Prologue

The late afternoon sun cast a soft red glow on the seemingly peaceful old man in his office. Wearing red and white robes he stood near the window while looking over his village, the only sign of something wrong was the fact that his customary pipe was missing from his lips. He was Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

His seemingly tranquil watch over the village was interrupted by a ninja with dog mask appearing behind him and kneeling before the desk. Despite the figures perfectly silent arrival the Professor obviously noticed his entrance as he suddenly spoke up with his back still towards the ANBU.

"Report Inu," he said in an even yet commanding tone. A lifetime of leading shinobi on and off the battlefield perfected this skill.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. It is as we feared, with the recent Uchiha massacre Iwagakure seems to be on the move. We confirmed multiple infiltrator teams travelling through Kusa and eliminated those that attempted to breach our border," replied the man. "Also Kumo seems to be increasing border patrols as a show of force but has yet to make actual contact with us."

"I see. Make sure to write up the report by tomorrow morning. Also while on your way to HQ summon Danzo to me, I believe he is still in the tower. Dismissed!" he ordered, the shinobi disappearing from his room with a quiet "Hai, Hokage-sama".

With a sigh that seemed to be coming from the depth of his old soul he turned around and wearily sat down on the chair. He then carefully put the pipe in his mouth and with a minor application of fire chakra ignited it. In deep thoughts, he gazed around the dimly lit room his eyes automatically wandering to the pictures of the other Hokages. He lingered on the First and Second only for a short moment, then settled on the Fourth. Time passed as he kept his eyes on it, perhaps only for a minute or two, but it couldn't have been more than five when a world weary sigh left him and he tore his gaze away.

A sharp knock interrupted his contemplation and as if a switch was flipped, all traces of weariness disappeared only leaving the razor sharp eyed ninja that earned the right to call himself the God of Shinobi. A man with a cane entered without waiting for permission, they both knew after more than 50 years of friendship that there was no need for such courtesies.

"If you called for me that could only mean one thing, we were right," came the statement from the raspy voice of Danzo.

"Indeed. The Uchiha Massacre is like blood in the water and sadly we have at least two sharks who can smell it," Sarutobi answered. Silence stretched between them as both thought about how to continue. After half a minute it was the war hawk who broke it.

"We could have prevented it, Hiruzen! If we...-"

"Let's not delude ourselves. We had to hold together a village that was in shambles while preventing our enemies from invading," he said, cutting off whatever the bandaged man would have said. "We were already old and well into retirement for a while when we had to take the reins again. By the time we had the mind to notice how they took our actions that were meant to protect them from the general animosity from the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, it was already way too late."

Again silence reigned for a minute or so and when Sarutobi spoke again, it was the question that was the main point of calling his old friend.

"How long do you think we have?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"In the worst case scenario we will be at open war in two years. That is the earliest time I believe Onoki will feel he trained up the generation after the last war sufficiently to finish us off," Danzo answered without any emotion. "However I believe he will be careful so I would put it more around 3 years, perhaps if we are really lucky four."

"I don't believe in luck," snorted Sarutobi, shaking his head. "Thank you for your time, we will speak at length tomorrow at the war council."

"Anytime, old friend," with that said, the half-eyed man turned around and unhurriedly walked out of the room leaving the Professor alone once more.

Minutes passed in the blink of an eye until it was dark in the office. Just as the clock hit eight a softly spoken sentence could be heard in the room from its only occupant.

"I hoped I wouldn't have to lead another war Minato, but you just had to play the hero…" he quietly murmured to himself as he stood up and with a last look around the room he vanished, leaving only the problems in it. Perhaps the next day they would be a bit easier to bear, but in his heart he knew: with the Fourth Shinobi World War just on the horizon it would only get worse.

A week later

The loud maelstrom of voices was almost like a physical blow to Iruka's heavy heart as he stepped into the classroom. The chaos that welcomed him was customary and normally he would have already shouted them to silence but today he wanted to delay as much as he could, even if he knew it wouldn't change anything. Of course most of them probably won't figure out the meaning what he was going to say (save perhaps the Nara) so it was just a way for him to bask in this perceived peace a bit longer, because the moment the words left his lips he knew he wouldn't be able to delude himself any longer. With a sigh the scarred man walked to the middle of the classroom.

"SILENCE!" he roared suddenly as he used a mild genjutsu to make it seem like his head swelled to an enormous size. Just as always everyone froze for half a second, then quickly scurried to their seats. Iruka waited a few seconds longer for everyone to find their places then he started.

"Today I have an important announcement to make. For certain reasons Hokage-sama decided to lower the graduation age from twelve to ten," he said and took a deep breath to continue. "This also means that you only have two years remaining in the Academy," he finished. For a moment the class remained in a stunned silence then Naruto's shout broke it.

"Awesome! I am two years closer to becoming Hokage!" he jumped up, bearing a mile wide grin and punching the air with his right fist in celebration.

"Shut up, idiot!" came the instant reply from Kiba. This seemed to give way to the chatter as the class of eight year olds discussed the news. Iruka waited a bit for them to quit talking but as the sound kept increasing a tick mark appeared on his head.

"SILENCE!" roared the chunnin once more and the voices cut off in an instance. "It's good that you are happy because that means you will have the energy to keep up as I cram 4 years' worth of knowledge in your head in half as much time! Now let's get to it!"

His only answer was a chorus of groans but his mind barely registered it. The war still loomed on the horizon and he could only hope he could teach his class well enough for them to survive it.

Author note:
So here is the prologue of my next story. The idea is about what would happen if after losing the Uchiha clan, Iwa feels like it is time to get some payback from the weakened Konoha. The prologue may be short but hopefully it will pique your intrest. As always reviews are welcome and constructive criticism is appriciated.