When Sarutobi Hiruzen received this news, he was extremely surprised; this was unexpected for him.
The reason he disagreed with Danzo's plan to demand a large compensation from the Hidden Mist following the Chunin Examination incident was his concern that such an action might anger the Hidden Mist, leading them to join the Ninja World War against Konoha, despite rarely participating in mainland ninja village wars.
His original judgment was that the always low-key Hidden Mist shouldn't provoke the strong Konoha.
Konoha and the Hidden Mist had no grudges, and Konoha was a tough bone to chew on, so why bother?
But the incident had already occurred. Regardless of what motives or goals the Hidden Mist had, Sarutobi Hiruzen had only one task, and that was to mobilize forces to prevent the Hidden Mist from causing destruction to the Land of Fire.
"The Hidden Mist Village has also declared war on us, doesn't that mean we now have three Great Ninja Villages as enemies?" a ninja asked, furrowing his brow upon hearing the news.
This was indeed extremely bad news for Konoha.
On the surface, Konoha seemed glorious, fighting against two with successive victories, but a ninja who truly understood the situation would definitely not be so optimistic.
Although Konoha gained an advantage in the war, it hadn't delivered a heavy blow to Hidden Rock and Hidden Cloud, and such victories were, at best, small wins.
If one were to set a war score, where reaching 100% would ensure an outright win, Konoha was only at about 10% against both Hidden Cloud and Hidden Rock.
The Hidden Mist's intervention forced Konoha to divert its forces to deal with the Hidden Mist, potentially losing its advantages on other battlefields.
"Even the Hidden Mist has come into the fray." Tsunade, who had been somewhat indifferent, now appeared serious.
She knew what this implied. Even if the Three Great Ninja Villages couldn't unite fully against Konoha, it would still exert great pressure on Konoha, which now lacked the unparalleled power of her grandfather.
Mokgetsu also showed a hint of concern, seemingly worried for Konoha.
"Had the Hidden Mist really gone to war with Konoha so soon? Is it because of the Chunin Examination, or did Uchiha Madara use some means in secret?" Mokgetsu pondered continuously.
The events Might Guy encountered during the Third Ninja World War were unlike Kakashi's with distinct timing, as Kakashi had the information of becoming a Jonin at twelve, so Mokgetsu couldn't deduce whether the war between the Hidden Mist and Konoha was a natural progression or changed due to his influence.
Mokgetsu couldn't immediately determine how the Hidden Mist would wage war against Konoha.
Generally, after a war is declared, both sides would probe each other, not immediately going all out for a life-and-death battle. However, Konoha was still entangled with Hidden Cloud and Hidden Rock at this time, giving the Hidden Mist a chance to deploy its main force directly, spearheading an attack, which was possible.
Mokgetsu hoped the Hidden Mist would take a gradual approach; Might Guy was still not fully developed, and if things went unfortunate like the original work, encountering the Seven-Swords Ninja would be very troublesome.
He indeed couldn't instantly transport from central Konoha to the east or south coast of the Land of Fire.
The east of the Land of Fire has a very long coastline; coincidentally, the Land of Water is also to the east of the Land of Fire, making the best route for the Land of Water to invade the Land of Fire by directly taking a boat to the east coast.
The south of the Land of Fire is also by the sea, but compared to the east coast, it's much smaller and easier to defend, and the Land of Water would need to detour a long way to land on the south coast, taking more time.
As time passed, the meeting continued to progress.
Essentially, it was the high-level advisors angrily condemning the Hidden Mist Village's shamelessness, followed by Sarutobi Hiruzen speaking about the Will of Fire to inspire the villagers' spirit, and then discussing response plans.
Since the Hidden Mist Village hadn't officially attacked yet and was an island country at sea, there's not much Konoha could do for the moment except to strengthen the vigilance on the southeastern coastal defenses.
"Hiruzen, you should have followed my plan initially; this way, we could have gained quite a bit of benefit." Shimura Danzo said with an unhappy expression after the meeting.
The Hidden Mist Elders were in Konoha during the Chunin Examination, and Shimura Danzo didn't believe that the Hidden Mist Village would dare not to hand over things.
"Don't be too autocratic, you should also listen to my opinions," Shimura Danzo criticized.
Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled smoke silently, looking at Shimura Danzo with a speechless expression.
He indeed hadn't expected the Hidden Mist to declare war on Konoha so quickly, but if he followed Shimura Danzo's plan, even if the Hidden Mist didn't involve itself in the Ninja World affairs, it would've picked troubles with Konoha.
Furthermore, if he really were that autocratic, the Root Organization led by Shimura Danzo would have been directly disbanded. The Anbu is directly under the leadership of the Hokage, while Shimura Danzo's Root Organization was practically a small anbu managed solely by Shimura Danzo.
"The war has already been declared, there's no point in discussing this." Sarutobi Hiruzen put down his pipe to remind, signaling Shimura Danzo to get to the point.
Of course, Shimura Danzo wouldn't pointlessly reprimand him and surely had something to say.
"At this point, Konoha needs the Root Organization, a powerful Root Organization." Shimura Danzo expressed his thoughts in a deep voice.
When Shimura Danzo learned about the Hidden Mist's war declaration, he was first angry, wondering why the Hidden Mist, the most obscure among the Five Great Ninja Villages, came to trouble Konoha.
Anger was followed by joy, as this was an excellent opportunity to expand his Root Organization's power.
Facing such a predicament, if Sarutobi Hiruzen still restricted his Root Organization's growth, it wouldn't make sense, for everything was for Konoha's sake.
Sarutobi Hiruzen showed a thoughtful look and eventually nodded.
Under the current circumstances, utilizing every available power to face the potential crisis was essential; the Root Organization, led by Shimura Danzo, indeed had its merits in warfare, capable of contributing significantly to the war effort.
Moreover, he was, after all, the Hokage, and could find reasons to weaken it after the war ended, as Shimura Danzo's issues were numerous.
PS: This chapter is 5k, just a bit longer than usual. I had initially planned to write 8k, but something came up at home today, causing some delays.