Naruto knew it was going to be a bad day from the moment his favorite ramen store closed because all the employers had flu. Instead of eating there for lunch, he decided to eat instant ramen at home.

Time to eat by myself! Naruto thought as he walked leisurely back to his apartment.

"Naruto! Lady Tsunade needs you at her tower!"

Naruto turned around to see Sakura.

"Hey Sakura. How's it doing?" Naruto said casually. "Oh, and by the way, I can't go to her right now 'cause I'm real hungry."

An anger mark appeared on Sakura's forehead as she stomped her foot angrily. Steamed rolled out of her ears.

"Now is not the time to think about your stomach Naruto! Tsunada-sama sounded really urgent! Almost everyone is gathered there. You're the last one!"

Naruto rubbed his head.

"But I'm really hungry, ya know," Naruto moaned.

"Geez. FINE! I'll treat you to whatever you like when we get back. Now hurry or I'll leave you behind!" Sakura said reluctantly.

She turned around and ran towards the Hokage's tower.

Naruto sighed.

See? It was a bad day. He had to talk to Old Lady Tsunada and skip out on his lunch.

By the time that he got to the tower, most of his friends were already gathered there. Everyone there was deathly silent. Only Hinata managed to say something.

"Um…Hi Naruto-kun," Hinata said timidly.

"Hey, hey! What's with this atmosphere? I don't like it," Naruto whined.

Everyone glanced at him sideways a little uncomfortably.

Tsunade, the Hokage, was sitting at her desk, on either side were piles of paperwork yet to be filed. She had her hand folded in front of her mouth and elbows on her table. She was in deep thought, and by the look on her face, probably ruminating about some difficult decision.

Naruto looked around.

He saw Hinata with Neiji standing on the side. Gai was actually being serious this time with a rather worried Rock Lee by his side. Shikamaru was leaning in a corner with Ino and Choji by his side. Kiba and Shino were little off to the side with Akamaru whimpering at their feet. Ten Ten and Shizune, with Tonton, were standing with grim faces next to a nervous Hinata by their side.

After a moment of more awkward silence and awkward staring, Tsunade broke the silence.

"We've sensed an extraordinarily strong source in the forest surrounding our village. It isn't exactly there though; I've sent professional search teams led by Kakashi and Sai to find them, but the only thing we can sense is their presence."

Naruto blinked.

Tsunade continued on.

"In other words…we're thinking they're source of the power isn't here yet. They're probably being slowly materialized in our world."

"Huh?" Naruto asked blankly. "How is it possible?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"I'm not sure," she said quietly. She squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched up her eyebrows.

Shikamaru got up from his corner and walked to the Hokage.

"Well," he started. "Since most of the people whom we want here are here, we might as well start with dealing with this potential threat."

"But what if…you know, just saying, it's not a threat?" Choji said.

"I say we can't take the chances! They've told us how much pressure this chakra source is releasing. I say we rip them to shreds," Kiba snarled. Akamaru growled in agreement.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with him, but I think it's best to not take chances and be fully prepared," Neiji commented coolly.

"Hm? What did you say?!" Kiba said, raising his voice.

"Enough!" Sakura said, trying to break it up.

"We should continue on with the plan," Tsunade said suddenly, startling the three. She opened her eyes. "Shikamaru?"

"Okay," Shikamaru readily agreed.

Shikamaru unrolled a scroll that Naruto hadn't noticed before in his hand. He spread it out on Tsunade's table's free space.

It was probably hidden when he was crossing his hands across his chest in the corner, Naruto thought to himself.

"So the most basic plan is splitting up into roughly two main teams: the ones at the village, and the ones outside the village."

"I'm all for the attacking!" Gai said, suddenly getting all pumped. "This spring time of youth won't stay with me for much longer!"

Rock Lee suddenly got pumped up too: "Yeah!"

Shikamaru sighed.

"First, I propose that Kiba and Akamaru, Shino, and Hinata head out to help find the infiltrators, but maybe in a different location from Kakashi and Sai's group. Their team are best at scouting and tracking people," Shikamaru explained.

"What?" Kiba complained. "How come we never get to do anything action packed?!"

"Quiet, Kiba. Let him finish," Shino said quietly.

Kiba growled in frustration but complied.

"Joining them will be my team, with Ino and Choji. It's best if a good combo is ready at hand to stop any emergency attacks."

Shikamaru pointed at the village gate.

"This is where Neiji, Gai-sensei, Rock Lee, and Ten Ten will be." Shikamaru pointing in the general direction of the village gate. "Ino, Choji, and I will be somewhere here." Shikamaru said, tracing his finger around the center of the village.

"And me?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"He's getting to that part. Now hush!" Sakura said sternly.

Naruto glanced, not amused, at Sakura before turning toward Shikamaru with the map.

"Of course, this is only us. Many of the adults, senseis, senpais, et cetera, will be defending the village as well. The walls will be heavily guarded, as well as the door, so maybe Gai-sensei's group could spread themselves out if needed.

"Naruto and Sakura. You guys will be on stand by. Technically, you guys are the 'attack duo,' but I want you to head out to join Kakashi and Sai in case they do find these mysterious perpetrators."

"Wait," Naruto said, stopping Shikamaru. "There are more than one of these powerful chakra holders?"

"We're not sure yet. We tracked several of what seemed like burning balls of chakra that emit pressure. We're not sure if that's a single person, or several people. In fact, we're not even sure if it even is a human being," Tsunade said, inserting herself into the conversation once more.

Naruto groaned.

"Suck it up," Sakura said.

Naruto pretty much tuned out the rest of the discussion. He was too hungry and bored to bother. All he needed to know was where to go and who to beat up. Since he already knew where to go and that they couldn't identify whoever he needed to beat up, he didn't bother listening to any more information.

Shikamaru talked too much about his plans anyways.

"Let's move out then," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah!" Everyone replied.

"Around when do you think they'll come about?" Naruto asked, snapping back into the conversation.

"We still don't know yet. But we're assuming its around noon," Tsunade said. "The rest you heard in our explanation.

Yeah, I sure did, Naruto thought.

"Dismissed!" Tsunade said.

Everyone filed out of the room, and soon they were out of the tower.

Naruto groaned. The thought of missing his favorite noodles was constantly haunting his head.

"Could I puh-lease just eat some ramen now? I'm hungry, ya know!" Naruto complained. He could feel his stomach acid slowly working away on his stomach.

"No way!" Sakura said. "Your village is in danger of something that we couldn't identify. For all we know, it could be something out of this world! And yet here you are, thinking about your own stupid problems. Grow up."

Naruto squinted reproachfully at Sakura.

Suddenly, a ninja ran towards the group. He was in a hurry and had a frightened look on his face.

Shikamaru stepped forward. "What's the matter?"

"They're here!"

Ayo. So sorry guys! This update was really really really really really slow... TT^TT I have so much work in my hands, and so much planning to do. I'm more into Bleach, and I don't know the Naruto places as well. Let's just say that I pay more attention and enjoy fights more than form mental images on the background. I'm so sorry if it's incorrect! If you see any errors, or any personality differences, please tell me.

Thank you so much for following me! X3 Hopefully I can update more when school ends.