"Lord Third, in accordance with the village's orders—"
"The Den Den Mushi is connected. We're ready to begin the meeting on our side…"
Yagami coughed lightly and spoke in a solemn tone.
He just wanted to get this meeting over with as fast as possible and hang up the Den Den Mushi.
If Mikoto suddenly spoke up from the other end and Kushina picked up on something, that would be a disaster.
"Well then, let's begin. We'll listen in from here."
The voice of the Third Hokage came from the Den Den Mushi's mouth.
The Den Den Mushi even mimicked the Third Hokage's expression vividly, as if Sarutobi Hiruzen himself were seated at the front-line war table.
That alone made everyone in the headquarters at Kikyo City inexplicably excited.
Right now, it felt like they were attending a war council directly under the eyes of the village elders.
For a moment, everyone straightened up a little more, spirits rising.
"Understood."
Yagami nodded and placed the Den Den Mushi in the center of the conference table.
Then he raised his hand toward Orochimaru, wordlessly handing him the right to speak.
After all, Orochimaru was the commander-in-chief of the front line.
Orochimaru glanced at the Den Den Mushi with clear curiosity.
Then he nodded slightly and began to issue combat orders.
A truly unique remote war council officially began.
Because the village leadership was listening in from Konoha, everyone in the conference room was eager to show their best side.
Once the pre-war meeting started, the captains and commanders all spoke up enthusiastically, laying out their opinions and suggestions.
From time to time, the Konoha higher-ups would also offer their own corrections and reasonable proposals through the Den Den Mushi, filling in any gaps in the plan.
A pre-war meeting that should have been heavy and tense suddenly took on a different flavor.
The suffocating weight of war hanging over them seemed to ease for a moment.
"The above is the content of this engagement."
At the end of the pre-war meeting, Orochimaru swept his gaze around the room.
Seeing that no one raised any objections, he finally turned toward the Den Den Mushi.
"Well, we understand. I wish you all a victorious return."
The Third Hokage's voice carried gentle encouragement. The Den Den Mushi's face puffed on an invisible pipe as it imitated him perfectly.
This pre-war council had felt novel to everyone present.
And this new way of transmitting information had done more than save time.
At the same time, their confidence in the battle plan had grown.
Because the village's top brass had been listening the entire time—if there had been anything wrong with the plan, the higher-ups would definitely have spoken up to veto it.
Since they hadn't, it meant the leadership also approved of the operation.
That alone swept away much of the pressure from uncertain factors.
Click.
At the end of the meeting, Yagami stood up and carefully hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Orochimaru announced the adjournment of the council and ordered everyone to rush back and assemble their units.
After all, they commanded a brigade of three thousand.
They weren't all gathered in one neat camp, quietly resting in place.
"Sensei, are we going to launch a counterattack?"
As soon as Yagami and Kushina stepped out of the gate tower, Kakashi hurried over to greet them, eyes full of curiosity.
He had already sensed something unusual from the movements of the scattered Jōnin earlier.
"Yeah. Get ready."
Yagami nodded and patted Kakashi on the shoulder.
This wasn't yet the most critical moment for Konoha.
So the village hadn't deployed any Genin to this battlefield.
That made Kakashi the youngest ninja currently stationed at Kikyo Castle.
In the original timeline, he only joined the Third Great Ninja War when he was nine.
Right now, he was just over seven—nearly two years earlier than in the original story.
"Yes, Yagami-sensei!!"
Kakashi nodded seriously.
After several days of war, he had already begun to mature noticeably.
That growth made Yagami quite satisfied.
After all, he still had a mission riding on Kakashi—he needed Kakashi to be promoted to Jōnin as soon as possible.
Even if the task reward was only five thousand prestige points…
No matter how small the mosquito, it was still meat. (PS: ??)
The captains and commanders who had just left the war council quickly began calling their teams together.
The order to launch a counterattack spread through the ranks.
After a round of pre-battle encouragement, the massive gates of Kikyo Castle slowly opened.
Konoha's force of more than three thousand shinobi marched out in formation, an overwhelming tide of green flak jackets.
Together, they surged forward, rushing straight toward Sunagakure's camp.
At Sunagakure's forward position, inside their headquarters—
"Chiyo-sama, are you all right?"
All of Sunagakure's high-ranking commanders had gathered around Chiyo.
By now, Chiyo's severed left arm had already been replaced with a puppet prosthetic.
And judging by how smoothly it was moving under her control, its flexibility seemed more than satisfactory.
"No problem."
"When this old body gets used to it, my strength will return to what it was before."
Chiyo watched the puppet arm move exactly according to her will and nodded in satisfaction.
Even though her arm had been severed directly by Yagami, putting on this prosthetic meant her combat power wouldn't suffer too much.
After all, in the original story, Chiyo had done exactly the same.
It was just that back then, it was her right arm—this time, it was the left.
"Report!!!!"
At that moment—
A long, drawn-out shout came from outside the door.
A sensory-type ninja burst into the command tent, breathing hard.
"Reporting to Chiyo-sama!"
"The Konoha defenders at Kikyo City have departed in full force and are advancing straight toward our camp! Right now, they're less than ten kilometers away!!"
After entering, the sensory ninja bowed quickly to everyone, then hurriedly delivered his message.
"What? Konoha is coming here?"
"Three thousand men abandoning the city walls, just to charge at us five thousand?"
"Have they won a few battles and already decided Sunagakure is easy to push around!?"
"Konoha is getting far too full of themselves!!"
The moment they heard Konoha had taken the initiative to attack, Sunagakure's high-level commanders all felt their minds reel.
Some even felt as if Konoha were outright looking down on them.
"Don't let your guard down. Go and assemble the troops!!"
Seeing a few of her comrades fuming at Konoha's "insolence," Chiyo snapped sharply, her voice like a whip.
It was true they had the advantage in numbers right now.
But did they really think Konoha was full of idiots?
Did they really believe the enemy would throw eggs at a rock on purpose?
Thinking that, Chiyo felt even more irritated.
"Chiyo-sama, please don't be angry. We'll start calling the troops right away."
Seeing Chiyo's temper flare, the Sunagakure shinobi immediately fell silent.
Then they quickly rushed out of headquarters to pass on the order.
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