The Hokage's office.
"Our spies in the Land of Lightning have confirmed large-scale deployment of troops through the Valley of Clouds and Lightning," Shikaku said soberly. "Milady, Kumogakure is on the move, and the northern front still lacks a commander. What are your orders?"
Imitating Tsunade, Sakura steepled her fingers and leaned forwards, resting her heavy breasts on her desk.
This latest piece of news could not have come at a worse moment. Not even a week after Danzō's declaration of war against the entire continent on behalf of the Hidden Leaf, Kumogakure had finally completed its war preparations and assembled enough manpower to invade the Land of Fire, just in time to join the Hidden Stone in its assault.
So far, the Stone had mostly engaged in light skirmishes in no man's land to keep the Leaf on its toes, while never quite committing to a full-on assault. Neither the Leaf nor the Stone had lost many men yet, but neither had won any great victories either. This was not to the Leaf's advantage, as the longer the war dragged on, the more thinly they would have to spread themselves, since they were surrounded on all sides by enemies.
Ideally, Sakura would have liked to finish off the Hidden Stone before the other great villages jumped in, but with Ōnoki refusing to take the slightest step into the Land of Fire's territory, there was no way she could inflict irrecoverable damage on his army without vastly overextending her own. As a result, light skirmishes were the limit of what the Hidden Leaf could do in response to Ōnoki's annoying prodding.
"Milady?" asked Shikaku, seeing Sakura deep in thought.
If she abdicated the throne to Danzō, she was certain the old man would be more than happy to repeat the success of Project: Gozu Tennō and paralyse Kumogakure by planting yet another monster in their midst… but that was not happening, not in a million years!
"We'll have to go with Orochimaru as the northern front commander, just as we initially planned," Sakura said decisively. "He'll just have to cure himself the same way I did, except he'll have to hunt enemy kunoichi."
There was not a single woman in Konoha outside of his own subordinates who would willingly give up her breasts for Orochimaru. Barely tolerating him was the extent the villagers were willing to do for him, and that was only because he had helped to save them from Pain.
"Over the past few days, I've had many jōnin come to me and outright declare that they would be unwilling to serve under Orochimaru or obey his orders," Shikaku said gravely. "Should we proceed with the current arrangements, there is a distinct possibility that the northern defence line could collapse due to internal conflict. Are you quite certain this is the call you want to make, Milady?"
The village had never quite forgiven Orochimaru and the Hidden Sand for betraying the Leaf and initiating the Konoha Crush, which had claimed the Third Hokage, countless shinobi of all ranks, and hundreds of civilians.
Sakura still clearly remembered seeing giant snakes writhing through her neighbourhood, crushing buildings beneath their weight, fishing citizens from their collapsed homes and swallowing them whole. Any one of those snakes could have killed her with a single flick of their tails back then, when she had still been a weak genin… she was lucky to be alive.
"I'm aware of the risks, but like it or not, Orochimaru seems intent on living here," Sakura said grimly. "It would be a waste to have him warming a bench at home, or worse still, leave him unattended…"
Shikaku offered a slight bow and exited Sakura's office to make the unnecessary arrangements.
"At least it's only Kumo," Sakura sighed to herself. "Suna and Kiri are the weakest of the five greats, so we're still safe on those fronts for now."
Even so, the Sand and the Mist were still great villages with many skilled jōnin.
Sakura surmised the Sand would be next to join the conflict, since they had more experience fighting chakra monsters than the Mist. After all, the Sand used to have to constantly deal with the complex-ridden Shukaku and his endless temper tantrums, whereas the Mist had never had much trouble from the Three- and Six-Tails, the middle children of the Tailed Beasts, neither of which had particularly aggressive personalities.
As Sakura was mentally going over the war's first steps, a knock at the door jolted her out of her thoughts, dragging her back into the present. "Come in," she called, and Karin timidly pushed the door open and slipped inside, closing it behind her while keeping both hands hidden behind her back.
"What's that you've got there behind you?" Sakura asked curiously, catching sight of the edges of something boxlike poking out from behind Karin's rather bony back. "Is that for me?"
Karin nodded shyly.
"It's your birthday present, onee-sama," Karin said, her cheeks rapidly turning the same colour as her hair. "I know it's a bit early, but seeing as we're going to war, there's a chance we might never see each other again…"
Sakura's birthday was still two weeks away. The original Fourth Shinobi World War had lasted all of two days, but there was no telling how long this one would drag on... it might be years before an uneasy peace once more graced this accursed land.
"You're posted with the medic corps," Sakura said, flustered. "Karin, you'll be fine—"
"I'm not worried about myself, it's Onee-sama I'm scared to death of losing!" Karin said nervously, twiddling her fingers. "You saved my life and gave me a home, but all I've ever been to you is dead weight!"
She sniffled, tears pearling at the corners of her eyes.
"I've always known, even though Onee-sama never said it out loud, but even so…!" she cried. "Even though I'm useless and I don't deserve love, I'm still a needy, greedy girl!" The tears were flowing freely now. "Even so, I finally worked up my courage to share my feelings with you, Onee-sama! You don't have to give me an answer right now," she added, "I can wait until this is all over!"
"Please stop arbitrarily raising death flags!" Sakura said, flustered. "Don't you know it's bad luck to say things like if we make it out of this alive!? Now one of us is definitely coming back home in a sealing scroll!"