Soon, under Minato's leadership, Konoha's senior leadership convened an emergency meeting.
Since the matter had already been discussed beforehand, the emergency meeting quickly passed the resolution to launch a lightning strike against Sunagakure with the unanimous approval of Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and Konoha's four current elders.
Rather than discussing whether Konoha should launch a lightning strike against Sunagakure, the meeting was more about refining the details of the operation and assigning the various responsibilities.
At the meeting, Konoha decided that Uchiha Ren, the proposer of the plan, would serve as commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.
Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Uchiha Shisui, Hyūga Hizashi, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume, and several other powerful shinobi and clan heads would accompany him.
A force of two thousand men had five Kage-level combatants among its ranks. The sheer quality of this force was self-evident.
Uchiha Shisui had been temporarily recalled by Ren. He was currently serving as a bodyguard at the Fire Daimyō's residence and would rendezvous with the main force at the border.
Originally, Ren had intended to use Uchiha Fugaku, but the reform of the former Konoha Military Police Force had not yet been completed. The village couldn't afford to have nobody overseeing the situation.
So Ren changed his choice and had Uchiha Shisui, who currently had little else to do, replace Fugaku.
The Fire Daimyō would presumably have no objections to the arrangement.
Of the five Kage-level combatants, Tsunade was the one who had voluntarily requested to participate in the operation, which came as a surprise to practically everyone.
Everyone knew about Tsunade's condition.
Although her hemophobia had improved, nobody had expected her to voluntarily join an expeditionary force at a time like this.
But according to Tsunade herself, the target of this expedition was Sunagakure.
Other aspects could be dealt with by the others, but when it came to Sunagakure's poison techniques, only she was truly capable of handling them.
Considering the practical circumstances, Tsunade was indeed the natural counter to Sunagakure's puppet users and poison specialists.
Therefore, nobody objected to her volunteering.
However, everyone also keenly realized something from this.
Tsunade, the village's "Princess Tsunade," had genuinely returned to Konoha this time.
She wasn't merely putting on a show.
She truly intended to become involved in the village's core decision-making once again.
After the emergency meeting ended, everyone dispersed and began preparing for the upcoming war.
Although Ren had said that this war would follow a strategy of sustaining the army through warfare, meaning the village didn't need to prepare excessive supplies, basic provisions were still necessary.
More importantly, Konoha's primary strategic objective in this war was to seize various resources from Sunagakure.
Therefore, blank storage scrolls were indispensable.
Since Ren intended to fight a lightning-fast campaign, the expeditionary force naturally couldn't afford to be burdened by supplies.
Storage scrolls would greatly alleviate that problem.
Unfortunately, storage scrolls were not only extremely difficult to manufacture but also very expensive.
Even Konoha didn't have many available.
As a result, when selecting personnel for the expedition, combat strength wasn't the only criterion. Priority was also given to shinobi who possessed summoning contracts and could use the Summoning Technique and Reverse Summoning Technique.
Then there was the matter of intelligence security.
Since this was a surprise attack, catching the enemy off guard was just as important as speed.
Mobilizing nearly two thousand shinobi was no small matter.
One careless move could alert spies from other villages hidden within Konoha.
Therefore, after the meeting ended, all of Konoha entered a state of relaxed on the surface, heightened vigilance underneath.
The newly reorganized ANBU and Konoha Military Police Force also went into full operation, keeping a close watch over every corner of Konoha.
While everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado accompanied Hiruzen Sarutobi to his home.
At this moment, Koharu was still receiving an intravenous drip, taking in a specially formulated nutritional solution from Konoha Hospital.
Koharu hadn't suffered any significant injuries during the previous battle.
Her main problem was that she had severely exhausted her body and needed time to replenish what she had lost.
She would probably have to rely on IV infusions for at least the next six months.
"Homura, what exactly happened?"
The moment the three of them sat down, Koharu impatiently asked, "Didn't I send you to create a diversion and lure Uchiha Ren away? How did things suddenly turn into another war?"
Although Koharu had voted in favor of the war during the emergency meeting just now, she didn't actually understand the full situation.
Minato had merely given her a heads-up before convening the meeting.
When she saw that Homura had agreed, she simply followed suit.
Hiruzen also looked at Homura.
"Although there doesn't seem to be anything fundamentally wrong with this war plan, at a critical moment like this, having one less complication is always better than having one more."
Homura smiled bitterly.
"To be honest, even I still haven't quite figured out how things suddenly went so far off course."
Their original plan had been to use the negotiations with Sunagakure to keep Ren occupied.
Hiruzen understood that an "aggressive faction" like Ren would certainly be dissatisfied with the terms Sunagakure had proposed for peace.
They could then hand the negotiations with Sunagakure over to Ren and let him take charge of the matter, thereby diverting his attention and energy while they rescued Shimura Danzō.
Danzō was currently being held in the prison of the former Konoha Military Police Force headquarters.
As long as Ren was drawn away, the only powerful shinobi remaining within the Uchiha Clan Compound would be Uchiha Fugaku.
That would make things much easier.
But none of them had expected that although they had indeed managed to draw Ren away, Ren hadn't even bothered negotiating with Sunagakure.
He had simply gone to war!
Homura reorganized his thoughts before speaking.
"This Uchiha is more aggressive than we anticipated. And Minato isn't nearly as conservative as he makes himself out to be."
"We were all fooled by that harmless-looking demeanor of his."
"Fortunately, although Minato is aggressive, he still knows how to consider the bigger picture. He's not simply acting recklessly."
"Ren's plan this time is indeed somewhat risky, but its feasibility is extremely high, and the benefits it could bring to the village are substantial."
"Moreover, Ren isn't merely leaving the village himself this time. He's taken a large number of the village's elite shinobi with him, and quite a few elite shinobi from the Uchiha clan have also joined the expedition."
"Although the whole thing does have an element of forcing things through after the fact, that was one of the reasons I agreed to the plan."
"In a way, it kills two birds with one stone."
Hiruzen took out his pipe, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
"The potential benefits are certainly enormous, but the risks are equally high."
"That's a force of two thousand elite shinobi."
"If they succeed, naturally everything will be fine. But if they fail, the village might never recover."
"Homura, you were too impulsive this time. You should have discussed this with us beforehand!"
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