Kakashi looked into the mirror, his right eye was swelling and the puffy skin had taken on a purple tinge. He reached down and felt gingerly at his leg; having reacted slowly to react to one of Gai's kicks, the blow had caught him off guard and it felt akin to being hit with a sledgehammer. All said and done though he'd come out on top in the end and was feeling relatively happy about that. Using some rudimentary healing techniques he reduced the bruising on his eye and eased away some of the pain in his leg. He wouldn't see a medic; they were busy enough with casualties from the war as it was.
As he closed the door of the apartment he realised his mind was made up, he'd let the council see the letter and allow them to decide just what it might mean.
Genma streaked across the rooftops, he'd rounded up all but 3 of the war council and was heading towards the war room as fast as possible. It seemed that the Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura trio still hadn't returned from their reconnaissance mission, which could pose problems. Landing on the balcony of a large buiding he balanced himself before hopping down onto the walkway, he rounded the corner and slid in through the double doors at the entrance of the building.
Two other members of the council were already inside and sitting down; Gai and Shikamaru. The latter of the pair looked like he was dozing as he leant back against the wall with his eyes closed, but he raised a hand in greeting as Genma entered. Gai on the other hand welcomed him enthusiastically, something seemed a little off today and it took Genma a moment to realise that Gai's normally pristine smile wasn't there, his mouth was rather swollen and patches of dried blood were on his lips and cheek. Genma opened his mouth to ask but Gai answered before he'd managed to get a word in.
"Sparring with our esteemed Hokage" Gai's eyes twinkled. "He's gotten a little rusty"
"I still have more than enough to take care of you though" Kakashi replied as he entered.
Gai seethed inside, the timing and delivery had been perfect, another point to his old rival there but how had he managed to come up with that on the spot. Well no use worrying about it now, there were more pressing concerns to take care of but he'd be sure to analyse it later.
The 4 of them settled back into some light conversation whilst waiting for the other members of the council to arrive and within 10 minutes all but 3 seats were filled.
Kakashi checked off names, Neji, looking resplendant in his Hyuuga robes, the newly weds Asume and Kurenai, Genma, Yamato, the captain of the ANBU, Shikamaru, Gai, Shino with his hood pulled up to cover his head and Anko. There were 3 empty spots around the table, usually accompanied by the team still out on reconaissance.
"Well then shall be begin" Kakashi said looking up, shuffling through his papers he found the latest reports from the frontlines. "Our first topic is the state of the frontlines and plans for defence of Konoha should a full-scale invasion take place". Motioning for Yamato to begin speaking Kakashi sat back on his cushion.
Yamato leant forward slightly, his mask perched on the side of his head so his face was visible and started to relay the situation.
"Currently we have located clusters of Iwa nin inside our borders and have foiled several attempts to take control of areas with particular strategic benefits. The majority of their forces are however, still concentrated within their own borders although some seem to have settled in the Grass country. We are concerned that members from the hidden village of grass might be assisting them in their movements as they try to cross the borders into our country; and obviously if we have more foes than originally anticipated our plans will have to change."
The room was quiet for a moment contemplating the new possibilities untill Neji spoke up.
"Even if they are set against us it shouldn't affect our planning to great extent, they'll still be trying to cross the borders and approach Konoha from the same direction, we simply need to adapt our plans to fit the chance of greater numbers being involved in any attack."
Shikamaru had been barely moving for the last minute or 2 but perked his head up slightly on hearing this.
"That's true for about half of the problem Neji, but things run deeper than that; if the grass country are aiding the earth country in their invasion then what's to say that others will not rally to the cause. It is possible that whilst the increased pressure from their prescence causes us to increase the number of men we place in those areas, another country could strike where we are weakend. We can't rule out the chances of the hidden village of rock having made alliances with other villages and us being caught in a trap"
Neji opened his mouth to respond but Kakashi cut in before he could speak.
"Shikamaru is right Neji, we can't risk the chance of exposing ourselves to either a planned enemy attack or a chance strike from another village if they see us as weakened. Yamato, I'll leave it upto you to organise our frontlines to provide greater efficiency for the time being. I have one more bit of information I'd like to bring to your attention before we discuss the plans for an all out war. Its something I recently discovered in amongst the 5ths papers."
The lie wasn't entirely necessary but he didn't want them to think he might not trust them and so he took out the letter and passed it around the table. Mutters and a gasp from Anko were all that could be heard as it circulated, as it arrived back in his hands he folded it once and placed it in his pocket. He studied the faces of his council and could tell they'd all understood the implications it could hold, they were all looking at him now he realised waiting for him to carry on.
"As I can see you've all realised, the contents of the letter worryingly seem to connect the earth country with one of our oldest enemies; my main purpose in the meeting today is for us to discuss the full implications and consider strategic moves to counter the threat of Oroch-"
The doors crashed open, stopping Kakashi in mid sentance; standing in the center of the room with blood streaming from a large gash in his face was Sasuke supporting a groggy looking Sakura. She rolled slowly of his shoulder and fell; Sasuke tried to catch her but stumbled and nearly went down himself whilst she hit the floor with a crash.
His throat was bone dry and stinging but he managed to utter, "Orochimaru...meeting with their kage" before collapsing to the floor in a rapidly growing pool of blood.
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Quite dialogue intensive this chapter, I wanted to fill in a few more details as to how things currently stand as well as introduce what will effectively be the main players in the fic (for konoha at any rate) .