59

The War Begins

"I'm bored," Kotetsu complained as he sat beside a knee-high table, legs crossed as he leaned forward.

Izumo sighed. "Do you really have to keep saying that?"

"I can't help it. There's nothing to do."

"You're not the only one who thinks that way you know. We're all the way out here in the boonies. The nearest village is over an hour away, and that's if we run. However, we have a duty to perform here. Regardless of how boring it is, we can't neglect this mission because of something like boredom. You should learn to be more responsible."

Kotetsu and Izumo were on a mission near the outskirts of Hi no Kuni on the border next to Oto no Kuni and Yu no Kuni. Even though it was called a mission, it was really just border patrol. They, along with two other chunins and two jonins—making for a total of six—were charged with guarding and patrolling the border between these two nations and their own.

It was a thankless, boring job.

"I wish we had something to do," Kotetsu moaned as he placed his hands on the floor and leaned back.

"Quit complaining. We're all bored out of our minds," grunted the jonin in command of him and Izumo. He was a serious man named Tatsuo. With his square face that looked to be carved from stone, tall stature, strong build, and scarred visage, he could probably give Ibiki Morino a run for his money.

"The least they could do is let us spruce this place up," Kotetsu kept moaning as he glanced at his drab surroundings.

The building they were located in could scarcely be called a base. It was a single story building buried in the ground. It was meant to blend in with the surrounding forest. While the outside was built in the shape of a boulder and had vines and moss growing on it, the inside was a very plain one-room building. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all the same drab gray color. There was no television, no bookshelf, no nothing. All they had was a table for meals, a fridge where their food was stored, a kitchen to make food in, and a workstation where the two jonin wrote reports. There was also a bird cage with several birds. That was it. There was literally nothing else.

"This isn't your personal den, you miscreant," Tatsuo snapped. "This base was made solely for the purpose of watching our borders. We only need to focus on our jobs, keeping an eye on our neighbors in case they try something funny."

"I know that," Kotetsu grumbled.

"If you know that, then stop complaining."

As Tatsuo went on grumbling about how he wished he had more competent teammates, Kotatsu thought about giving the man a retort, but he decided not to. There was no sense in antagonizing his team leader… well, there was no sense in angering him anymore than he already had.

Heaving a big breath, he stood up and wandered over to the fridge, opened in, and took out a water bottle. As he guzzled down the water, Izumo wandered up to him.

"Hey, man. Could you lay off the complaining?" his partner in crime asked. "I don't like being stuck here anymore than you do, but we are still on a mission. Complaining isn't going to make our situation any better, you know?"

"I know." Kotetsu sighed as he pulled the bottle from his mouth. "I just can't help him. Every day it's the same thing: We wander around the border for several hours, and then come back here and do nothing for several more hours. We've been here for nearly a month and nothing has happened. At this point, I almost wish someone would attack us just so I don't have to feel this intense boredom."

"You shouldn't say something like that," Izumo muttered. "I think we've already had enough troubles to deal with, what with Akatsuki and all that."

"I suppose."

Kotetsu took another chug from his water bottle. As he was drinking, Tatsuo paced back and forth across the floor, his arms crossed and a fierce scowl on his face.

"Intetsu and the others are late," the Jonin grumbled. "It shouldn't take this long to return from patrol."

"Maybe they ran into some trouble," Izumo offered.

Tatsuo frowned at him. "Let us hope not."

About an hour later, the three of them were forced out of their thoughts when the door to their base burst open. Kotetsu received the shock of his life when Kiala, a woman with brown hair and eyes, stumbled through the entrance and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. The sound of her striking the ground produced a surprisingly wet sound. He realized, belatedly, that it was because her body was covered in wounds. Her Chunin flak jacket was torn, cuts and gashes ran along her body, and the blood leaking from those wounds soon formed a puddle underneath her.

"Kiala!" Tatsuo shouted as he rushed over to the woman. He knelt down and turned Kiala over as Kotetsu and Izumo jolted into action and began grabbing medical supplies. While they were doing that, Tatsuo tried to speak with the women, who's labored breathing mixed with pained rasps. "Kiala, what happened out there?!"

"K-Kumo…" Kiala coughed, blood spewing from her mouth and down her front. "We were attacked… by Kumo shinobi!"

The words caused everyone present to freeze like they'd been struck by an ice jutsu. Tatsuo was the one who recovered first.

"That's impossible. We're allied with Kumo… aren't we?"

No one answered his question. It wasn't like Kotetsu and Izumo knew the answer, and Kiala was already so weak it didn't look like she could talk anymore. She'd probably used all the strength she had left to run all this way and let them know what was happening.

"Kotetsu, help me patch up her injuries," Tatsuo ordered. "Izumo, send a message to the Hokage. Tell her what's happening here."

"Sir!" Kotetsu and Izumo shouted as they got to work.

Kneeling next to Tatsuo and Kiala, Kotetsu opened a medical kit containing numerous supplies. There were anesthetics, disinfectant, bandages, soldier pills, blood replenishing pills, and even a sewing needle and some thread for stitching up injuries.

The first step toward healing someone is stemming the flow of blood. However, there were far too many wounds for that, so Kotetsu mashed up some blood replenishing pills into something Kiala could drink. After all, it didn't look like she had the strength to chew. Meanwhile, Tatsuo used disinfectant to clean her wounds, then anesthetized her before using a basic fire jutsu to cauterize the cuts they could see.

"It looks like there are even more injuries than I can see like this," Tatsuo muttered. "We're going to have to strip her." He paused and cocked his head. Kotetsu wondered what he was doing, but then he also paused in mashing the blood replenishing pills. He didn't realize what was wrong at first, but then Tatsuo said, "All the animals have stopped making noise."

Izumo, who looked like he had finished sending the message off with a messenger bird, also stopped what he was doing.

The fact that the animals were no longer making noise was an obvious cause for concern. Generally, there were always animals creating background music that they could hear even from inside this base. Birds would sing, frogs would ribbit, and crickets would chirp. The only time animals went quiet was when they sensed danger.

That could only mean one thing…

Kotetsu grabbed two large kunai blades bandaged to his back. Although they were called kunai blades, they weren't really kunai. Each blade was nearly half a meter in length. The reason it was called a kunai blade was because it vaguely resembled one and even had a ring at the end of the hilt like a kunai. However, these blades were curved, elongated, and had only a single edge, making both its appearance and function closer to that of a sword.

He handed one of the swords to Izumo, who took it and moved so they were standing back to back. Tatsuo set Kiala back on the ground and stood protectively over her.

Not a sound could be heard outside. Kotetsu strained his ears to listen, but he could hear nothing except for the insanely fast beating of his own heart. It was a good thing he had Izumo with him. Had he not been with his partner, this sort of tension would have made him panic.

"What do you think, Tatsuo?" asked Kotetsu when nothing happened after several minutes. "Should we go outside and scout the area? Reconnaissance?"

Wearing a frown on his face, Tatsuo opened his mouth to answer.

He would never get the chance.

The ceiling exploded the very next moment, and a large panther, black and crackling with energy, charged into the base. Kotetsu and Izumo tensed as the creature released a soundless scream. Arcs of black lightning shot from its body and flew toward them and Tatsuo, but the Jonin in their group reacted quickly.

"Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall)!"

Tatsuo slammed his hands on the ground and a wall rose up before them. However, the black lightning followed the same principles as regular lightning. It was strong against Earth. The lightning blasted right through the wall. Fortunately, Kotetsu and Izumo were able to leap out of the way. Even Tatsuo was quick enough to grab Kiala and jump away before they could be struck.

As their jonin leader set Kiala against the wall, Kotetsu and Izumo went through a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu!"

The two unleashed a simultaneous fireball jutsu that slammed into the black panther made of lightning. While lightning wasn't weak against fire, fire could still overpower lightning, and a collaboration jutsu like this was several times stronger than the black panther.

It was a good thing the ceiling had been destroyed, or all of the hot air and wind pressure from the explosion would have had nowhere to go. Kotetsu and Izumo covered their faces as the intense blast of scorching winds pushed against them before dissipating. When the attack died down, the black panther was gone, and all that remained was crater.

However, they couldn't rest just yet.

A man had appeared before them. He was fairly tall, possessed dark skin, and a slightly bulbous nose. His black eyes retained a bored look, though Kotetsu also thought he saw reluctance in his gaze. He had shaggy white hair that covered his left eye, and he was wearing the traditional garb of a Kumogakure shinobi. On top of that, the characters for water and lightning were tattooed on his right and left shoulders respectively.

"I expected that last attack to kill you," the man mumbled with a sigh. "I really don't want to fight against anyone."

"You're… Darui," Izumo stated. "You're a jonin from Kumogakure known for possessing the Ranton Kekkei Genkai!"

"You've heard of me?" Darui said with feigned surprise. "Well, that's dull."

"What are you doing here?" Tatsuo asked as he pulled a pair of kunai from his ninja pouch. "Has Kumogakure decided to betray Konoha?"

Darui sighed. "I suppose you could say that. Don't get me wrong, I think betraying Konoha is a stupid idea, especially when our alliance was going so well, but… well, our Raikage has given us his orders. As fellow shinobi, I'm sure you understand what that means."

A shinobi's duty was to loyally follow the orders of his or her kage. Going against a kage's orders was the same as going against the village. Kotetsu, Izumo, and Tatsuo understood this all too well, just as they understood that if the Hokage ordered them to attack Kumogakure, they would have no choice but to obey or become missing ninja.

"We might understand why you are doing this, but don't expect any forgiveness from us," Kotetsu declared.

Darui's smile was resigned. "Don't worry. I won't."

Before a standoff could take place, Kotetsu and Izumo rushed forward, while Tatsuo provided support by throwing several kunai. Darui grabbed the massive cleaver sword on his back and pulled it off. The broad sword was fairly long and had three hinges running along the blade.

Kotetsu attacked from the front as Izumo moved behind Darui. His sword clashed against the massive cleaver. As sparks flew, he immediately knew he wouldn't be able to win in a battle of strength. Not only was Darui not budging, but he didn't even look like he was trying. Fortunately, he wasn't fighting this guy alone.

Izumo tried to impale Darui from behind, having slipped around the man while he was engaging Kotetsu, but their opponent must have already predicted this.

Darui grabbed the flat part of his sword. Now with both hands on the blade, he shoved Kotetsu back, spun around, and knocked Izumo's blade aside. Then, as Izumo stumbled forward, the man gripped the handle with both hands, channeled lightning chakra through it, and swung. His blade carved straight through Izumo, or so it seemed until a log appeared in the Chunin's place.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

While Izumo and Kotetsu engaged Darui, Tatsuo went through a series of hand seals, sucked in a lungful of air, and released a massive burst of flame. He must have used a lot of chakra. The technique was even bigger than the one Kotetsu and Izumo had created with their combined attack.

Perhaps sensing that he couldn't overpower this one, Darui leapt into the air and avoided the jutsu. The fireball struck the wall and destroyed what was left of their base. Kotetsu, Izumo, and Tatsuo with Kiala in his arms, were also forced to leap out of the base and into the trees.

The two forces were now standing on the branches. Several meters of distance separated them. Darui had put his cleaver onto his back again, but neither Kotetsu nor Izumo made a move. This man was a Jonin like Tatsuo. A simple attack wouldn't be enough to take him down.

"What should we do, leader?" asked Kotetsu as he glared at their enemy.

His answer did not come in the form of words, but in a scream instead. He and Izumo looked back. Their eyes bulged as they looked at the four, long, nail-like objects protruded from their Jonin leader's chest. Tatsuo dropped Kiala, who fell to the ground with a sharp crack, and then the nails were pulled from his back. He tottered forward, and then fell from the branch as well, striking the ground head first.

The person who had appeared behind Tatsuo was also familiar to Kotetsu. This young woman, whose blonde hair was long, straight, and bound taut with bandages, had lived in Konoha for quite some time. It was Yugito Nii. However, something seemed wrong. The young woman who would so often converse with them at the front gate when she went on a mission no longer possessed the smile she'd become known for. Her eyes were dead. They were emotionless enough that Kotetsu felt a chill run down his spine.

"There's… no way… Yugito… why?" asked Kotetsu.

She said nothing.

"Ranton: Reiza Sakasu (Storm Release: Laser Circus)!"

Several beams shot from Darui, who had used their shock to chain several hand seals together. Kotetsu couldn't count the number of beams being blasted at him and Izumo. It was bright enough that he almost felt blinded. Even though he was shocked, his body quickly moved with the unconscious thought of instinct. However, as he and Izumo leapt off the branch, the beams curved, altering their course to follow them.

A scream erupted from Kotetsu as several beams struck him in the chest. The attack was so powerful that each beam easily tore through his body. It felt like his insides were being burned.

As he fell to the ground, Kotetsu tried to fight against the darkness crowding around his vision. He blinked once. Someone was standing above him, a blonde-haired beauty surrounded by blue flames. His vision dimmed. Then Yugito Nii slashed down with her claws and gouged out his throat.

XoX

Darui dropped to the forest floor, landing in a crouch. He looked over at Izumo. The chunin was lying against a tree, having somehow managed to lean on it before dying, his head lowered and sightless eyes staring at the ground. Next he glanced over to Tatsuo and Kiala. Both of them were obviously dead. Tatsuo had been impaled through the heart by Yugito's claws. The woman had already been knocking on death's door, but the impact when she struck the ground had killed her. Then he looked at Kotetsu. Not only was his body full of holes from Darui's own jutsu, but his throat had been slashed open by Yugito.

The young woman in question was cleaning her claws off, her expression nonchalant. It was disquieting. While Yugito didn't act any differently than she normally did, the fact that she could kill these Konoha shinobi so easily disturbed him for multiple reasons.

"Hey, Yugito," he grabbed the woman's attention. "Do you know why the Raikage suddenly decided to go to war with Konoha?"

Yugito shook her head. "I don't, but does it really matter? We're shinobi. Our only job is to follow the orders of our Raikage. We don't need to worry about the hows and whys."

That was a very Yugito response, but at the same time, he sensed some dissonance to her words. It was like the words she was speaking didn't match her own feelings on the matter.

"Well… I suppose there's nothing we can do now." Darui looked at the corpses lying on the ground. "We're already committed to this dull course of action."

"Right, so now that the way is clear, let's get back to the main army," Yugito said, turning around and beginning their walk back toward their forces, which were waiting inside Oto no Kuni.

As Darui wondered why Oto hadn't attacked them for using their nation to gain a foothold in Konoha, he didn't miss the tears leaking from Yugito's eyes, though the woman herself seemed to have not noticed.

XoX

An emergency meeting had been called by the Hokage. Since it was a meeting meant for everyone of Chunin rank and above, it was not taking place in the Hokage's office, which was much too small. Another venue had been set up. The large space was easily able to contain several thousand people.

Naruto was standing beside Kakashi and Sakura, who he'd spotted upon entering. There were so many people that he was probably lucky to have found even them. It was honestly thanks to their hair. Kakashi's spiky silver hair was easily recognizable, as was Sakura's mop of bright pink.

"I don't suppose either of you know what this is about," Naruto said.

Kakashi shook his head as he flipped a page of his book, Icha Icha Makeout, while Sakura crossed her arms and said, "I don't have a clue, but I imagine it's something serious, given how every ninja in Konoha above Genin rank has been summoned."

Naruto had been hoping Sakura would know something. She was Tsunade's apprentice, so he figured she might have some inside knowledge, but he guessed things didn't work out like that. She primarily worked at the hospital when she wasn't on missions. It was unlikely she'd have close contact with Tsunade these days.

"Kakashi, my youthful rival!" An exuberant shout suddenly made everyone except Kakashi look up as Gai broke through the crowd to stand before them. "This is a most unexpected meeting, isn't it? Why, young Lee and I were just returning from a mission when we suddenly got the call to come here. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"No," Kakashi said in a bored voice as Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten wandered up to them. "I'm afraid I don't know either."

"That's too bad," Gai said, though he didn't appear that disappointed.

"Tenten," Naruto greeted.

"Hey." Tenten smiled at him. "I see you're back from your mission. How was… what's wrong?" she asked when Naruto grimaced.

"I'll tell you later," Naruto said as Tsunade finally appeared before them.

She stood on a stage elevated several dozen centimeters above the ground floor, allowing her to be seen even in the far back. Naruto, who stood near the front, could see her more clearly than the others. While the woman projected an aura of strength and confidence, the bags under her eyes spoke of exhaustion. He imagined she hadn't been sleeping well since Naruto had returned with news of Jiraiya's death.

"We have a grave situation on our hands," Tsunade said without preamble. As always, Shizune stood by the Hokage's side. "We just received a report from our border patrol along Oto no Kuni and Yu no Kuni that several Kumogakure ninja attacked the border patrol's base. Furthermore, we received another report that Takigakure was attacked by shinobi from Iwagakure. While they were able to successfully fend them off, the Takigakure village leader sent a report claiming an army of several thousand Iwa shinobi passed through the border toward Hi no Kuni."

A wave of unease swept through the crowd. Naruto strained his ears as everyone began muttering amongst each other, though it was too jumbled for him to hear individual conversations. By this point, Kakashi had closed his book, put it in his pouch, and was staring at the Hokage with a serious look.

"Do we know if Kumo has gathered an army similar to Iwa?" he asked.

"We do not know that." Tsunade shook her head. "However, we believe it's safe to assume they have. That said, right now we do not have enough information to make any decisions."

"But it was confirmed that Kumo attacked and annihilated one of our border patrols, correct?" asked Neji.

"Correct," Tsunade confirmed. "Of that there is no doubt."

More murmurs swept through the crowd. Meanwhile, a cold chill swept through Naruto.

"This doesn't make any sense," he mumbled.

"What?" asked Tenten.

Ignoring her for the moment, Naruto stepped forward. "Lady Hokage, doesn't this seem strange? While our hostilities with Iwa have always been present, we've made great inroads in our alliance with Kumo. Why would they attack us now?"

Tsunade hesitated to answer, which made Neji step forward. "Perhaps they are finally showing their true colors. Kumo has always been a greedy nation that has coveted the many Kekkei Genkai Konoha possesses, including the Byakugan. My own father was a victim of their schemes. Maybe their alliance was just that, a scheme to make us drop our guard."

Naruto shook his head. "That's what doesn't make sense. If it was a scheme to make us drop our guard so they could kidnap Kekkei Genkai users, they wouldn't have launched an attack on our borders. They would have used the alliance to sneak a few ninja in, quietly kidnapped our shinobi, and then left before we could do anything. Their actions here are counter productive."

Neji looked like he wanted to argue, but he paused and furrowed his brow as though seeing Naruto's point. It was true. Now that Konoha was aware of what happened here, stealing Kekkei Genkai users was going to be much harder. That meant their purpose was something else.

"You bring up a good point," Neji said at last. "I retract my earlier statement. What they are doing right now doesn't make much sense."

"Whatever the case may be," Tsunade began again before anyone else could speak, "the fact remains that we do not have enough information about the current situation to make any informed decisions. I will be putting all of our forces on a state of high alert. Furthermore, several of your squads will be receiving orders to do reconnaissance. We also need to deal with Iwa. According to Shibuki of Takigakure, Iwa's forces number several thousands. However, I suspect those are only the forces he was able to see. Iwa is also bordered by Kusa no Kuni and Ame no Kuni."

Tsunade paused to allow this knowledge to sync in. Naruto glanced at his fellow shinobis' faces as they, like him, realized how serious the situation had become.

"I'll be giving all of you your orders at some point, so remain on standby and await further instructions," Tsunade finished.

While everyone responded with a resounding "Yes, Lady Hokage!" Naruto could not help but notice how unsettled the words sounded. Iwa was bringing an army into their country, and Kumo attacked their border and may also have an army on the way. He didn't say anything, but it looked like this was the beginning of another shinobi war, though he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

XoX

Naruto stood in front of the kitchen counter, kneading dough with his knuckles to make it stretch out. Once stretched and long, he twisted the dough up, grabbed both ends, began stretching it even more, and then lifted the dough and slapped it against the counter like someone playing jump rope before twirling it all around and repeating the process.

He was making ramen with homemade noodles. Old Man Tuchi had taught him how to do this. By twirling and twisting the dough, he could exponentially enhance its elasticity. The dough spun, slapped against the counter, and twirled around until it looked like two snakes entwined around each other. Once it was ready, he set it all on the counter and began cutting it.

While he was doing that, Tenten and Akane were sitting together at the kitchen table, quietly conversing about something. Naruto didn't know what they were talking about. He'd only introduced them a few minutes before stepping into the kitchen, but at least they weren't killing each other. That was a good start.

Tenten had been pretty surprised to find out that not only was the Kyuubi not inside of him anymore, but that the smoking hot redhead was, in fact, the creature who had nearly destroyed Konoha when Naruto was first born. It had taken the girl a good five minutes to pick her jaw up off the floor. Immediately after she had, however, Naruto found himself bombarded with questions. He'd done his best to answer them, but he was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer number and speed they came at him. Akane had been kind enough to field the questions for him.

One he finished cutting all the dough into several long strands, it was time to pull. Basically, he rolled them in some flower, and then began stretching it into what would become multiple noodles. One noodle became two, four, eight, and so on. He did this with each strand, making exactly 128 noodles with each. After which he cooked them.

He had to get pretty creative for the cooking part. Naruto didn't have an oil fryer like the old man did, so instead he used a pot, creating each batch of noodles separately. He put the finished noodles in a bowl, which he served up with Miso, added some greens, some chopped up uzumaki, and whatever vegetables he had on hand. Now with three bowls of homemade ramen in hand, Naruto wandered over to the table.

The two women immediately became silent when he approached, causing him to frown.

"I don't know what you two are talking about, but don't stop on my account," Naruto said as he set a bowl in front of them each. The chop sticks were already on the table. "Please keep talking. You know what they say: Sharing is caring."

"Sorry, Naruto, but women need their secrets," Akane said with a smile.

"Well, I'm pretty sure those secrets were about me," he returned with a smile of his own. "Or were those furtive glances you kept stealing while you thought I wasn't looking something you do to everyone you meet?"

"Obviously, it's something I do to everyone I meet." Akane sniffed. "You just happen to be the only person I have the pleasure of seeing every day."

"Please stop, you two." Tenten moaned as she broke her chopsticks. "That back and forth you're doing is going to annoy me."

"What's wrong with it?" asked Naruto as he swirled noodles around with his chopsticks. Akane had already taken her first bite. He felt his chest swell when her eyes lit up and she took a second.

"Everything," Tenten murmured. "First, it makes you two sound like an old married couple." She slurped up some noodles, paused, and then finished swallowing. "These are good."

"Thanks," Naruto responded in a cheery tone. "Now, you were saying?"

"Right." Twirling the chopsticks in her hand, Tenten continued. "Second, I feel completely left out when you do that."

"Fair point," Naruto admitted.

"What's the third point?" asked Akane.

"There isn't one," Tenten said. "Just those two."

Naruto and Akane ate their food and pondered those words for a moment before deciding to just accept them. Everyone was hungry anyway.

He had to admit that while his noodles weren't the best, they were still quite delicious. They were firm and soaked up the flavor from the broth quite well. Certainly, they were nowhere near Old Man Tuchi's ramen. However, Naruto also hadn't been making ramen for fifty plus years. For someone who only started recently, his stuff wasn't bad.

"For your information, I was informing Akane of everything that Lady Tsunade told us," Tenten replied.

"And what do you think?" asked Naruto.

Akane paused with the chopsticks halfway to her lips. She flicked her eyes back and forth between the two of them, then sighed and said, "do I need to have an opinion about such an inane matter?" before she finished bringing the ramen to her mouth.

"Well… I suppose you don't have to," he admitted. "But you have a lot of experience with matters like this, right? I'm sure you've seen countless wars."

"I have," Akane admitted. "And I suspect this one will be no different from all the others I've seen."

"But don't you think it's strange?" asked Tenten. "Konoha and Kumo are supposed to be allies now. It's odd that they would attack us when our relationship had finally become so stable."

"Not really." Akane shrugged. "You humans are always stabbing each other in the back for the most inane reasons. Power. Land. Resources. The ability to dominate and subjugate those weaker than yourself. Humans have and always will desire these things. It is an inescapable truth that I accepted a long time ago."

Akane's words really had a way of killing the mood. They were filled with a cynicism that neither of the two admittedly bright-eyed shinobi had. Even Naruto, who had experienced some pretty horrible things in his life, if he did say so himself, could not fathom her words.

"Well, I think it's strange," Tenten muttered.

Dinner was ate mostly in silence after that, and when they were done, Naruto took the dishes into the kitchen and created a Shadow Clone to clean them. He spoke with Tenten some more while his clone loudly complained. However, Tenten needed to get a good night's rest in since there was no telling what tomorrow would bring. Chances were good they would all need to sleep so they were prepared for whatever missions Tsunade decided to send them on tomorrow.

That night, Naruto was dressed in boxers and nothing else. Akane, perhaps still unused to sleeping in actual clothes, had gone nude. She lay against him, holding him close as though he were a pillow. Her eyes were closed, her breathing was even, and it looked like she had fallen asleep.

He knew better.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'm worried about Yugito."

"Hmm…" Akane stirred slightly, but it was only so she could caress his bare chest. "The jinchurikki of the Nibi. If I'm not mistaken, she is a Kumogakure shinobi, yes? And they are the people who launched a surprise attack on Konoha?"

"That's right. Them and Iwagakure."

"I don't know that one," Akane admitted. "But you are concerned about whether or not you'll have to fight her?"

"Not just that." Thinking for a moment, Naruto allowed his eyes to trail a crack on his ceiling. It went all way to the wall before disappearing. "My biggest concern is that something has happened to her. I honestly can't see Yugito agreeing to fight against us. I mean, she spent so much time here, and she and I became so close. Would she really be willing to fight us?"

"Hard to say, but she is a shinobi, so I'm sure she will loyally obey her ninja village even if it means betraying someone she cares about. Isn't that what it means to be a ninja?"

While Akane's words were cynical beyond anything he'd ever heard, Naruto couldn't deny them. Ninja were and always had been weapons to wage war. They were raised in their village, taught how to kill from a young age, and trained to be loyal to the village, to put the village above everything else.

Yugito was a loyal ninja. If her kage told her to betray Konoha, she would do it, even if she didn't like it. That thought put a damper on his feelings.

"What will you do if she is an enemy?" asked Akane.

I… don't know," Naruto admitted softly.

"Hmm." Humming, Akane nuzzled her nose into his shoulder. "Well, whatever decision you make, I will be there to support you. I've decided to stick by your side even if the seal is no longer keeping us together, so I'll help you if I can."

"Thanks, Akane. That means a lot to me."

"It had better."

While he felt only slightly reassured, Akane's words still soothed him. Even if the situation reached that worst case scenario, even if he had to fight against someone he loved, at least he had Akane's help. Perhaps with her aid, he could avoid tragedy even if the worst case scenario did happen.

He fell asleep with those thoughts in mind.

XoX

Another mass meeting had been called by Tsunade. Once more gathering in the large room where all of Konoha's ninja rank Chunin and above stood, the woman in charge faced them all with the somber eyes of a leader prepared for war.

"I received several reports last night," Tsunade began. "Kumo's forces have entered our border and set up a base outside of a small town called Taizuki Kei. It doesn't look like they've harmed any of the citizens, but their numbers are greater than we expected. Our last estimated report put their numbers at one thousand ninja."

Soft murmurs escaped all of the ninja present except for a few like Kakashi and Naruto, who were once more standing beside the members of Team Gai and Sakura. With them were several other members of the Rookie Nine. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino stood close by, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was also present. Both were with their respective Jonin senseis.

"What's more," Tsunade continued, raising her voice just slightly, "Iwa has has finally encroached on our border as well. They've holed themselves up in a ravine located in a remote region of Hi no Kuni. We've finally gotten a clear estimate on their numbers. It's three thousand ninja."

Naruto sucked in a breath as even more uncertain mutterings sprang from the people around him.

Konoha had a grand total of 5,000 ninja within their forces, but that was only if they were willing to include the genin, who made up more than 60% of their ninja force. Becoming a Chunin was difficult. It required participating in the Chunin Exams and being promoted based on one's merits. Becoming a Jonin was oftentimes even more difficult.

The fact that Iwa had brought so many forces to bare told him one of two things: Either they had far more elite ninja at their disposal than anyone realized, or they were bolstering their ranks with Genin. Naruto was not sure which of those he would rather believe.

"We do not have the forces to meet both Iwa and Kumo," Tsunade announced. "However, I sent a message last night to Suna and Kiri and received a reply this morning. Both of them have agreed to help us. Suna is going to meet us on the border of Kawa no Kuni, where our forces will combine in order to confront Iwa's army. Because their army is far greater than Kumo's, I plan on sending most of our forces to face off against Iwa."

Naruto glanced around at the ninja surrounding him, wondering which ones would be sent to meet up with Suna. Would he be among them? Part of him thought it would be nice because he'd get to see Temari and Gaara again, but he also wanted to be on the force that confronted Kumo. Of course, his reasons for wanting to confront Kumo were entirely selfish as well.

"Do we know if Kumo and Iwa have formed an alliance?" asked Kakashi.

"We do not," Tsunade answered immediately. "In fact, judging from their erratic behavior and lack of coordination, we believe that they are not allied with each other. That said, these two forces attacking at the same time is too much to be a mere coincidence."

"Then you think someone is manipulating these events?" Naruto asked.

"It is entirely possible, and we certainly can't leave it out." Tsunade paused, sighed, and then continued. "However, we have no conclusive evidence that this is true either."

Naruto frowned as he thought about the situation, and more specifically the lack of information they had. He'd learned how important information was thanks to Jiraiya. They currently knew nothing about the current forces beyond numbers and guesswork. What's more, they only had numbers and nothing else. They didn't know who those forces were comprised of, what they should watch out for, or even what Kumo and Iwa were planning.

And if there was a force working in the shadows, then it meant they knew even less.

"I'll be dividing all of you into two divisions," Tsunade announced. "Your division will determine where you go. Furthermore, I'll be choosing first and second commanders for each division. First Division will be traveling toward Kawa no Kuni to meet up with Suna's forces. Second Division will meet up with Kiri's forces at Kifka, the next closest city to Taizuki Kei. Maito Gai, you'll be in charge of First Division. Neji is your second in command."

"Leave it to me, Lady Hokage," Gai said, snapping off a salute as he grinned. It was good to see that not even a war could affect the flamboyant man. Even his teeth were still sparkling as he smiled.

"I'll do my best to serve you, Lady Hokage." Neji bowed at the waist.

Tsunade nodded at them before turning to Kakashi. "You're going to be in charge of Division Two, Kakashi. Naruto will be your second in command."

"I understand, Lady Hokage." Kakashi was not reading his book today. Unlike most days, a grim air hung around the silver-haired Jonin.

"Please leave it to us," Naruto added.

"Right…" Tsunade nodded at them both. "Now let's talk about how the divisions are going to be divided."

Konoha had 2,000 ninja to use in their forces since they refused to force Genin to fight in a war. 1,500 would make up First Division, while the other 500 would create Second Division. Of course, this meant they were still outnumbered on both fronts two to one. However, it was Tsunade's hope that Suna and Kiri's forces would help them even out their ranks. There were only two problems that she could see.

"It's going to take some time for Kiri and Suna to reach us," Tsunade admitted. "Suna will probably arrive a day or two after we do, and it takes at least a week for someone to travel by boat from Mizu no Kuni to the mainland. That means both of our forces will have to hold out until Suna and Kiri arrive to reinforce us."

Given how they were outnumbered, it would normally be prudent to wait for reinforcements before attacking. The problem was that Kumo and Iwa were both already located inside of their nation. If they waited for reinforcements now, there was a strong chance either Kumo, Iwa, or both forces would reach Konoha before their allies arrived. Holding the line was the only thing they could do.

As Tsunade continued addressing everyone, informing them of their plan, Naruto noticed something odd about one of the ninja in their ranks. He didn't recognize them. While this didn't mean much since it wasn't like he knew every Konoha Ninja by name, this one was acting strangely. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. All he knew was that the hairs on the back of his neck were prickling.

After the meeting concluded, Naruto created two Shadow Clones. One was to trail the man. The other was to trail his own Shadow Clone. In the event his first Shadow Clone was dispelled, Naruto could use the replacement technique to replace himself with the second Shadow Clone. It was maybe a bit much for a simple shadowing mission, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

That said, he hoped he was just being paranoid.

XoX

Because they were traveling as an army, there was a lot they needed to do before heading off. Logistics were important. Since an army moved on its stomach, they needed to pack enough provisions to last for awhile, along with munitions and supplies like tents to create a makeshift headquarters and field hospitals.

Kakashi was taking care of most of that, but Naruto, as the second in command, also needed to help him. Fortunately, Naruto had Shadow Clones, and those made multi-tasking fairly easy.

Since there was no telling how long they would be gone, Kakashi was playing it safe and packing enough supplies to last a division of 500 ninja two weeks.

In the old days, this would have meant packing several carriages worth of food and supplies, but they had entered an age where all of their supplies could be carried via sealing scrolls. Of course, they still had to use a lot of scrolls.

Each scroll had a limited amount of space. Generally, a single scroll could carry about 100 items, give or take a few. This was mostly because of the seals used, but it was also because of how seals worked. Sealing and unsealing items required chakra. The more items you wanted to store, the more chakra you had to use, but if you used too much chakra to store something, it would overload the seals and destroy the scroll. There had been some attempts at increasing the storage capacity, but all of them had been met with failure.

Kakashi and Naruto didn't work alone. While Naruto delegated a good deal of tasks to his clone, several other ninja were tasked with helping them gather supplies.

Using the storehouse near the gate, Naruto and Kakashi gathered all of the scrolls various ninja presented to them. Each person was tasked with gathering different types of supplies, and they marked what they had gathered on the scroll, which allowed him and Kakashi to tally it all up. It was important to know how many of which type of item each scroll was carrying. That way they could evenly distribute them between their forces.

As they worked, Naruto told Kakashi about the strange person he had seen at the meeting.

"Hmm… and you think this person might be a spy?" asked Kakashi after Naruto finished explaining what he'd seen.

"I don't know." Naruto frowned as he studied the stack of scrolls on the table in front of him and wrote something down on a sheet of paper. "The problem is I have no conclusive evidence to suggest he is a spy, but something about him felt slightly off… like I was staring at a distorted reflection."

"Maybe it was a genjutsu," Kakashi suggested.

"Maybe…" Naruto didn't believe so since he was sure he'd have recognized a genjutsu. "In either event, I have two Shadow Clones tailing him."

The table he and Kakashi stood in front of had several stacks of scrolls. There were twenty stacks, and each stack contained scrolls that evenly divided each of the supplies between them. The scrolls were all labeled too: rations, kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, blood pills, soldier pills, medical tape, explosive notes, and so on. Kakashi's plan was to divide all of these supplies among twenty different people, who would be put in charge of a group consisting of twenty-five ninja.

"While I wish you would have informed me of this sooner, I think you made the right choice in using Shadow Clones to tail this person," Kakashi said at last.

"Thank you. I—"

Before he could finish this sentence, Naruto felt images flowing into his brain. He saw the back of a figure walking down a deserted hallway, entering a small room, and then the image went blank.

When Naruto suddenly paused and snapped his head in a specific direction, Kakashi looked up. "What is it?"

"My first clone was just dispelled," Naruto mumbled. "I'll be right back."

Before Kakashi could tell him otherwise, Naruto used the replacement technique to replace himself with his second clone. The body replacement technique was a jutsu whose chakra usage was proportional to the distance traveled and the size of the object a person is being replaced with. Logs were great because they had close to the same mass and therefore required little chakra. Shadow Clones used even less chakra—unless they were several kilometers away.

Anyone else would have probably burned through their entire chakra reserves using this technique at such a long distance, but Naruto had reserves to spare.

The place where Naruto ended up was a dark hallway with several lateral passages. He didn't know what this place was, exactly, but the entrance was located in one of the more or less abandoned sections of Konoha.

He traveled down the hall, using the memories from first clone to retrace that clone's steps. He kept his ears, eyes, and other senses on high alert. Someone had attacked his first Shadow Clone from behind. They were also good enough to sneak up on him, which meant he needed to be incredibly wary.

It didn't take too long to reach the door. Placing just a finger against the door, Naruto sent wind chakra into and through the cracks in the door, using the wind as a sort of sonar device to map out the area beyond.

There were two people on the other side, though the moment his wind chakra made contact with one of them, a burst of static filled his head. He flinched away from the door and grabbed his head. It felt like someone had decided to disrupt his technique by shoving their own chakra into the air. Shaking his head to clear it, Naruto returned to the door and sent more chakra through it.

That second presence is gone…

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto unlocked the door and opened it just a crack. He peeked inside. He couldn't see anything. Clicking his tongue, he opened the door more and swept his gaze around the room. It looked empty at first, but then he spotted the lump lying on the floor. Opening the door even further, he slipped inside and made his way toward the object.

The "lump" was actually a body. It was the body of the person he had been following. Naruto couldn't figure out how old this young man was, but they appeared at least slightly older than him. He had a pale face, black eyes that were glazed over in death, and wore all black clothing. A kunai pouch hung at his hip. There were no other identifying marks.

Rolling the man over, Naruto placed a hand on the person's neck, confirming what he'd already known. This person was dead. However, when he sent chakra into their body, he found something interesting.

"There's foreign chakra residue inside of them…"

Naruto retracted his chakra, pulled out a scroll, and sealed the body. He didn't want to overpower the foreign chakra with his own. Also, by sealing the body, he was preserving the chakra inside since time didn't exist inside of a sealing scroll.

Standing up, Naruto made his way out of the room and began retracing his clones steps to leave this place. He needed to deliver this scroll to Tsunade, who would probably send the body to either the hospital for an autopsy or even the Analysis Team.

With luck, they would learn something useful. He had a bad feeling about what had just happened.

XoX

Several days passed by in the blink of an eye.

He had sent the body to the hospital where Shizune and Sakura worked. After informing them of what he found, Naruto went to the Hokage and gave her a similar report on the events that had transpired. While Tsunade was worried, she told him that they wouldn't change their plans. Naruto had agreed and several days later, preparations to move out were complete.

Naruto and Kakashi stood in front of 500 ninja at the north gate, all of whom were staring at the two of them with expectations in their eyes. There were several teams Naruto recognized, such as Team Kurenai and Team Asuma. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were standing beside Kurenai. Right next to them was Asuma, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru. He spotted a few other ninja he was vaguely familiar with, but they were only people he knew in passing. Sakura was also present alongside a squadron of medical ninja.

"It looks like everyone is ready," Kakashi said.

"Seems that way," Naruto agreed.

They were heading out before First Division, which wasn't because they were supposed to but because it just took longer for the larger division to finish their preparations. Naruto didn't envy Team Gai for their workload.

"Aren't one of you going to give a last minute speech or something?" asked Akane.

She was standing beside Naruto, dressed in a simple kimono, a dark crimson dress that matched her hair. A large gap in the front made her cleavage spill out. The kimono parted along her legs to reveal milky white calves and thighs. She wasn't wearing any sandals, but that didn't surprise Naruto since she seemed to hate footwear.

"Why are you here again?" asked Kakashi in what seemed like a bored tone of voice. Naruto knew better. Kakashi wasn't reading his book.

"I have the Hokage's permission to come along," Akane replied with a fanged smile. "Besides, I can help. You know who I am, right?"

"I am perfectly aware of who you are," Kakashi said. "And it's because I know who you are that I'm wary of letting you come with us."

While Akane didn't seem to be bothered by the man's words, Naruto glanced at his former Jonin sensei. "I know you don't trust her, but I do, so please at least give her the benefit of the doubt."

Kakashi sighed and scratched his hair. He didn't know of the relationship between Naruto and Akane, or at least, Naruto hadn't told him that they were intimate. That said, he was sure Kakashi suspected they were close.

"Fine," the Copy Ninja mumbled with a sigh. "You have the Hokage's permission to join us anyway, so it's not like I can say anything."

Akane grinned. It wasn't really malicious or anything, but the smugness exuding from her seemed to put Kakashi off.

The Jonin turned toward the ninja of the Second Division, looking at the sea of faces. All of their headbands reflected in the light.

"We're moving out!" Kakashi announced. "Be ready to travel swiftly. We're not going to stop until we reach Kifka!"

Kakashi received a chorus of affirmatives, and then he, Naruto, and Akane turned around and raced out of the gate. The sound of stampeding feet followed them.

Their journey had begun.

XoX

Tsunade had decided to head down to the hospital. The familiar white walls greeted her as she marched toward her destination, taking turns and traveling down stairs seemingly at random. People greeted her on the way. She returned their greeting with a half-hearted reply. Her mind was elsewhere.

It didn't take more than five minutes to reach the room she wanted; the room where the body of the ninja Naruto had tailed was currently being kept. There wasn't anything special about this room. Somewhat on the small side, the main features were the hospital bed where the corpse was lying, a counter with several supplies, and some scanning equipment.

Someone else was already inside.

"Lady Hokage." Inoichi's blonde hair swayed as he turned to face the woman and bowed.

Tsunade gestured for him to not stand on ceremony. "I'm surprised to see you're still here."

"I figured I'd keep working on this." Inoichi gestured toward the medical table. "Call me paranoid, but I feel there's something about this body that I can't leave unsolved. I have a feeling it could prove dangerous if we don't learn everything we can."

Tsunade nodded. She agreed with him, of course.

"Have you learned anything?"

"Not as much as I would like, but I did learn something."

Tsunade wandered up to the medical table. The body resting on it, lying with his limbs straight, didn't look like much. He was just a plain man with dark hair, average features, and the muscular physique of a ninja. She didn't recognize him, but that didn't surprise her. There was a single line running from his clavicle to his sternum.

"Shizune and Sakura performed an autopsy but couldn't find anything useful," she said. "It seems he was just an average chunin with no special abilities or anything."

"That's only partly true," Inoichi said. "An autopsy won't reveal anything. It only reveals what's in the body, but it says nothing about their mind." He placed a hand on the man's head. "Naruto mentioned that he found traces of chakra inside of this person. I was able to retrace the chakra to its source and discovered remnants of a jutsu being used."

"Do you know what kind of jutsu?" asked Tsunade, glancing from the body to Inoichi.

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, I was not able to determine what jutsu was used, but I have a guess. Let's call it a hunch."

"What is it?"

Inoichi paused as if considering his words. "I heard about something happening in Suna when Gaara was kidnapped. A man named Yura was a sleeper agent working for Sasori of the Red Sand. A technique called Sennō Sōsa no Jutsu had been used on him. Basically, a small needle is implanted into the brain's memory centre and seals away the target's memories. This allows them to safely spy on the enemy for long periods of time. No one knows he's a spy, not even himself, which allows him to spy without anyone ever catching on."

"And you think this person had a similar jutsu used on them?"

"Yes."

Tsunade bit her thumb as something unsettling caused her stomach to squirm. There were many problems with this scenario, the first being that if what Inoichi said was true, then it was possible they had several sleeper agents like this one. That was not a pleasant thought. However, there was another disquieting issue.

She had no idea who this sleeper agent belonged to. None whatsoever.

And that was what scared her the most.

A lot of stuff is going on, and the war with Kumo is about to commence. I don't plan on making this very long. I think two or three chapters should be good. Unlike canon, I focus primarily on Naruto and don't let myself get distracted by loads of side characters. With luck, I'm hoping to finish this story after five or six more chapters, but we'll see.

I'd like to thank everyone for reading this story. I know it's not that good, so I appreciate the people who've stuck with it despite the many flaws it has. Remember, if you want to speak to me, your best bet is to follow me either on Twitter or Facebook. I don't respond to private messages anymore since so many people message me for the same reason: asking when I plan on updating X story, demanding that I update X story, or telling me I should accept their writing challenge. My twitter profile is BrandonBVarnell, while my Facebook is AmericanKitsune.

On a side note, I am more active on Twitter than I am Facebook. You'll usually find me tweeting dirty jokes, lewd anime art, anime, manga, light novels, and visual novels, and occasionally I'll pretend I'm smarter than I really am and offer advice on writing and stuff. I try to respond to messages there too, though I respond more quickly to tweets.