Chapter 95: Shikaku Nara
Rasa left. He took Gaara with him.
Sakura didn't try to stop them.
The reason was simple: she couldn't fly.
"Sakura, are you okay?!"
"Hey, Sakura, you missed it — I was incredible back there!"
"I even outshone Sasuke!"
Naruto dispelled his clones and bounced over to her, grinning.
Beside him, Sasuke held his sheathed blade and made a sound that indicated his opinion of this claim.
"Idiot. I did more work. Obviously."
"Excuse me?! You want to go right now, Sasuke?!"
Naruto's volume went up immediately.
"You're not my match."
Sasuke looked at the furious blond in front of him and raised an eyebrow. Something in his eyes was doing something that could, in the right light, be called enjoying this.
This guy...
He's actually kind of fun.
"Alright, you two, enough."
"There are probably still enemy forces in the village. We should go back and help—"
Sakura stared at both of them and felt a tiredness that had nothing to do with the fight.
Naruto she expected. But Sasuke?
Hokage Tower — Conference Room
With the remaining enemy forces routed as quickly as possible, Hiruzen convened the meeting.
At the head of the table: Hiruzen. Tsunade to his left, Jiraiya to his right. Then Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, Danzō Shimura, the clan heads of the Ino-Shika-Chō alliance, the head of the Hyūga, the head of the Inuzuka, the head of the Aburame—
Every person of consequence in Konoha was in this room.
The atmosphere was a physical weight. Several of the smaller clan heads were struggling to sit still.
Hiruzen's eyes, when he finally looked up, were not the clouded, familiar eyes of the old man who had led this village for decades. They were sharp. Aggressive. The eyes of something that had been sleeping a long time and had just woken up.
It made everyone in the room uncomfortable.
When had Hiruzen Sarutobi ever looked like this?
Was this because of Sand?
"Everyone."
He spoke. One word, and the room understood immediately that this was not a meeting where anyone would be humoring anyone.
This was a Hokage speaking. Not an old man. A Hokage.
"The Village Hidden in Sand has broken faith and abandoned all decency. The Kazekage Rasa stands as the primary offender."
"He conspired with the traitor Orochimaru, with the intent of having me killed."
"I would like to hear what this room believes should be done."
Silence. Complete silence. No one even breathed loudly.
In that moment, the man sitting at the head of the table was not a seventy-year-old grandfather. He was a sovereign passing judgment from a height no one else in the room could reach.
The shinobi hero from the great wars. Back at Konoha's table.
Danzō stared at Hiruzen with something approaching genuine surprise. He'd sat across from this man for decades. He thought he knew every face Hiruzen wore.
When did the monkey get this kind of presence?
"At this moment, Konoha has just come through a catastrophe. Rash action is inadvisable."
"Sand's conduct is inexcusable, but we cannot sacrifice the larger picture for the smaller one. The suffering of war is still in living memory. The correct path is to formally censure Sand first, and then—"
Koharu Utatane didn't finish her sentence.
"Absurd."
Homura Mitokado was on his feet. His voice cracked like a whip.
"They brought the war to our doorstep."
"If we respond the way you're describing, the entire shinobi world will laugh at us."
"Every nation will decide Konoha is finished. A paper tiger. A target anyone can take a swing at and walk away from."
"That is not sacrificing the large for the small."
"That is stepping into the grave."
"We fight."
"We hit them hard."
"In the entire history of this village, nothing like this has ever happened on our soil."
"This was not a border skirmish. This was someone planting their foot on Konoha's face."
"If we swallow that — the prestige of the first among the Five Great Villages is gone. Permanently."
"Konoha will never recover."
Homura's words hit the room like a thrown stone. Everyone looked between him and Koharu — these two, who were famously close, famously aligned—
What was happening today?
"Fight?! Fight with what?!"
Koharu matched him, not yielding a centimeter.
"Our opponent isn't just Sand. Earth, Lightning, and Water are all watching. The moment we get bogged down in a sustained engagement — what then?"
"And what of it?"
Homura's expression went cold.
"Do you honestly believe those three can cooperate sincerely against Konoha? The day Earth and Lightning and Water work together without stabbing each other in the back is the day rocks bloom flowers."
"This war — Konoha is not the village it was. Tsunade and Jiraiya are both here. Kakashi, Might Guy — the middle generation has become the backbone. And the next generation—" his voice didn't soften, "Sakura Haruno. Rock Lee. Sasuke Uchiha. That is Konoha's future."
"United from top to bottom. How do we lose?"
The room went quiet again.
Nobody wanted to speak into the space between Homura and Koharu.
Shikaku Nara sat in silence, watching the two old people spray each other with saliva, and privately felt that this was very well-rehearsed.
One playing the hawk. One playing the dove. Perfect timing, perfect escalation.
If someone told him they'd practiced this at home, he would believe it without hesitation.
"Ahem. If I may..."
The moment Shikaku spoke, both Homura and Koharu stopped talking simultaneously.
"Shikaku. Go ahead."
Hiruzen looked at his strategist — the man he'd been waiting for — and the faintest warmth returned to his eyes.
"As Elder Homura has said — this war cannot be avoided."
"But as Elder Koharu has said — Earth, Water, and Lightning cannot be ignored."
"My recommendation is this."
He laid it out.
While the Third Tsuchikage was still in Konoha, negotiate immediately and lock in a joint offensive against the Land of Wind — Earth and Fire attacking together. Simultaneously, station forces at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Frost to watch Lightning. Deploy scouts to the old Whirlpool Country to monitor Water.
The moment either Water or Lightning showed signs of mobilizing, intercept them — and at the same time, send agents into the Land of Lightning to stoke old grievances. Remind them what the Third Raikage had never been made to answer for. Push those feelings toward the Land of Earth.
Do the same with Water. Run agents, channel resentment, turn their attention toward Earth instead — let them remember what the Second Mizukage left unresolved.
If either operation succeeded, pour resources into Earth Country to help them hold off the pressure from both sides. Even if neither worked, the misdirection alone would absorb enormous pressure that would otherwise fall on the Land of Fire.
Earth Country, in either case, would serve as Konoha's shield.
By the time Shikaku finished, his throat was dry.
Hiruzen's expression at the head of the table was one of quiet satisfaction.
It diverged from Sakura's framework in a few places. But not many.
Around Shikaku, the other clan heads had, without quite realizing it, shifted their chairs slightly away from him.
The mind of a tactician is a dirty place.
You never know when you're being counted as someone else's piece on the board.
(End of Chapter)