Chapter 25: Meeting Kakashi
So after deploying Jiraiya, as the commander of the hidden stone front and called Tsunade, Orochimaru, Minato and Usagi to the village. With the hidden stone backing down, the hidden sand didn't dare to make unnecessary moves for the time being. So even after the official beginning of the war, the hidden leaf managed to achieve a temporary victory.
...
Meeting Kakashi
Fighting in a shinobi war is more complex than it was ever shown.
Unlike the fourth great shinobi war which ended in just 2 days, the great shinobi wars before it lasted for years.
The first great shinobi war, fought under Tobirama Senju officially lasted for 1 year and 9 months before it ended with the overwhelming victory of the hidden leaf.
The cause of the first great shinobi war was simple. After forming villages, ninjas were becoming too powerful. So daimyos of different nations wanted to stagnate their continuous growth. On top of that, apart from the hidden leaf, all the other major Nations lacked the vast amount of resources and naturally good, fertile land that the land of fire had. So under the support and influence of the Daimyo of the land of lightning, the hidden cloud village had started the first great shinobi war against the land of fire and the hidden leaf village. But soon the Daimyo of land of lightning understood that without proper power waging war was only foolish. But by that time it was already too late. Due to the influence of Hashirama and Tobirama, the hidden stone decided to ally with the hidden leaf. In the end, even without any official alliance, the hidden sand, the hidden cloud and the Hidden mist fought against the hidden stone and the Hidden leaf before they were defeated thoroughly. Even without people like Hashirama or Madara, Tobirama in his prime along with the alliance of Senju and Uchiha were unstoppable back then. Not to mention the support from the land of Whirlpool also helped the hidden leaf in seizing the victory. But it was also the war which ended the glory days of the hidden leaf. After the death of Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi took the position of the hokage and focused on maintaining the status quo outside the village and preserving the fragile peace. It would have been fine if Hiruzen had retained his pure heart without any dark spots. But it wasn't the case. After coming into power, Hiruzen not only understood its value but also got addicted to it. That's why he gave his close friends very important positions of the hidden leaf. On top of that, the racist ideals of his teacher also affected him to a great degree.
So when the second great shinobi war began on old grudges, the leaf village started to decline rapidly. The second great shinobi war lasted for almost 6 years. And by the end of it, the Senju clan had almost gone extinct and the Uzumaki clan was annihilated. Obviously all of this was not a coincidence. Even if Hiruzen was not involved in any of these incidents, after everything was done he had learnt about his bosom buddy Danzo's involvement in these incidents.
But Hiruzen didn't want to throw away Danzo. First of all, he needed the man to do all of his dirty work. Secondly, Danzo was the only one who knew that he was bisexual and with whom he can have fun. And more importantly Danzo was the perfect scapegoat that can be sacrificed in the worst case scenario. That's why Danzo has gone unpunished so far. But coming back to the topic of War, neither the first or the second great shinobi war was won without a price. Can't live, shinobi had died in those wars. The third great shinobi war was not an exception either. A lot of shinobi from civilian backgrounds have already died.
That's why, after the hidden stone village declared a ceasefire, to lessen the pressure from the shinobi at the frontline, the hidden leaf allowed a majority of them to return to the village while replacing them with a small amount of shinobi to keep an eye on the border.
So with the homecoming of so many shinobi the village became lively. But it wasn't necessarily a good thing for a few people. Even without doing much in the frontline, Tsunade, Minato and Usagi became famous for their victory over the four tails jinjuriki. Especially when Orochimaru decided to give the majority of the credit to Usagi for their victory in the frontline, she became a rising star in the village overnight. But the same thing cannot be said about Orochimaru and Sakumo Hatake.