Chapter 99 - Preparation for War

A/N: Thank you agyei6595, Ilyes Jaber, KwoR, newtown54, SilverChapion and Traves Medina for your supports.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Konoha

"Are you sure to take this course of action?" asked Mitokado Homura.

"Yes. According to Konan, Akatsuki now are down to four members; Hoshigake Kisame, former member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen; Sasori of the Red Sand from Sunagakure; Zetsu and Tobi who claimed to be Uchiha Madara, current Leader of Akatsuki" answered Shisui "Tobi was known to take over Amegakure, he may still be there. If he is, this may be the only opportunity to take Akatsuki down for good"

"That's a big if" Utatane Koharu pointed out.

"It is, that's why I've sent Hyūga Hizashi and Aburame Muta to back Itachi for a recon mission" said Shisui "If all checked out, they will remain there until we can send our teams over there, exactly two weeks after we've received the confirmation"

"It won't be just us" added Shikaku "Suna, Iwa and Taki all promised to send at least two teams from each Village"

"So there'll be at least eight teams, not counting Itachi's" Tsunade pondered loudly "... ... ...are you sure it's not too much?"

"This is Madara we are talking about-" said Shisui "-whose rival was the God of Shinobi himself. That's why I'm going to send the seal for Hiraijin in case I have to go and fight him-" he raises his hand to quell the protest -the best case scenario is if Tobi is just another skilful shinobi who's been using Madara's name to strike fear in his opponents' hearts. The worst case is that if Tobi is really Madara who somehow had managed to escape death and now is on the mission to gather all the Biju for World Domination. If we don't stop him now, I don't know when we'll have another opportunity"

"This depends on Itachi's report" said Homura "Have you made any decision who is going?"

"Shikaku and I had agreed that we need to diversify the generations, but we disagreed on whom-" Shisui passed lists of names to Homura, Koharu and Tsunade "-thus one of the reasons why I called for this meeting. Hopefully we can send a strong team without affecting our strengths in Konoha"

"I noticed both of you had decided to send both Jinchūriki, is it wise?" asked Koharu.

"Amegakure was brought down by White Zetsu, of unknown origin but has the ability to transform and mimic chakra, even Konan herself cannot differentiate between them and real person. Only Naruto and Noriko can differentiate them when they are using the Kyūbi's chakra-" explained Shukaku "-if one White Zetsu managed to be amongst us, there'll be chaos and unnecessary deaths. So, yeah, we need both of them"

"Okay..how about... ... ..."

CRASH!

"Owwwww" said both Naruto and Noriko, both were holding their heads.

"Again-" said Genma patiently for the umpteenth times. He was training both Naruto and Noriko how to use Hiraijin "Focus on your marks, feel the seals and move towards them"

Naruto and Noriko nodded.

"Shizuka and I will be parts of the teams to go" said Tsunade.

Shisui turned his head quickly "What? But she's not a combat Iryō-nin-"

"With this large number of teams, we need an Iryō-nin on-site all the time. She's fit for the role. Besides, if we need backup, Shizune and Sakura can arrive faster than non-combat Iryō-nin"

"That's true"

KTAK! PUKK! KTAKKKK!

Neji was hitting the Training Posts with all his might. Next to him, Hinata was also doing the same.

'I hope I can follow tō-san' prayed Neji in his heart.

"Alright, now we've agreed that they'll stay-" Shisui pointed to a list on his left "-and they'll go-" he pointed to a list on his right "-after a short break, we'll resume with this list-" he pointed to a list in front of him "-and hopefully, we can make final decision, who is going and who'll stay"

SWOOSH!

Sasuke smirked as his sword sliced through the wood-

- only for Tenzō to release countless number of woods from his arms, far too many for him to cut.

"Curses!"

Shikaku looked up at the ceiling and sighed as the debate resumed-

"He's experienced with war!"

"But his skills are better for defence!"

"She's tactical, but not enough skills to lead for war"

"How's the medicinal inventory, Sakura?" asked Shizune.

"Almost done. Just need to go through them one more time" Sakura replied while her eyes were glued to the lists in her hand.

"Good"

End chapter 99

A/N: A Tale of Two Jinchūriki will be on a break. What I meant was, I want to write a cohesive story line for the War Arc, that means writing multiple chapters and go back and forth between chapters. That'll take some time. Thank you for your patience.

Biju - Tailed Beast

Hiraijin - Flying Thunder Formation

Iryō-nin - Medical nin

Mokuton - Wood Release