81 War Council!
{Council Chambers, Administrative building, Konohagakure}
{7:02 PM, 3rd July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
The atmosphere in the room was solemn and everyone simply took their seats and waited for the meeting to start. Hiruzen was the last to arrive as more information through several channels was piling up, he had to collect the latest pieces of intel that he had before coming here. He took his seat and looked around the room.
The Konoha council chamber was just a room, with a circular seating arrangement. The room was reinforced with a lot of Uzumaki Fuinjutsu. There were semicircular tables in front of him all facing in his direction, in front of each seat the symbol of the clans was engraved.
Hiruzen looked at the two empty seats of the Senju and the Uchiha clan for a moment as he made sure everyone was here, after confirming the attendance, he looked at everyone and patiently explained the current situation.
"Yesterday during the second part of the chunin exams, Ren, now a missing nin but a former genin from Konoha killed Gaara of the Sand, the youngest son of the Youndaime Kazekage and also the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi."
Several murmurs went throughout the room as Shikaku asked, "And what is Sunagakure's response regarding this matter."
"...Two of our outposts along the borders were attacked today in retaliation. There were no casualties yet so the situation is not completely out of hand yet, unfortunately, Rasa is expected to put forward some unreasonable demands, that Konoha simply won't be fulfilling. Their stance is already quite clear with an unprovoked attack" Hiruzen finished his explanations for now.
"What would they demand, if we can stop the war from even beginning and the situation from escalating, then we should take it," Homura Mitokado spoke, he would be in the loop as he was one of Konoha's elders. But this time the situation happened too quickly for him to be included.
"Suna would likely be the head of Ren along with monetary compensation, unfortunately, Ren had already deserted the village yesterday. Along the way, he killed a Kusa and a Konoha genin team while escaping. I have already labeled him as a missing-nin this morning." Hiruzen replied.
While most people would not notice the abnormality in the way Hiruzen did things Danzo was not one of them. No matter how much of a saint Hiruzen wanted to portray himself as Danzo knew he also had a dark side. Konoha wouldn't have won 2 wars outnumbered if Hiruzen was so soft.
'He didn't immediately capture this genin, but why? it doesn't make sense. A genin is not important enough for him to make such drastic actions...' Danzo had heard rumors of Ren being another prodigy but he hadn't bothered investigating him, Ren was too old to be inducted into his unit so there was no point in investigating him beyond making sure he was born in Konoha, and there was no abnormality according to his hospital records.
"The Inuzuka clan would track him down just give the order Hokage-sama," Tsume spoke with righteous anger on her face, she couldn't see her village being harmed due to one genin's foolish endeavors.
"The ANBU are already tracking him so he will be caught soon enough..." Hiruzen spoke reassuring everyone, he could see the bad reputation that Ren would get from this. But aside from the civilians, no one would give him shit once his mission information comes to light after this situation blows over.
Choza looked at everyone nodding and condemning Ren for his actions and he was quite confused, he turned to look at Shikaku for some guidance and only received an 'I'll tell you later/this is a drag' look.
"What about Suna, since they are clearly provoking us, we need to retaliate as well, otherwise it would be the Kumo situation all over again," Haishi spoke, his voice was neutral but everyone could hear the dark undertone in it.
"As a precautionary response, a battalion will be assembled in the Jonin meeting tomorrow morning. We just need to secure our borders against Suna, no need to enter the Land of Rain and provoke Hanzo." Hiruzen spoke, he didn't notice Danzo twitch slightly at Hanzo's name.
The Land of Rain was a dead zone where no shinobi village dared to do any missions, Hanzo was a madman but he had the power to back up his arrogance.
'Though he died more silently than any shinobi of his caliber, at least there have been no moves made by the one with the 'eyes'.' Danzo thought as memories of a failed alliance with Hanzo came back to him.
He remembered the look devoid of any emotion on the redhead's face when he saw his friend die. Because of that incident, Danzo had always been cautious when dealing with the Land of Rain from that moment on but Amegakure had gone into isolation soon after.
The meeting soon devolved into a void of opinions regarding the war...
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{Room #207, Konoha Hospital, Konohagakure}
{7:02 PM, 3rd July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Naruto stared at Hinata's peaceful face as she rested, it had been almost a day since that incident and now it was scarring him a little bit. He looked at Sasuke's pale face and his hands gripped the bed tightly, the iron bar bent slightly from his tight grip and the whine of the bed broke him out of his thoughts.
...
"Ugh..." Hinata groaned as she slowly stirred, everything felt a little heavy as her head and vision swam, she could hear shuffling to her side as a warm hand gripped her hand.
"Hinata-chan?" Even in her half-unconscious state, Hinata could tell whose voice it was without a doubt. A small blush appeared on her pale face as color returned to her face. She opened her eyes only to find two orbs of pure blue looking at her with a scared look.
"I'm okay, Naruto-kun" Hinata spoke and gave the blond a weak smile. 6 months ago she would have been a shivering unconscious mess in this same situation, but now she could meet Naruto-kun's eyes without shying away.
Sasuke shuffled as he slowly came to life as well, his body trembled slightly as coughed a couple of times. When he came out of his unconscious state the last thing he expected was to hear Naruto ask, "Are you okay, teme?"
He suppressed a small chuckle as his eyes stared at the white ceiling of the room, he could not believe that all three of them had come out of that fight alive. The kunoichi they had fought, there was something wrong in her head.
'Who the fuck goes around biting other people,' Sasuke thought. His hand twitched as he rubbed his neck, he was still feeling a little woozy from the fight.
While at the back of his mind, he was relieved that every one of them was okay, he recalled the helplessness he felt in front of that kunoichi.
'She was stronger than Kakashi and anyone I have ever seen... Who was she?'
As the thought kept swirling in his mind, he felt Naruto bonk his head, he glared at the offending blond who grinned happily, "So you didn't go stupid on me, good, good, we have to take revenge on that... lady?"
...
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AN- Flashback to team 7's new fight against Orochimaru? Or should we focus on Ren?
P.S- Read 21 Chapters ahead at Pàtreon.com/Version_401.
