Chapter 86

Chapter 86

"I am way too old for this," Hiruzen mumbled to himself with a sigh.

Stretching his old bones, Hiruzen felt his battle attire a bit tight along his waistline. Did he put on some weight? He was too old to concern himself with weight, but he guessed he had eaten a bit too much ramen of late. Since he left his position as the Hokage, he found himself with more time to visit Teuchi. Even if he knew it wasn't very healthy, he couldn't resist a bowl of ramen or two every so often.

He definitely didn't expect to participate in another war. He should have listened to Tsunade and followed her diet, but it was too late now. As much as he wished to stay back in the village, he had no choice but to come out here, especially when the current Hokage ordered him to do so. The brat had only been in position for half a year, and already, he had caused so much trouble.

"He better come back soon, or I will be wroth with him," Hiruzen didn't want to see another promising shinobi die before his time, not while he was still kicking.

"There they come," Enma said as he transformed his head back to his monkey self. "Are you ready?"

"As much as I can be," Hiruzen replied as he got into his stance and waited.

There were quite a few of them—seventy, no eighty in total. Though Hiruzen expected more since his son and the genin had already wrecked them a bit by escaping their grasp, but it wasn't too surprising that they couldn't afford to send more. He guessed that was fine since anymore, and Hiruzen might have to struggle a bit. He wasn't as energetic as he used to be.

"Kanabi bridge," Hiruzen said as he stood before the Iwa shinobi and the bridge. "It really is causing a bit too much trouble for my village. The last time we had to destroy it, we lost a promising shinobi. It was too much of a sacrifice, in my opinion. I can't make such a sacrifice again, so if you want to pass through it, you will have to go through me first. Are those acceptable terms, Roshi?"

It has been a long time since Hiruzen saw the Four-tail jinchuriki. He had faced him and his partner Han, the seven-tail jinchuriki in the First Shinobi War. Back then, they still didn't understand much about their powers and were quite young, so Hiruzen was able to defeat them quite easily. But now, Hiruzen could tell that Roshi had more confidence and was overwhelmed with power.

"It was about time someone put you to rest, Hiruzen Sarutobi," Roshi replied as the rest of the Iwa shinobi tried to run around the bridge.

"I told you, if you want to pass, you have to go through me first," Hiruzen said as barrier seals stopped the Iwa shinobi.

"Every single one of you," Roshi sounded frustrated. "Every Hokage I met was as bondersome as you are, Hiruzen. You know, I am done being pushed around by you guys. First, you humbled me and Han, then the Fourth did the same, and after that, the Fifth had to humiliate my village."

"One would think that three times is enough to learn a lesson," Hiruzen said. "Yet you are here, ready to be taught once again."

"People do say that I have a thick skull, and it is hard to get things through it."

Hiruzen felt the heat coming out of Roshi as he replied. Maybe this fight would be a bit more challenging than he expected. It's a good thing he had stretched before. That should be enough for them. With Enma in his staff form, Hiruzen was ready to meet his opponent. When Roshi first met Hiruzen's staff, there was only one outcome.

Enma doesn't break, so the one that broke was Roshi's attack. Pushed back, Roshi slid through the ground. He was replaced by five other shinobi. Even if Hiruzen was old, these youngsters were still years away from reaching his speed. Their attacks might look to be simultaneous, but in reality, one was ahead of everyone else, and one was way behind everyone else.

The tip of Hiruzen's staff caught the closest one by his shirt, and with a swirl, he turned him in the direction of two others. He knocked the three of them down before blocking the fourth's kick with another end of his staff and then stepping aside to dodge the last one's attack. His staff never stopped moving, hitting them both and knocking them down.

"I am getting too sloppy," Hiruzen said as he looked at the Iwa shinobi roll away from him. "I should have been able to knock you youngsters out. I have to wonder how that rascal Onoki has so much energy to wage a war at his age."

Hiruzen would have liked to complain about his old age a bit longer, but he couldn't ignore Roshi transforming into his tailed beast form and making quite a big ball of mass destruction, aiming straight at him. If Hiruzen was younger, he might have taken a few of the Iwa shinobi and used them as hostages to stop Roshi. But since he was old, he could do nothing but create a barrier that redirected the ball, letting it hit the barrier behind him.

"A good effort," Hiruzen commented. "You broke the first of the six barriers."

"I didn't remember you speaking so much," Roshi said.

"I have to stall time somehow. Though I have to confess, I don't know how Kaen does it so much. Even in my prime, I didn't have that much energy to banter."

Hiruzen was a product of his time. In a way, he was a dog who followed his master's orders, like every other shinobi. He followed his father's orders, and he followed the First and Second Hokages' orders, too. No matter how much he might have disagreed with them, he did as he was ordered. Even if he changed somehow with time, it was hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

So, he also followed Kaen's orders. He told him to protect Kanabi Bridge, and he would do it. He would not let anyone pass through him, even if it killed him. Whatever Kaen had planned, Hiruzen trusted him without any hesitation. As pompous as Kaen could be, Hiruzen saw Will of Fire in his eyes. The Fifth Hokage deserved his title, and he knew what he was doing most of the time, at least.

"Stall time?" Roshi laughed. "To me, the new Hokage's arrogance had grown too much. Did you really think that we would come with this little force to invade the Land of Fire? Our mission was to secure the bridge. And since you are so keen on protecting it, I can comfortably wait for my reinforcements before killing you."

Hiruzen guessed so much, and that is why he was even more impressed with Kaen's thinking. Even without being on the battlefield or returning to the village, he had already predicted such a thing. Kaen knew that Onoki would leave Konoha for the last. Iwa and Kumo will first try to insolate Konoha by attacking Suna and Kiri.

That is why Hiruzen was sent here to hold this position. He was just one man, but a man that would gather the attention of everyone. Now, Onoki will not be able to look away from him; his attention will always be on Hiruzen and Kanabi bridge, and he won't see Jiraiya coming to Suna's aid, nor Might Guy coming to Kiri's aid.

Jiraiya was very good at entering battlefields. He had no right to be unnoticed. And Might Guy, to most of the world, was still an unknown entity. But Hiruzen knew better. He knew Might Guy's father and how even Hiruzen had underestimated the Eight Gates. Even Hiruzen had no confidence in defeating Guy when he entered the seventh gate, not speaking of the eighth.

Kaen knew how dangerous Jiraiya and Guy were, and he knew how to utilize them. That's why Hiruzen wasn't worried; he could stay here and fight or talk nonsense all day and night, as that was his job, to be in his place and make everyone nervous. But the question still lingered in Hiruzen's mind. What was Kaen doing?

…

"Why is it called the Land of Wind?" Naruto asked as he followed Jiraiya. "Is all sand. Wouldn't Land of Sand be a more fitting name?"

"There is a reason. Trust me, you don't want to experience a sandstorm that the winds in this country can create. Even the most skilled shinobi do not always emerge from them," Jiraiya explained. "Have you ever read a history book in your life? Or any book at that?"

"Have you?"

"Point taken."

Jiraiya couldn't disagree with Naruto on that. At his age, all Jiraiya read was adult magazines, and they weren't good adult magazines. Though, he learned a thing or two about women and adults in general from these magazines. But he wasn't going to tell that to Naruto or anyone else. He will bring what he saw in those magazines to his grave.

"So this is Sunagakure?" Naruto asked as they arrived at their destination. "It looks kind of rundown and bleak."

"Jiraiya-sama," Two burly men with giant axes greeted them at the entrance of the village. "Kazekage-sama is waiting for you."

It wasn't hard to find the Kazekage office. It was smack in the middle of the village. It was the biggest building in the village by far, overlooking the village and the area beyond the surrounding dunes. Not far from the Kazekage's office was the famous aviary tower that housed countless messenger birds. And it seemed to have been working at full capacity right now.

"Remember what I told you," Jiraiya warned Naruto one last time. "Keep your mouth shut. You will look smarter that way."

"Too bad it doesn't work on you," Naruto replied with his hands behind his head. "You will always look dumb."

"Don't be cheeky with me, boy," Jiraiya said, slapping him on the head. "And don't cause any trouble. The situation is a serious one, and your opinion won't be tolerated here."

Jiraiya looked at the shinobi waiting for him by the Kazakage Office. As they opened the path for him, he followed their lead. Climbing up the building to the flat roof, he was met by Kazekage himself and a few seniors of Sunagakure, the Suna Council members. They had been in the village from the moment it was built. Their words had a lot of weight.

"What a mess the Fifth Hokage makes," Kazekage said without turning to look at Jiraiya. "Attacking the Iwa shinobi in the middle of the Chunin Exam and then wreaking havoc inside it."

"You know that's not how it happened," Jiraiya replied.

"They can say whatever they want, but we will never be able to ignore the consequences of Kumo's forces inside Iwagakure," The Kazekage seemed to agree with Jiraiya. "We shinobi know better, but the leaders of this country aren't shinobi. I was sent a message after a message demanding me to form a peace treaty with Kumo and Iwa."

"They did catch us with our pants down," Jiraiya said. "Neither our nor yours, Daimyo, had any intention of having a war barging through the doors."

"It doesn't matter if we are prepared or not; we have to do everything to defend our home," The Kazekage replied, finally turning around to face Jiraiya. "Our patrols at the border stopped sending reports as if they had disappeared into thin air. Whatever their strategy is, it was planned meticulously to attack Suna."

"That's why I am here," Jiraiya said. "I was lucky to be around the Country when I received orders to come to you. Nobody aside from our Hokage and a few trusted people knows I am here."

"And will the Jinchuriki be of any help?" The Kazekage turned to Naruto.

"He can hold his own, as you have seen when he fought your son," Jiraiya said, not letting Naruto respond. "But he is still a kid and won't be participating in battles."

"I guess asking for more sizeable forces from Konoha would be too much."

"A hidden dagger is always more dangerous than a greatsword."

"We don't know how many are coming," The Kazekage seemed to be satisfied with Jiraiya's response. "But if they can clear out our patrols and scouts, it won't be a small force. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Raikage himself came."

That wasn't a surprise at all. Kaen even warned him that they probably would send one of their Jinchuriki with the Raikage. After all, it wasn't a small village but one of the five. They would need at least that much to take down Suna. And as much as Jiraiya didn't like Naruto to be here, he didn't have time to bring him back to Konoha.

Jiraiya was a bit disappointed that he couldn't hide Naruto from the reality of war for a bit longer. He didn't know how Naruto would take the experience of seeing the war firsthand. Jiraiya remembered his first time, and it wasn't pretty. But there was nothing he could do about it. He could only be by Naruto's side and help him process what will soon happen.

"So, what's your plan?" Jiraiya finally asked.

"I have recalled the rest of my shinobi back to the village," Kazekage said. "I wanted you to take a few elite forces of mine and scout them out. Such a mission would usually be given to Baki, but since he isn't here, I can only count on you. While you are gone, I will prepare the defenses according to your findings."

Jiraiya guessed so much. Invading the Land of Wind wasn't easy; it was probably the harshest terrain for a shinobi. So, Suna was caught off guard by Kumo and Iwa doing such a thing. It spoke a lot of their forces. They weren't too worried about losing some of them if they could gain the advantage of a surprise attack. And sadly, Suna's forces weren't that strong to handle a head on attack.

So, Jiraiya had to gather as much information as possible about the enemy so the Kazekage could prepare traps and ambushes accordingly. It was the Suna's way of fighting, and Jiraiya was quite well-versed in gathering information. With the help of a few elite Suna shinobi, it shouldn't be too difficult to infiltrate the enemy forces for him.

A.N. And I am gone. I don't know when I update the story. Maybe in a month, maybe in two. So, see you then.