War
What would have happened if Hokage was willing to go to war with Kumo for the attempted kidnapping of Hinata Hyuuga. And if Naruto was the one to save her from the Kumo nin.
A soft thunk was heard as a kunai entered the body. It fell to the ground in a thump, bleeding out onto the ground slowly. It would later decompose, filling the ground with nutrients, re-entering the cycle. This pointless cycle. This vicious cycle.
Three figures blurred into place over the figure. One of them looked at in distate. "We should have taken him prisoner, Sasuke."
The black haired boy snorted. Shoving his hands in his pockets, his eyes flickered towards his female teammate. "He attacked Sakura. That's a no no, Naruto. And you know it."
The blonde glared at Sasuke for a moment, but turned back to the body after a moment.
Sakura, in a quiet voice, calmed the two. "We should clean up and await sensei. We've secured the package so lets just prepare to bug out."
Her male compatriots nodded and set to work. Sakura proceeded to rummage through the dead Shinobi's things. Working methodically and with experience, she pulled out useful tools: kunai, shuriken, scrolls and the like. Anything that could be useful in the field, she took out and laid the side on a scroll. This would be sealed and sent to the equipments department to be sorted and reused.
Sasuke jumped up to higher ground, activating his Sharingan, and scouted the area. Naruto, staying on the ground, looked the other way, twirling a kunai for amusement.
A flicker of chakra and all three tensed, turning towards the new intruder.
"The Leaves fall." The new intruder started.
"When the roots die." All three of them finished.
Their sensei relaxed, standing up from his croached positions and quickly putting his weapons. "Sorry, I'm late. I was held up by some vicious cats."
Naruto snorted at the excuse. "Kakashi-sensei. You could just say you were fighting some Kumo nins. We felt the charka surges from here."
Kakashi responded by taking out his book. Sasuke jumped down to join the rest of his team and reported. "We've secured the package."
"Proceed to rendezvous point. Three hour burst travel at max speed. Rest for thirty and repeat." Kakashi leapt into the air, still reading his book.
The three of them sighed, almost groaning at the prospect of running that long. Than the rest of Team 7 blurred out of sight.
"Team 7 reporting mission successful." Jounin Kakashi spoke in a professional tone. The chunin paused as he heard team 7 but didn't comment. He quickly wrote down an invoice and nodded.
"Welcome back. Congratulations. I have standing orders to let you know that the Hokage would like to speak with you."
Kakashi nodded without pause. "Well my cute gennin, Let us go."
Naruto gave a small huff. "We're 10 years old sensei. Not that young to be called cute."
Kakashi merely waved his hands, signaling his team to follow. Naruto trumped after him, glaring at the older man's back.
Sasuke started to walk past the check in point but turned back. His pink haired teammate was lagging behind at a sedate pace. Sasuke gave her a small smile. "Come on, Sakura-chan. We need to hurry. Can't keep Hokage-sama waiting." With that Sasuke grabbed her hand and merrily walked to catch up to the other half of his team.
Team 7 passed through the busy streets, filled with Civilians and Shinobi alike. Most of them were busying themselves with moving crates, supplies, or medicine. While some of them paused to stare at team 7 in wonder, most of them were to busy to notice.
Kakashi led his troupe up the stairs and into the Hokage tower. They walked in, without bothering to check in with the secretary. In a time of war, your identity would have been vetted at least 5 times before getting anywhere near Konoha proper.
"Hokage-sama. You asked to see us." Kakashi started without preamble.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen the God of Shinobi, sat there in all his glory. Maps with many markings, scrolls detailing strategies, and papers filled with reports, littered his desk. But even still, the man took his time smoking his Tobacco. "Yes, I did. It is good to see everyone still here." His wizened eyes roamed over the rest of Kakashi's team. He paused at Naruto but returned to Kakashi.
"I am hereby putting your team off Active and onto Standby."
Kakashi didn't even flinch. He had been expecting this for awhile.
"Wha-" Naruto started but quickly shut his mouth. It was improper, in the time of war, for a gennin to speak out of turn. Sarutobi turned to Naruto and nod.
"Permission to speak freely, Naruto." He said in an amused tone.
"Old man. Why are you taking us off? Aren't we doing good?" Naruto asked, his tone implying confusion. He didn't know what he did wrong. Sasuke seemed to agree as he seemed eager for Naruto's answer.
However, the Sandaime smiled and gave a small chuckle. "It's because you've been doing too well."
All three of the gennin jolted in shock, eyes wide. With that, the Elder nin reached into his stack of folders and pulled out a relatively thick folder. "This is your Team folder. Normally, A team that has been active for 4 years should only be half of this size." He gestured to the stack, which was at least 2 inches thick.
"You have completed 59 C-Ranks. 90 B-Ranks. 12 A-Ranks." Leaning back, Sarutobi let that sink in. "That is more missions than most active shinobi get in 10 years during non-war times."
Naruto crossed his arms. "That means were good right? Shouldn't we be doing more missions than? I mean if we can help out, we should."
Shaking his head, the Hokage countered. "I am afraid you will burn out eventually. So, we are taking you off Active and putting you on standby for at least a month. Than you can take missions again."
Naruto pouted but did not comment, Hokage's word is law.
"Well, Dismissed than. Kakashi stay." Sarutobi waved his hands at the children and turned around to look out at Konoha. The Pinkette and the blonde started to leave, but the Sasuke tugged on Kakashi's arm before exiting. "Remember, Dinner at my place. Mom's cooking."
Kakashi nodded. "Sure sure. I'll be there."
Sasuke grinned at him. "I'd say don't be late but..."
Kakashi rolled his one eye and shooed his young stundent out the door.
As Sasuke exited, he saw his two teammates looking at him expectantly. Sasuke gave him his award winning smile, all the older woman thought it was adorable and cute so he must be doing something right. "Well guys? Time to go my place and celebrate"
Naruto fist pumped the air. "Maybe we can get your Brother to teach us that really cool wind Jutsu."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "maybe, if he's not busy. Come on."
They were about to leave but Sakura tugged on Naruto's arm. The boys stopped what they were doing and waited. "Naruto. Didn't you say you wanted to visit Hinata?"
Naruto slapped his forehead. "AIYA. Thanks Sakura-chan. I'll do that right away. I haven't seen her in awhile." Naruto turned to Sasuke, nodding to him. "See you at your house. Take care of Sakura-chan."
Naruto ran off immediately, not waiting for a reply. Sasuke watched him go. Turning to Sakura, who was still standing there looking at her feet, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. We can get some Onigiri for snacks."
She nodded with a small smile and followed Sasuke out of the tower.
"Thank you for accepting my request. Hokage-sama" Kakashi nodded his head in thanks. He was the one to put in the request to move to Standby.
The elder nin puffed his pipe and looked carefully at Kakashi. "I will not lie to you Kakshi. I am putting one of our best teams on hold. Your success rate hasn't been seen since, well your team." That team, of course, had the future Yondaime Hokage leading it. Regardless, the Hokage's features started to soften as he loosened his presence by a fraction. "How are they, mentally."
Kakashi rubbed his chin, thinking about the mental state of his kids.His kids. He had had them under his wing for about 3 years and approaching 4. He knew almost everything about them and would trust them with his back.
"Right now. Sasuke is in the best place. His goal is to protect his team, and his loyalty shows that. He has a drive to improve, isn't slacking off. Honestly, without him, I think the other two would have slipped off the deep end." Kakashi scratched his head for a moment. The other two. They were the more difficult case.
"Naruto is ok and Sakura is still bad." the Silver haired nin coughed to compose himself. "Naruto still dislikes kiling."
"Not a bad thing." Sarutobi interrupted.
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, but he also has the highest turn out for taking prisoners. Even he didn't do that much."
The Sandaime nodded. "Yes, but we have used this to our advantage in prisoner exchanges with Kumo."
They did indeed. Prisoner exchanges were done every few months. It was usually done through Daimyos, as Kage's couldn't be bothered and Shinobi Operations were very suspicious. So, Prisoners of War were sent to Daimyos, who in turn sent them to each other. The Daimyos were considered Neutral parties in times of war. Yes, they funded their respective lands but they did not control the respective affairs of the land, during the time of war.
Kakashi continued. "He still does what is necessary. Sakura." Kakashi winced. "Still is in a rut. She doesn't talk to anyone but Team 7. Even than, it's a challenge. This does not affect coordination, but it does affect their teamwork."
"How so?" The Hokage prodded.
"Naruto and Sasuke overcompensate to protect her. While this has not caused problems, I feel it may in the future."
He had to be objective here, no feelings, no preconceptions. Pure, cold analysis.
The elder nin sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Some days, I miss handing out missions to catch Tora."
Kakashi snorted. He missed Tora as well, and he had hated that infernal cat. But fleeting days of relaxation were far and few in between the battles. When he had first gotten this team, he almost wanted to fail the on the basis of their age. But their teamwork, their teamwork, was something that he hadn't seen in a very long time. The war was just starting than. Kumo started to be more aggressive: attacking trading routes, cutting off supplies, showing some muscle. Konoha responded.
"I will put them on active duty once we secured Nagoya City." Sarutobi explained. "Once we have secured that, we will able to mount a bottle neck against Kumo. Suna is moving their forces North, to try and pincer the remaining forces."
Kakashi mentally did the geography. Nagoya was a big trading city, a vassal city to Kumo. If they secured that than, it would put pressure on Kumo severely. But something else surprised him.
"Suna is taking a more active approach?" Kakashi asked. Suna had become allies to Konoha in the recent years, Konoha had used this relationship to trade. Kumo would not dare attack Suna, in fear of the wrath of two Hidden villages. With this relationship, Konoha was able to keep its economy high using Suna's trade routes, instead of Konoha's. A win win sitaution for both sides. If Suna was joining in, than that was good news, it meant that the Paranoid Kazekage had been convinced of assured victory.
"Yes, Suna has been... most helpful in providing equipment. Now they move to end it and strengthen their bonds with us." The Hokage said with an amused tone. Simply put, Suna didn't want to get on Konoha's bad side. It was not an announced propaganda but it was a general consensus that Konoha was winning the war, with the God of Shinobi at it's helm.
"Now," he continued. "There is a matter of our mission. I ready have an idea of what it would be. Once, we take Nagoya-"
It was very unusual for a Hokage to micromanage a team, especially a Team of Gennins. But being that the team contained the Uchiha heir and Jinchuuriki, who was like a grandson to him, it was necessary.
"Your team will be tasked with Cutting off the supply route to Seto, the outer post. You cut this off, we can close the bottle neck and surround them, leaving them without supplies."
Kakashi's stomach clenched. Supply route. Bridge. Using his Anbu training, Kakashi schooled his features, letting nothing show. "Understood Hokage-sama."
The Hokage nodded to him. "Dismissed, Kakashi. Enjoy your break."
This is just a plot bunny i thought of. Really fun idea.