Hiruzen Sarutobi quietly sat in his office, reading a few reports. It had been a week since the declaration of war, and the report was a detailed one of the Romans' campaign. Hiruzen had despised the council's decision to go to war. But now as they were in a conflict, Hiruzen must do everything to win and end this war quickly.
The Hokage casually puffed on his cigar, reading the report. It seems the Romans had repulsed a night attack by local samurai, and two Kumo shinobi teams stationed there. Hiruzen was also told of the pipe-like weapon that 'vomited' flames like a dragon, and that the flames couldn't be put out by anything, it even worked underwater. After repulsing the night attack, the Romans marched along the Land of Lightning's coast, storming a few towns and plundering. They were being supplied by their ships, and there was nothing that Kumogakure could do about it with no naval force at it. Shinobi can walk on water, but they can't run miles on water searching for ships that will blow them up with artillery batteries as soon as they appear on the horizon. Surprisingly, however, the Romans didn't meet much resistance on their march through the Land of Lightning. And now, they were only about 160-170 km away from Kumogakure which was further inland. This was very odd of Kumogakure. As Hiruzen knew from previous wars and conflicts, Kumogakure's policy had always been quite aggressive, and it was weird to see them doing nothing about this incursion into their territory.
Recently, Rome had also sent one cohort, roughly five hundred men, to Konoha to help their allies. Hiruzen noted that the Romans didn't have any special abilities, but their strength was extraordinary teamwork, discipline, advanced technology, and physical abilities. There was also a company of one hundred and fifty knights that had arrived. These were superb fighters who were trained since childhood to be masters of single combat but also had a fair amount of discipline. Unlike the Samurai who worked as single killing machines but had little unit cohesion. These knights were small in number but formidable fighters.
After reading the report, Hiruzen laid it at one corner of his desk and resumed some of the paperwork that remained unfinished. As Hiruzen took up his pen and was reading through the documents, an Anbu suddenly entered the office and bowed before him,
"What is it now?" Hiruzen looked up,
"Message from the border guard, lord Hokage." The Anbu handed over a letter to Hiruzen and then vanished.
Hiruzen unfolded the letter and started reading it,
"To, the Hokage,
Minamoto, Jonin shinobi.
This is an urgent matter, and I request you the Hokage, to quickly react upon it. I am a shinobi stationed as part of the border patrol on the northern frontier with the Land of Hot Water. This morning, at roughly 10'o clock a large force of shinobi appeared near the border. At first, we thought these were Takigakure shinobi here for a drill or military exercise, but after some moments it appeared to not be the truth.
The shinobi came ever closer, and as they were just about to cross the border we tried to confront them. At that point we twenty men realized that these were Kumogakure shinobi, and immediately prepared for battle. It seemed to be a single battalion of about thirty Kumo shinobi, but after some time there appeared many other teams and contingents, that can easily go into the hundreds. At this point, we realized that we alone couldn't defend against this attack. And with almost half of us dead or dying, we quickly retreated to a nearby town, from where I am writing this letter. The Kumo ninja didn't follow us here, and I am thankful they didn't, or else all of us would be dead. But they headed straight forward, towards the direction here.
I have warned you, lord Hokage, now it is your task to defend the village."
Hiruzen went almost into a state of total panic, but years of experience told him to remain calm and think. If the enemy shinobi crossed the border at 10 A.M., then it would take them two days at least even if they travel at full speed. The first course of action must be to recall all shinobi out on missions back to the village. Defenses must be prepared to withstand the attack.
But first of all, a meeting must be called for the council to inform them of the situation. It would be purely a waste of time, as the precious one hour spent discussing the matter would only lead to the decisions Hiruzen would take. Call all the shinobi back, prepare defenses, etc. Only that one-eyed Danzo will suggest something extreme, but no one will be in his favor. Not this time at least.
In the council room
All the councilors, including the legate of the cohort from Rome, sat in their respective places, eager to know what had happened to call this emergency meeting. After a moment, Hiruzen also entered the council room and went to his place. But he didn't sit down, and instead started speaking,
"This emergency meeting has been called due to an urgent threat. Our border guards on the northern frontier with The Land of Hot Water have reported a large number of Kumo shinobi, going up into hundreds, are carving their path into the Land of Fire and towards Konoha. It will take them two days at least to get here even at top speed. I have already sent an order to recall all shinobi away on missions to return to the village. We are gathered here to discuss the course of action to defend against this invasion."
Immediately, there was whispering among the councilors over the topic. This continued for some minutes, until Homura, one of the three village elders, spoke up,
"Lord Hokage has done right to recall all the shinobi back to the village. I suggest that an emergency be declared, and none except shinobi should be allowed to leave the village. We must also dispatch scouting parties to know the enemy shinobi's location. They seem to be a large force so spotting them wouldn't be hard."
Everyone in the council room seemed to agree with Homura's suggestion. Then, Danzo got up,
"But the real question remains, how shall we deal with this attack? We still have a few days, and we must use this precious time to draw up plans and strategies."
"And what might be those plans and strategies?" One of the civilian representatives questioned.
"We should man the defenses, repair the walls, and build a set of defenses in the forest surrounding Konoha. Moreover, a route should also be created, perhaps underground, for fresh supplies and water in case of a siege." The legate finally spoke up.
The councilors laughed at him, and Shikaku Nara, the advisor of the Hokage and head of the Nara clan spoke,
"I mean no offense to you or your men, sir, but what you are saying is flatly impossible. We only have three to four days at the most to prepare for the impending attack. Even if we put the entire working class in the village to complete such a project, it wouldn't even be quarter-complete before the enemy arrives. Please, suggest something practical."
The legate, a well-built man with a mild beard, slightly brown complexion, dark hair, and a tall height, chuckled,
"Well, that might be the case for your laborers Lord Nara. But my soldiers are different. I can assure you that we will complete this project in three days."
"And the resources?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked, hoping to checkmate the legate,
"My men will collect the wood and stone themselves. No need for Konoha to trouble itself. We will look after the repair and construction of defenses." Hiruzen smiled,
"Well, if you can do that then go forward. We will see how effective Roman legionaries are."
The rest of the council and the clan heads approved of this. Since Konoha would not be spending labor or resources of its own on this seemingly impossible project, the Romans would do it themselves. The legate smiled at the councilors and left the meeting room to prepare for this seemingly impossible task.
As for actual battle strategies, a large force of Konoha shinobi was also sent to confront the Kumo invasion force. They weren't expected to win as the Konoha force was smaller, but to at least deter Kumo from advancing for some time.
After some time, the discussion was over and the councilors began to get off their seats. But Danzo Shimura again spoke up and told the individuals to sit down, Hiruzen was annoyed as to what his ex-colleague had to say now, but sat down to listen anyway,
"There is still one more matter, that I think requires the council's attention. As you all may know regarding the nine-tails rampage six years ago, and the suspicions on the Uchiha-" Danzo was quickly interrupted by Fugaku Uchiha, who knew where this was going,
"Alleged, suspicions." Danzo looked at him with an irritated face but ignored him and continued speaking,
"So, Alleged suspicions that the Uchiha were involved in the nine-tails rampage, as a Sharingan-wielder was controlling the beast with its dojutsu. The Sharingan is only wielded by the Uchiha, and there have been no reports of a non-Uchiha shinobi possessing the Sharingan as a spoil of a war or battle, save for Kakashi Hatake."
"So what are you suggesting, that we should go and massacre the Uchiha?!" Hiruzen was angered, and Danzo remained calm in his attitude,
"No, of course not. Not while a war is going on. I only suggest that the restrictions and monitoring of the Uchiha's activities be kept on."
Hiruzen protested strongly, and due to that the restrictions were loosened quite a bit. Right now they were in the middle of a war, and causing a rift inside the village and dividing it into different factions wasn't a good idea.
The session finally ended and the meeting was dismissed. Hiruzen also left the meeting room and went straight to his home. It was night now, roughly 8'o clock. All the necessary work that could be done in today's time was completed. Many shinobi had already returned to the village before sunset, others hadn't. As Hiruzen lay down on his bed, all alone, he could only wonder. How will the Romans manage to do what they claimed to. They weren't even working on this project and slept soundly in their tents on the outskirts of Konoha.
So, this means the legate was bluffing right...
He was bluffing, right?