Chapter 54- Preparations

A, the fourth Raikage, met up with the Lightning Daimyo and his forces just as the Daimyo was preparing to siege the city. It would become their staging grounds for their assault on the Capitol of Fire, and even though the Fire Daimyo had all but deserted the city, the Lightning Army could not bypass it for fear of the danger the city posed to its supply chains and rearguards.

A brought with him 2000 of his finest shinobi, and the Lightning Daimyo was grateful, but not overly so. To him, it was simply within the plan. He had expected the Shinobi to get here any day now, never once doubting their victory in the North against Konoha forces.

Later than night, the Daimyo and A shared dinner together, or well, sat at the same dinner table. A refused to partake in the dishes proffered, and sat their with his trademark grim and stony visage.

The Lightning Daimyo ate while the young Raikage waited. Barely 5 minutes into the dinner, right before A was going to enrage and leave, the Daimyo broke the tense silence that had fallen between them.

"Just like your father, all speed, no patience. Oh well.

We can get down to business."

The Raikage harrumphed and settled back into his seat while the Daimyo continued.

"Tianchi will fall to us tomorrow, and no, we will not need the assistance of your troops."

A laughed.

"I may be a shinobi, but I at least understand civilian combat. You have not yet begun the siege. I doubt that the walls will fall tomorrow."

"They will, but it requires your help. Not your troops, your personal help.

I can also spend a few thousand soldiers, casualties will be minimal, and a few days extra."

The Raikage simply sat and listened, sure that the Daimyo would have something further to say.

"I don't suppose I could convince Raikage-dono to personally help out of the goodness of your heart?"

"No, besides, it is beneath my station to fight against the civilians. It would be as distasteful as bullying a baby."

"Well, before you make any declarations, let me clear up a few potential concerns.

First, the Governor of Tianchi and I have secretly been in communication for the past two days.

He has, proverbially, been hung out to dry, and wishes to surrender.

However, he cannot do that right now, morale is simply too high, and he needs a good reason to surrender.

Apparently the Fire Daimyo is a brilliant Orator and inspired the people to die fighting right before he left them here, like a caltrop in our paths.

What the governor is requesting of me is to display the difference in power between us and him, so that he may surrender without unnecessary damage to his citizens and city, and retain his honor.

I can do this by making an assault on the walls, which will take a few thousand lives, and a few days...

Or you can personally make an appearance and they will surrender immediately.

I know you care not for the lives of my men, and to be honest neither do I, however, I believe that both of us value time extremely highly.

We could be in Konoha that much sooner if you take action."

The Raikage spit on the ground.

"Alright you old snake, I know now why my father was so loath to deal with you. You only make offers you know will be accepted.

Name your price, then."

"Very simple, Raikage-dono, you just need to throw one punch."

The next morning, every single wall of Tianchi was manned, and the spears and arrows that peeked out from behind ramparts and stonework made the walls look bristled.

The Governor of Tianchi was dressed in his full battle regalia, the bronze shining golden in the sunrise, with the red cape billowing only adding to the dramatic image, and he personally stood at the top of the Eastern Gatehouse, which held the largest of the gates, and directly faced the bulk of the Lightning Army.

As the sun continued to rise, a lone and tall figure, bearing the white flag of truce and parley, strolled towards the gate from the main Lightning camp. The figure, shrouded by the shade of the fortifications of Tianchi, could not be clearly seen, but it was easy to see that he was a large man who strode the earth with confidence and authority, as if he believed himself invincible because he was under the protection of parley.

Some of the new recruits were tempted to shoot the messenger as he drew within 50 paces of the East Gate, but the harsh discipline recently beat into them and the presence of their Governor nearby stilled their hands.

Once the figure stopped, and simply stood in the shade of the gatehouse, the governor shouted out to him.

"Say your piece and begone with you, Invader!

As long as the walls and gates of Tianchi stand, we will die to defend it!"

The figure disappeared, and the governor suddenly found himself staring at the Fourth Raikage, flag of parley in hand, glowering down at him in disgust.

"Do not yell at me, lest your head be separated from your shoulders.

I am a ninja, and I care not for honor or 'parley'. I do this simply to stop wasting my time."

One of his personal guards tried to pull out his sword and attack the Raikage, but the guard suddenly froze before stumbling to his knees as his head rolled from his shoulders.

"Like that I suppose."

The governor, initially shocked, gained control over his faculties once more, and as more of his men reached for their weapons, and asked for certain doom, he yelled at them.

"STAND DOWN!"

The Raikage looked on in profound disinterest.

"Good choice."

The Raikage casually tossed the white flag onto the stone floor of the top of the gatehouse without sparing it a second glance and continued to speak.

"On behalf of the Lightning Daimyo, I accept your proposition.

You will die in droves as long as the gates and walls stand.

We expect a full and complete surrender when the walls or gates fall.

Which will be in about 10 seconds."

The Governor, still processing the death of subordinate, and the sheer presence of the man in front of him, said not another word.

The Raikage, disappearing from atop the Gatehouse, reappeared in his previous position, about 50 paces away.

His lightning armor flickered to life, and someone loosed an arrow in response.

That first arrow was followed by another, and another, and soon, without order or coordination, all the archers within range of the Raikage were firing at him.

He stood there without a care, arrows deflecting from his elemental armor, and he paid them no mind.

He settled into a lower stance and chambered one of his fists at the hip before disappearing with a flash of lightning and the clap of thunder.

If anyone on the wall could have heard the Raikage through the clamor of bowstrings and arrow flights, they would have heard him calmly utter two words prior to his vanishing act.

"Lightning Straight."

A split second following the thunder, the Raikage reappeared in front of the gate with an even greater crash and cacophony of sound as the Eastern Gate broke and caved in, flying into the city, crushing several buildings and leaving a trail of destruction in its path.

The Raikage disappeared again, and within the hour, the despair had set in for the troops, and the city surrendered itself to Lightning with minimal loss of life. It had been the first siege in almost a hundred years, and it was over within a day.

The news of the destruction of Tianchi spread like wildfire. It was the first large city to fall since the period of Warring States, and if Lightning could hold onto its new possession, they would be the first nation to take a bite out of Fire and swallow the tender morsel. They were so close to success in an endeavor only marked by historical failures.

Iwa and Suna took careful note of the news, and knowing that Konoha would soon be recalling all troops to guard the heartland, redoubled their efforts in Kusa and Land of Rivers, respectfully.

Iwa had already cleared through the country and assassinated most of the Konoha sympathizers that led to their loss in the previous war, and the Daimyo's family was already in hiding.

Now that Konoha was retreating though, the repressed underclass of Kusagakure that had supported Iwa during the previous war was preparing to overthrow the Konoha supporters that had been propped up by the leaf village.

In the Land of Rivers, the country had already all but fallen. When Suna invaded the first time, at the beginning of the Third Great War, they had fought against Konoha forces, but now, those forces were across the border, leaving the prosperous and defenseless lands ripe for plundering. Suna came in and stole almost the entirety of food supplies the small nation held, leaving barely enough for the residents and farmers, no need to kill the golden goose after all.

Furthermore, River not entirely defenseless, the Land of Rivers had a few no-name clans that did odd jobs here and there, but those clans could do nothing in the face of Sunagakure more talented and more numerous forces. Those who resisted died, and those who conceded began the process of being folded into Sunagakure, with children and hostages being sent to the hidden village to ensure compliance and proper socialization and propagandization of the youngest foreign shinobi.

With the news that Tianchi had fallen, Suna started to get a little bit more greedy. They had initially planned to steal the ninja and food supplies of River, but now holding the land looked like a viable option. With Konoha retreating from their borders, Suna decided to start fortifying and preparing to hold River in perpetuity, the same as what Konoha had been doing for decades.

With Tianchi safely held, and their rear secured, Lightning and Kumo forces started their easy, methodical, and unstoppable advance on the Fire Capitol. They made no efforts to hide their movements, and simply built robust and strong fortifications in their wake to secure the supply lines for the upcoming battle of epic proportions.

The Lightning Army had over 2.5 million combat capable soldiers, separate from logistics and command personnel. Kumo was fielding over 2000 shinobi, a strong enough force to somewhat evenly match Konoha in its entirety, much less face off against reserves left in the village. If Kumo engaged quickly enough, they could defeat the Konoha reserve forces and pick off reinforcements as they arrived; it was why A was so hasty.

If he gave Konoha enough time, they would be able to gather the remainder of their ninja, and then fight, and the Raikage wanted anything but a fair and even fight between his ninja and the enemy.

About one hundred miles away from the capitol, two smaller forces split off from the main lightning force. The two forces numbered 250 thousand soldier each and had no ninja auxiliaries.

They would bypass the site of the main battle and head directly for the Capitol from the other side of the city.

The Fire and Lightning Daimyo were both eminently aware of the situation at hand.

The Fire Capitol was a post-Warring States Era city. It had no walls, it had no fortifications, and it could not withstand siege.

If the battle was fought there, it would only lead to massive civilian casualties. Neither Daimyo wanted that since they both viewed the city and its inhabitants as theirs to keep.

The Fire Daimyo was force to meet the Lightning Army in battle outside the city, and there was only one location that even came close to being a chokepoint and a good site of battle. In some ways, the place of battle was predestined by the nature of the Earth itself, its wind and rain carving out the geography that dictated where men should fight and die, and where nations should grow or fall.

The Fire Daimyo also knew that he had no good options to combat the flanking forces. His forces were mainly conscripts compared to the professionals of Lightning, and he had a mere 750 thousand troops to fight against 2.5 million.

He could not spare a single man to delay or combat the flanking forces, so he had asked Konoha to do it.

Konoha, of course, immediately said no. They were not in the habit of fighting soldiers, and they quite frankly couldn't spare the manpower either, as the Kumo forces were stationed alongside the Lightning Army, and if Konoha did not meet Kumo in battle alongside the Battle between Fire and Lightning, Kumo would destroy the Fire army before marching on Konoha with an intact ninja force and 2 million strong horde.

Konoha told the Daimyo that he needs to send men to stall the Lightning flanking forces, and they specifically requested 100k towards each flank.

The Daimyo said no, and to the horror and disgust of Konoha, the Daimyo informed them that he would send no one.

It was a truly insidious stroke of tactics, especially against one's so called ally, but it was the Daimyo's only option.

Konoha was only a 3 day march from the Capitol, and if Lightning forces overran the city while Konoha was left undefended, they would set their sights on the gem of Fire Country, the relatively defenseless Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Konoha at its strongest could perhaps rebuff a 500 thousand large invading force, but now, with all ninja mobilized and deployed elsewhere in the continent, it would be a slaughter. The families of every single Leaf Shinobi was in Konoha, and they were only able to fight so far from home because they knew Konoha to be impenetrable. If that came into question, Konoha Shinobi would collapse as a fighting force.

Drastic times called for drastic measures.

The resource that Konoha had that other nations didn't would be their lifeline. Konoha had a surplus of Kage level ninja.

Minato, who had been reinstated as Hokage following his miraculous recovery at the hands of Tsunade, made the final decision.

Ever since waking up several weeks ago, Minato was under the not so tender care of Tsunade. Tsunade had been using every resource at her disposal to patch Minato back together. Even after several years, she was still the greatest med-nin on the planet, and after squandering the majority of the precious herbal and medical resources stockpiled within the village, Minato was almost whole.

Though he had not completely recovered, he was battle capable once more, and he had decided that he, along with his sensei Jiraiya, would lead the bulk of Konoha forces against Kumo on the open field of battle. He could stalemate A and B together, and Jiraiya would hopefully tip the scales in his favor, or even the odds between the rest of the forces.

Tsunade, still afflicted by her fear of blood, would be a figure head left in Konoha to placate and calm the populace.

However, Hiruzen and Orochimaru, the two greatest ninjutsu experts in the village would be tasked with singlehandedly delaying the two flanking forces from advancing on the Capitol or Konoha. Those two were desperately needed at the main battle, but their was no other way.

The two both had summons, large chakra reserves, and mastery of wide area of effect and mass destruction jutsu. They would be able to inflict heavy losses through guerrilla attacks and stall the forces for several days if they used soldier pills.

The night after his decision, Minato was confronted while alone by Orochimaru. The snake sannin addressed Minato without formality or respect.

"Minato, You know that Sarutobi-sensei doesn't trust me enough to become Hokage.

That's why you were picked.

And yet, you task me with being the single wall between 250 thousand marauders and your wife and son, not to mention the entire village.

I could run you know?

Things have never looked so dire, and I find my interests not particularly aligned with the village at this moment."

Minato gave him a hard look for a few moments before sighing exasperatedly and replying.

"It had been my dream to become Hokage since I was young.

When I found out that the position of Yondaime was between me and you, I took it for granted.

I thought not of my inexperience, of my immaturity, and I simply thought of my personal strength, that which I have been chasing for years.

I thought myself ready. I thought myself strong. I did it for Kushina as much as I did for myself.

Following how I handled the Kyuubi attack..."

Orochimaru gave no outward reaction, but his silence spoke volumes. he was waiting for Minato to get to the point.

Minato grimaced.

"I have come to question myself.

For several weeks, I have been confined to my bed, chained to my thoughts and emotions.

For once, I was not able to outrun them, and under the medication, I could not ignore and pack them away.

I have had such conviction my entire life, but I start to realize now that it was not real.

I never questioned myself. Never thought twice. Never had the chance to have conviction.

I am a genius. The first impulse is always good enough.

Until it isn't. I'm starting to realize that I've got a few screws loose.

Maybe this isn't the best time to tell you that I have faith in you, right after I tell you that I might be crazy.

But I do. Compared to Tsunade, or even my own master, you've been exemplary.

I thought twice about become Hokage.

I wasn't ready, not really. The Sandaime still has to hold my hand with things that he taught you how to do a decade ago."

Orochimaru said nothing, his slit golden eyes peering into Minato's blue ones.

Minato continued.

"I am resigning after the war, if I even survive the upcoming battle, which is doubtful.

I failed the village, failed my wife, and failed my son during the Kyuubi attack.

When I was a genin, I survived while my teammates didn't.

From team 7, only Kakashi and I remain, with Kakashi more husk than person.

As soon as I become Hokage, I lose almost half the village before war begins anew afer I incapacitated myself.

Looking back, I have a record of failure that has been explained and hand waved away.

Even if I wanted to stay the Hokage, I am not worthy.

You and the Sandaime are the living libraries of Konoha. You two are the most indispensable repositories of knowledge in the village.

And should Konoha fall, it will need the two of you to help rebuild.

That is the main reason I have assigned the two of you to combat the flanking forces.

There is no way either of you will die against those soldiers; you may not be able to completely stop them, but your life isn't in question.

Against A and B though, everyone's life is in doubt. That is why Jiraiya and I will go there. We're expendable.

The Sandaime had to give up the hat for his failure of the Third Great War.

I have to give it up for this war and the Kyuubi incident.

After my failures, I realize that I was the wrong person to become Hokage.

And that is why I am passing the position on to you."