Chapter 54: Remaining Allies
The next morning Kakashi walked into Tsunade's office and stood before her desk.
"Ah, Kakashi, right on time," Tsunade said.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "you summoned me an hour ago…" Kakashi said, his excuse forgotten.
"Yes, and there was paperwork to finish before you got here, so I summoned you before I started on the paperwork knowing you'd come when I finished," Tsunade said with a grin.
"Very perceptive. What is it you summoned me for though?" Kakashi asked.
"Team seven is going on a recon mission. You're going to find out how many of the Alliance are left and in what condition. The terrors will be meeting you in the field. You will relate the information to them and Strag will inform you of the next steps. I hope to resolve this all before you return," Tsunade said.
"We can't do that," Kakashi said.
"What? What do you mean?" Tsunade demanded.
"Surely you know what happened yesterday," Kakashi said lazily.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "no, what happened?" she asked.
"Sasuke's in the hospital," Kakashi said calmly.
"WHAT?" Tsunade yelled rising to her feet and slamming a fist on her desk, causing it to break.
"Apparently he was sparing with Grim, it went a bit too far and he's been hospitalized. Sakura tells me it'll be a few days before he's out," Kakashi said.
"Why the hell wasn't I told?" Tsunade asked.
"You were in a meeting until late in the night," Kakashi said shrugging.
"I'll have to find someone to replace him on the mission," Tsunade said.
"If this is just a recon mission, why are you sending four jounin? A specialized recon team should do fine," Kakashi said.
"Yes, but if you are seen it needs to be a team that can defend themselves and get away," Tsunade said.
"Then ANBU," Kakashi said.
"Kakashi please, I thought about this fully. After the information is relayed to the terrors, you will most likely be joining them in the battle. Naruto and Sasuke are two of the strongest ninja this village has. The terrors add to the vast power, but we can't send an army. It has to be few and strong. Hopefully Sasuke will be able to accompany the terrors as they go to meet with you," Tsunade said.
"You don't expect all of us back do you?" Kakashi asked.
"Do you?" Tsunade asked in a weakened voice.
"When do you want us to leave?" Kakashi asked, changing the topic slightly.
"Be ready at noon. You tell Naruto and Sakura, I'll try and find a replacement for Sasuke," Tsunade said as she handed the mission documents to Kakashi.
Kakashi looked over the documents and his visible eyebrow rose, "rather specific location, how do we know they're there?" Kakashi asked.
"Strag and Sage seemed to figure it out. No idea how, but it's all we got," Tsunade said.
Kakashi nodded and left. He headed to the hospital sure that's where Sakura would be. He was right, Sakura was checking on Sasuke when Kakashi arrived.
"Hey you two," Kakashi said entering the room.
"Kakashi-sensei, what're you doing here?" Sakura asked looking at her former teacher.
"We have a mission," Kakashi said.
"Define 'we,'" Sasuke said sitting up.
Kakashi's eye wondered to the Uchiha lying in the bed. His entire torso was bandaged up and most was died red with blood. His arms were in a similar condition, and though a blanket covered the rest of him, Kakashi was sure that his legs were also wrapped.
"What made Grim do this to you?" Kakashi asked.
"It's his own fault. He told Grim not to hold back in the fight," Sakura said.
"Well, anyway, the 'we' I mentioned refers to team seven. Unfortunately, you, Sasuke, are not able to partake at this moment. The Hokage is finding a replacement for you while I am to find Sakura and Naruto," Kakashi said.
"I can still fight, I'll be fine," Sasuke said as he started to get out of the bed but Sakura just pushed him back down.
"Don't worry, about halfway through the mission we get backup and you'll probably go with them," Kakashi said.
"What exactly are we doing?" Sakura asked.
"I want to wait until the whole team is assembled, Naruto and the replacement included," Kakashi said.
"Well Naruto's probably still asleep. I haven't seen him since about four yesterday when I got called here to take care of Sasuke," Sakura said.
"Right, well be ready and at the main gates by noon," Kakashi said before waving and walking out.
x-X-x
By noon Naruto and Sakura were at the gates of Konoha ready to leave. About ten minutes later Tsunade and Lee walked up to them.
"Where's Kakashi?" Tsunade asked once she reached to two.
"Hasn't shown yet," Naruto said.
"Well Lee is going with you in Sasuke's stead, so head out whenever Kakashi shows up," Tsunade said before walking away.
"Do either of you know what this mission is about?" Lee asked.
"Not a clue. All I know is that we're doing recon," Naruto said.
"Yeah, and about halfway through we get backup," Sakura said shrugging.
"Ah, Lee. You must be our new recruit," Kakashi said appearing in a puff of smoke.
"Yes, it will be my pleasure to assist you in this mission," Lee said.
"Right, lets get moving, I'll explain what we're doing on the way," Kakashi said as he started to walk, the others behind him.
x-X-x
A few days later the four jounin were nearly at the destination Sage and Strag had marked. They had stopped for the night when a thought reached Sakura.
"What exactly are we going to do when the terrors come?" she asked.
"Listen to Strag's plan. We'll be able to tell him how many members are left. Apparently he has a plan, but its success is dependant on how many there are," Kakashi said.
"So we're not going to attack until the terrors arrive?" Lee asked.
"Right, but once they do, we will be fighting," Kakashi said.
"When will they come?" Naruto asked.
"No idea. They could've left already as far as I know. But we don't do anything but observe the Alliance until they show up," Kakashi said.
"Unless they attack us," Naruto said and Kakashi nodded.
They next day they moved on and found a place that was used for camping only the night before.
"They're on the move too. Sage and Strag were right," Kakashi said once they finished checking the area for any of the Alliance.
"To bad we can't tell how many there are," Naruto said looking around.
"We can tell there's at least four, and that's close enough for now," Kakashi said.
With a nod they continued on silently. Then they heard sounds from ahead. they all froze and listened. They could hear voices, but were too far to tell what they were saying. Kakashi silently moved forward, the others close behind.
They got to the point where they could see who was talking, in addition to what they were saying. Black, White and Lerah were in the clearing.
"Why do we have to wait here?" White asked from the rock where she sat.
"They're heads. Any important business like this they have to do alone," Black said and he sat down on the ground.
Lerah was pacing back and fourth between the two, "I wonder who the hell they're meeting," she said.
"Whoever it is Kraik'll be doing all the talking," Black said.
"Yeah, otherwise it'll take a year to know what the hell's gong on," Lerah said.
Naruto and the others remained where they were silently waiting for any more information, something that might be useful, but nothing else was said. after about half an hour they heard the sound of others approaching.
"Finally. I wanna get back to main base as soon as we can," White said.
"Yeah, gather our army of Errands and trash our enemies," Black said with a grin.
Four men walked through the trees and approached the three Allies. The first two were Kraik and Vox, both healed good as new. The third had orange hair and blue eyes, blue sandals and blue cloth pants. A black sleeveless shirt, black fingerless gloves, elbow pads and arm wraps under the pads and gloves covered his upper body. His forehead protector was down covering his right eye but the symbol was covered by a thick chain he wore as a headband.
The fourth had blue sandals and brown cloth pants. A dark grey sleeveless shirt and a dark red vest covered his torso. His arms and hands were bare save a pair of white wrist bands. His eyes were red and his blond hair reached his shoulder blades. He didn't have a forehead protector.
"Holy hell! Tek I haven't seen you in… what, years?" Black asked walking up to the third man and shaking his hand.
"Yeah, around five if I remember correctly," Tek said.
"Yeah, Vox here had this meeting previously arranged so…" Kraik said as he clapped a hand on Vox's shoulder before walking to white and helping her to her feet.
"I don't believe we've met," Lerah said approaching the fourth man.
"Tusk. Don't know how Vox heard of me, but I'd be glad to join you," the fourth man said.
"Where you from Tusk?" White asked.
"Cloud, same as Tek," Tusk said.
"We were on the same three man team," Tek said.
"How sweet," Lerah said.
"Now, you two will be inducted as members once we reach the main base. Tek you'll be a Head, and Tusk either a Color or a Kid," Kraik said.
"Any Errands getting upped on this visit?" Black asked as they prepared to start moving.
"Doubtful. If any it'd be Wrok, he's been in charge of the main base while we were all dealing with Konoha and the twelve," Kraik said.
"Final decisions are always up to Vox anyway," White said before the seven of them left the area and were out of Kakashi's listening range.
The jounin were all silent for a while to be sure the Alliance were gone, then Kakashi stepped out of the trees, the other three silently copying, none said a word, they were to scared at what they had just heard, the Alliance has its own army…