My Journey as Fourth Kazekage

At the border of the Land of Fire, when the Konoha ninja sensed the approach of Sunagakure's forces, it was already too late.

This was part of the plan that Rasa had formulated—swift strikes to catch the enemy off guard. Sunagakure's ninja showed no mercy in this attack.

Combined with the intelligence operatives of Sunagakure, Konoha's spies within the Land of River were swiftly neutralized, and they couldn't send any warnings to the border in time.

As a result, Konoha's forces at the border were completely unprepared and were quickly overwhelmed. Within mere minutes, the ground was littered with the bodies of Konoha ninja.

The state of these corpses painted a grim picture of Konoha's current state of strength. Most of the fallen were Genin, with very few Chunin, and there were even some children among the casualties.

However, Rasa didn't allow for any sentimentality. He issued a cold order immediately:

"Rest for ten minutes, recharge, then proceed with the original plan. Continue the attack!"

"Yes!" came the reply.

After a night of travel and a series of smaller clashes, Rasa gave his forces a brief respite, knowing that larger-scale battles would likely follow once they reached the Land of Fire's territory. During this time, the Sunagakure ninja ate and replenished their chakra.

Rasa turned to one of his Anbu operatives and ordered, "Send a message to the village. Maki can move now."

"Yes!"

Immediately, three ninja hawks took off from the Anbu operative's hands, heading toward the village.

Unlike Konoha, which had powerful summoning beasts that could dominate the three great summoning realms, Sunagakure didn't have anything of the sort. They relied on specially trained ninja hawks to carry messages.

The brief ten-minute rest soon ended. Under Rasa's command, Sunagakure's ninja began to move once more, heading deeper into the dense forests.

Shortly after, Konoha's patrolling ninja arrived at the scene of the battle and were horrified. They immediately sent word back to the village.

---

Back in Sunagakure, the Anbu operatives waiting at the village gates quickly received the message from the ninja hawk. They rushed to Baki and Ebizō.

"Minister, Elder, the information from the Kazekage has arrived!"

"Mm." Baki took the message and passed it to Ebizō.

Without even looking at it, Ebizō coldly spoke, "In that case, let's move out. This is a golden opportunity for Sunagakure, and we cannot afford to fail!"

"Yes!"

Soon, the entire village of Sunagakure witnessed thousands of ninja squads gathering at the village's exit.

This sight shocked the spies within the village.

"What is Sunagakure planning? Are they about to go to war with another country?"

They couldn't believe what they were seeing. The ninja world was still in a tense phase of friction between the major nations. Even though there had been skirmishes between Konoha and Kumogakure, neither side had launched full-scale war.

Yet now, Sunagakure was mobilizing thousands of ninja, looking ready for a decisive battle.

What on earth was going on? This left the spies from the other villages utterly confused.

Though the spies were confused by the large-scale movement of Sunagakure's forces, that didn't stop them from quickly passing the information along. At the same time, they were determined to cause some disruption within Sunagakure, hoping to interfere with its unexpected operation.

But just as they planned, a strange sight occurred: across Sunagakure, hundreds of ninjas appeared atop buildings, each standing tall beside one or two humanoid creatures that didn't seem fully human.

"That's a puppet!" someone exclaimed.

At the highest point of one of the buildings, Chiyo, the leader of the puppet forces, coldly surveyed the entire village. Behind her stood ten puppets, each wearing white robes.

Despite her dissatisfaction with Rasa's threats, Chiyo's love for her village was undeniable. She would not allow anyone to disrupt the village's operations during this critical period.

---

Meanwhile, in Konoha.

At the Hokage's Office in Konohagakure.

Shortly after Sunagakure's invasion of the Land of Fire began, Konoha received intelligence about the attack. The Elder Council immediately gathered to discuss the matter.

The aging Hiruzen Sarutobi , now in his prime years, sighed as he looked over the information in his hands. His gaze swept across the faces of the elder members.

"So, what do we do? Sunagakure's target is indeed us?"

Why did he say "indeed"?

Because after multiple Shinobi World Wars, the Land of Fire had always been the focal point of other nations' aggression. After all, it controlled the most fertile land in the ninja world.

Danzo's response was direct.

"What should we do? Of course, we should fight back. Sunagakure is nothing to fear."

"Stop with these naive comments, Danzo. Fight, yes, but how do we fight?" Hiruzen retorted, his voice tinged with frustration.

What did "nothing to fear" even mean? If this had been a year ago, Konoha might have had the strength to say that. But now, with Kumogakure positioned at the borders, Iwagakure watching closely, and even the Kirigakure trying to take advantage of the chaos, there was no guarantee that a misstep wouldn't lead to simultaneous attacks from all four great shinobi villages.

Koharu Utatane spoke coldly, taking Danzo's side..

"It's different, Hiruzen. While Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure may provoke us at the borders, they are still just making noise. Sunagakure, on the other hand, has already invaded the Land of Fire. This is something far more significant."

Hiruzen sighed, understanding all too well. "But our village's ninja reserves are too thin at the moment."

Homura Mitokado, always the voice of reason, offered a suggestion.

"We can't move forces from the Kumogakure border, but we can temporarily withdraw some from the Iwagakure border and combine those with the village's remaining forces. That should be sufficient."

"That's a plan," Hiruzen said, considering it. "But who should lead the forces?"

Normally, this would have been an obvious decision. Even though Jiraiya wasn't in the village due to his research, Orochimaru was still around. Having Orochimaru lead the troops would have been the most efficient. But the Elder Council, this time, offered a different opinion.

"Let's call Minato back from the frontlines and have Orochimaru lead instead," said Danzo, the elder, with a tone that carried the weight of command.

This decision was clearly a waste of time. Though Minato and Orochimaru could both return to the village quickly, this back-and-forth would still cost precious time. But the Elder Council insisted on this course of action.

The reason was simple: after the Second Shinobi World War, Orochimaru's influence within Konoha was immense. Danzo, who had long harbored ambitions to become Hokage, would never allow Orochimaru's reputation to grow any further. Especially with Jiraiya and Tsunade supporting him, Orochimaru posed a serious threat.

On the other hand, Minato, born to a common family, was seen as less of a threat to Danzo's aspirations.

Hiruzen understood his friend's ambitions, but the old Hokage was too soft-hearted to push through his point. Besides, the other two elders shared Danzo's view. While they didn't have aspirations to be Hokage themselves, they didn't want to see Orochimaru become Hokage either. They knew that if Orochimaru rose to power, their authority in the Elder Council would be swiftly stripped away.

"Fine. Let's do as you suggest," Hiruzen reluctantly agreed.

After all, for Konoha, the village's survival came first. The Land of Fire was vast, and even if Sunagakure wanted to launch a full-scale invasion, it would not be so easy. A little more time could be afforded.

--

Meanwhile, Rasa noticed something strange on his way. Sunagakure's ninjas were advancing deeper into the Land of Fire, but they had encountered almost no resistance along the way. Something fishy is going on.