CHAPTER 74(War On The Horizon)

Read auxiliary chapter World Info before starting the story.

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and changes etc)

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CHAPTER START---

"Uh...did I miss something, all the villages were hit by Akatsuki simultaneously, so do they think we attacked ourselves too?" Jin asks Shikakau, his knowledge of the world gone out the window at this point.

"The problem was...and I mean no disrespect when I say this, my predecessor's decision, particularly dealing with our Uchiha problem..." Shikaku explains, handing Jin a folder from his desk.

Opening the situation file and scanning the contents, Jin grimaces as he immediately realizes just how screwed they might be.

"Sasuke and Tobi were seen leaving the hidden cloud with the eight tails Jinchuriki captured... this happened weeks ago..." he thinks aloud while flipping through the information before Shikamaru elaborates further.

Shikamaru leans back in his chair as he explains, "Yeah, they likely planted the bombs while they were there, as the Raikage was about to send word to us the bombs went off, thanks to Unity Trading supplying the five great villages and their countries respective capitals with materials, medicine, food, water, and whatever else we need nobody can afford to outright show hostility because of the no-conflict clause. Losing Unity support right now is suicide for any of the large nations."

"So we've got until the cloud is back in form before they try to kill us?" Jin asks.

Shikaku sets his paperwork aside to give this meeting his full attention, "that unfortunately doesn't give us any time considering the main grain and ration facilities were destroyed in the other targets as well as barracks. We have maybe another two weeks before all the villages are fully repaired, we took the most damage by far but as the only village with a Biju as well as having you we're still the strongest in military."

"But," Shikamaru cuts in, "that means they'll all, aside from Suna, immediately take the chance to wipe us out. They won't even care about who gets the Kyuubi. If nobody has it then it's better than the enemy having it after all."

"Fuck, Sasuke really had to cause this much trouble for us... this bullshit wouldn't have just happened if he was an official missing-nin from the start," Jin grits out.

"Exactly why I immediately listed him as a missing-nin when I took my position as Kage, as much as some people disagreed..."

"Naruto?"

"Naturally, unfortunately, we can't afford to have a pair of Sharingan walking around, and unlike Lady Tsunade, I won't let one boy's friendship get everyone under my care killed, currently only a select few know about this new situation, however, counting the people in this room...Guy, Ibiki, Anko, Shizune, and the Anbu know. I'll be announcing it later today so everyone gets ready in case the summit doesn't go as planned..."

"Summit?"

"The Raikage...likely because he couldn't afford to piss of Unity, has called for a five Kage summit to deal with the Akatsuki problem, his request to us had an extra request, however..."

"Let me guess... he wants Sasuke dead right?" Jin groans.

"Worse," Shikaku starts, "he wants him alive to kill the traitor himself, the summit is in 6 days in the land of Iron and that's the deadline to bring Sasuke I'd bet, after the summit whatever gets decided can't be undone."

Shikaku's face was grim as he reached down to the side of his desk for a bottle of water and took a sip, releasing a deep sigh he tries to calm down from all this stress.

The room fell silent as Jin kept reading the documents in his hand, he wordlessly takes out a small scroll from his pouch and hands it over the Hokage without even looking away from the papers.

"Alright, so I've got 6 days to get Sasuke and drop him at the Raikage's feet then," he closes the file and hands it back to Shikaku.

"I'd ask if you can manage it...but, well, you're you," Shikaku says as he manages a small grin.

"Mhm, and who is gonna be your guard to deal with the pissed of Raikage, no offense but...from what I know you aren't the strongest Kage."

"That's why I'm taking someone much much stronger than me, Guy will be acting as my head guard, Shikamaru will be going as my advisor.

"Good choice... the village will be much weaker now but with the other villages just as weak we should be fine with both Guy and me gone..."

"That's not the only big change lately, a certain someone came back from his weeks of training in Mt. Myoboku with perfected sage mode."

"Hmmm, but you can't carry him because---"

"He'll definitely get loud when he sees the Raikage, I'm not taking that chance at all, Naruto will be tasked with defending the village while we're all gone, we lost too many good people," Shikaku grimaces as he thinks back to Pain's attack.

"How bad was it?" Jin asked, hesitation and uncertainty in his voice as he approached the avoided topic.

"Right... you left almost immediately after, so I guess you didn't see the list at the funeral, here," Shikaku pulls an ornate black and gold scroll from his desk," I just finished compiling that for the shinobi library, the Pain Attack Shinobi Memorial Scroll..."

Quietly opening the scroll, the weight and size of it made Jin grimace at all the lives Nagato would've brought back...he COULD have brought back, but his goals demand sacrifice.

Tsunade Senju

Jiraiya

Choza Akimichi

Inoichi Yamanaka

Kakashi Hatake

Iruka Umino...

The list went on and on and on and Jin frantically searched for one name in particular.

"Was Asuma hurt?"

Shikamaru immediately felt sick at the thought," sensei...won't be fighting for a while. He lost his left arm and needs a lot of time to heal, even now he can't leave his hospital bed..." he says with a grim expression.

'Glad I didn't save him just so he dies here...' Jin thinks as he closes up the list.

"Hmm, if that's all I've got a hunt to get to," Jin hands the memorial scroll back to Shikaku.

"Take anyone but the people I mentioned, the Samurai base is the meeting point, if you can find the Raikage's brother that would be good too, preferably alive."

"Yes Lord Hokage, I'll be heading home to resupply before I head back out, a month on the move burned through most of my things," Jin informs him with a small bow.

"Dismissed," Shikaku nods before he returns to his dreaded paperwork, even with his son helping him the logistics of rebuilding and feeding a village after Pain's attack was still too much.

Deciding to make a quick stop along the way to his thankfully spared home, Jin arrives at the new hospital building and follows the feeling of two familiar chakra signatures, unusually weak especially for it only being mid-day.

Entering through the main door, he sees Shizune with dark bags under her eyes directing her staff around, immediately noticing him she wordlessly nods down a corridor for him to go before returning to manage the people under her care.

Since Tsunade died the responsibility of managing the hospital has fallen onto her shoulders.

Following her nod, Jin walked down the hallways and made his way to the stairs before coming to a door at the end of the hallway.

With a gentle knock, he hears a familiar voice response within, "come in Naruto-kun."

Sliding the door open, Jin walks in to see Sakura and Ino sitting against the far wall on the floor, storage boxes stacked high in the room. Ino was fast asleep leaning onto Sakura's shoulder, both girls having deep, dark bags under their eyes, even by their chakra he could tell they were completely exhausted.

"Sorry, not Naruto. Were you expecting him?" Jin asks quietly as he enters the makeshift storage room, the beds had been cleared out to store more equipment days ago.

"He brings us lunch around this time every day, we... we've been pushing our limits. The number of patients is finally lowering but... so many, we...just," Sakura sounded as if she was about to cry just thinking about it.

As she spoke Jin moved the sleeping Ino into his lap and sat down beside her, "you did your best, you can't beat yourself up about that."

"Why not, you've been doing that," Ino's groggy voice quietly says as she stirs awake, taking a deep breath as she leans back against his chest making herself comfortable.

"I'm gonna go get us some coffee, we've still got half hour on our break..." Sakura makes herself scarce, sensing the tension in the air.

"You know that's not what I've been doing princess, I just have to do some things for the village to get back on its feet," Jin says quietly as he hugs her close to him.

"Is that why you didn't come to the funeral...or the ceremony at the memorial...or Lord 6th's coronation...OR WHY YOU CAN'T EVE LOOK ME IN THE EYES," she spins around and cups his face before gently lifting up his visor.

"That's not the same thing Ino," he hadn't called her by her name in so long, it felt as if he was miles away even as she was holding him close.

"What makes it so different, I felt weak, useless, and now I-I'm just trying to make up for it, so what's the difference between me and what you're doing?" her voice was cracking, desperate for any kind of reasoning.

"The difference is..." I let it happen? I wanted it to happen? I was waiting for it? Nothing he thought of would ever work out for him here," I was the one who COULD have stopped it all, but I failed, that's the difference," he still couldn't meet her eyes.

"Nobody blames you but you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know princess..." he looks into her blue eyes before leaning in for a long kiss.

After a moment they finally separated.

"First time in weeks I've seen you, what's the occasion?" Ino asks as she changes back to her previous position leaning against him facing the door.

"I just got back maybe half an hour ago, Hokage gave me a new mission already, I'm leaving after I head home to resupply."

"Anything big?"

"Something like that, without Tsunade protecting him, it's time I deal with Sasuke..."

Jin's words hang in the air for a long moment as Ino thinks about his words, not about him or her or god forbid Sasuke, but her best friend who she admittedly didn't know where the girl stood on the matter.

"Should I tell Sakura?" she was hesitant to ask.

"Doesn't matter, she can't stop it anyway," Jin casually remarks as the girl in question opens the door, two cups of coffee in hand.

"Got your favorite Ino, I can go get you one Jin just give me a second," Sakura says as she leans down to hand Ino a cup.

"Don't sweat it, I'm gonna go prep for my mission anyway, do me a favor and keep an eye on Ino for me Sakura, don't want her running herself too ragged alright," Jin says as they both rise to their feet.

"No problem, I'll keep her safe and healthy for you."

"Thanks, I'll see you girls in about two weeks," Jin gives ino a small kiss before he saunters out of the room.

20 minutes later, Jin is already packed and took a fresh shower, using his sage mode and sensory abilities he already found Sasuke, the traitor's chakra much much stronger and darker than ever before, almost a completely different person, almost.

'Zetsu is there too, must be the Akatsuki base... how the hell should I proceed anyway,' Jin thinks as he's leaping through the village towards the gate.

As he just barely makes it out of the village at a casual Chunin speed, still pondering how to deal with this tricky situation, completing his mission and still leaving enough targets for all the villages to focus on, he feels ten chakra signatures quickly approaching, one far ahead of the others, with a hint of senjutsu on it.

Stopping in his tracks, he stands on the dirt road waiting for his new least favorite blonde since Tsunade died, and barely a minute later, Naruto Uzumaki in his full Sage Mode attire flickers into a spot barely 15 feet from Jin, bright orange pigment around his eyes, frown on his face and arm folded.

'Even without Pa he still managed sage mode in a few weeks, I wonder if he has Rasenshuriken without Yamato allowing him to speedrun the training without the fox going crazy...' Jin ponders as he gives the boy a small grin.

"So...I like the getup, Pa offered me it but I made my own," Jin places his hands together, his personal large senjutsu scroll appearing on his back, his red jacket not dissimilar to Naruto's, "so what's this about?" Jin's expression was bored, his Rinnegan locked onto Naruto ready to act in an instant.

"Are you going after Sasuke?"

"Of course."

"Take me with you, let me talk to him," Naruto's eyes were fierce, his words a demand, not a plea.

"There is no talking this time Naruto, he dies at the end of this, you stay here and defend the village."

As Jin said this, the other Konoha 12 arrived around them, all but Shikamaru who was still busy.

Sakura and Ino looked a bit more lively thanks to their coffee but still needed sleep.

"I can't let you kill Sasuke Jin, he's my friend," Naruto's gaze hardened as he unfolded his arms, ready for action.

"If you stand against me you stand against your Hokage's orders Naruto, think VERY carefully before you move..."

Everyone's eyes widen at this, he hadn't told Ino this was an official mission, she thought it was just him wanting to deal with Sasuke, now nobody was completely sure what the hell was going on.

END CHAPTER---