Ichika Shuu, the head of T&I Department of Kirigakure sat in her office, smirking as she remembered the bewildered faces of the councilmen when she told them about the two new rank-ups in the Bingo Book. Apparently, Konan and Rei of Kiri were really busy in the last months since they earned themselves SS-rank for what they did best... Destruction and Annihilation.

Honestly, Ichika was really glad they left as they could have been a serious threat to her plans. ​​

'Three SS-rank ninjas at once, moreover they all are from a single team. I wonder what exactly Team Downpour discovered to enable them to become so strong.' Ichika mused, not for a second doubting there were some special circumstances at hand.

Since the establishment of the Hidden Villages, no SS-rank ninja was EVER raised. No matter how much the villages tried. Before though... despite Bingo Book not being a thing yet, Ichika knew there were many SS-rank people. Hanzo the Salamander was close. Madara and Hashirama were SS-rank power-wise even if they were never acknowledged as such. In the past, many reached such strength and Ichika wondered...

"Kiga," She called out and a second later a ninja wearing a Kiri ANBU mask appeared kneeling in front of her, "gather a squad and go after one of the new SS-ranks. Mei would be the most preferable. Something tells me Rei and Konan are far stronger than her even though she got her rank first. Make sure to be cautious and approach only when you are sure she is alone. I want to know their secret." She ordered and the ninja nodded before promptly leaving.

A brief grin spread on Ichika's face. 'Now, if only it was so easy to get rid of the pesky clans and confiscate their businesses...' She eyed the inconspicuous innocent-looking letter laying on the edge of her table. 'I wonder, should I trust and go with the plan of this... Zetsu?'

...

The Third Mizukage cradled a glass of sake in his hand, contemplating how it all went so wrong. Firstly, Himeno died... now that was his fault and he was completely aware of it. Then, Team Downpour left... and he had no idea what to do about that. On one hand, they were too powerful to antagonize, on another, he was grateful for Rei cheering him up and reminding him of his position. Only thanks to that he still pulled through and became at least somewhat acceptable Kage while he looked for a successor.

He... kept quiet about their disappearance.

And then they started the whole mercenary business and the council heard about it, well, that was a quite big shitstorm.

But the council understood his take on the situation. How could they antagonize them? Rei and Konan made sure to show they harbored no hard feelings towards Kirigakure and the Mizukage didn't want any semblance of goodwill between them and the village to disappear. Who knows, they might help Kirigakure out of nostalgia when shit hits the fan?

He could only hope nobody in Kirigakure is stupid enough to piss them off.

...

Sarutobi Hiruzen was reading the new Bingo Book with a twitching eye. 'Did the Kirigakure infiltrate the Bingo-Book-makers to sow disinformation? How the fuck could they gain 2 another SS-rank ninjas!?' He fumed in disbelief. Surely if they had such firepower, they would use it in their invasion? How come they did not? Hiruzen swore to pay extra attention to all three SS-rank ninjas as even he was very afraid of crossing someone capable of wiping armies, much less when there are three individuals like that in one freaking team...

At least the war became very defensive after he won the battle against Kirigakure forces on the northern shores of the Land of Fire and Konoha entered a stalemate on both the Kusa front and Kumo front which meant fewer skirmishes. It was more of a waiting game.

After he beat the Third Mizukage and killed his lover, he came home, enjoyed the cheers at his victory, had a very enjoyable night with his wife, played with his son for a few hours in the morning, and then... he found it wise to yell at Tsunade goddamn Senju for not showing up when he called her deployment during the battle.

Not the sanest moment of his life but he digresses.

After that, he only remembers a hard fist, his cheekbone breaking, the muscles in the right side of his face tearing, the wall his body slammed into crumbling down, the trench in the ground his body dug, the cracking sound of the tree that stopped his brief uncontrolled roll on the ground, and blinding pain engulfing him before the world went briefly white only to for darkness taking him a few seconds later.

Hiruzen Sarutobi awoke in the hospital... where he was forced under the care of a very irate medic... Tsunade herself. Needless to say, his stay at the hospital was utter hell.

But he was the Professor and as such, he learned three things that became almost religious to him.

Never piss off Tsunade Senju.

Tsunade Senju is retired.

Tsunade Senju doesn't give a shit he is the Third Hokage.

And since then, Tsunade reminded him of her position as the Head of Konoha Hospital and NOTHING more on every turn. On every Council meeting. Even going as far as stating it in her monthly reports!

And when he found out the Senju Princess used the war to take over some of the economically most important supply lines and businesses in the village...

'I am too old for this shit. I need to retire... yes, that's it. Hmm, that brat of Jiraiya could be a good successor. Yes... that would do... I am too old for this shit, indeed.' Hiruzen sighed in frustration. 'Let the blond kid deal with the blond hag.'

...

Deep under Konoha, Danzo Shimura stared at the three hundred kneeling ninjas wearing blank masks. His ROOT. The full might of his forces. He recalled them all, partly because the new two SS-rank made it imperative for him to personally give new orders, and partly to prepare for what he was planning to do next.

"The new addition to the Bingo Book is a very dangerous thing to Konoha's safety. I want all of you on the lookout for these three individuals, Rei of Kiri, Mei of Kiri, and Konan of Kiri, during your upcoming missions. Sadly, no matter how our spies in Kirigakure try, they are still unable to unveil their identity. Getting them to serve Konoha or eliminate this threat is however imperative to the prosperity of Konoha so I want every single one of my ninjas to be extremely vigilant! Any piece of information you can get about them is extremely precious!" Danzo sternly spoke. "Until further notice, wait for your orders! Dismissed except Toruma."

The ninjas all jumped away, only one lanky man stayed behind.

"I want you to go to the Land of Earth... discreetly, and I want you to find a way to 'alert' the Tsuchikage that Konoha's defenses in Kusa are really weak right now. Shuffle the story a bit and make them gather a thousand of their strong ninjas. You are allowed to bribe and blackmail the Daimyo court and if possible, the Iwagakure's councilmen. I want Hiruzen having no other choice than to confront them himself." Danzo impassively ordered, gritting his teeth.

'Thrice damned Senju bitch, I have no idea where you got the information about the Kirigakure invasion but this time you won't ruin my plan! Sarutobi will die and I will be the Hokage!' He seethed, remembering all the failed assassination attempts at Tsunade's life she seemed to just brush away like annoying flies without even giving them much of her attention.

Poisoned dart? She plucks it mid-air and throws it behind her, not even caring.

Poisoned beverage? She drinks it and just circles her chakra to purge the poison. When she survived the most potent Kusa poison Danzo knew about without even coughing slightly, Danzo almost ripped out his hair.

Outright attack? Not one of his ninjas survived. He already lost forty of his best and he was not losing more valuable men.

Danzo wanted the Mizukage to penetrate deeper into the Land of Fire without being noticed. This would give less time to Hiruzen to prepare, making it impossible to gather his troops which would result in Hiruzen fighting against the Kiri troops while being vastly outnumbered. Danzo was so sure the old monkey would die there and then... only for Tsunade to inform Hiruzen about the invasion.

"Don't fail me Toruma... You won't like the consequences." Danzo said as dark lines started to form on his forehead. Even remembering Tsunade was bringing him an incredible headache. "Dismissed."