As he finished speaking, Shikaku Nara stepped forward and bowed deeply to everyone in the war room.
It wasn't a formality.
It was necessity.
Konoha's standing combat forces had already been deployed earlier. The pursuit unit Jin had led at the beginning, as well as the reinforcements later brought by him and Minato Namikaze, were largely composed of clan shinobi temporarily drawn from the major families.
They were all Konoha ninja—
But clan ninja carried an additional layer of loyalty.
Self.
Clan.
Village.
Every individual weighed those three differently.
And between clans, competition for resources and influence had always produced friction.
In peaceful times, those frictions were manageable.
On a battlefield?
They could become fatal.
So Shikaku lowered himself—not as a strategist, but as a clan head asking for unity.
"Clan Head Nara, you're being too formal. This is a critical moment. The village comes first—we all understand that."
"Exactly. When the nest falls, no egg survives. We argue in peacetime, not now."
"Just give the orders."
Voices rose one after another.
Shikaku nodded slightly. Enough was enough.
Turning back to the map, he continued:
"According to intelligence gathered by the village, neither Iwagakure, Kumogakure, nor Sunagakure brought extensive supply trains."
"At most, they have provisions for a single large-scale engagement."
"That means no probing. No feints."
"When battle begins, they will commit fully from the start."
He let the weight of that sink in.
"And our task is to hold them here—with the 4,500 shinobi currently stationed at Kikyo Mountain."
Four thousand against ten thousand.
On paper—
It looked hopeless.
Murmurs erupted.
"Four thousand against ten thousand? How do we fight that?"
"What about Orochimaru-sama's two thousand?"
"Didn't he depart last night? Even if he rerouted, shouldn't he have arrived?"
The questions were sharp—and justified.
Orochimaru had departed with two thousand shinobi to intercept Kumogakure. Even if circumstances changed, he should have received updated orders by now.
But until this moment—
There had been no sign of him.
An uneasy tension filled the room.
"Everyone, remain calm," Shikaku raised his voice. "Orochimaru and his forces are not missing. The situation has simply… evolved."
The room quieted instantly.
Shikaku pointed to the border of the Land of Hot Water on the map.
"Yesterday at dawn, Kumogakure mobilized an additional three thousand troops along the Land of Hot Water frontier and began probing incursions into the Land of Fire."
"Simultaneously, multiple southern coastal outposts reported signs of Kirigakure shinobi landing."
Silence.
Then shock rippled across the chamber.
"They intend to pin down our forces," Shikaku continued. "To buy time for the Iwa–Kumo–Suna alliance to take Kikyo Mountain."
Three villages were already overwhelming.
And now Kirigakure was stirring too.
For a moment, it felt as though the entire world stood against Konoha.
Hyūga Hiashi frowned.
"Does that mean Orochimaru has split his forces to reinforce the Land of Hot Water and the southern coast?"
It was the question everyone wanted answered.
Six thousand versus ten thousand—
Hard, but survivable.
Four thousand versus ten thousand—
That was suicide.
Shikaku shook his head.
"He split his forces—but not for reinforcement."
"The Land of Hot Water still has nearly two thousand border defenders under Jiraiya. They are under pressure, but holding."
"The southern coast was anticipated. The village prepared countermeasures."
He paused, then tapped several locations on the map behind the enemy encampment.
"Orochimaru and his two thousand have dispersed into smaller units."
"They have infiltrated the rear and flanks of the Iwa–Kumo–Suna alliance."
The room stilled.
"When battle begins," Shikaku finished, "they will strike from behind."
A two-pronged assault.
Six thousand versus ten thousand was difficult.
But four thousand baiting the enemy—
While two thousand struck unseen—
That was different.
This wasn't brute force.
It was calculation.
Shikaku had turned Orochimaru's force into a hidden blade.
A surprise element capable of collapsing morale and formation at a decisive moment.
Relief spread slowly across the room.
Shikaku continued:
"For Orochimaru's ambush to succeed, the allied army must commit fully."
His finger traced outward from Kikyo Mountain Fortress to several surrounding peaks.
"I propose we expand our defensive line to these mountains."
Gasps followed.
By conventional doctrine, a numerically inferior defender should shrink their front—compress the battlefield and limit enemy deployment.
From the fortress walls, the enemy could only commit a portion of their force at once.
Four thousand versus ten thousand—
In practice, it would be closer to four thousand versus a few thousand at any given time.
But expanding the defensive perimeter?
That allowed the enemy to deploy far more troops simultaneously.
On paper—
It risked becoming four thousand versus the full ten thousand.
Under normal circumstances, no commander would choose that.
But here—
They weren't simply defending.
They were bait.
The real killing blow would fall from the rear.
And once the allied army committed everything—
Orochimaru would close the trap.
Seeing no opposition, Shikaku drew in a steady breath.
"Then I will begin assigning positions."
War was no longer approaching.
It had already arrived.
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