-Sunagakure command center-

"What the fuck are those Konoha bastards doing?!! How are there so many of them?!" The second Kazekage roared angrily, frustration palpable on his face.

"Lord second... we truly do not know... Konoha’s actions are a bit,... Unexpected." A man in an animal mask said solemnly.

"Unexpected?!! There are five thousand of them! FIVE THOUSAND!!!

What is the intelligence department even doing? How did no one find it?" The Kazekage truly was distressed, imagine his shock when he decided to raid the Land of Fire and there were thousands of shinobi waiting for him.

Heck, he had only brought a thousand sand shinobi with him, he was outnumbered five to one. The first thing he had to do was send a distress signal back to village and mobilize forces.

And they had not even looted anything yet, How were they supposed to fund the war?

Maybe they could manage a thousand shinobi, but five thousand? Money didn’t grow on trees. And even if it did, Sand village did not have trees either.

"I... I don’t understand either, Lord Kazekage, either they have infiltrated deep into our village... Or, they were already planning on attacking the Land of Wind." The Anbu answered.

"There must be spies!! Why the hell would Konoha attack the land of the Wind, we are too poor to warrant an attack.

Do a thorough investigation, anyone suspicious is to be dealt with. Such a major tactical failure cannot happen again." The Kazekage ordered grimly, the start of this war was not like he had hoped for.

"Yes, Lord Kazekage." The ANBU nodded.

"And... increase the patrols, Konoha is acting really strange...

Even with their massive numerical advantage, they haven’t cornered us, and have only launched a few minor attacks. It’s as if they are waiting for our reinforcements to arrive, which doesn’t make sense at all." The Kazekage’s face suddenly turned solemn.

"Also, summon Chiyo and the advisors." He added, signaling the ANBU to leave without waiting for a response.

He brought his hand to rub his face in frustration, the situation was dire.

They really did not have the money for a war with Konoha, but they had no other choice, Konoha had been interfering too much in recent years, their actions had reduced the already meager income of Suna even more.

The Daimyo was of no help either, he would rather trust other villages than the sand.

The only hope Suna had to retain stability, was in fact, to start a war. A war, which they did not have the money to fight. They had expected to continue the war with the loot they gained from their early raids.

But they had failed, the moment they entered the Land of Fire, what waited them was not prosperous villages and towns waiting to be looted, but a massive force of Konoha Shinobi.

His thoughts were broken by the entrance of several figures entering the tent, it was Chiyo, her brother, and the advisors of the Sand village.

"You summoned us, Lord Kazekage?" asked one of the advisors.

"Yes... What is the situation of our forces, how many shinobi do we have currently?" He asked, his face one of deep thought, he could not rely on any of these useless advisors for planning anymore, he had to do it all himself.

"Well... we have around three thousand shinobi here now, and the reinforcements from the village are coming in batches, to counter Konoha, we will gather six thousand shinobi here...

But, the village really can’t handle it. Konoha has the highest population of all villages, while sand has the lowest, those five thousand are not even a fourth of Konoha’s total forces.

But Sand can, at most, gather eight thousand shinobi right now... The six thousand which will be present at the battlefield, are almost our entire forces..." Chiyo was the one to answer, and her words put the Kazekage into even more grimace.

"I see... What about Iwa and Kumo, what was their response? Will they be joining us to attack Konoha?" the Kazekage asked hopefully.

"Lord Kazekage... they have both declined... but they have also prepared for war, and it’s not with Konoha.

Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and even Kirigakure... they seem to be on the brink of a three way war...

Which means, because we have declared war on Konoha... We now, have to face that behemoth... alone." one of the advisors said, and the entire room fell into an eerie silence.

They were not foolish, the village hidden in the sand was not weak, to stand amongst the five great nations, being weak was not an option, maybe they were on the weaker end, but they still believed they could probably take on Kiri.

But Konoha was a different beast entirely...

The first war was a jab to weaken Konoha when they were at their weakest, almost every village attacked Konoha, and yet, they failed.

Such was Konoha’s monstrosity.

Suna could not even hope of battling two villages at once, let alone all four.

And now, they had to fight Konoha alone.

To be honest, they regretted it, they should have attacked minor villages instead. The world was about to break into war, so they thought everyone would take a bite at Konoha just like they did the last time.

After all, the Land of Fire was just that rich, it had to be tempting for others too, right? Because they, for one, were drooling. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

But no, those idiots forgot to address the elephant in the room, in this case, the monster in the continent, and were fighting each other.

Did they really want Suna wiped off the face of the world?

"But, although we do not understand completely, Konoha isn’t attacking us aggressively.

Our guess is, they are also worried that the other villages would attack them once they get busy to deal with us." another advisor consoled.

"No matter what, the truth stands that we have to face Konoha alone, we cannot escape that. Has the information about Konoha’s forces been gathered?" The Kazekage asked again, taking a deep breath and igniting his resolve once again, he was the Kazekage, he could not falter.

"Yes, Lord second... We have a rough idea of their forces." Chiyo nodded, she looked even more solemn as she said it, as if remembering a bitter horror story.

"As we already knew previously, Konoha has five thousand shinobi. But the problem is... they, all seem to be elites. None of them feel like genin fresh out of the academy.

And even if we ignore that, the real problem lies in their top command.

They have Sakumo Hatake, the white fang. He is the one leading the attacks we have experienced recently.

Then there’s the granddaughter of the Ninja God, Tsunade Senju. Her expertise lies in Medical ninja, and she too, is a Kage level monster. And, due to her and her corps, Konoha has the best medical facility in the entire world, which will greatly reduce their losses.

Then there are the famed Ino-Shika-Cho clans present. There are two more notable figures who have come into fame recently, The vicious snake Orochimaru, and Jiraiya, who seems to have a contract with toads, belonging to one of the three holy places." Chiyo said in a flat tone.

"I see... And which among these is their leader?" The Kazekage asked grimly, it was bad, Sakumo was a Kage level, Tsunade was a Kage level, Orochimaru was also assumed to be Kage level, and Jiraiya was their teammate, he could not have been weak.

Which meant... Konoha, just on this battlefield, had more Kage level fighters, than the Sand village had as a whole... Would they have to resort to using the One tail?

"None of them are the leader... Their leader, it’s that monster, Inaba Shinkurou..." And the atmosphere turned even more colder in a single instant.

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