Chapter 13: Begun the Shinobi war has
Naruto appeared in the contestants area as everyone stood defensively as they prepared to fend off any attacks.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto shook his head.
"No time Sasukes has been captured and we have been assigned to rescue him." He said looking at the genin who had all fought each other just the past hours.
"I know we're all tired but he is our comrade and he needs our help if you don't want to help him because he's from a different village but we're all in this war together now I guess." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm in." Neji said, stepping forward.
"As am I naruto-kun." Lee said
"Someones gotta keep you in line." Shikamaru said.
"I second that." Temari said, shooting her fiance a smile.
"I've got your back." Fu said as Gaara nodded.
"Team B will go with you as well." They heard yugitos voice as the kumo shinobi nodded.
"I've been sent to help track sasuke's sent." Kiba announced with a grin
"Alright let's go!" Naruto shouted as he led the large genin team through a window Kiba taking a place behind them as they rushed through the village and out the side of the walls that no combat was going on at the moment. They took off into the forests around Konoha in pursuit of Sasuke.
(Main gate of konoha)
Minato appeared on the walls of konoha where shinobi of konoha oto and iwa layed dead or dying all along the walls there was sporadic fighting all along the wall. A large puff of smoke took his attention as a snake came falling flying out of the wall breaking a whole in it.
Another puff of smoke happened above the snake as a toad came smashing done on top of the snake as minato shushined over to join his master.
"Hello minato glad you could join us." The sanin said with a grin as the snake dispelled however more ninja came rushing through the hole in the wall past the toad who tried to stomp on as many shinobi as it could but the hoard was too much.
The invasion force swarmed past into konoha however Konoha and Iwa ninja were everywhere raining kunai and shuriken down on the force keeping them from diving deep into the village.
Fighting was mostly contained to the front district of konoha as the chunin and jounin fought off against the invasion force of oto.
Kakashi and gai stood back to back taking down any enemy shinobi that came
Their way while zabuza and haku cut through shinobi on the same street asuma and kurenai along with a company of jounin and chunin watched their backs. Just another street down, B and A were taking on a company of oto shinobi along with Darui and C who had accompanied the Raikage though Darui and C were mostly providing back up.
Mei was leading a company of konoha shinobi as they battled along a different street as bodies were strewn along the road and onoki and his shinobi tried to keep the invasion force at bay. Minato flashed from enemy to enemy slicing his way through as tri pronged kunai were strewn everywhere.
Tsunade and Jiraiya along with the second battalion were protecting the walls from more holes and they were also making sure that the invasion force was funneled through as planned by the kage council.
"Kukuku still protecting this place huh Jiraiya?" Orochimaru asked as he slashed at the sanins head who simply ducked underneath the slash punching upwards as the orochimaru before him turned to mud.
"Still using the same tricks orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked slamming a kunai behind him into the orochimaru who was approaching the man from behind which again turned to mud.
"Oh you wound me so Jiraiya." He heard orochimaru from before the wall as the man slammed his hand on the ground summoning manda..
"Why have you summoned me to Orochimaru if you haven't paid the sacrifices for the last time?"Manda asked as a manic grin spread across the sanins face.
"Because I'm offering up all of konoha as a sacrifice!" Orochimaru shouted as manda hissed.
"I'm sorry Jiraiya I am too ungraceful to take on Manda." Gamaken the toad that Jirayia was on said as the man shook his head.
"No worries just try to stem the tide I will summon gamabunta." Jiraiya said as he jumped in the area quickly performing the summoning jutsu as gamabunta descended along the smoke towards manda who hissed and slithered back before striking out which gamabunta blocked with his sword.
"I hope this is minato if not your getting a smack down after this jiraiya." Gamabunta said as the toad kept Manda away from him.
"It's me gamabunta don't worry you will get a nice snake skin wallet from this." Jiraiya said as gamabunta sighed.
"I better!" He shouted as the summons clashed as did the two sanin.
(Sasuke Retrieval team)
"We're getting closer to the scent." Kiba announced as the team flew through the woods seeing the four oto ninja the retrieval team came to a halt. The first shinobi and apparent leader of the group by the way the other three stood around him or rather them had fair-skin and straight, dark blue hair with long bangs that covered each different eye, their bangs were on opposite sides with one being on the left, and the other on the right. They both wore a green shade of lipstick, and had dark markings around their eyes, giving them an androgynous appearance. The twos attire was a black shirt under brown tunics with long sleeves and bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. They wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around their waists. To help distinguish between the two the main head wore a dark-red beaded necklace around his neck and carried a giant scroll behind his back through one of the loops of his rope-like belt.
The second shinobi was the tallest member of Sound Four, Jirōbō was a large and imposing young man, towering over the rest of his teammates. He had fair-skin and narrowed, slanted orange eyes, usually depicted with a stern look on his face. He also had three tufts of orange hair on his head: a mohawk of sorts that ran down the middle and two similar styled tufts of hair at the side.
He wore a beige-coloured, sleeveless tunic with the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem and a pair of black pants that stopped just below his knees. He wore black, arm-warmers, and a necklace that consisted of red circular pieces separating long, metallic pieces. He also wore traditional black shinobi sandals with mid-calf leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist
The next member of the sound four was a dark-skinned shinobi with black, shaggy hair tied into a ponytail and black eyes. He was the second-tallest member of the team and had a confident grin on his face. Uniquely, the oto nin also had six arms and a black oto hiate-ate.
He wore a black, sleeveless shirt under a sleeveless grey tunic that bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. He also wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist
The final member of the sound four and only female was fair-skinned with a slender build and is the shortest member of the Sound Four. She had brown eyes that were accentuated by her eyelashes extending into the corners of her eyes and was usually sporting an impassive expression on her face. Tayuya's most distinctive feature was her long, untamed, red hair that fell past her shoulders with long parted bangs framing either side of her face and one between her eyes.
She wore a black shirt under a tan tunic with elbow-length sleeves and bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. She wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around her waist. To keep her wild hair out of the way, Tayuya also wore a black hat with pipe-like stripes and bandaged sides, keeping her bangs in place while the rest is pushed back behind her ears to trail down her back.
Underneath one of the arms of the sounds shinobi with six arms was a knocked out sasuke.
"Looks like you shit stains finally caught up took you long enough." The girl of the team said with a confident grin.
"Quite Tayuya." Scolded the leader before he turned back to the Konoha shinobi.
"Give us back sasuke!" Naruto shouted with a glare as the man grinned.
"Don't worry you can have the uchiha back we were just borrowing him for a little while to talk to him." The leader said snapping his fingers as sasuke was flung back to the allied shinobi team Naruto caught the uchiha with a ompf.
"That easy?" Naruto asked confused.
"That easy Sasuke will seek us out himself in time." The leader said before the sounds four turned and took off everyone looked at each other confused.
"Dobe, it's a trap." Sasuke said weakly as a large group of oto nin and their mercenaries appeared, maybe 200 ninja so about two companies.
"Defensive formation!" Naruto shouted as every formed a circle with Sasuke in the middle.
"You really got us in the shit now Naruto." Temari said as she pulled her fan off her back.
"Sorry Everyone… I'll make sure we get out of this!" He shouted as he formed a familiar hand seal.
"Tajiu Kage Bushin jutsu(Multi shadow clone jutsu)!" He shouted as about 40 Kage bushin appeared or two platoons.
"Naruto this isn't enough to come close to evening the odds…" Shikamaru said as he kneeled down trying to think of a strategy to pull them out of this alive.
"I know but it'll buy us time to think." Naruto said as the clones charged forward clashing with the oto nin.
"Temari plan four." Naruto announced as he pulled out two scrolls and unfurling them in the air as kunai and shuriken rained as temari whipped her fan causing the the projectiles to fly faster into the small hoard of enemy ninja which did lessen their numbers but not by much as they lifted earth walls that that naruto clones jumped over once the barrage was over.
"There's too many of them…" Fu said in despair after fighting all day even the three jinchuriki were tired.
"Don't worry if we hold out long enough I'm sure we'll get reinforcements." Naruto said with a smile to Fu and by extension everyone. Everyone looked to the blonde before nodding.
(Streets of konoha)
The fighting was still fierce as Kakashi's sharingan span wildly in his left eye as he took down shinobi after shinobi. Minato flashed next to the man taking out a shimo nin who was about to stab the sharingan wielding hatake.
"Minato sensei?" Kakashi asked.
"No time to talk, Naruto's squad has been reported leaving the gates where some enemy movement was reported. Take Platoon C and D make sure the genin squad is ok. Anbu Squad Tora will join you at the walls!" Minato shouted before flashing away to another part of the battlefield frowning kakashi looked to gai.
"Don't worry old friend we got it from here the stream of shinobi is slowly going to save the genin." Gai said with his normal grin as Kakashi nodded jumping to the rooftops as the two platoons joined in behind kakashi. On top of the roofs it was easier to see the damage and chaos as smoke rose up from the market district of konoha where the majority of the fighting had taken place.
Down below more shinobi fought as many konoha, iwa, kiri, oto among many other villages lay dead, dying or wounded blood splattered on the streets and walls.
"Keep moving forward!" Shouted Kakashi as he saw many of the chunin and jounin wished to help their comrades but they had their orders. Reaching the wall quickly, six anbu joined Kakashi at the front as they headed out past the walls of konoha.
"Anything to report?" Kakashi asked the leader of the anbu team which was Neko
the female anbu shook her head.
"No we sent a recon team but we haven't heard back just yet we hope they're surveying a battle… Get down!" Neko shouted as the shinobi spreaded out quickly, kunai shuriken senbon and many other projectiles passed by them, nailing a few of the unlucky shinobi.
"Shit… Any idea how many are out there?" Kakashi asked, trying to glance at a peak in the hail of steel that rained down on the konoha force.
"No idea maybe a platoon or two?" Neko said as she pulled out her katana using the blade to see out from behind the tree.
"Sorry we're late we've been sent to reinforce you guys as the main battle in konoha winds down WEE!" Kakashi heard B shout as he and two other shinobi joined them.
The first was a very tall man, easily standing a head taller than B. He was also heavily armoured, He had light brown eyes, was eyebrowless, and his armour extended all the way to the bottom half of his face, covering it up. Underneath the armour covering the bottom half of his face, he wore a white cloth which also covered both sides of his face and the top of his head. Aside from his red armour, he also wore a red kasa over the white cloth and it seems to be composed of the same material of his armour and furnace. He wore a Iwagakure Hiate-ate on a black cloth, and over his armour, Han wore a black gi, with the sleeves seemingly torn off and black gloves. He also wore what seems to be a bronze-coloured ring around his neck which he wore over his red armour. Also, the armour covering his arms, legs and torso was plated.
The other shinobi had red hair, moustache and beard which tapered off to a point. He was wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both a Iwagakure Hiate-ate, a ring, and a prominent black piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He wore a long-sleeved magenta kimono shirt and pants, with mesh-armour shirt and fitted black suit underneath, along with calf-length sandals. Around his waist he wore a brown sash that held a brown armour-like breast plate with a pouch in the front, a brown back plate on the back that is connected to the front with mesh armour, and armoured lapels falling to the sides.
"I didn't know the Iwa jinchuuriki were here as well?" Kakashi said, surprised to See Han who was the fully armored shinobi and Roshi who were both rather famous after their exploits in the third great shinobi war.
"We just arrived and were sent here with the kumo jinchuriki over there." Han said as they stood behind a series of trees themselves.
"The names B yo try not to forget it fool ya fool!" B shouted as he held all his swords ready to strike out against the ninja in their way.
"We need to clear a way to the genin trapped ahead. Do you guys think you could help us with that?" Kakashi asked as Roshi nodded his body becoming covered in lava.
"Of course we can." He said simply everyone was a little uneasy working with shinobi of villages they were once at odds with but they had their orders.
(Naruto's position)
The genin team stood entrenched in the woods as they striked down any enemy shinobi that managed to get close as a new platoon of naruto's spread out laying traps as quickly as they could as the two platoons dwindled down quickly.
"Here they come!" Fu shouted as the final clones were defeated the by the main force who began to charge forward only to be hit by a ring of explosive tags which caused the enemy ninja to jump back many of their comrades being taken down by the tags however their numbers were still much larger than that genin could hope to take on.
"Any more ideas?" Shikamaru shouted as Naruto nodded.
"Just one then its down to trying to whittle their numbers with ninjutsu." Naruto said as he sliced a shinobi who jumped straight at him. Bitting his thumb naruto ran through a series of hand seals putting a large amount of chakra into the jutsu before slamming his hand down.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He shouted as the genin were suddenly on top of a large aquamarine toad.
"Hello Naruto-sama how may I help you?" The toad asked as he saw that they were surrounded. "Nevermind I see you're in quite a predicament." The toad sadi as he pulled out two swords slicing through the trees causing the enemy force to back off.
"G-good to see you too gamahiro." Naruto said exhausted as the genin continued to fight off the shinobi that came closer continuously.
(Kakashi's position)
"yōton: Shakugaryūgan no Jutsu(Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique)!" Roshi shouted as he jumped out into the open shooting large molten rocks out of his mouth as the konoha shinobi laid down a base of fire with kunai and shuriken as they could.
"Lets go Han wee!" B shouted as he jumped forward striking down the enemy force before them as Han was covered in steam, the konoha shinobi charging forward engaging the oto force.
"Raikiri(Lightning cutter)!" Kakashi shouted as he sliced through the shinobi as he could as the oto ninja began to thin out to the combined effort of the konoha shinobi and jinchuriki.
"Push through to the genin!" Kakashi shouted as he started to race towards the sigh of a large toad which shinobi were starting to move up.
(Naruto's position)
"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!(Water Release: Water Bullet)!" Naruto shouted, launching a pressurized stream of water out of his mouth towards the shinobi coming up gamahiro as shikamaru's shadows weaved striking and stabbing as many shinobi as he could.
Lee striked down any shinobi that jumped towards them as the kumo team used kenjutsu slicing the approaching shinobi as did fu. Torrents of sand raced around the toad crushing anyone in its path. The large force had dwindled to about 75 shinobi but the genin were tired.
"We're here naruto don't worry." Kakashi said with an eye smile behind Naruto after killing a oto nin that was about to stab naruto in the back.
"Kakashi sensei am i glad to see you!" Naruto shouted with a large smile as the reinforcements forced the remaining oto shinobi to retreat.
"Let's get out of here!" Kakashi shouted as Naruto collapsed, Kakashi catching the boy on his back as Lee picked up Sasuke the toad puffing away. The allied forces took off back towards konoha.
(Walls of konoha)
"You haven't lost your edge orochimaru that's surprising for how little fighting you do." Jirayia said as he blocked a sword strike from Orochimaru who hissed.
"Your one to speak trying to fuck every women from here to kumo." He said however the man had to duck under a punch from Tsunade whose punch landed on manda creating a shockwave much to the displeasure of the summon.
"Sorry I'm late you old pervert I had to make sure the medical stations were running smoothly." Tsunade said jumping back to join her teammate as the two stood off facing their old friend.
"Aw look at this little reunion if only our old master wasn't such a fool." Orchimaru hissed out as Jirayia frowned.
"You always did seek the praise of Hiruzen-sensei too bad you'll never receive his praise again… He would be hurt to see what you did to you konoha." The toad sage said as orochimaru's face twisted into anger.
"How dare you use his name!" He shouted as he charged up manda jumping on top of gamabunta attacking his old teammates who dodged and blocked each strike as the two tried to counterattack when they could.
Down the last orochimaru's invasion force maybe a hundred shinobi made their way through the breaches in the wall however they still faced a rain of kunai from the konoha shinobi who held out against their attacks reinforcements arriving when they could.
Along the streets the final remnants of the combined assault dwindled down till it was nothing or pushed out of konoha as the minor villages took their wounded shinobi with them.
"Look Orochimaru, you are defeated and have been pushed out of Konoha, your invasion has failed!" Jiraiya shouted as he blocked Orochimaru's blade, the man stared at him in anger.
"The first battle of this war might be over but the war is far from over." He shouted before blowing out a burst of fire before retreating with the remnants of his invasion force
Minato appeared on the wall exhausted as he sat down staring at the retreating form of orochimaru sweat dripping off his brow.
"My work is done here."Gamabunta said as Manda disappeared at this point the final two toads puffed away back to the toad realm. The sanin shushined over to the Minato staring at the lives that had been lost that day.
The other kage joined the three on the wall as they all watched orochimaru finally disappear with the last of his men.
"Why aren't we chasing them?" A asked as Minato simply shook his head.
"My troops are tired… all of ours are and we need to reinforce our position in case orochimaru attacks now." Minato said with a tired sigh.
"We should all begin returning to our villages soon anyways rather than focusing on the sanin the war isn't just being fought here." Rasa said as the other kage nodded agreeing to at least rest for a day or two.
(Two Days later)
The repair effort had begun almost immediately as the bodies taken off the streets and Suiton jutsus were used to clean off the blood. After a brief morning period the konoha and iwa shinobi were given proper funerals and the enemy shinobi were burned and their bounties collected if they had one.
Naruto spent a day in the hospital after collapsing in the forest after a small case of chakra depletion however the boy recovered rather quickly and was released much to the joy of the blonde shinobi. Though he was shocked to see the state of some parts of Konoha as it was released.
Naruto was currently walking through the streets his actions in the forest weighed heavy on him as he had struck down many oto nin on that day however he understood that he was protecting those precious to them. Yugito as he learned had also moved in during that time as Minato held A to telling Kushina who was rather annoyed at having three females all betrothed to naruto.
The words of the sound four kept replaying over and over again in Naruto's mind as he feared the day that sasuke might leave the village to seek out orochimaru. However the rational part of his mind knew that Sasuke like Itachi was loyal to the village.
"Naruto Namikaze?" The boy heard dragging him out of his thoughts as he looked up to see a chunin.
"Yes?" He asked confused as the man bowed.
"Please report to the hokage." He said before running off down the street. Shrugging Naruto continued to walk this time in the direction of the hokage tower villagers and shinobi alike rushed through the streets of konoha with building materials.
"Hey naruto!" He heard Lee shout as he carried lumber. "Mind giving us a hand?" He asked as naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry Lee I can't personally, I have to meet with the hokage but I'll leave some clones!" Naruto said with a smile as he created a small squad of clones who got to work moving lumber as well with team gai.
Continuing onwards he even saw konohamaru's team rebuilding as everyone in konoha seemed to be involved in one way or another in the reconstruction of the market district. Finally making it to the center of the village naruto entered the hokage tower quickly making it to his father's office. Naruto knocked before entering, seeing the backs of Shikamaru, Temari, Sasuke and finally neji.
"Glad you finally decided to join us." Minato said with a smile as Naruto looked at everyone confused before he joined their line.
"You got a mission for us or something tou-san?" Naruto asked as Minato smiled.
"It's the or something." Minato said as he took a deep breath. "Before I reveal why you are all here I want to say I and konoha are proud of all of you. You proved yourselves in the chunin exams and events following it. While I would love to give every genin who made it to the final rounds in the chunin exams the rank of chunin I believe you five are the ones deserving of being chunin." Minato said as he pulled 5 of the chunin flak jackets out a scroll on his deck.
"Neji hyuga for showing aptitude for combat both in the finals and in the fight against the enemy as well as a calm and clear head I hereby promote you to chunin." Minato said as Neji bowed, taking his flak jacket. "I'm sure hiashi and hizashi will be proud to learn you made it to be a chunin.
"Thank you Hokage-same." The branch member said with a light smile which Minato returned before he turned to Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru you have a mind that few can claim to possess up there with the likes of your father and I am certain you will become a great tactician. For your ability to think ahead and see the best move would be to fight another day. As well as your tactical thinking against the enemy I hereby promote you to the rank of chunin." Minato said as Shikamaru bowed before taking his chunin flak jacket and putting it on.
"Thank you Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said rubbing his pineapple styled hair muttering how troublesome being a chunin might be as Minato turned to temari.
"Temari while you didn't make it very fair in the finals you proved your combat aptitude and were pitted against an opponent with an advantage however you showed your ability to adapt. For your actions in the finals and the battle against the enemy I hereby promote you to the rank of chunin." Minato said as temari smiled bowing and taking her vest as she shot a grin to naruto before putting on the vest. Minato turned to the last two genin in the room.
"Sasuke there are the makings of an exceptional shinobi that could surpass Itachi some day and I know he's proud from the last time I talked to him. You also showed the right mentality of a shinobi to be able to adapt to the situation before you. I also recognize that you weren't able to prove yourself in the forest fight however I think you will soon. I hereby promote you to the rank of chunin." Minato said as Sasuke bowed, taking the flak jacket and putting it on a small smile taking its place on his face.
"Lastly Naruto you pushed yourself to your limits showing the ability to use multiple high level jutsu after another including summoning a battle toad. You lead your team into an unknown situation and bring them all back alive due to your quick thinking and cool head. Not many shinobi can say they had a successful retrieval mission where they brought an additional person back in a time of war. Due to your combat in the chunin exams as well as your leadership in the fight against the enemy I hereby promote you to the rank of chunin." Minato finished as a large grin spread across his face before he bowed quickly throwing on his chunin flak jacket.
"Congratulations to you five as konoha happily accepts you into the ranks of chunin. I wish it was in times of peace but sadly you will be mobilized into one of the Konoha regiments you will receive your orders soon. Everyone but Naruto and Sasuke you are dismissed." Minato ordered as everyone else bowed and left excited and ready to celebrate.
Naruto and Sasuke stood there confused as to why they were held back by Minato who stared out the window.
"You guys have been selected to become anbu or at least trained to be anbu… However you will not have traditional training. After our talk yesterday you will be sent to infiltrate orochimaru and then akatsuki. Naruto the only reason I am telling you this is because of what we know of the akatsuki. The akatsuki is or was a mercenary company that has turned an eye towards capturing all of the jinchuriki for what we don't know. We need to make Sasuke leaving the village believable so we will send you and a genin team after Sasuke however you will allow Sasuke to escape in the end. Minato asked as sasuke and naruto looked at each other with a frown adorning each other's face.
"If we must do this for the village we shall." Naruto said for the two as Minato nodded an Inu masked anbu with silver hair appearing.
"With that said, welcome to the Anbu forces this is your first mission. Naruto you will receive training after the retrieval mission before you are deployed. Your duties as chunin come first however Anbu missions can and will be sent for you to accomplish with your fellow anbu in the regular forces." Inu explained however both newly minted shinobi could see an eye smile.
"Sasuke you're mission will begin at the end of the week you are dismissed. Naruto I have one last thing to tell you." Minato said as Sasuke bowed before leaving, shooting Naruto a look.
"You are now a chunin… as much as I hate to say it that means you must marry not only temari now but Yugito and Kurostuchi who you haven't spent much time with. We'll have the wedding after your mission so you can get to know your new brides." Minato said as Naruto frowned but nodded he had accepted that this would happen a long time ago. "You're dismissed." Minato said finally as naruto bowed.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose Minato sighed from tiredness as he left his office and headed into the war room where all the other kage waited.
"Sorry about that I had to issue out the chunin flak jackets as usual after the chunin exams." Minato said as he took his spot at the war council as he stared at the map that was laid on the ground.
"It's quite alright Minato." Mei said as minato coughed into his hand, composing himself.
"Konoha has 15,000 shinobi currently that we can send into the field at the current moment and they will be split up into five regiments of 3,000 men each. Our First regiment and second regiment is already on the battlefield holding out our current line from here to here." Minato said, pointing to a line that leads from Kawa no Kuni(Land of rivers) to Yu no Kuni(Land of Hot water).
"The third regiment will be sent to Kiri to reinforce the rebels." Minato said, giving Mei a nod. "Our fourth regiment will be sent to Taki to help keep the line open connecting Iwa to Konoha. Finally our fifth regiment will be used as a strike force to attack into wherever reinforcements are needed." Minato finished as he gave the floor to A.
"Currently Kumo has 20,000 shinobi ready for battle which will be split into five regiments of 4,000 each. Our Third and Fifth regiment is currently holding the line against Shimo while the First Second and Fourth regiments prepare to invade once Shimo is conquered we will send the First regiment to help out in Hi no Kuni. The Second regiment will be sent to kiri as well" A said as he gave the floor to Onoki.
"Iwa has 18,000 Shinobi that are combat effective which are being mobilized into 4 regiments of 4,500 shinboi. The First Second and Third regiments are all holding the border with Kusa Ame and Ishi with the fourth regiment moving to help out taki with the konoha regiment." Onoki said, nodding to Rasa.
"Suna has 12,000 shinobi making us the weakest of the great 5 in terms of manpower available at the moment. We are one unified force holding borders with Tani, Ame and Ishi." Rasa said simply
"Currently the rebels have about 10,000 shinobi but more kiri shinobi flock to our cause everyday. We are spread out all through the land of water but with the Fourth and Second regiments support we should be able to lay siege to kiri itself." Mei said as everyone turned to shibiki.
"Taki doesn't have many shinobi, just 10,000 that are currently holding out against an invading force from Kusa and Oto but their attack has mostly stalled." He said as everyone nodded.
"What can we expect from the dayiamos?" Minato asked as every shrugged.
"What we expect every war I suppose a few armies just consist of Samurai and mercenaries." A said as minato frowned.
"Maybe the burden doesn't have to just be on the Villages; perhaps the daimyos can help in the war." Minato suggested. "After all its their countries being invaded and they have plenty of soldiers even if they're not shinobi." Minato said as the kage pondered on the thought.
"It's something to think about to be sure I think we can all bring it up with our daimyo." Onoki said.
"Well if there's nothing else I think we can conclude today's meeting we will set up a central HQ to coordinate as the war progresses for now we should keep in touch with runners and birds." Minato said as everyone bowed before leaving to go home.
(With Naruto)
Naruto sat on top of his father's head as he overlooked konoha, a frown mired on his face.
"You ok Naruto? I thought you would have been happy to be selected as both a chunin and an anbu candidate?" Sasuke said as he sat down beside his long time rival.
"I am but you're being sent off to keep tabs on orochimaru and then once that's done you're off to join whoever these akatsuki guys are." Naruto said as he looked at his rival who nodded.
"I know Naruto but if I protect Konoha and the people I care about then I will do what I must. Even if I have to walk in the darkness to protect konoha." Sasuke said with a light smile which Naruto returned.
"In that case I will walk in the light so that you may one day return to it." Naruto said, holding out a fist which Sasuke happily bumped.
"Good I'll keep you to that. Anyways come on there's something you should see." Sasuke said as he and Naruto took off the hokage monument heading to the same Akimichi BBQ place they had visited before the chunin exams.
Heading inside the pair walked into the same room where the Rookie 12 sat before this time they were joined by team gai.
"Congratulations naruto!" Everyone shouted as naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry we're late, the dobe couldn't keep up." Sasuke said with a smirk as naruto rolled his eyes before taking the open seat between Temari as well and kurotsuchi and yugito who had also joined the celebration party. Sasuke took a seat next to sakura as everyone talked and celebrated the five of them who had made genin.
"I told you my team would all become chunin." Kakashi gloated to the other jounin who were celebrating with the genin.
"Whatever you got lucky and were hoping this would happen so you didn't have to watch over genin anymore." Asuma said, blowing out a puff of smoke as kakashi feign innocence.
"We could always be your chunin team as we all were promoted." Naruto said with a smirk rife with mischievous thoughts as Kakashi paled.
"No thanks, Kushina has threatened me enough." He said much to everyone's amusement.
As the night came to a close everyone went their separate ways as naruto fidgeted leading the group of females home.
"Hey ah guys… there's a date set for our wedding now." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head as the girls stopped looking at each other.
"We kinda figured Naruto and we've come to terms with it as I'm sure you have. We've come to an agreement that as your first wives we shall have a say in anyone else you choose to marry after this point as a part of the CRA." Temari said for the group as Naruto nodded.
"We'd also like to go on some dates to get to know you." Yugito said for her and Kurostuchi as Naruto nodded with a smile.
"Of course I wouldn't have it any other way." Naruto said as they continued their way home the thoughts of the war pushed out of his head as he focused on his future with the girls behind him.
And chapter 13 is done with the beginning of the war arc I thought about having a full blown sasuke retrieval mission but I needed him in place for my future plans for sasuke. So this was my compromise its dumb I know but I needed the sound four and sasuke as I've written wouldn't just leave the remains of his clan.
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Naruto Uzumaki-namikaze101 out!