Time goes back two days.
Konoha Village.
Danzo walked into the Hokage's Office carrying a file.
Hiruzen was discussing matters with a Jonin. Seeing Danzo enter, he gave a couple of instructions and dismissed the Jonin.
Watching the Jonin leave, Hiruzen lit his pipe, took a deep puff, and exhaled smoke. "I heard you've been busy traveling to other countries. What brings you here today?"
"Because I obtained some important intelligence. I felt it necessary for you to know." Danzo tossed the file onto the desk. "This is information regarding the genius puppeteer who has recently risen in Sunagakure."
'A genius puppeteer?'
Hiruzen glanced at Danzo with puzzlement, then opened the file envelope, pulling out a thick stack of documents.
The first thing to catch his eye was a photo of a youth.
Reddish-brown short hair, black eyes, handsome features, a faint smile on his face. Beside it was written the youth's information.
Name: Senki Ryuji
Age: Fifteen
Gender: Male
Shinobi Rank: Jonin
Affiliation...
Hiruzen skimmed over it roughly, then looked up at Danzo. "Senki Ryuji, the puppeteer known as one of the Twin Stars of Sunagakure. Didn't we review his information a long time ago?"
Although he hadn't gained fame gradually like Minato, Ryuji's display of extraordinary talent from a young age had also earned him praise from everyone in Sunagakure.
And after becoming a Shinobi, his flawless mission success rate made many clients remember his name.
As Hokage, Hiruzen had long been keeping an eye on this talented youth.
He was even somewhat familiar with his life story.
Graduated from the Academy at age eight, became a Chunin at ten, a Jonin at fifteen… a veritable genius.
Even in Konoha, he would rank among the very best.
Danzo, with an air of gravity, said, "The information you've been following is outdated. This is his latest intel."
"Even if there's new information, there's no need to specially bring it for me to see, is there?"
Talents from other Shinobi Villages are worth noting, but there's no need for constant monitoring.
The major villages protect their geniuses very tightly; it's difficult to keep track of their movements consistently.
And besides, what can a genius really do?
Apart from transcendent beings like Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, a single individual is practically insignificant compared to an entire Shinobi Village.
As Hokage, focusing on the village's development is more important.
"If it weren't intelligence important enough for you, the Hokage, to know, would I have specially brought it to you?" Danzo said somewhat irritably.
"...True." Hiruzen stared at Danzo for a moment, then continued flipping through the documents in his hand.
He skimmed over the parts he'd already seen roughly, only focusing intently when he reached the last two pages and saw the words describing the surprise attack on Sunagakure by four Shinobi Villages.
[The Third Kazekage disappears. A large number of Sunagakure's Shinobi go out to investigate, resulting in weakened internal defenses.
Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Amegakure, and Kusagakure join forces to launch a surprise attack on Sunagakure, timed for when the Third Kazekage returns but before the investigating Shinobi have come back.
A combined force of ten thousand Shinobi attacks Sunagakure's main gate head-on. Nearly a hundred Shinobi infiltrate, causing destruction inside Sunagakure to draw away defenders, coordinating from within and without.
But all of this was thwarted by Sunagakure's Jonin, Senki Ryuji.
He fought alone against ten elite Shinobi, won easily, with only one enemy escaping.
Later, on the main battlefield, he repelled the enemy with three shots...]
Reading this, Hiruzen put down the file and looked up at Danzo. "Are you trying to pull my leg?"
News of the four villages' surprise attack on Sunagakure had spread in recent days; he naturally knew about it.
He even knew that Sunagakure had achieved an overwhelming victory.
But, one person fighting ten elite Shinobi... alright, even fighting twenty alone isn't impossible.
It mainly depends on the level of 'elite' the enemies are.
If they were ordinary Elite Chunin, Minato had done that countless times.
But this report states that all ten elites were famous Jonin from across the Shinobi World… the kind even ordinary Kage-level experts couldn't easily defeat.
Ten such experts attacking together… he and Danzo joining forces weren't even sure if they could win.
Yet they were defeated by a rising star from Sunagakure.
And it was an overwhelming victory.
Just how strong is this rising star then?
Another Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama?
Even more unbelievable is the later involvement in the main war, repelling the enemy with three shots.
That's got to be a Bijudama, right!
Otherwise, how could he repel the enemy with three shots when the forces were so mismatched?
Even though Hiruzen knew Danzo's attitude was serious and humorless, he still suspected Danzo was messing with him at this point.
"I know what you're thinking, but it's probably not like that..." Here, Danzo paused, organizing his words before continuing. "The report says Senki Ryuji used extremely powerful artillery weapons, not just on the main battlefield, but also inside the village."
"You mean?"
"Exactly what you're guessing." Danzo and Hiruzen were childhood friends, classmates, and teammates. He understood Hiruzen's thoughts well. Even if Hiruzen said nothing, a mere exchange of glances told him what was on Hiruzen's mind.
Thus he explained, "Senki Ryuji might be strong, but he's definitely not as powerful as imagined. He only achieved those unbelievable feats by relying on that weapon."
"That is indeed possible."
Hiruzen nodded slightly, then asked with confusion, "But such a high-powered weapon must also consume a tremendous amount of Chakra. Yet your report says he used it four times consecutively and was preparing to fire a fifth shot... While troublesome, that's not the main point.
Given Sunagakure's situation at the time, to scare off the allied forces of four villages, they must have been wary of the weapon's power. That means five shots are far from its limit."
On such a crucial battlefield, Sunagakure wouldn't casually choose to unleash their most powerful attacks. For them, such attacks were definitely not a last-resort trick usable only a few times, but a trump card that could completely turn the tide of battle.
That's what the Allied Forces at the scene thought, and that's what Sunagakure's people thought as well.
Not being present and only concluding through investigation, Hiruzen and Danzo could only think the same.
"Precisely because of that, I came to see you alone."
Both Danzo and Hiruzen had very grave expressions.
Although Sunagakure and Konoha formed an alliance after the Second Shinobi World War...
Both of them knew that alliances were made to be broken.
Especially Sunagakure... Due to geographical location and environmental limitations, if they wanted to develop, they had to seize territory from the Land of Rivers, inevitably becoming enemies with Konoha.
Otherwise, they could only follow behind Konoha as a little brother forever.
A person's ambitions expand with increasing strength. No one wants to be a little brother forever.
With such a strategic weapon, plus this overwhelming victory against four villages... Sunagakure will very likely...
No, not very likely, but certainly.
They will certainly feel their strength has grown to an unstoppable level and thus launch an attack on the Land of Rivers.