarter of the village was in ruin, Konoha's shinobi were already pulling out and Orochimaru was only given their dust to glare at on their way out. There had been casualties during the retreat, especially when the Sannin arrived on scene, but a few of the braver jounin held him off long enough to get the majority of the operatives out of there. Apparently there was a new story for Konoha's Green Beast to boast about in the Dangoya.
The important thing however, was that a message had been sent to the other minor villages.
No not piss off Konoha.
As suspected Takigakure had retreated in on themselves, cowering under their tree until Konoha inevitably sent out the diplomats. Kusa was trickier, but they understood that any further action would meet with vicious reprisals, and likely see their country turned into a staging ground for an Iwa invasion. Anyone who had read Ame's bloody history clearly didn't want a repeat of their neighbour's murky history.
Aside from negotiating the terms of the village's concessions in surrender, which he was leaving to Hiruzen as, for now, the man was just better at all that politicking, Naruto's part in all of this was done. In the war that was; because now came the clean-up. Konoha might have won, but not without casualties. As it was, the hospital was currently overstocked with injured patients, some of whom might never be shinobi again.
He knew as much from both the reports he received from Yakushi-sensei, the current head medic, and Sakura's first-hand accounts. Team seven now regularly met up every other day for a few hours to train, talk and catch-up. Ami was officially grounded from missions while she recovered, with the occasional trip to the Yamanaka clan to try and help her confusion over the whole episode. Sasuke was, rather politely, not taking missions until she did, throwing himself into some kind of secret training; likely a new technique if Naruto knew the Uchiha.
Sakura was the busy one now, but even the pinkette made time for her team between shifts. Still, Naruto knew they were all growing agitated, confined as they were; Ami was one to enjoy activity, Sasuke wasn't the type to restrain himself long and while Sakura didn't say it out-loud, he knew she rather enjoyed the field work of being a med-nin as opposed to being stuck in a hospital all day.
Luckily, now that this mess was winding down, Naruto was certain he had something for all of them to do. The assault on Otogakure had outlined a dire weakness when it came to high-level shinobi. Currently Konoha only had a few counters, one an old man and another himself. Jiraiya, while absconding around the nations, was at least doing semi-useful work with his spy-network. More than a few ANBU missions had only come out successful thanks to his information.
The last of the Sannin on the other hand; that was a different matter entirely.
Naruto looked through the myriad of wounded reports, shinobi who had lost limbs or died because medical attention came too slow, or just wasn't good enough, and decided that Konoha's best medic had been given long enough to mope around, trying to drink and gamble her way into oblivion.
He wouldn't be asking.