RUBĪKEN NO HARĪ
by harryoftherubysword
ARC ONE
Death and Rebirth
SCROLL TWO
The Sandaime Hokage prepares to avert the War once again; or to meet it headfirst
Author's note: made some changes to the end of the previous two chapters, just to adjust the tone of the story. Wasn't satisfied with it.
A few days earlier in Konohagakure no Sato
Sarutobi Hiruzen did not regret becoming the Hokage.
He regretted at times, however, not being enough of a man to bear the hat.
Being the Fire Shadow had a sense of magnanimity that the other great hidden villages could only hope to faintly achieve. He felt insignificant at times with the insurmountable task ahead of him–but it was his burden to bear, and he would do so with honour.
As did Senju Hashirama; as did Senju Tobirama.
How could he hope to compare to his teachers.
There had been a kind of playful quip in the village where they had taken to call him The Professor, especially after he had expanded the bureaucracy, the professionalisation of the shinobi, and had taken onwards the great reforms that had been initiated by Tobirama-sensei.
But it paled in comparison to his masters.
The village would not know it, of course. They had not the chance to glimpse the mind of a truly kind, and integral man; the mind of a truly intelligent and absolutely genial man.
Hashirama-sensei had died too soon.
Tobirama-sensei had died too early.
For his short reign as Hokage, Tobirama's legacy amounted to such a large shadow, that it threatened to suffocate him, at times.
He could only hope to honour him.
The fact that the Sandaime's reign as Hokage began with negotiations not to restart a war with the village that had been responsible for Tobirama-sensei's death left a bitter, terrible taste in his mouth.
Something he braved through, not to make a mockery of the dreams of Tobirama-sensei, and of Hashirama-sensei.
And Hashirama's name was already becoming the matter of legends.
There was no tree in Konoha who would not wave in the faintest of the winds at his mention; there was no tailed creature who would not falter; there was no mountain-top which had not testified to the greatness of the Shodai Hokage.
The Founder of the Will of Fire would not have his legacy undone–Hiruzen would not permit it, and would rather fall in battle than give in to despair.
Yet, at times, he dreaded on what that meant.
Hiruzen moved his shinobi to war, with a faint hope in his heart that it could be averted.
The silence on the western border worried him. Were they waiting to see their response? And what of Kiri? How could they remain silent after such a move.
Of course, the memory of the Great Shinobi War weighted heavily on everyone's mind–nobody was wont to call it the First War, but their inertness spoke of a great danger.
Some villages had time to prepare; had fewer enemies at their steps–
A grace not easily afforded to Konoha by its neighbours; or to his friends in the Land of Whirlpools.
Two gasping and breathless runners had brought the message–the Hokage would even be pleased that the Konoha-nin had arrived an hour earlier before the Uzushio-nin, if it was not for the grave content of their message.
From the runners and the words of the spies that reached him, this was the picture painted:
A group of rōnin marches swiftly from the North, first sighted in the border of the Land of Hot Waters and the Land of Frost. They wear no allegiance to any known country or village, bearing a symbol on their hitai-ate of either a triangle or a circle. They all wear an oni-mask. They tried to maintain their distance from the Land of Fire's borders, going Southeast. Yugakure and Shimogakure either lenient, or active in this move. No warnings from our spies in Kumogakure or in the Land of Rice Fields. We await messengers from the border near Take no Mura–we suspect they plan to make their way through the Sō passage in the Shimizu mountain range and make for the coast. Uzushiogakure warned, but probably will not mount a sufficient response–they man their ships and the whirlpools in their eastern shore, readying for Kirigakure's move, if it makes one. First major Fire's settlement short of a week of travel at their speed.
Some information that no spy brought in, but that was very easily read in-between were Uzushiogakure's moves.
Certainly they were a great ally, but their position was currently threatened all-around. From the South, the Land of Tea and the Land of Sea had not any shinobi, but that was more the action of Kiri not permitting another Uzushio at its steps than anything.
From the North, Kumo still remembered when they were breached through sea, something only a clan of lunatics as the Uzumaki would plan to do.
From the East, Yu's ambitions to become a buffer nation were a breath of fresh air … but it was, nonetheless, all a swell of hot air, in Hiruzen's opinion.
The fact that the Yukage had forsaken that title meant nothing, while Shimogakure and Kumogakure remained at their doorstep.
And to the East … to the East there was Kiri, with its eternal ambition to wipe Uzushiogakure from the map.
The silence from Konoha's Western border worried him greatly.
He ordered the Aburame, the Hyūga and the Inuzuka clans to lead the scouts and the teams on the Western front, to be prepared for the eventual moves of the Land of Grass, the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers, respectively.
It strengthened his resolve and warmed his pride to see the clan leaders working together to collaborate on it. There was still hope in the dreams of the Shodai Hokage–different and, at times, inimical clans could be made to work together for a common purpose: to keep the light and the Will of Fire prevailing!
The Hokage did wonder on the capabilities of an Aburame-Hyūga-Inuzuka team working together–he marked it as something to ponder with great consideration at an opportune time.
But he was mainly worried with the rōnin on the move–the use of swords, the standardisation, the uniformisation. They all seemed too related to the whispers of his spies of a new wave of militarisation that Kumo had been undergoing.
That required not only a swift response.
That required his presence.
The Sandaime Hokage put on his battle attire, and looked at the three Genin in front of him.
They were only six years old … Orochimaru-kun just had recently his seventh birthday, when he gave him his first well-tempered wakizashi, which he grasped rather tensely as the Hokage reported the situation to them.
He wished he could spare them; but as Hokage, he could not.
Tobirama-sensei chose him out of all his pupils and students, direct or indirect, to be the Hokage.
He had not chosen Shimura Danzō or Nara Shikarō to rule the village with cunning shadow and hidden schemes; he had not chosen Hyūga Heitarō or Uchiha Kagami to rule the village with blazing fires and songs of glory; he had not chosen Homura Mitokado or Koharu Utatane to rule the village with a rigourous cane in one hand and a whip on the other.
No, he chose him, with all his faults.
It would be a dream to have a world where children had not the need to witness the horrors of war.
But the failures of the men of his time would not permit it to happen, not at this time.
With luck, he hoped one day to steadily, methodically, incrementally increase the bar for graduating Genin and Chūnin.
But Konoha needed them now–for rescue missions, delivering resources, first-aid and to protect the civilians, of course.
But they were needed.
The Hokage steeled his resolve and got ready:
To show his treasured Genin team what meant to be a shinobi.
To help his allies and defend his people.
To down his pride and avert the War once again, should he be able to.
Or to meet it headfirst, as the Fire Shadow, as the terror in red and white, as calamity burning.
The Master of Death would bring in his wake an usher of change. Would that be tempered by his kind demeanour and valour, or would the kami that witnessed him be too threatened by the coming of something they were blind to see, but horrified to feel stepping on their plane?
Time would tell.
Konoha readied itself.
Fire roars from the tree,
Leaves blow, not to the ground, as
Shadow heaps them 'round