Chapter 9: Reunion of the Nine
"Turn in our headbands? Is the Hokage crazy?" Sakura yelled as she slammed her fist down onto the table. Everyone quickly turned their heads as nobody had seen Sakura get up from where she was lying down at.
"Madara is crazy, since he just won't die!" Naruto said as he leaned against the wall and let out a huge sigh.
"Obviously we don't know Madara's true weakness, thats the reason he keeps coming back, but since he's the Hokage now there is nothing you guys can do except listen to him. All of the rookie nine will be turning in their headbands." Kakashi said and Naruto looked down at the ground.
"Its just one bad thing after another, first Shikamaru loses his arm, and now none of us can be a shinobi anymore! This is crazy!" Sasuke said as he stood up and looked out the window.
"Since everyone is ready to go we might as well start to go back towards the village." Shikamaru said as he entered the room with a slight smirk.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped up and and clapped hands with Shikamaru. "I knew you weren't going to be down long!"
"Losing an arm isn't going to stop me you idiot. Now, what to do about Madara." Shikamaru replied as he became very serious.
"There is nothing we can do except listen to him or most likely get killed." Kakashi said as he finished cleaning up all of the blood and items spilled all over the room.
"I wonder what everyone else is doing about this." Naruto said quietly as everyone paused for a moment.
"They are most likely going to begin fighting back." Sasuke said and everyone quickly turned towards him, he had another bird on his arm and had just finished reading a letter that was with the bird.
"Ino is calling together the old rookie nine along with Lee's squad to prepare a comeback plan against Madara and his little buddies." Sasuke said and passed along the message to everyone else in the room.
"Well then, lets get moving!" Naruto said once he finished reading the letter and everyone quickly left the hotel room and the safety zone. Naruto stopped and looked back at the ruined bridge. He could see a familiar figure standing by a group of old men.
"Inari...sorry we can't talk." Naruto said and quickly caught up with the rest of the group.
***
It was nightfall in the village of Konoha when the movement began. Ino quickly opened the window to the flower shop and jumped out into the street. She moved quickly and quietly as she ran towards an old building near the Uchiha district of the village. She quickly moved out of the site of a Jounin walking down the streets.
She spun around a corner and bumped into Kiba and Shino, who were also on their way to the meeting place. They nodded at each other and quickly continued their journey to the destination, arriving in a matter of moments.
Ino kicked down the door quickly and rushed in, followed by the other two shinobi before they fixed the door. Ino quickly called Kiba and Shino from another room, through the door there was a few lit candles and twelve cushions.
"Looks like it was a good idea to leave early, we can get the best seats." Kiba whispered to Shino, but Ino heard him and smacked him on the top of the head and pointed to a seat near the corner marked with Kiba's name.
"Are you kidding me!?" Kiba exclaimed and Ino pushed him towards the spot and he sat down slowly, sulking and muttering about having an assigned seat. Shino took his spot near the entrance and sent out a few bugs to alert them of when someone was entering the building.
"I wonder how many people Naruto and his squad will alert before getting here?" Ino joked and Kiba smirked in his seat.
"He'll alert every single Jounin in the village." Kiba replied and looked directly into Ino's eyes, before she got annoyed and turned away.
"Yeah, we can explain to him the new curfew rule after they get here." Ino said and looked out the dirty window at the moon.
***
"Lord Madara." Konan said as she threw yet another headband into a large fire in the middle of the forest. Madara was sitting on a branch looking at the moon with his sharingan activated.
"I know I said I was going to capture Rock Lee and Ino, and trust me, I will, tonight, except I'm going to have it done right in front of Naruto." Madara said with a smirk.
"Thats not what I was going to bring up. I was going to ask you why you are letting all of those shinobi meet together when you know they will rebel." Konan said.
"Just trust me Konan, I have it all planned out." Madara said and jumped down from the tree and stood beside her.
"Two of them are Jounin, so they didn't turn in their headbands." Madara whispered and Konan looked him in the eye.
"Only Neji Hyuuga is a Jounin of the group thats meeting." Konan said.
"Not anymore."
***
"Here we are, home sweet home!" Naruto exclaimed as they reached the gate to the village. "Good thing you knew about that short cut Shikamaru!" he continued as they waited for the gate to open.
"It looks dark inside, maybe we should just jump over the gate and make sure everything is OK." Sasuke said and everyone nodded, they quickly jumped up onto the top of the gate and looked out at the village, it was completely dark.
"Where is everybody?" Naruto whispered and everyone else shrugged. Sakura was able to point out the building they were meeting at and everyone except for Kakashi quickly left.
Madara and Konan appeared beside Kakashi as he stood there.
"Long time no see, Madara." Kakashi said without making eye contact. Madara stood beside him and looked out at the village.
"You really aren't going to watch over them during their little meeting?" Madara asked as he placed his right hand on Kakashi's shoulder.
"I have other things to do." Kakashi said and quickly left. Madara stood in the exact position with a smirk on his face.
***
"INO! KIBA! SHINO! HINATA! LEE! TENTEN! NEJI! CHOJI! WE'RE HERE!" Naruto yelled as he started to bang on the door, Ino quickly opened the door and slapped him before dragging everyone inside. They quickly entered the candle lit room and everyone was sitting where they were told to.
Naruto stole a glance at Hinata, who was sitting directly across from him, Ino quickly took her seat beside Shikamaru, and she noticed the missing arm.
"I'll tell you later." Shikamaru muttered and Ino couldn't help but look worried as she cleared her throat to begin the meeting.
"Its been over a year since we've all gathered up here for something actually important. As you know, Madara Uchiha has taken over the position of Hokage since the death of Tsunade. Since then, he has called that everyone below the rank of Special Jounin to turn in their headbands, he shut down the academy, and declared a ten PM curfew, with the Jounin walking the streets, and if anyone is caught, he or she will be killed in front of everyone in the village." Ino said, as she choked over the last few words.
"We aren't the only ones planning a rebellion in the near future, a few other small groups are planning on doing the same but they'll easily get caught and killed. I think its time that someone got serious about this, we need to get our lives back!" Ino said and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Hold on a second." Neji said and stood up, everyone looked at him weird. "This meeting is over." he said and looked down.
Kiba tried to get up but he couldn't. Everyone quickly realized that Shikamaru had caught them in Shadow Possession, both of his arms were there.
"Sorry I had to make everyone think I lost an arm, but this is a mission ordered to me and Neji by Madara himself, and we care about our lives more then yours." Shikamaru said as he stood up, everyone else stood up as well.
"I can't believe it Shikamaru! I trusted you!" Naruto yelled as he tried to move, Hinata had tears in her eyes, so did Ino and Sakura. Sasuke, Kiba, Lee, TenTen, and Naruto were all glaring at both Neji and Shikamaru. Choji had a blank expression of his face.
"You're all going to be taken into jail and executed three days from now." Neji said and Shikamaru smirked while the color vanished from everyone else's face.
