Hi guys, welcome back. Just wanted to clear something up, Naruto's hair! Pre-departure it was a replication of the Yondaime's. Nothing's really changed except, now, it's long enough to pull back. Zaiaku's pre-departure was nearly touching his butt, now it's at the bottom of his shoulder blades. Eh, I think that was it, and no I haven't promoted the boys, YET! Let's get started then!

Disclaimer - I do NOT own Naruto

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-Chapter 25: Preparations for War-

As the three boys and Temari neared the Hokage tower, a glaring Zabuza stepped into pace along side them, "Lost her?" questioned Temari.

Zabuza grunted, "She got faster," he turned his head and crossed his arms, "I have to take her for drinks later." All three of his students bit their lips to refrain from laughing at their sensei. Upon entering the Hokage tower, Zabuza spotted Jiraiya speaking to a jounin, "Jiraiya-sama, is Hokage-sama around?" he questioned

"Hai," replied the sannin, "I'm just off to see her as well." As they made their way down the hallway the Toad sannin's wandering eye landed on the sand kunoichi. She still wore her hair in her trademark four short pigtails and she now donned a sandy brown jounin vest. Her lavender top was replaced by a black one, it hung slightly off her shoulders, revealing a fishnet shirt. Her black skirt was now a deep crimson, sporting a split that reached all the way to her hip. Jiraiya noted that her outfit colors were quite similar to the other blonde's, Naruto. Her huge battle fan was still strapped to her back and her forehead protector still tied loosely around her neck. As his eyes wandered down her legs he felt someone glaring daggers into his skull, turning revealed Naruto bearing his teeth and twitching. The sannin shrugged and mouthed a, "What?"

'Baka, ero-sennin!' thought Naruto as he silently fumed. After a moment he grinned evily, 'I wonder how Tsunade-baa-chan would react to a bit of news that might 'slip'.' His fox demon chuckled in delight at the soon to be demolished super-pervert. Then he turned to his two teammates, "Oi, how about a spar when we get done here?"

Zaiaku grinned, "Sure," he replied, "why not?"

'Because Konoha does not have an appropriate sized battle ground!' ranted Shiva, praying her vessel wasn't serious

Gaara knew it was his place to be the sensible one, to let them both know that they were being idiots, and that they couldn't go all out on a training field. In knowing all that he still couldn't fight the urge to test his new strength, "I agree."

Shukaku grinned, 'I hope konoha doesn't have a 'Protect the Trees' foundation.'

"Don't you think that would be a bit much for a gennin training field?" questioned Zabuza, much to the relief of Shiva. "Although," he stated with a grin, "I'm pretty sure I can bea-" he was cut off by his feet being rooted to the floor by sand and Naruto with kubikiri houcho at his neck. "Maybe not," he stated with a with a cocked brow. He watched Zaiaku continue down the hallway, "You didn't get any better?" Zaiaku grinned and tossed him something. Zabuza caught the object, "Your forehead protector?"

"Nope," replied the teen as he rested his sheathed sword on his shoulder, "yours."

Jiraiya paled at the display of team oni, 'For once, Tsunade was right, these kids aren't chunnin level.' He broke out of his revere when they reached the Hokage's receptionist, "We're here to see Tsunade."

"Hai," replied the small girl, "she's expecting you, please go in."

When the six people entered the room they noticed all of the available jounin and ANBU members were gathered, along with the rookie teams and the Hokage herself, "Glad you could make it," stated Tsunade as she eyed them, "I hope you're ready."

Zaiaku caught sight of Sakura. She was clad in a form fitting long-sleeve red shirt, her green chunnin vest over it. She still had her black full fingered gloves and, instead of her shorts, she wore biege long pants that were tucked into her black calf high boots. Her pink hair was still shoulder length and tied up by her red forehead protector. Zaiaku blushed as he locked his eyes on hers, the moment was broken by Gaara jamming an elbow into his side, "Ready for what?" he questioned.

Tsunade stood up straight and walked to a closet, "well if you've noticed you walked into a strategy meeting," she stated as she opened a door. "Sound and Mist are mobilizing and the only jounin the sand could spare is Temari," she stared at the objects and sighed, "they are worried about an attack as well, also Uchiha Sasuke has joined the sound and Orochimaru."

Everyone in the room was silent as the Hokage retrieved three items, "And what do you want us to do about it?" questioned Naruto with a raised brow.

"Nothing," replied the Godaime, "He's an enemy now, if you engage him, then kill him." Drawing back she threw the first item, a green vest, at Zaiaku who caught it deftly, "Rouga Senmetsu, for defeating the leader of the mist seven and ensuring the safety of konoha citizens, you are hereby given the rank of Jounin." Reaching into the desk she repeated the process to Naruto, "Uzumaki Naruto, for averting an enemy squad, defeating a mist swordsman, and protecting the nobles of fire country, you are promoted to Jounin." She then launched the last vest, at Gaara, who's coat responded by catching it, "Sabaku no Gaara, for protecting the nobles of fire country, defeating three summoned monsters, and your exceptional skill in large scale combat, you are given the rank of Jounin." She smiled at the shocked looks on the boys faces, "You would've gotten those sooner, but you decided to leave."

Naruto was the first one to put on his vest, sliding it over his black jacket, and leaving it unzipped. Next was Gaara, his long jacket disolved into sand and fell to the floor, allowing him to pull on his vest. After zipping the garment the sand resumed it's form of a coat. Zaiaku handed his sword off to Naruto as he removed his trenchcoat and slipped into the vest, he also chose not to zip it. "Well," stated Zabuza, "I guess you three did ok in the exam," this caused everyone in the room to let out a laugh

Gaara was the first to look over the large map hanging in the meeting room, "What do we know at this point?" he questioned

Shikamaru stepped up next to him, "The attack can only come from three directions: North, West, and South. Our eastern side is protected by the mountains." Narrowing his eyes he continued, "we can protect the south by closing this pass," he pointed to the spot on the map, "but that cuts off several out lying farmsteads."

An unmasked ANBU member shook his head, "Good luck getting those stubborn fools out of their homes and into the village."

Asuma nodded, "Many of those farms have been in those families for generations, asking them to just leave is like severing a limb."

"We'll close it in three days," stated Gaara as he looked at the Godaime, "it is simpler to rebuild a farmhouse and replant crops than to rebuild a village."

After recieving a nod from Tsunade, Shikamaru pulled out a marker and placed a red 'X' on the pass, "Next we're going to have to establish how to break their forces into sections. Fighting them all at once isn't an option, without the sand, they have us completely out numbered." Leaning back against a desk he crossed his arms, "I was thinking hit and run tactics to slow their pace, but the teams will have to be absurdly fast as to not get overwhelmed."

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe, "We need three teams, Gai will lead team one, Kakashi will lead team two."

"And team three?" questioned Kakashi, "Captain Yuugao perhaps?"

"Zaiaku can," stated Zabuza as he eyed his, now stunned, student, "I'd say he's faster than Kakashi and Gai as well."

"Can he prove it?" questioned a jounin, all eyes were on the black haired man, "I doubt he's fas-"

He was cut off by his forehead protector splitting in half and hitting the ground, "I'm faster than your mouth, oji-san," stated Zaiaku who looked to not have moved at all.

Tsunade grinned, "Team three will be led by Zaiaku-kun."

Shikamaru nodded and wrote the three team leaders names on the blackboard, "You will each be assigned two ANBU teams as they are the only ones that can move at the minimum required speeds. Team's one and two will be placed under Gai, three and four will be under Kakashi, and five and six will be under Zaiaku." It was silent as he wrote down the names, "Next will be our main assault forces: Tsunade-sama will be leading force one, while Jiraiya-sama will lead force two. We have two forces simply because it will allow us to be more mobile, and hopefully make up for our lack of numbers. These two forces will be broken up into smaller squads, based on your area of expertise: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, or Genjutsu." Stepping up to the board again he began writing down names, "under Jiraiya-sama the captains are: Raidou, Asuma, Aoba, Anko, and Naruto. Under Tsunade-sama: Zabuza, Genma, Kurenai, Ibiki, and Gaara. You will report directly to your commander." After writing three names under each captain Shikamaru placed the chalk down and brushed off his hands, "If your name is not up here then you are to remain in the village under Sarutobi-sama."

Temari was glaring, her name wasn't on the board, she was on village guard duty. 'I should be with Naruto-kun,' she thought angrily

A medic-nin raised his hand, "What about the medics?"

"If your field of study isn't emergency field stabilization, then you are to remain in the hospital and protect it," replied Tsunade, "the most critically injured will be brought into konoha for immediate treatment." Hinata and Sakura frowned at this, they were both trained in EFS, but being that they were the strongest combat oriented medic nins in the village, they would be required to stay in the hospital for protection purposes.

Jiraiya scanned the room and frowned, "We're going to be fighting roughly twice our numbers, but we will win. We are the shinobi of the fire nation, our determination is stronger than the hardest metal, and our wills are tempered in the flames of Konoha." Slamming his hands down on his desk he stood up, "We will show them that the Leaf Shinobi will die on our feet, before we live on our knees!" As cheering erupted around the room his gaze landed on the three vessels, 'it won't hurt to have three demons on our side either.'

"From gennin to Jounin and team leader in about an hour," stated Zaiaku as the room began to clear, "that's a record somewhere, I know it."

Naruto snorted and stood, "just make sure you make it out in better condition than you did last time, frosty."

"I agree," added Gaara also getting to his feet, "make sure you both take every opponent seriously, take nothing for granted."

As they exited the strategy room they came face to face with the rookies and smiling, or in Neji and Shino's case smirking, faces, "I was happy in knowing that I at least out ranked you," stated Neji, "but now I can't even say that." After a glance at the bug jounin he nodded, "Shino and I have patrol duty, we'll see you later."

Gaara smirked in reply and then cast his eyes to Hinata. Her lavender hair was now at her shoulders and her forehead protector was still around her neck. She had replaced her old coat with a blue jacket that ended about six inches above her waist, over the top of that was her chunnin vest. Her undershirt was a simple white tee-shirt, while her pants were the same hue as her jacket and shinobi sandals. "You all seem to be well," stated the redhead, his accessment was to everyone but his eyes never left Hinata. The Hyuuga heir blushed and nodded.

"So," barked Kiba, "Jounin! That's freaking great!"

Naruto and Zaiaku grinned while Gaara just offered a small smile, "Congradulations to you guys as well," said Naruto.

Zaiaku had cast a glance to Sakura and was about to speak to her when he was cut off from saying anything due to a fast approaching Chunnin, 'crap!'

'Patience is a virtue, little one,' stated Shiva

"Naruto-san, Gaara-san, and Zaiaku-san," he huffed, "you are to report to the hokage's office immdediately."

The three boys entered the office of the Godaime quite confused, "You wanted to see us?" questioned Zaiaku as he noticed that the other people in the room were all designated captains from the previous strategy meeting, "Hokage-sama?"

"This will only take a minute," interjected the third, "we have some questions that we needed answers on, mainly in regards to your 'abilities'."

Naruto snorted, "You mean: If we go off how big is the boom going to be?" Sarutobi nodded in confirmation, "We don't just release raw energy," he replied, "it's controlled and we also know our limits."

"One of the things we've been working on for the past year is to gain a better control over our powers," added Zaiaku, "that's why we had to leave. You can trust us, we'll do whatever it takes to make sure Konoha is there to see the next day."

"Alright," said Tsunade as she retrieved three sheets of paper, "These are your team members." As each boy eyed their list she continued, "Zaiaku, your team will be on the training fields. Gaara, your team is going to be on patrol in the 'D' sector of the village. Naruto, I'm pretty sure your team is at the bar."

"At the bar?" questioned the blonde, "this is for calling you baa-chan, isn't it?"

The Hokage's eyebrow twitched, "Definately."

An hour later our ever vibrant demon vessel was standing outside Konoha's largest bar, 'Oh boy.' Steeling himself he pushed the door open and was nearly knocked back outside by the smell of smoke and sake, "Excuse me?" he questioned one man at the counter. After a third attempt he became irritated and kicked the barstool out from under said drunk, "I SAID, EXCUSE ME!" He immediately realized his mistake as the bar's entire occupancy was now staring at him like a pack of starving animals peering at a dead carcass, 'oops.'

"BAR FIGHT!" yelled a woman in the back as she decked a man sitting opposite her, chaos quickly followed

Meanwhile Zaiaku was in a staring contest with eight of the most ruthless and gifted shinobi in all of Konoha, "So," came a female voice from behind a eagle mask, "you're the kid that beat Fantomu?" she scoffed, "I'm not impressed."

"You don't have to be," replied Zaiaku as he curled his fingers tighter around Shimotsuki, "you just have to follow orders."

"is that so?" replied a man in a bear mask as he reached for his ninja-to, only to realize that there was a blade now at his neck.

Zaiaku removed the tip of his sword from the ANBU captain's throat, "Yea," then he turned a began to walk away, "we'll meet in two days at six a.m. sharp, don't be late."

"Is that ALL?" replied the eagle masked woman, her voice thick with venom, "CAPTAIN?"

The snow shinobi stopped and turned his ice blue gaze on the woman, "dress warm," he replied, "it's going to get cold." Then he set off to find Sakura.

"I like him," grunted the bear masked man as he motioned for his team to continued their drills

Gaara smiled when he caught up with his team, "Neji, Shino," he stated with a nod, "and you must be Yumi?" The green haired woman nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"So you are now my captain as well?" huffed Neji, "I suppose it is fate that I cannot escape your shadow."

"Do you mind if I join you?" questioned Gaara, ignoring the slightly pouting Hyuuga

Yumi shook her head, "Not at all, Captain"

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End Chapter 25: Preparations for War

Read and Review - This chap was more about getting the boys reintigrated and back into konoha. Next chapter will touch on the relationships and the start of the battle.

Preview Chapter 26: Dawn of War