Ch.100 The Shift in the battlefields

Tsunade entered the Council Room with a barely restrained grin on her face. The previous nights, she spent with Rei and Konan having a very heated 'debate' in the sheets so she was very aware of what this impromptu meeting was about. She was observing mostly confused looks on the faces of the other clan heads who had no idea what exactly happened in the past several days nor that this meeting will decide the direction Konoha will take in the war. Tsunade sat on her chair and supported her chin with her hand, waiting for the meeting to start.

"Order!" The Third Hokage exclaimed after five minutes and the door into the Council Room was closed. "I am sure many of you are wondering why we are meeting this fine day." Hiruzen started on the lighter note. "I'd like to recount some of our war efforts and then discuss albeit minor skirmish, a skirmish that will shift the entire war nevertheless." He calmly said with an authoritative voice despite inwardly cursing whatever brat was the cause of that event. Because of that, his paperwork tripled and he had to completely write off many plans! Months of his work were utterly destroyed and he couldn't help but do what was the recurrent theme for every Kage these days. Seeth. 'The second I get that little shit into my hands...!'

"Troublesome..." Shikami Nara, the Jonin Commander, muttered but nevertheless stood up as this was his job. "In that case, I will start with the recent happenings in our war efforts. Our ally, Suna, is suffering from intense large-scale battles on their borders, both countries of Wind and Rock are trying to get some of their ninjas in so they could either run sabotage, reconnaissance, or assassination of wealthy nobles. Fortunately, there was no request for help so far therefore we don't need to be concerned about them for now. That's everything about Suna's front."

Everyone in the room knew why this was mentioned first. Suna front was something Konoha had no hand in influencing. Not in the light anyway. But it was important as heck. The second Suna falls would be the second this two-front war would become three-front for Konoha which they wanted to avoid at all cost. It was obvious Iwagakure was stronger, better equipped, and Tsunade would dare to say, better trained. Suna was winning due to their environmental advantage. It was as simple as that. They didn't have many people for offense but excelled in defense in the desert.

"The next would be Iwa," Shikami sighed as he took a paper from the table and his eyebrows scrunched. "As troublesome as this is, we are in a deadlock. Amegakure completely refused to let the war engulf the Land of Rain because of the event of recent years where the village was attacked and almost flattened by..." Shikami stopped for a second and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "meteorite? As unbelievable as this is, it's what our spies told us."

"Do we know who attacked them?" Tsunade interrupted, leaning into her palms as her elbows put more pressure on the table while curiosity was sparking in her eyes.

Shikami briefly looked at her but then shook his head as if in annoyance. "Nope, no clue. Only Hanzo saw them and he supposedly suspects they were using some disguising transformation anyway. Something about their features shimmering from time to time."

'Ah... they didn't yet have proper control of my Transformation Jutsu at the time. And here I hoped there would be some funny theories about the attack, and maybe someone would be framed. How... sad.' Tsunade thought with amusement while nodding in satisfaction at Shikami.

"Anyway," Shikami continued. "there are some skirmishes on the territory of the Land of Rain, but our and Iwa's troops are continuously attacked by Amegakure forces and some new organization of ninja calling themselves Akatsuki that wants to keep the Land of Rain peaceful." He shrugged. "In short, the biggest battlefield between Iwa and Konoha is the Grass Country. It's a mess since neither can push with enough force to get past the deadlock and I, as the chief strategist of Konoha, unfortunately, don't see any way to get out of it in the foreseeable future." Shikami finished and the mood turned somber.

Every clan head was aware of the high death toll of the battlefield in the Grass Country. Iwa and Konoha had their own bases and the Land of Grass was engulfed in ferocious Guerrilla warfare between them. While major cities didn't really suffer, the countryside was in tatters.

"As for Kumo fro-" Shikami started.

"That's all Shikami." Hokage interrupted and gestured for his Jonin Commander to sit. "As for the Kumo front, that's no longer relevant." The Third said with an irritated sigh that made many clan heads straighten up. They quickly deduced this was the reason why this meeting was called. After a moment of sullen lamenting, the Hokage continued. "According to our intel, Kumo lost a skirmish with Kiri for Nagori Isles. Leaders A and Killer B led around 700 men to confront 200 Kiri shinobi and lost." Many clan heads gasped at that, understanding what they were just told while Shikami looked as if he wanted to bang his head on the table... with the large black circles under his eyes and all.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at this statement. 200 Kiri-nin... well, that information was broadcasted to Konoha most likely at the Mizukage's order. But for Hokage to know that Kumo sent 700? That was a testament to how good Konoha's Intelligence Department was. Or was it? 'Danzo...' She pursed her lips. There was simply no other person capable of getting to this information.

"That means," Hiruzen continued to explain it for those who didn't yet pick up the meaning of this information. "Kumo is retreating from their offensive and as of now, the Kumo front ceased to exist."

Kumo needed to consolidate their position so their ninja stopped attacking Konoha's borders which would give Konoha more breathing room. Kumo had to prepare for a war with Kiri since Kiri forces gained a foothold so close to their borders. It had to be said the war between Kumo and Konoha was rarely fought on the borders of either of their countries. Sure, both pushed to penetrate into the countries, but there were still Countries of Rice, Hotsprings, and Frost in between them, so there was enough buffer to prevent the hostilities to reach the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. And now, Kiri had a free ticket and the war would most likely start inside the Land of Lightning. Kumo was forced to forsake either Konoha or Iwa front, and while Konoha was more hated by them, they quickly deduced that Konoha front was the better option since Iwa was not really trying to invade the Land of Lightning except for some very rare skirmishes that are more often than not just a diversion for an attack on Konoha forces. Most of these battles were fought on the islands between the Land of Earth and Lightning anyway so it was not really a threat. Konoha, on the other hand, had its hands full and won't be really able to retaliate even if Kumo dropped the front. Their decision was obvious.

"Hokage-sama, isn't that a good thing for us though?" Hyuuga clan head stood up and asked, making the Hokage briefly look at him with a tired gaze.

"No, not really." He said dryly. It was utterly vexing how the situation didn't change for Konoha despite the major change in Kumo. "Nothing really changed. What many of you don't know is that there were some small skirmishes between samurai and Kiri ninjas in the cities near the shores. Despite the Kumo front being unofficially closed, the ceasefire was not signed. Meaning, we are now in a 3-way battle rather than a 2-way. Lucky for us that Kiri also started a war with Kumo rather than focus only on us. It's all the merit of our counterintelligence department that made it impossible to find out just how bad the situation on our side is." The Hokage sighed.

"Nevertheless, we now have to prepare for a war on our territory." Tsunade quipped, simplifying what Hokage wanted to convey. 'Not to mention that Nagori Isles might not be that close to Konoha's shores but are still closer than the Land of Water. I wonder if Mizukage or Hokage will realize that...' Tsunade inwardly chuckled. Kiri now had the best possible outpost for bringing the war into the territories of both Land of Fire and Lightning. Something that didn't really happen since the first war.

As she said that, many widened their eyes and the mood turned gloomy. No longer did they inwardly rejoice at having to fend off only Iwa forces. Now they realized that... the situation just got a whole lot worse.