Part 1.3: The Meeting

Tsunade's usually spacious office was now cramped with a mixture of genin, chuunin, and jounin as they sat and chatted idly amongst themselves. It was almost time to give them the announcement that she had been dreading ever since she had become aware of it. It seemed to haunt her constantly, as she feared the reaction that would be received tonight. She did not wish to stir trouble, but the information in front of her was too important to ignore tonight, and the entire village had the right to know. She sighed deeply as she contemplated her current situation. 'This is certainly going to cause some commotion, to say the least,' she thought. She didn't want to accept it herself, but reality was not so kind sometimes. She chuckled at the last comment. She had worn the official hokage attire tonight, which consisted of a white robe with red patters across it. She had decided to forego the hat, which she thought, 'Really doesn't do justice to my beauty.' 'Well, almost time to start, lets see who's here.'

There were a lot of new faces she didn't recognize. Some were academy students that no doubt had been abruptly promoted to genin so that they could carry out missions. She could tell, because a great many of them were very young, no more than 9 or 10 years old. She hated the fact that so many had to be promoted because of necessity rather than actual skill; she wanted students in this village time to grow. But then again, their situation was pretty dire; a great many of their chuunin and jounin had been killed in the attack by the Sound Village. She looked on into the crowd.

Asuma's team was here, pretty close to the front row, while Asuma himself stayed in the back, surveying the genin and casually smoking a cigarette. Ino and Sakura seemed to have grown their blond and pink hair (respectively) back to its longer state. They were bickering about something, no doubt some trivial matter; they just like to bicker she guessed. Chouji was sitting next to them eyeing them both oddly. Chouji was in a coma for two months after he returned from his mission as the pepper pill had taken quite a toll on his body, completely zapping it of any energy at all. The internal damage was intense, but Tsunade had managed to pull him through it. However, she expected Chouji to return to his usual chubby self, but he still retained that skinny look he had whenever he returned from the mission six months ago. She wondered why this was, until she saw Chouji slowly pull a bag of snacks from under the bench only for Ino to promptly swat them out of his hands. Now both Chouji and Sakura were yelling at Ino. She moved on.

Kurenai's team sat at a bench more towards the middle of the office, while she herself leaned against a far wall, her eyes surveying the entire office. Kiba was seated with Shino, and Hinata was seated between them. It seemed as though Kiba was attempting to elicit some type of reaction from Shino while Hinata looked on, but Shino simply stared straight-forward, a very stoic expression on his face. Even though a pair of dark sunglasses covered his eyes, she could still feel them boring into her.

Neji was seated in a far corner with Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga, whose presence she had requested personally. Of all people, the Hyuuga had a right to hear what she was about to say. Neji seemed rather bored of all this, and sat lazily with his eyes half-closed. Next to them, Lee and Gai were practicing some training exercise where they repeatedly hit each other's forearms with their own until one gave up. Tenten simply looked off, no doubt realizing how stupid they must look.

Kakashi was in the opposite corner, leaning against a wall. He nodded at Tsunade, signaling that it was time to begin this meeting. She cleared her throat audibly, and the room slowly began to quiet down.

"Good evening, I've brought you all here today for-"

Suddenly, the office doors burst open revealing a heavily panting Naruto. He looked up to notice nearly everyone in the room giving him a look of disdain. He laughed nervously and quickly composed himself, choosing a spot next to Gai in the back of the room.

"As I was saying," she said, "I have brought you all here today because as many of you may or may not know, the second Chuunin exams are coming up in about a month's time."

There was a slight murmur throughout the crowd, either people had their suspicions confirmed or had a slight case of shock. Most people continued listening intently.

"The Chuunin exams represent a time where a select group of genin, who have demonstrated an appropriate amount of skill, are given the opportunity to advance in rank. Becoming a Chuunin means added responsibility as Chuunin are expected to have not only skill in all forms of jutsu, but also outstanding leadership abilities. I have called you and your Jounin sensei specifically as I have decided that every genin here will participate in the examination."

This statement elicited a much larger response. Most of the genin were jubilatory, Rock Lee even went into a frantic dance until Gai had swatted his head in order to make him stop. However, some of the genin looked confused, even fearful. Tsunade had expected this, most of these children weren't ready for the examination, as they had most likely heard pretty harsh stories from some of the older genin and chuunin. Some of the genin had raised their hands in hopes of getting particular questions answered.

"Please, save anything you may have for the end," said Tsunade, and the hands slowly drooped down in disappointment. "I know some of you may have your misgivings about going into the exam so early, and others may be wondering why so many are going in our current state." This last sentence elicited some silent agreement from the crowd. This was evidently a very prominent issue to them, but she had expected such a reaction. "However," she continued, "it is imperative that many of us participate for the sake of protecting this village."

She had never seen a group of people look so confused in her life over the last comment. She was about to continue until she heard an all too familiar voice pop up in the back of the room. "So we're going to protect the village, by keeping most of the ninjas busy with the Chuunin exam? Tsunade, I think your age is getting to you."

Tsunade was trying very hard to maintain her composure after that last comment from Naruto. 'That brat, I'll get him later.'

"If the exam was being held in our village, what you said might be true," continued Tsunade, who was really attempting to keep her voice level, "However, the Chuunin exam is something that is passed from country to country in an attempt to improve diplomatic relations between them. The last exam as we all know was held here. The next exam, as was approved years back, would be held in the Country of Thunder in Hidden Cloud Village.

Genuine shock went throughout the genins this time. Many of the Jounin had known about the event being held in Hidden Cloud, but that information was generally not allowed to pass to the ears of genins.

"For those of you who do not know, the Leaf and Cloud have had a very 'tenuous' relationship. Only fifteen years ago the Leaf was involved in a violent struggle with the Hidden Cloud; a war that lasted nearly fifty years. Many elder nin here including me still remember the war between the two strongest nations. We lost many friends, family, and allies."

Many of the Jounin were nodding their heads in agreement. Kakashi was looking especially downtrodden, staring at the floor rather than at Tsunade herself.

"As of right now, we have a very thin treaty with the Thunder nation. It's more along the lines of a cease-fire rather than an actual peace treaty. It is because of this, we must have a very strong showing in the Chuunin exam. By having many of our nin participate, we are telling the Thunder nation that despite the attacks on us, we are still strong. Any sign of weakness may be looked at as an opportunity for the Thunder to break the treaty and attack. Therefore, it is imperative that while we are guests in the Nation of Thunder, we must not only share inside information with anyone from the Thunder Nation, we must make no provocation to anyone associated with the Thunder Nation or the Hidden Cloud. Not only would such an event be catastrophic to our relations, the Leaf would not be able to withstand an assault by the Hidden Cloud at our current state. It would be a slaughter."

Tsunade gave time for the message to sink in. The genin were finally beginning to understand just how important this examination was to the Leaf. Even Naruto wore an expression of solemn concern. He hadn't realized the ramifications of going on this examination.

Finally, Tsunade cleared her throat and continued. "Therefore, it is imperative that all Leaf nins, genin or otherwise steer clear of any direct confrontation with the Thunder-nins barring the examination itself and the rules therein. Thank You.

Tsunade paused. Even though this speech was important, it was not the reason she had brought them all before her today. She took a very deep breath, inhaling, and exhaling slowly. 'I have to tell them, its imperative to tell them.' Some of the genin had gotten up, thinking Tsunade was done.

"Wait," she said suddenly. Her tone darkened, "Although the former of my speech is important, it is not the reason I have brought you all here today."

The genin sat back down again. The sternness of her tone had the attention of everyone in the room, as if nothing was more important than what Tsunade-sama had to say.

"As you now all know," she continued, slower than before, "the Thunder will be holding this year's examination, but that is not all. The Thunder have taken the necessary steps to inform all the clans about the different countries that would be participating, so that we may be ready for their arrival. All the usual ones will be there, the sand, grass, stone, mist, but ..." It was now or never, she had to tell them, "...the Hidden Nation of Sound will also be participating."

She had expected and uproar and that last statement had delivered tenfold. Everyone was on their feet now, demanding answers. "What's the Raikage thinking!?"; "Is this an open act of war!?; "You can't be serious!"

"Order please!" she shouted, attempting to calm the situation. The crowd slowly came to a silence, though angry muttering could still be heard. "I know this comes as a shock to all of us just having come off of a violent struggle with them. However, the Raikage has declared the Hidden Sound Village a legitimate ninja nation and has decreed for them to take the examination as well.

"How do we know that the Raikage isn't just fooling with us," interrupted a young genin in the back of the room.

"I'll field this one Tsunade," and Kakashi came to the front of the room, walking very casually, although there was a very serious tone in his voice. "We know because for the past three months I personally have undertaken the diplomatic relations with the Hidden Cloud. The Raikage himself told me that the Sound would be participating. He said it would be a way to 'end the futile struggle that is war amongst the nations.' And believe me, if the Raikage says he's going to do something of this undertaking, it is always done. Not only that, but the Raikage has granted complete and total amnesty for the Sound from the other nations."

Once again, nin within the room exploded with outrage, except for a ninja in the back who added the comment, "What's amnesty?"

"Basically," continued Kakashi, as the crowd quieted again to hear him speak, "Barring the examination, any nin associated with the Hidden Sound is under the protection of the Raikage himself. Any acts of aggression against them, counts as an act of aggression towards the Hidden Cloud. So, even if we see Orochimaru himself, we can't touch him. They've even given Orochimaru the title of Otokage."

"I know you're all restless from this news," continued Tsunade from where Kakashi left off, "but we need to be very prudent in this mission, hence why so many Jounin are taking time out from their missions to go on this affair. It is the most important event happening to the Leaf at this point in time. All I'm asking is that we get through this without any major mishaps."

"Also, this last comment is directed especially to anyone who undertook the mission four months ago to recover Sasuke. It is also proven fact that he will participate in this examination as well."

In no one else did this elicit more of a reaction than in Naruto, but rather than lashing out, he seemed to be filled with silent rage, as if no words would express the anger he felt at that moment. He clenched his fists into tight balls and looked down at his feet, his teeth baring themselves into a wicked scowl.

"We know he's participating," added Kakashi, answering the question before it was asked, "because that was part of the deal for amnesty with the Thunder. Orochimaru has promised the Raikage that he will see the last of the Uchiha clan in action."

"No one, especially not you Naruto," continued Tsunade, in more of a forceful tone that Naruto thought possible, "are to engage in any physical altercation with Sasuke barring the examination as said before. I know that his will be very difficult for all of you, but we are the Hidden Leaf, we will strive and we will succeed no matter how many cards are played against us. Thank you, you are dismissed."

And with that, the genin slowly began to shuffle out.