-Chapter 7-

-Chapter 7-

-The Next Day-

After a day of rest, I gathered all the senior officials of the village and said:

"Today, we have 10 fortresses along the border that separates us from Iwa. Typically, the surveillance of this border is handled by about ten Chūnin and a hundred Genin, but in these times, that's clearly not enough. It’s not a sufficient guarantee for the villagers to sleep peacefully."

Everyone nodded in agreement, so I continued:

"That's why I want you to inform all the villagers that from now on, the 10 fortresses need to be expanded to accommodate all the Konoha troops ready to fight at any moment, as well as to provide space for treating the wounded."

Murmurs began to spread through the room, but I continued in a more authoritative and much louder tone:

"All the Jōnin will be deployed. The only ones remaining in the village will be Kashi and Kunari. Your task will be to protect this village from the internal and external threats it will face. This won’t be easy, and I expect nothing but diligence and seriousness from you. I’m counting on you—don’t disappoint me."

"Yes, Kusakage-sama," they responded in unison.

"Welcome all the refugees and feed them," I added.

"I agree in principle, but how are we going to feed the troops and the Konoha ninjas? The Daimyo has said it’s completely impossible to provide more food than what was previously allocated," said Kashi.

'Damn it,' I thought, swearing internally.

"Leave the Daimyo to me. I’ll meet with him to discuss this situation. Focus on the orders I’ve given you and execute them as quickly as possible."

"Oh, and don’t call me Kusakage anymore. We’re in wartime. Call me Commander, and we’ll discuss it further at the end of this war."

"Yes, Commander," they all said in unison.

I quickly left the war council room and, while looking out at the horizon through the window, I said:

"Emi, is everyone ready?"

"Yes, everyone is ready," she said, appearing kneeling in front of me the next second.

"Tell them to be ready at the village gate in five minutes. We’re leaving."

"Understood."

I jumped out the window and used the instant movement technique to arrive at the village gate in just a few moments.

When I arrived, Danzo was waiting for me with a ninja from the Uchiha clan and his escort.

"How are the troops doing?" I asked.

"We’ve suffered few losses so far—only 3 Chūnin and a Genin on your side, and on ours, 3 Jōnin, 18 Chūnin, and 32 Genin," he replied.

"That’s what you call few losses?" I said, clearly surprised by how casually he treated the deaths of his men.

He stared at me and said:

"The real war hasn’t started yet. For now, we’re only facing the first wave of Iwa ninjas. They’re exhausting our traps with the minimum number of ninjas. Once we’re either out of supplies or out of men to set traps and ambushes, they’ll come in force with their entire army."

"You’re still too young for the task ahead of you. So for now, just follow orders and everything will be fine," Danzo added, still emotionless.

I nodded and waited for Emi to return with the others. A few minutes later, they finally appeared— the ONI guard, accompanied by 50 ninjas from the ANBU of Kusagakure.

I had changed their uniforms. They now wore armor similar to Konoha’s ANBU, but with one difference: they all wore skeleton masks, while the members of the ONI guard wore red Oni masks.

I unrolled a storage scroll, and a black Oni mask appeared in a cloud of smoke. I took it and put it on.

Once everything was ready, I signaled for everyone to follow me, and we began our journey at top speed toward the border.