Another Year Passed

The next day, "Jiraya! What's wrong? Any movements made by the Sand?" Sakumo rushed like the wind his tent and went straight to the point. I followed him and entered the tent just in time to hear Jiraya's answer. "No, it's the Village hidden in Rocks, they declared war on Konoha. The Cloud village also declared war on both of them at the same time." Jiraya handed a letter to Sakumo, who passed it on to Me after he finished reading it. "Jiraya, who's in charge of the different fronts back home?" Sakumo didn't see the messenger around, so he asked Jiraya.

"Now everything in the village is being handled by Sarutobi Sensei. Before that, he had already suspended Danzo and the two advisors. He made Minato Kamikaze in charge of the hidden cloud battlefield, and Orochimaru as commander in chief of the battlefront with the Hidden Rock. And on the battlefield of the Hidden Mist, he had the Heads of the Hyuga clan and the Ino-Shika-Cho Alliance. He said that we can handle the Hidden Sand." Sakumo was surprised that the 3rd had suspended Danzo and the advisors. But that wasn't important to him as he had no interest in politics.

All that he was concerned with was the battle with the Sand. After hearing what Jiraya just said, I understood that Konoha wasn't exactly in a bright situation. The 3rd world war went all out, and Konoha was now faced by all of the other 4 great nations. This biggest problem was that the battle front with the Sand alone required three quarters of Konoha's medical Ninjas, along with two of its pillars. On the other hand, the Rock, Mist and Cloud villages were all attacking Konoha, but for some reason, the Rock and Sand were not in war yet, giving both countries an advantage in distribution of their troops. So it was clear to Me that their role should be holding the Sand off until war starts between them and the Rock. That way, Konoha should be in a relatively balanced state against all 4 big nations.

At the sands camp, a scroll was brought from the outside. After confirming safety, Rasa's escort hand it over to him. after opening it and getting an overall glimpse of it, the Kazekage raised his head and said with a heavy face: "The Rock village have just declared war on us!" "What? How could that happen so fast?" Chiyo grabbed the scroll. Reading it, hger face changed heavily: "Damn Onoki!" At the same time, Konoha's camp also received the news. Sakumo announced it in public.

The fact that the Hidden Stone announced war on the Sand means that the numbers that Konoha will have to face from now on will be greatly reduced. With that, everyone understood what Sakumo meant when saying that after the 3rd battle, everything will be easier. A few days later, the Sand and Stone went to battle, and Konoha didn't interfere. The Stone thought that they could take advantage of the Sands latest defeat and beat them completely. What they didn't expect was they actually rose up and resisted them. This actually ended with the Stone suffering a heavy defeat, and even the Tsuchikage's son was severely injured in a Sand ambush.

I had already returned back to the village leaving Jiraya and Sakumo with a special Kunai and asked them to call me anytime they need. The Hidden Stone suffered a huge loss after a big battle against the Sand. The Sand themselves had just lost to Konoha. Even though they won their battle against the Stone, they could not bear to fight any more. This caused the troops in the battlefield of the Wind Country: Konoha's, the Sand's and the Stone's troops to be mutually restrained. In the earth country, Konoha, the Stone and the Hidden Cloud were in a similar state. In the water country, it was the same for Konoha, the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Mist.

The five major countries were restrained and the 3rd world war entered a stage of attrition after nearly half a year of all out battles. That way, time flew, and a year passed quietly. During that year, while there were no major moves made on the different battlefields, various small-scale encounters and ambushes continued. I stayed in the village and most of the time just trained myself. Hiruzen also Promoted me to Jonin in the meantime. I was the youngest jonin and a Kage tier ninja in the village at the age of 10.

In the one year of training, My strength greatly improved and I can use more of Sora's Chakra. I also learnt more destructive jutsus. When I was walking in the streets, I was stopped by an Anbu. "Ryu san, Hokage sama wants to see you." The Anbu delivered the 3rd's message. "Alright, I'll go right away." I didn't ask about any details, and immediately rushed towards the 3rd's office.

When I entered through the door, I found the 3rd sitting at his desk smoking his pipe. "Ryu, come! Let's not waste time, look at this information." Saying that, he handed the scroll that was on his table to Me. The scroll was sent from to front-line to the 3rd by Orochimaru. According to its content, the Hidden Rock's Explosion Squad was causing great casualties to Konoha's Ninjas. Orochimaru wasn't able to limit their damage off on his own, and asked the 3rd for reinforcement.

"Ryu, what do you know about the nature of the explosions?" Asked the 3rd. "Uncle Hiruzen, they should based on the Kekkei Genkai: Explosion release. Since that's an Earth Release based Kekkei Genkai, Lightning Release should be effective against it." I replied. "You're right, but to stop a massive Explosion Ninjutsu, a regular Lightning Release Justu can't cut it. Right now, the casualties among our lower ranks are too great, and there's urgent need for medical care on the battlefield." Said the 3rd with a heavy face.

"Uncle Hiruzen, do you want me to go to the Earth Country?" I made a guess on what the Hokage called me in for. Hiruzen answered "Yes. It would be great if you can assist the medical team. I'm planning to send half of the medical team in the wing country as well." I nodded and expressed my understanding of the 3rd's arrangement. According to the scroll, Konoha was already losing ground, and reinforcement was mandatory. "That's good, you will contact Jiraya...." I raised my hand and Interrupted him and spoke. "Uncle Hiruzen, forget about me being for the medical team. I've developed a new lighting jutsu and I can handle the explosion release users easily. I'll go there tomorrow.

Hiruzen didn't know what to say, but he agreed to my suggestion. Then he said "I've already passed your special Kunai to the earth country battlefield. You my also face the 4tails jinchuriki there. So be careful." I nodded and left back home to tell my mother.