Prelude: I

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Long rings of smoke fill the air, as the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, puffed on his pipe. The creases on his aged face deepened, the shadows cutting further into the many valleys that time had left on him.

He is old. Everyone who had a working cerebrum could see that. It is very obvious that the God of Shinobi, master of all elements, the one who led Konohagakure through the three shinobi wars, was far past his prime.

Beyond his own age, the village was also weak. Kumogakure no Sato, Iwagakure no Sato, these villages were far stronger militarily than Konohagakure after the death of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage. Either village could come to Konoha, be rude and arrogant in just about any manner, and come out completely unscathed. The fact of the matter was that Konoha simply lacked the power for a full-blown conflict.

Despite that, he was not about to let such an offense go by just to appease the Raikage in hopes of alleviating tensions for peace.

This incident was incredibly provocative. Hiruzen was unable to tell whether it was orchestrated by the Raikage himself, or an unsanctioned action taken by the ambassador team in an attempt to ridicule Konoha and strengthen Kumo. Whichever it was did not matter; the actions of an ambassador fall directly to the responsibility of the Raikage, even if they were unsanctioned. This event was a taunt, a message that told Hiruzen that Kumo will be making the demands and that Konoha would have to bend to their will.

A message that Hiruzen would not be heeding. Everyone has their limit, a limit of how far they'll willing to bend, a limit to how far they can accept things in order to maintain some sort of moral or order.

And this has crossed Hiruzen's limit.

A knock on his door interrupted the wizened Hokage's silent musings. His former teammate, the self-fancied shadow Hokage, Shimura Danzō was at the door of his office. His unruly dark hair, partially bound by the bandages on his face, twitched as his eyebrows scrunched up due to the heavy smoke.

Hiruzen could see the cold, crafty eyes of his once-friend scan him, settling for brief moments on his steady hands and settled composure.

"I take it that you've made your decision then, Hiruzen?"

His voice was composed, yet a hint of underlying eagerness could be detected.

Hiruzen nodded without hesitation.

"Yes."

He paused. Danzō waited.

"If they let go of the matter, it would be best. However, if they don't," his lips pursed into an expression of resolve, the same one that had gained Danzō's respect back in their glory days.

"It's war."

Danzō's lips quirked into what could almost be interpreted into a smile. "So you've finally come to your sense."

"No. I still wish for peace, I just realized that my way of going about it was incorrect." Hiruzen's sharp eyes focused on Danzō's. "As is yours."

"I expect you to discontinue Ne," he continued. Before Danzō could muster a response, Hiruzen held up his hand, "And focus on the war effort. What good is your background meddling when we face the threat of the destruction of our entire village? Think of this as returning your debt after that last, ah, incident."

Danzō held his gaze for a few more seconds, then dropped it, and nodded his head in acceptance. He was fine with that, since now their goals aligned.

"You will be moved from your position of elder to something more active. Use your power well, and protect the village and its future."

Danzō knew that Hiruzen was not naïve. This was a statement, a statement to Danzō, that Hiruzen was not afraid of anything he could do. Danzō silently acknowledged that before him was no longer the once-retired Hokage, forced back into a position of power. Before him was the God of Shinobi, the leader of the village who would lead the village through a fourth war between shinobi.

Danzō then left. Hiruzen finished composing his response to the Raikage and his ambassador, and sent a messenger.

The fate of the shinobi world would be decided the moment their reply returns.

And he was ready, whatever may it be.