I don't own Naruto!

Chapter 6: An Army?

Sakura, Neji, Kiba, and Yamato had left the village three days ago. They were only two days away from the first of the Metal Villages. The Metal Villages were four villages nestled west of the Stone Village. They were the Gold Village, Silver Village, Bronze Village, and Steel Village. These four villages were once the leading villages in what was known as the Metal Empire, but after the fall of the Empire, the villages had become very isolated.

They arrived at the Stone Village that evening and met with Onoki, the Tsuchikage, to discuss their mission. After the Fourth Shinobi World War, each of the major villages had formed an alliance. The Leaf Alliance consisted of many of the villages in the land, such as the Cloud, Herb, Stone, Leaf, Sand, Mist, Wave, Dark, and Waterfall Villages.

After a brief night's stay, they left and continued toward the Metal Villages. After two days, they found the Valley of Mines, an immense valley which housed the Silver Village. The four were shocked at what they saw. From the mountains overlooking the valley, they could see the Silver Village, but that wasn't what surprised them. The area surrounding the village was heavily forested, but around the Silver Village, the trees had all been cut back. In their place was a humongous military camp.

"That must be the combined forces of the villages," said Kiba.

"It's massive!" said Neji.

"Neji," said Sakura, "can you zoom in with your Byakugan?"

Neji nodded, and activated his kekkai-genkai. Several moments later, his face paled.

"What's wrong?" asked Yamato.

"I see the banners of at least six villages. All four of the Metal Villages, and the Lake and Forest Villages."

"But they're due north of here. Why are they here?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know, but we need to alert the Stone Village," said Neji.

With that, the four left, heading back to the Stone.

"You can't be serious!" said Onoki.

"We know what we saw," said Neji.

"What do we do, Lord Tsuchikage?" asked an ANBU.

"We need to call an Alliance Council Meeting. Inform the other villages at once. I guess I can trust your team to let the Hokage know?"

"Of course," said Yamato.

"Good. We will schedule it for two months from now in the Land of Iron."

"We'll tell the Hokage," replied Yamato.

"Good luck. We'll all need it," said Onoki.

/

Naruto was still laughing when he and Tai caught up with Kakashi.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You should have seen the look on that guys face!" said Tai.

"Yeah. He even wet himself!" cried Naruto.

"What did you do to him?" asked Kakashi.

"I used my Nine-Tailed Genjutsu! It was hilarious!"

"Naruto, you need to be careful. If he survived—"

"He'll be the first," interrupted Naruto.

"Fine, but I still think you should be more careful. You may be the strongest ninja around, but you still need to watch yourself."

"I will Kakashi-sensei."

"Good. Now hold Shikamaru. He's heavy."

A few days later, Naruto and the others got back to the Leaf Village. They discussed what they had discovered, and Shikamaru was well enough to tell his story. Another day passed and Sakura's team returned with the unsettling news.

"I guess we have no choice," said Tsunade. "I'm in no shape to handle another war as Hokage. The decision has been made. I will step down in four days."

"Who will be your successor?" asked Sakura, pretty sure she knew the answer.

"I will tell you when I'm ready. Until then, you're all dismissed.

The eight ninja left and began working on security detail for the ceremony. They began deciding on the placement of ANBU and White Ops, and debated whether Naruto or Shikamaru would be Hokage.

Finally the night before the ceremony came. Naruto had taken Sakura on a date. As they finished supper, he told her the news.

"I'm the Seventh," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm the Seventh Hokage," he said.

Sakura's eyes went wide. "Naruto, this is wonderful!"

"I know. I was wondering when you wanted to get married. I said I was waiting until I made Hokage. Now I have."

"When do you want to?"

"I was thinking immediately after the summit."

"That's great. That gives me a little time to prepare."

"I thought you'd say that."

"Nothing big, Naruto; just something colorful."

'Oh no!' thought Naruto.

/

"Well?"

"Draman is dead. He was killed after we found a spy."

"I see, Otokage. Did you get his Sharingan?"

"Of course. It's in the village."

"When do you want us to strike?"

"Not yet. The time is not right. The jutsu is not in place. As you know, it requires much chakra, and my agent in the north has not collected enough yet."

"We need to strike, before they find us out."

"WE WILL NOT! We will not strike until he is on our side. In order to obtain him, we must collect enough chakra. The time will soon come. Be patient Otokage. I would hate to replace you, just as I did your successor."

"Yes, my lord. Forgive me."

"I grow tired. Leave me."

The Otokage left without another word, angered at his master's words.

Okay, so this was chapter 6, and I hope to have another up soon. I'm sorry about it being nearly a month since I posted, but I've been busy. I went ahead and submitted two chapters over the past two days to make up for it. If I can, I might be able to submit another before the end of the weekend. Now for something serious. I know what I wrote in this chapter, but I may end up changing the relationship. If I do, I will use an OC. If you want me to switch the relationship for Naruto, I will, but I need you to let me know. I will go by which one gets more votes. Just review and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!

P.S. I do already have the OC (Naruto's possible gf) mostly planned just in case.