Inside a spacious room, the air is tinged with faint evidence of smoke — a lingering evidence of a recently extinguished smoking pipe. In the center of the room, a large oak desk commanded attention, its surface cluttered with scrolls, documents, and parchments bearing the seal of the Hokage.

Sitting on a wooden chair, Hiruzen reviewed the daily paperwork assigned to him. A calm expression adorned his face, a rare occurrence among the endless trouble the end of the Third Shinobi World War brought to him.

"These are the graduates for this year?"

A man bearing two scars interrupts, his deep green flak jacket marking him as the Jounin Commander.

Hiruzen glances up from the documents to meet Shikaku's gaze. "Yes, Shikaku. We have promising teams, but there's been a decline in overall quality..."

Shikaku's brow furrows slightly as he takes in Hiruzen's assessment. "Well, we can’t grow used to having competent ninjas such as Minato in every batch."

Hiruzen leans back in his chair, his gaze redirected to the papers at hand. “What you say is true, Shikaku.”, he replies, his tone resolute. “Perhaps old age is catching up for me to not realize the obvious…”

With moderate movements, he swiftly finished stamping the last documents regarding the graduates from that year. Glancing up at the towering pile of papers, he grabbed the next documents to work on.

As Hiruzen read through them, the room came to a complete silence. Only the sound of his hands flipping the papers could be heard. “Oh…”, after registering new information, Hiruzen glanced up to Shikaku. “You must be very happy.”

Shikaku’s gaze went in Hiruzen’s direction. With a quizzical look, he lifted one single eyebrow. “What?”

Handing the stack of papers to his friend, Hiruzen flashed a smile. “You have a few clan members in this recently admitted batch now. It seems that your clan’s future generation will set smoothly.”

Seeing his reaction, Shikaku took note of the papers. Flipping them, he saw the admittance documents of three members of his clan. As a grin showed on his face, he continued to see the other pages out of curiosity. “Yeah, they are quite a handful bunch—”

Interrupted by a sudden surprise, Shikaku retrieved a document revealing the name of one student. Glancing at Hiruzen, his brow furrowed. “This student, isn’t he the one involved with that case after the Kyuubi attack?”

Leaning forward, Hiruzen squinted his eyes to focus on the name the admittance paper said. “Raijin Shunsui… Indeed, he is the one.”, he glanced at Shikaku once more. “I’m surprised to think that he would decide to turn into a Shinobi.”

Seeing that they were on the same page, Shikaku looked at the paper while remembering the event. “Yes, that is for sure.”, pursing his lips, he continued to read. “His case… was a very strange occurrence to deal with.”

Registering Shikaku’s tone, Hiruzen nodded. “Indeed. I, myself, was surprised when Kakashi reported it to me.”, his face adopted a deep frowning. “I really thought that a method to replicate our most infamous kinjutsu was designed.”

Hiruzen’s elbows were supported by the desk while he crossed his hands. “However, after knowing the details that the Yamanaka could get from her memories”, his face contorted.

“I was even more disgusted.”

Shikaku glanced at Hiruzen as he handed the papers back to him. “Yeah, it wasn’t even remotely close to what she described it to be.”, his hands turned to a fist. “Killing children and marking them with weird seals… It resembled a ritual of sorts. ”

Taking his smoking pipe into his hands, Hiruzen made a puff of smoke. After a few seconds, he glanced at Shikaku once again. “Danzo said that he wanted to investigate it, but I wanted to put it on hold. We don’t have enough time on our hands to deal with this as of now.”

Frowning, his gaze met Shikaku’s eyes. “Kumogakure has been really active since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.”, he released a sigh of exhaustion. “Did you come here for new reports?”

Seeing the shift in the conversation, Shikaku’s tense expression narrowed even more while he took a notepad out of his back pocket. “Yes, Lord Hokage. Kumo has been too brazen these past few days.”

Holding a notepad, Shikaku flipped to the report pages. “They are sending too many reconnaissance squads to our borders.”, his brow creased. “I suspect they are planning to strike us after seeing our weakened state.”

As he said this, Shikaku handed the notepad to Hiruzen. Reading through it, the Hokage’s face tensed up even more. “This is bad...”, his hands grabbed the corner of the desk and squeezed it tightly. “Are they trying to start another war?!”

Shikaku showed a troubled expression. “We have to be cautious about this.”, his face roughned up. “We’ll also have to monitor Iwagakure in this case. While they just lost ten thousand Shinobis, they are not an enemy force that can be ignored.”

Hiruzen’s hands rested on the tip of his hat, slightly bending it down a bit. “You’re correct. While Onoki is famed for being a fence-sitter, they won’t let us commit any mistake.”

Seeing that Hiruzen didn’t continue, Shikaku proceeded with his report. “We haven’t detected any movement from Kirigakure or Sunagakure in this matter. Kiri is still having its civil war, so they shouldn’t be much of a threat.

And Sunagakure is not fairing that well either. So, I say that we should focus on Kumo while intently observing Iwa’s actions.”

Releasing a sigh, Hiruzen nodded. “I agree with your analysis.”, looking up, he pursed his lips. “I’m tired of these wars… Ah, Minato, how I miss you, boy.”

Warming his glance, Shikaku couldn’t help but think about what the Fourth would have done in Hiruzen’s place.

However, as soon as the mood was lighting up, both of them turned their heads to the door’s direction. Rushed steps could be heard outside the room going in their direction.

Moments later, a cat-masked woman who had her arms filled with bruises arrived. Without even knocking on the door, she pushed it open in a hurry.

As she calmed herself down with deep breaths, she glanced at Shikaku before fixing her gaze on the Hokage. “Lord Hokage, confidential information!”, she stiffened her posture.

Seeing that the new arrival had important information to pass on, Hiruzen promptly dismissed Shikaku. “Shikaku, you can go.”, with a wave of his hands, he also said. “ANBU, go away until this matter is finished.”

While Hiruzen’s last sentence was to the ANBU squad that protected him from the shadows, no movement nor noise was heard of multiple people going out of the room. Only Shikaku's steps were audible.

Seeing that they were alone, the cat-masked ANBU approached the oak desk. Hiruzen leaned forward in his chair to hear what she had to say.

With a steady movement, she took a parchment and handed it to Hiruzen. “We’ve been attacked, Lord Hokage.”, she kneeled in front of the desk. “Three bases at our borders have been seized by Kumo squads.”

Hiruzen grabbed the parchment and his face stiffened. “Three bases, two jounins, eight chunins, and twelve genins dead…”, his hand squeezed the paper until it tore its corner. 'It seems that I’ll be forced to call an emergency meeting. War… it really is wearing me up.'

As he received the news, he dismissed the ANBU Shinobi. “You can go.”, he said while waving his hand. “Take some rest for the time being, but be prepared for any calls.”

As soon as the cat-masked ANBU woman flickered, he snapped his fingers in a hurry. Furrowing his brow, he saw a masked man flicker at his side. “Deliver news to all elders and the Jounin commander.”, his nose wrinkled. “The Hokage calls for an emergency meeting.”