6/28/12 Update: Minor correction made, I mistakenly referred to Kakashi as the Rokudaime (Sixth) Hokage when he should be the Nanadaime (Seventh). Mucho thanks to miner249er to pointing out my mistake. I'm only human, so if you do see any mistakes, feel free to point them out to me and I'll correct them.
Konohagakure
Fire Country
It would have surprised his former students Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki that ever since his inauguration as the Hokage, Kakashi had stopped going to visit the Memorial Stone for hours on end. That was probably because the Memorial was one of those places that had been destroyed in the Rock and Lightning Attack on Konoha after the Five Kage Summit.
Instead, he had taken to staring at the Hokage Monument. He could almost swear that the five faces were staring down in cold disapproval. Of him. Of the entire Village for their stupidity and mistreatment of Naruto. And of Danzo; his unlamented and idiotic predecessor, the late Rokudaime Hokage.
Even Tsunade who had only briefly held the post as the Godaime had her face chiseled into Hokage Mountain. No one had bothered to do the same for Danzo though even though his reign had lasted longer than Tsunade's. Hell, if anyone did, he suspected that Danzo's edifice might suffer a mischief.
Involving a shit load of exploding tags.
After Tsunade's departure less than a year after Naruto's enforced exile; Danzo managed to get himself appointed to Hokage and everything went to Hell very quickly.
Danzo was a skilled manipulator and mastermind in covert operations. However he was a piss poor administrator and diplomat. And a Hokage had to be both. He was too used to being a power in Konoha, where he merely had to bully someone in order to get what he wanted.
He managed to alienate every single major country and most of the minor ones to boot. All in all, Danzo succeeded in making himself as the most despised person in Konoha … surpassing even Naruto Uzumaki. Only Madara Uchiha managed to top him.
Even though Danzo was dead and buried (and Kakashi had taken a great secret pleasure in urinating on his gravesite), his actions would have repercussions for decades.
To this day, Konoha had barely recovered from the devastation and their economy was in the toilet. It was a shame that he didn't have it in him to desert Konoha like Sasuke. Or to disappear like Tsunade who saw the direction the wind was blowing and got the Hell of there. Or get himself killed in action like Minato Sensei or Asuma Sarutobi or … or … Kakashi sighed gustily as he continued looking at the stern disapproving frowns of the past Hokages. He wondered if he would be the caretaker of Konoha's quiet passing. Not with a bang but a whimper…
"KAKASHI SENSEI! YOU'RE LATE!" a loud voice screeched.
… or maybe not. Kakashi wiggled a finger in his deafened ear and glanced to see his pink haired student glaring at him, her toe tapping and her arms folded across her chest. His last student actually, he reminded himself morbidly.
"The Council has been waiting for you for over an hour now!" Sakura Haruno barked. Then she grabbed him by his flak jacket and started dragging his limp body after her.
"I can walk you know…" he remarked dully.
"Hah!" Sakura made an explosive and contemptuous snort. "Honestly Kakashi Sensei! You're the Hokage now! Can't you take these things seriously?" she demanded.
Not hearing a response, she turned to look … at the stuffed scarecrow dressed in a flak jacket and with a smiley face painted on that she was dragging behind her. Sakura's eye twitched and a vein starting throbbing in her forehead.
"Although you have gotten sneakier…" Sakura muttered.
Shogun of War
Chapter 2: A Contradiction in Terms
New Kumogakure
Lightning Country
Yun sighed as he exited the strand of trees and saw the crudely made shacks and strung up tents. A newcomer would have guessed that this was a band of homeless and beggars … and not what remained of the Great Shinobi Village of Kumo.
It was heart breaking to see them come to this. Yun had always taken pride in the fact that their Village was one of the strongest and most feared Ninja Villages of them all. They were spoken with the same respect and awe of Konoha, Iwa, Kiri, and Suna.
Now, they were a joke.
The Akatsuki Wars of thirteen years ago had bled them of their best and brightest. Killer B, the Protector of Kumo and even the Yondaime Raikage A had been among the terrible casualties. And then, Pein appeared and wiped out Kumo with a single technique. The survivors were few and scattered and they lacked any powerful ninjas or leaders anymore. Many left or deserted until the few ninjas who remained were mostly the old and infirm, the incompetent, or the young and inexperienced.
And those who had fled had sought employment with the various Warlords and bandits which now controlled Lightning Country, infuriating Yun. While it was true that ninjas were mercenaries who worked for anyone for the right price; they had ethics and morals about whom they accepted missions and commissions from.
And the primary one was that they worked for the betterment of their Nation. They were it's sword, it's shield, and sometimes; it's bloody daggers in the back alleys. Ninjas might owe their allegiance to their Kage, but their Kage owed his allegiance to their Nation and it's Damiyo.
And in Yun's eyes, for any Kumo Nin to accept a position with these Warlords and bandits made them no better than nukenins who worked to destabilize their nation.
"Yun-nechan!" a young voice called out. He recognized it as one of the younger ninjas-in-training, Atsuko waving at him to get his attention.
"The old geezers want you!" she yelled.
She was also the most cheeky and inventive troublemaker in Kumo. The Jounin Council had to call her in at least once a week to spank her disrespectful ass. He nodded and went to go see what the old geezers—er the Honorable Councilors wanted.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw a man leaving the meeting hall which was a combination of wooden walls and a stretched out canopy tent for a ceiling. He was wearing plate armor and a sword, although it wasn't a samurai sword. He easily climbed onto a horse and then trotting away.
Yun stared after the horseback man for a long moment before he entered the meeting hall to find the Council all talking. He noticed that most of them looked jubilant, while one or two of the others were stone-faced and grim.
"What is going on?" he asked quietly.
"Jounin Yun! Back from your scouting mission already?" Councilor and ex-Jounin Okabe exclaimed, looking up.
"Yes, nothing of interest to report," he said stonily. He had a bad feeling ever since he saw that man on the horse and it was getting worse and worse.
"Excellent! We have just been made an offer by Governor-General Inoue for our services on a permanent basis!" Okabe said.
"Inoue?" Yun said, his hand tightening into a balled fist. Inoue wasn't the Damiyo … wasn't even a member of the nobility, wasn't even a real General or a Governor for that matter. He had been a mayor of a town. A very small town.
"He is offering us enough funds for us to start rebuilding Kumo!"
Yun felt light-headed.
"We're saved!"
"NO!" Yun roared. "We are Shinobi! We are not Missing Nin! We answer to our Kage who is commanded by our Damiyo!"
"What Kage?" Okabe snapped back. "We don't have one! And as for the Damiyo, what about him? He hasn't done shit to help us! We didn't abandon him Yun, he abandoned us!
"What about the Genins and Chunins under our command? They expect us to lead them! We should be able to give them food and clothes and a home to sleep in, not a dirt floor! They should be able to have medicine and doctors! We should be able to supply our ninjas with weapons! Real weapons, not scrap and adapted from kitchen utensils!" he yelled.
Yun thought about the grinning Atsuko, remembering how she was so skinny that he could count her ribs. He thought of their ramshackle tent village. He thought of the last eleven children who passed away from pneumonia during the winter. Of two Genins and a Chunin who died from festering wounds inflicted by a group of bandits and missing nin, along with another Genin who had to have an arm amputated.
"We must survive Yun. Sometimes it is not honest, sometimes it is not right, but we do what we must to survive. That is the ninja way," Okabe said solemnly. Softly. Apologetically.
Yun swallowed hard and bowed his head in defeat. His headband adorned with the proud symbol of Kumo felt heavier than it had ever did before…
Kirigakure
Water Country
Eiji Suzuki adjusted his jacket with a faint grimace. The ambient temperature of the Tank tended to vary at times; becoming chilly or very humid.
The unofficial name of the Strategic Information Data Processing and Analysis Center came the gigantic blocks filled with water that made up almost three entire walls of the box-like room from the floor to the very ceiling. Each wall consisted of many separate tanks of water stacked on top of each other and the water within each of these tanks were refreshed hourly. Even as he watched, laser arrays spat out bursts of light that formed into complex streams of data while others formed three-dimensional images of people and places as their information was updated and refined.
A tall and slender beauty strode into the Tank with a pair of ninja bodyguards at her side, although they swerved off as she approached Suzuki. She smiled. "You have an update on Lightning Country, Analyst Suzuki?"
He nodded nervously as he reminded himself that this was the Mizukage and that she could kill him in the blink of an eye as he fought to keep his eyes focused on her face and not towards her generous cleavage.
"Yes ma'am!" and he quickly gestured and touched a few keys on his console causing part of the Tank to light up, showing a tactical map of Lightning Country. Glowing lines showed Rock Nin troop movement and certain shaded areas indicated areas that they controlled. Others indicated the territories of certain bandits and warlords.
"We have received confirmation that Rock Nins have taken the capital and have captured the Lightning Damiyo alive."
Mei snorted. "I suspect he'll be wishing that he is dead if Enma Daio has his way."
It was not entirely humorous.
The newest Tsuchikage's nickname of 'King of Hell' was not undeserved as he had shown a reputation for bloody minded savagery and merciless retribution on his enemies. And he had a fairly elastic definition on whom he considered his enemies; as his so-called friends and allies sometimes found out.
He was a fairly paranoid bastard who would murder a hundred innocent men if that was what it took to get the one suspected traitor.
It amazed her that his men were so terrified of Enma Daio that none dared to stand up to this tyrant. Having seen so much death and bloodshed from a tyrant Kage like Yagura; she could not understand why anyone would willingly follow one. You were just as likely to become the target of said madman as anyone else, depending on his whim. It would make her life so much easier if his men got off their damn knees and cut this maniac's fucking throat … but it seemed that would be asking for too much.
She raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Confidence?"
"High. The reports were generated by intercepts from the Remote Spies."
Mei nodded. One of Kiri's biggest problems in the past was that they were relatively disconnected from the rest of the Elemental Countries. Messages, rumors, and information tended to pass through to them much slower than the rest of the Hidden Villages. Even pre-Yagura, Kiri Nins rarely went out into the rest of the Elemental Countries except for specific missions. All of which contributed to their relative isolation and ignorance of what was occurring in the rest of the world. By the time, they found out something, it could be months old and completely out of date.
One of the attempts to improve Kiri's intelligence network was the Remote Spies. They were alternatively a Godsend in intelligence gathering from her analysts' point of view … and a damn nightmare from her counterintelligence agents' if anyone else were to get their hands on them.
It was a Hidden Seal that served to store and then relay a visual record of any events as well as spoken conversations within a certain radius of them. Kiri had spent a considerable amount of time, money, and effort into seeding all sorts of locations and places with these Seals.
As it were; they were now facing an overflow of information and were having problems sorting through all of worthless garbage for the one or two gems of real intelligence.
"However, we are missing quite a bit of information as well. It's been almost a month and we still have not located the Rock Nin's entry port."
Sadly, that was the pitfall of the Remote Spies as well. They were emplaced in one spot and thus, their coverage was sometimes thin or nonexistent in some cases.
"I believe we need greater coverage of the ongoing situation in Lightning," Suzuki continued. "I would like to request the use of the Recon Drones."
A new piece of technology that was almost as promising as the Remote Spies for intelligence gathering purposes; the Recon Drones was miniature spies that could fly in the air and even maneuver according to the operators' directions and gather information.
Mei was of the belief that they would provide better tactical information rather than strategic data like the Remote Spies. However the technology was still not perfected yet though; there was an ongoing problem in endurance and every so often, the control devices would malfunction. Not to mention that they were notoriously fragile and horribly expensive to boot.
So far, the Recon Drones were restricted to use in Alliance territory only. While the Recon Drones would provide additional intel, there was too good a chance that using them in Lightning would reveal their existence. And the Alliance wasn't ready yet to have their full military and technological capabilities to be revealed to the Elemental Countries at large.
"I am denying the use of the Recon Drones at this present time," she said stonily. "I believe that maintaining the secret of their existence is paramount. I will reassign more analysts available to you and your section group and you will have unrestricted access to any resources you require. I will also discuss matters with the Shogun later today about releasing several Infiltration Specialists into Lightning for direct site human intelligence."
Suzuki nodded regretfully as he continued, "The most recent event is that as of this morning, several refugees crossed the Frost/Lightning border. Messages have been dispatched relating the presence of Rock Nins in Lightning."
Frankly Mei was amazed that it had taken this long for the invasion of a nation by a foreign power to be discovered.
"Frost Ninjas are mobilizing to reinforce the borders. Waterfall is sending reinforcements and have already dispatched twelve ninjas. They are also attempting to reorganize their forces to pry loose more available ninjas."
Mei glanced at one of the semi-permanent displays on the Tank of a world map that continually updated itself of ongoing Kiri missions and it's operatives scattered across the world in addition to potential threats and even neutral military forces. She pointed at the blinking icon of a stylized leaf. "And what about Konoha?" she asked.
"They just received the urgent message a few hours ago, but they have not responded at all," Suzuki replied after a quick glance at his displays. "And the courier hawks have yet to reach Sand or Wave."
Mei scowled impatiently. It was sometimes frustrating as Wave was their point of contact with the rest of the Elemental Countries; so until the message reached there, the Alliance had to pretend that they didn't know what was going on. Even though they did know and perhaps even had better information of what was going on than the ones in the middle of the war zone.
Even then, she wasn't willing to lay odds that the Damiyos would request the Shogun to participate in any sort of War Council to discuss the Lightning Country Invasion. After all, the Shogun of the Eastern Alliance had merely earned his position through military force of arms and had not been born to the exalted position of authority like them.
She snorted mentally. What did the Water Damiyo do about Yagura when he embarked on his Bloodline Purges? Not a blasted thing!
No, the Damiyos were affronted at having to treat a jumped up commoner as though he were of equal rank to them. Particularly after his offense at replacing one of their own.
Besides, if that actually happened, it might give their inferiors … ideas about replacing their worthless asses. Kami forbid that! Mei thought sarcastically, slightly miffed at their treatment of her Shogun. Then she struggled to refocus her attention on Suzuki droning on about current Rock Nin movement as she would have to pass on this information to the Shogun and his Advisory Council later on today.
Konohagakure
Fire Country
Kakashi sauntered into the Council Chambers. "Yo! Sorry I'm late, I got lost in the bathroom and couldn't find my way out until just now."
Shikamaru Nara snorted and rolled his eye at his companion, Neji Hyuuga who glanced over the perpetually tardy Hokage and made a few last quiet words before he stood up stiffly and limped over towards the Hyuuga Chair.
It was a shame that Neji had been one of the earliest casualties of Danzo's war program. During the invasion of Grass, he had been attacked by a series of poison gas bombs that had slowed him down enough that he was hit by a crippling attack that left him with a bad limp and occasional asthma attacks. It was an indication of how many Hyuuga had bled and died for Konoha that Neji; a member of the Branch House was acting as the Clan Head for the Hyuuga instead of a Main House member.
Shikamaru on the other hand, looked like a younger and much more badly scarred version of his late father. He had lost his right eye as well as gaining his considerable facial scarring from a shrapnel blast of debris into his face and upper torso at Hidden Rain. Unlike Neji though, he was able to return to the field as an active ninja.
Kakashi was relieved because they were the youngest Council Members and also his strongest supporters. They were not only reasonable and intelligent, but ninjas who had close and bitter experience in war. Both of them had lost family and team members on the battlefield.
Kakashi settled himself in his chair. He had to admit that the Hokage had the nicest seat in the place. He swept his single eye over the Council Chambers.
The Konoha Council composed of three separate divisions. The first was the Clan Heads; most of whom were useless and were it not for the gigantic sticks wedged up their asses, Kakashi would have thought that they all shared a jutsu that contorted their bodies in order to better ram their heads up there.
Only the oldest and most respected of Clans had a seat here; although two of the chairs reserved for the Uchiha and Senju Clans were empty.
Many of the faces had changed in the Clan Heads. Far too many of them were wiped out thanks to that moron Danzo and in some cases, the survivors were left to fill in. It had been one hell of a ride for them and Kakashi as many of them were inexperienced, younger than usual, or in some cases; totally unprepared or unexpected to inherit the role.
The majority of the civilians on the other hadn't changed all that much aside from one or two new faces. They were also considerably smaller in numbers compared to the Clan Heads. They were mainly for logistical support of Konoha. They tended to stay out of the way and keep their mouths shut until asked.
However the biggest block consisted of the ninjas who ran Konoha; the Head of the ANBU; the Chief Medical Officer; the Intelligence Director; the Internal Security Chief; the Communications Chief; the Torture & Interrogation Division Head; the Ninja Academy Headmaster; and the Senior Jounins.
Once everyone was settled, he quickly related the invasion of Lightning Country by Iwagakure.
Predictably, the Clan Heads reacted first; most of them denouncing the invasion. The Ninja Force Commanders were however ambivalent; some of advocating an attack while most seemed concerned about sending so many ninjas when they had so little available. Only the civilians were looking at each other warily at the fact that war was looming on the horizon.
Kakashi let it build before slamming his palm down. "QUIET!" he barked. He waited until everyone shut up and was gazing at him expectantly. He leaned back in his chair and assumed a nonchalant expression. "This was just for the Council's knowledge. We will not be sending any ninja reinforcements to Frost."
That started a new round of muttering.
A rather attractive woman with fierce tattoos on her face, the new Inuzaka Head (Hana was her name Kakashi believed), leapt to her feet. "We have a mutual alliance treaty with Frost! Are we to just ignore that?" she protested.
Neji nodded grimly. "I agree. Our manpower levels are still extremely low, but if we break that treaty then no one will respect Konoha's word ever again. Once our credibility is gone, we will not be able to get it back."
"Our exact assistance terms were never specifically detailed in the treaty. We will offer medics, goods, and financial assistance but we cannot commit any ninjas to assist them," Kakashi commanded. "Besides, our forces may not be very welcome in Frost. They also have sent messages to several other Hidden Villages such as Waterfall and Sand."
Most of the Council winced at that. Neither Village was on particularly good terms with Konoha.
Waterfall was holding a bit of a grudge at Danzo's deception of pretending to be an ally by requesting an urgent audience with the Leader of Waterfall and then invading their Hidden Village, conquering it and killing a sizeable percentage of their already small ninja forces.
Danzo had then proceeded to try and discover the secrets of the 'Hero Water' by performing experiments on pieces of their legendary tree. ROOT had managed to create an artificial version of the Hero Water, but it proved to be hideously unstable and had even worse side effects than the original. In addition, they had forcibly extracted so many samples from the legendary tree, it was irreparably damaged and slowly dying.
As for Sand; Danzo extorted far higher war reparations than the amounts previously agreed to by Tsunade which severely annoyed them. But the ascension of Gaara to the position of Kazekage had sealed their relations with Konoha as he was enraged at their treatment of his 'brother' Jinchuuriki.
Danzo's assassination attempt at the Kage Summit might also have something to do with Gaara's rather cold treatment of Konoha. Kami knew that a little attempted homicide would not endear Kakashi with warm and fuzzy feelings toward the would-be murderer.
Kakashi gripped the armrests of his chair. But however much he disagreed with this course of action, even he had to obey orders…
In the end, Kakashi decided that he would have to tell the Damiyo first. Irritably, he drummed his fingers on the table top as he continued to wait. While he couldn't prove it, he suspected that the Damiyo was simply prolonging this conference call because he didn't want to talk to him. Suddenly, one of the communication techs straightened and began fiddling with the dials. "We have contact! Locking onto signal now!" she said and the screen blurred and showed static before it snapped into definition, showing the Fire Damiyo's sour face.
Kakashi immediately bowed. "My Lord Damiyo, you honor me with your presence."
The Damiyo made a curt nod. "Speak Kakashi," he ordered with a dismissive wave, foregoing any titles.
"Konoha has just received word from Frost Country. They report a large number of refugees have crossed the border and claim that Lightning Country has been invaded by a contingent of Rock Ninjas."
The Damiyo looked befuddled. An expression, Kakashi was sure that he was undoubtedly familiar with.
"Invaded? By Iwagakure?" he blurted out in confusion. "Impossible! Those refugees must be mistaken."
"Frost seems convinced Lord Damiyo."
The Fire Damiyo sniffed in derision. "They haven't seen these so-called ninjas have they? They're just taking the word of a gaggle of refugees about it."
Kakashi grimaced as he had to admit that was true.
"Besides, how could Iwagakure send a large contingent of ninjas through so many countries without anyone noticing?" he waved it off, "These refugees are panicky and confused."
Kakashi brought up the possibility of a sea lift of troops but the Damiyo waved him off. "Nonsense! Besides, why would the Earth Damiyo want to invade Lightning Country?"
Kakashi resisted the urge to smack him. After all, it wouldn't do any good. The moron was merely a projected image, not in person. Kakashi cleared his throat, "My Lord Damiyo, no one has heard any word or had any contact or even seen the esteemed Earth Damiyo for nearly twelve years. We have heard rumors that the Yondaime Tsuchikage has…"
"Rumors! Hearsay and gossip!" the Damiyo cried. "No, no. I refuse to listen to such ridiculous twaddle!"
Kakashi was thankful he habitually wore his face mask because it hid the fact that he was grinding his teeth. "Have you heard from the Earth Damiyo recently my Lord?" he inquired as politely as he could manage.
But the Damiyo clearly knew sarcasm when he heard it. Acidly he retorted, "No. But neither has anyone else Hatake."
"Irregardless, Frost has requested aid from us. I intend to dispatch several ninja teams to—"
The Damiyo instantly smashed his hand on the table. "Absolutely not!" he roared. "Our borders are not secure! Our forces have barely recovered from the Akatsuki Wars! And you intend to send the flower of my ninja forces to fight in some small skirmish hundreds of leagues from Fire Country and that has nothing to do with us? That is the height of folly Kakashi! I categorically refuse to allow you to do such an irresponsible action!"
Kakashi mentally cursed.
"Your predecessor was entirely too fond of provoking these conflicts! I will not allow you to drag us into another one!"
Kakashi silently burned. And what idiotic fuckwit approved Danzo for the post, oh right … that was you. He fantasized briefly of snapping the neck of this mush-brained imbecile. Unfortunately, he had no desire to appoint himself as ruler of Fire Country like the Shogun of the Eastern Alliance. He had a hard enough time holding Konoha together to deal with that massive headache that post would have included. Which successfully killed any temptation he might have nursed for ending this idiot's life.
He reluctantly agreed to not send any ninja forces to Frost. After a moment, he took a deep breath. "I strongly urge you to consider reinforcing our border patrols and dispatch warning messages to the militia to increase their readiness status."
"No, no, no!" the Damiyo shouted, his Adam's apple bobbing frantically. "That would be entirely too confrontational! Wars have started that way Kakashi!"
Wars have been lost that way, you simpering—Kakashi cut that traitorous thought off. He wondered if the Damiyo bothered to read his history. As far as Kakashi could tell; nobody ever bothered to inform his enemies when he intended to attack them. It just ruined the surprise after all.
He had stalked off to stare at the Hokage Monument while he tried to calm down and regain control of his temper. Mainly so he didn't Chidori the next idiot who talked to him. Particularly since he was going to have to meet with the Council later on. It was safer for them. For some reason, it offended them when he arbitrarily executed one of them just for opening their stupid mouths. Sure he'd feel better but he would have to deal with all sorts of crap from the fallout afterwards…
A/N: One thing that I've noticed recently in some of the fanfics I read is the existence of a combined Council in Konoha with both civilians and clan heads on it; and this Council is often corrupt with the civilians being the dominant force. It's not a bad concept but I didn't want to repeat things consistently so my version of the Council is that it consists of three parts with the civilian portion is a small fraction that barely breathes without the permission of the ninjas—it is a Hidden Village after all so I would assume that ninjas would be the ruling force.
CURRENT STATUS CHART:
(16 YEARS AFTER SASUKE RETRIEVAL MISSION)
KAKASHI HATAKE: ALIVE; former Jounin Sensei of TEAM 7; currently Nandaime (Seventh) Hokage of Konohagakure
MIGHT GUY: ALIVE; former Jounin Sensei of TEAM GUY; currently Jounin and active Konoha Ninja
ONOKI: DECEASED; Sandaime (Third) Tsuchikage of Iwagakure; killed under unknown circumstances during the Akatsuki Wars
JIRAIYA: ALIVE; former Toad Sage of Mt. Myoboku until Konoha exiled Naruto Uzumaki and refused to repudiate Konoha, was removed as the Toad Summoner which has drastically reduced his powers; active Konoha Ninja
TSUNADE SENJU: MISSING; former Godaime (Fifth) Hokage of Konohagakure; chose to resign shortly after the exile of Naruto Uzumaki from Konoha; current whereabouts and condition unknown
DANZO SHIMURA: DECEASED; former Rokudaime (Sixth) Hokage of Konohagakure; after the resignation of the Fifth Hokage, he arranged to have himself appointed as the replacement Hokage; responsible for invasion of Hidden Waterfall, Grass, and Rain and a failed assassination attempt at the Five Kage Summit; killed under unknown circumstances
KABUTO YAKUSHI: ALIVE; former spy of Sasori of the Red Sands and Konoha Genin Ninja turned Nuke-nin (Missing Ninja) under Orochimaru; currently the Nidaime (Second) Otokage
GAARA OF THE DESERT: ALIVE; Jinchuuriki of Ichibi no Shukaku (One-Tailed Demon Beast) and the Godaime (Fifth) Kazekage of Sunagakure; survived an assassination attempt by Danzo at the Five Kage Summit
SAKURA HARUNO: ALIVE; former member of TEAM 7
ASUMA SARUTOBI: DECEASED; Jounin Sensei of TEAM 10; Konoha Ninja; killed under unknown circumstances
KILLER B: DECEASED; Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi (Eight-Tailed Demon Beast) and Kumo Ninja; killed under unknown circumstances during the Akatsuki Wars
A: DECEASED; Yondaime (Fourth) Raikage of Kumogakure; killed under unknown circumstances during the Akatsuki Wars
MEI TERUMI: ALIVE; Godaime (Fifth) Mizukage of Kirigakure and the Eastern Alliance
NEIJI HYUUGA: ALIVE; former Konoha Ninja and member of TEAM GUY; retired after suffering crippling injuries at the Invasion of Hidden Grass; currently acting Head of the Hyuuga Clan
SHIKAMARU NARA: ALIVE; active Konoha Ninja; currently Head of the Nara Clan