Konoha — Hokage Office
"The situation at the Mist border is becoming more concerning."
The Third Hokage looked around the room as he spoke.
His voice carried a trace of regret.
"I just received a report. Several reinforcement squads carrying supplies were attacked by Mist shinobi before reaching the border."
Jiraiya and Tsunade looked down at the report placed in front of them.
Both of them frowned.
How did the Mist shinobi know the route of the reinforcement squads?
"Fortunately," Homura said after a moment, "the supplies that were destroyed were only the fake ones. The real supplies were sent through another route and should reach the border safely."
There was a little relief in his voice.
"But that does not change the fact that shinobi were injured and some lost their lives before even reaching the battlefield,"
the Third Hokage said with a sigh.
"In the end, it is still a loss for the village."
Jiraiya scratched the back of his head as he looked at the others.
"So what should we do now, old man?" he asked.
"Should we send more reinforcements to the Mist border?"
He frowned slightly.
"But there aren't many shinobi left inside the village either. And we can't pull forces back from the other borders right now."
The room fell silent.
The situation at the Mist border had become troublesome.
Even more troublesome was the fact that many Uchiha shinobi were stationed there.
If something like this happened again, the Uchiha would definitely demand answers from the village leadership.
Tsunade suddenly looked up.
"Old man," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"How did the Mist get the information about the reinforcement route?"
She looked directly at the Hokage.
"Don't tell me the intel was leaked from inside the village."
The Third Hokage and the elders looked at her immediately.
Koharu frowned.
"Tsunade, do you even think before you speak?" she said sharply.
"Why would the information be leaked from here?"
Recently, Tsunade had become more direct with her accusations.
Whenever something suspicious happened, she immediately questioned the elders.
It was almost as if she believed they were the enemy of the village.
Homura spoke calmly.
"Tsunade, we are also elders of this village."
"You cannot simply blame everything on us."
His gaze remained steady.
"Do you think we would be happy if the village suffered losses?"
Tsunade looked at them quietly.
For a moment, she felt slightly uncomfortable.
Right now, no one wanted the village to win this war more than the Hokage and the two elders.
Many people had begun questioning their decisions.
They wanted to prove that they were still worthy of leading the village.
For them to leak intel to the enemy would make no sense.
Tsunade sighed softly.
"Then explain how this happened," she said
.
"We can't just tell the village that it happened, and we have no idea why."
That question had been troubling the Hokage and the elders as well.
Situations like this demanded an explanation.
And they were the ones who had to give it.
"The ANBU are already investigating the matter," the Third Hokage said calmly.
"We will soon know how the information was leaked."
He paused for a moment.
"As Hokage, it is my responsibility to explain the situation to the village."
He then looked down at the report in his hand.
"All shinobi who were injured or lost their lives will be treated the same as those who died on the battlefield."
"The village will provide full compensation to them and to their families."
He handed the report to Koharu.
Koharu took it and nodded.
Jiraiya and Tsunade also nodded slightly.
For now, this was the most acceptable solution for both the village and the families of the fallen shinobi.
Jiraiya leaned forward again.
"So what about reinforcements?" he asked.
"Are we sending more troops to the Mist border?"
"And if we are…"
"Where will we get them from?"
Jiraiya's question made the room fall silent.
All four elders lowered their heads slightly as they began thinking about the problem.
But none of them had an immediate solution.
Most of the clan shinobi currently inside the village were not available for border duty.
Those shinobi existed mainly to protect their clans.
Even if the village asked for their help, their clans would most likely refuse.
And even if some clans agreed, many of the shinobi left inside the village were old veterans.
Some were retired.
Others carried long-term injuries from previous battles.
They were not fit to fight on an active border.
Homura finally spoke.
"Should we ask the larger clans?"
He looked toward the others.
"Clans like the Hyuga, Yamanaka, and the others might still have some shinobi available."
Koharu shook her head slightly.
"Will they agree?"
Her reply already answered the question.
Homura fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke again.
"What about the shinobi from our own forces? Do we have any reserves left in the village?"
Koharu sighed.
"Almost all of our available shinobi are stationed at the Land of Stone border."
"And we cannot call them back."
Homura quietly nodded.
There was nothing more he could suggest.
For a moment, the room fell into silence again.
Jiraiya leaned forward slightly.
"What about the Sand border?"
Everyone looked at him.
"The situation there has improved a lot recently," Jiraiya continued.
"Maybe we can pull some of the shinobi stationed there and send them to the Mist border instead."
It was already known inside the village that the Sand border had become much calmer.
There was a chance some shinobi could be recalled.
Homura considered it carefully before replying.
"Yes, the situation at the Sand border has become much more favourable for Konoha."
"But we still cannot relax our vigilance there."
He looked toward the others.
"The Sand village has not reached any official agreement with us yet."
"We still have to remain alert."
The Third Hokage watched the faces of everyone in the room.
They were all trying hard to find a solution.
But no one could think of a reliable one.
He himself was troubled by the situation.
The Mist border needed reinforcement.
But there was simply no easy way to provide it.
Hiruzen sighed quietly as he looked at the people sitting before him.
Then he coughed lightly.
"I may have a solution."
The room immediately became attentive.
"But it will be a very difficult decision."
He paused slightly.
"And there is a chance the village will criticise us for it."
Hiruzen slowly looked around the room.
From Koharu…
To Homura…
Then to Jiraiya…
And finally, to Tsunade.
Everyone stared back at him with questioning expressions.
Jiraiya spoke first.
"Old man…"
"What did you come up with?"
Mist–Konoha Border
Near a small border town
"Toyoma, where are we going?"
Suki called out as she followed behind him.
"You didn't even wait for Uncle Raizen."
She watched Toyoma's back as he moved quickly through the forest.
This time, Toyoma was not using his space–time jutsu.
Because of that, Suki was able to keep up with him.
If Toyoma had been using Blink continuously, there would have been no chance for her to match his speed.
Toyoma continued moving forward without slowing down.
"We're looking for Uncle Genzo," he said calmly.
"There's a chance his life is in danger."
At the moment, Toyoma's natural energy was almost exhausted.
He had used Blink too many times earlier.
His ability needed time to recover.
For now, he could only rely on normal chakra movement.
His eyes moved across the forest while he followed the direction the Sand shinobi had pointed to with his last breath.
Behind him, Suki frowned slightly.
"So that Sand hero Pakura kidnapped Uncle Genzo?"
She thought about the situation carefully.
"Then there's a chance she's trying to extract information from him."
Genzo was a jonin.
He might not be comparable to elite jonin like Raizen or Uzuku, but he was still a respected core member of the Uchiha clan.
Many important matters of the clan passed through people like him.
If someone like Genzo were captured, it would be a serious problem.
Suki's expression became more serious.
On the other hand—
Toyoma looked at her with a slightly complicated expression.
What Suki was thinking…
It was completely different from what might have actually happened.
But Toyoma couldn't explain it to her right now.
He couldn't simply say that Uncle Genzo might have acted like a love-struck fool and allowed Pakura to take advantage of him.
There was even a possibility that Pakura had deceived him.
While trying to save her, Genzo might have believed he was protecting a woman in danger.
But now—
That situation had turned into trouble for both him and Uncle Uzuku.
And it had already cost Genzo one of his eyes.
Toyoma's gaze darkened slightly.
Only after finding them will I know the truth.
The Sand shinobi's words echoed again in his mind.
Pakura had saved Genzo.
But that alone did not explain everything.
There was no way it could be a coincidence that both Sand and Mist shinobi had attacked Genzo together.
Toyoma's eyes moved across the forest ahead.
Something about this situation was still unclear.
"When we find them, you'll understand the situation, Sister Suki," Toyoma said calmly.
"For now, just focus on looking for their traces."
Suki nodded and began scanning the ground and surrounding trees.
The forest ahead grew deeper.
And somewhere inside it—
Inside the cave.
The weak fire continued burning quietly.
After some bandaging and basic treatment, Genzo's breathing had become a little more stable.
Pakura sat beside him, watching carefully.
Genzo slowly tried to sit up.
"Don't move too much."
Pakura quickly reached forward and stopped him.
"You're not fully healed yet."
Genzo paused for a moment.
He knew she was right.
But he also knew the situation outside was dangerous.
Genzo had originally carried two healing pills with him.
Both of them were now gone.
He had used them on Pakura earlier.
Because of that, his own injuries had not received proper treatment.
Pakura knew this.
And it made her expression even more complicated.
In her mind, Genzo had acted foolishly.
When she was surrounded by Sand and Mist shinobi in that small village, she had not been injured badly.
But Genzo had still forced his last healing pills on her.
Now his own condition was worse than hers.
Pakura looked down for a moment.
"…You're an idiot."
Genzo gave a faint smile.
Then he spoke quietly.
"We still need to inform Raizen and Toyoma."
His voice was weak but serious.
"The Mist shinobi know about our meeting point."
"They set a trap there."
Pakura shook her head slightly.
"Don't worry."
"Most of the trap was already destroyed."
Genzo looked at her.
Pakura continued calmly.
"When I saw the Sand and Mist shinobi gathering there, I attacked them during the night."
Her eyes became colder as she
remembered the battle.
"I quietly eliminated several of them."
"At least five elite jonin died before they even realised what was happening."
Genzo's eye widened slightly.
Pakura continued.
"But when I tried to deal with the last three…"
"One of the Sand shinobi activated a
detonating tag."
The explosion had echoed through the entire village.
"That blast alerted the rest of their group."
Pakura clenched her fist slightly.
"I was surrounded soon after."
Genzo sighed quietly.
That was when he had arrived.
After hearing the explosion, he had rushed to help her.
During that fight
Genzo had lost one of his eyes.
But together they had still managed to kill two more jonin before escaping.
Pakura looked toward the cave entrance.
"There's another problem."
Genzo raised his head slightly.
"My identity may already be known."
She spoke calmly, but there was a trace of frustration in her voice.
"Some of the Sand shinobi saw my Scorch Release."
The moment they saw that power, they would know who she was.
Pakura.
The former hero of the Sand village.
If she had not needed to protect Genzo—
She would have stayed and wiped out every single shinobi there.
But that was no longer important now.
Genzo simply shook his head slightly.
"…It doesn't matter."
For him, Pakura's identity being exposed meant nothing.
His concern was only the situation at the border.
Genzo slowly pushed himself up again.
"We should leave."
Pakura frowned.
"Genzo—"
"I have to inform the clan," he said firmly.
"If the enemy knows our meeting point, our reinforcements could walk straight into another trap."
Even in his injured condition, Genzo refused to delay.
Pakura stared at him for a moment.
Then she sighed.
"…Fine."
"But listen carefully."
Her voice became serious.
"If anything happens—"
"Let me handle it first."
Genzo looked at her.
"If the situation becomes dangerous, you leave."
"I'll find my own way back."
Genzo said nothing.
But he nodded slightly.
The two of them slowly walked out of the cave.
Cold night air greeted them.
The forest outside was quiet.
Too quiet.
Pakura's eyes suddenly narrowed.
She sensed something.
Genzo also froze.
A faint sound moved through the trees.
Pakura stepped forward immediately.
"Genzo."
"Stand behind me."
Her eyes locked toward the dark forest ahead.
Someone was there.
And they were getting closer.
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