I don't own Naruto, now enjoy.

Chapter 17

Naruto was swamped with paperwork. He hated paperwork. All he had done all day was paperwork. And Tai had just brought him more paperwork. Sometimes he wished he had a fire nature just so he could burn it all up. He leaned back and sighed.

"Naruto-sensei, Gaara has woken up. He says he would like a word with you."

"Thanks, Tai, I'll get over to the hospital and see what's up."

Naruto left the office and walked over to the hospital. Normally, he would be escorted by ANBU, but he had sent them all on missions. Had Tsunade found out, she would have killed him. When he arrived at Gaara's room, he noticed the red-head was sitting up in a chair instead of a bed. He sat down on a nearby couch and greeted Gaara.

"Tai said you wanted to talk," Naruto said after the formalities were out of the way.

"Yes, as you already know, the Sand has fallen. I don't know how many of our men survived."

"Yeah, we have some men scouting the area, but we haven't found many."

"Naruto, I've never met someone like this. His chakra, as you know, is gone thanks to the First Hokage's seal, but his taijutsu was perfect. We fought for twenty minutes and he wasn't even sweating. I don't know if even Lee could match his taijutsu. It's even worse now that he has the Wind Scroll."

"We don't know that he has the Wind Scroll yet. They say that traps are always placed around them to guard them."

"Naruto, he defeated me. I'm not sure a trap will stop him."

"I know. I was just trying to help you feel better."

"I'll feel better when that slimeball is dead."

"I know how you feel. So where do you think he'll go next?"

"As much as I hate to say it, here. It would be easier for someone at his level to just walk right through the defenses. If he does come here, you'll have your hands full. That army that attacked the Sand was giant."

"Yeah, we know. Our scouts report shinobi from at least six villages. That could be trouble, and as much as we'd like to move shinobi from other villages to meet him, we can't. That would risk the safety of other villages, too."

"Well, you'll have my help at least."

"I'm glad. We'll need all the help we can get."

Naruto left after that, and it was only a few hours later that he received word that the army at the Sand Village had mobilized and was heading for the Leaf. Naruto immediately sprang into action. He gathered the war council and presented the situation. After only six minutes, which Naruto was sure set a record, the elders of the council had agreed to let Naruto do everything necessary to protect the village.

Naruto called the jonin to an emergency meeting. He instructed that half help to evacuate the villagers, and the other half help to prepare defenses. The White Ops were in charge of all ANBU forces. Yamato had even sent every available root operative into the village. The next few days were spent mobilizing the army and preparing for an attack. Naruto created several new tags that were to be placed strategically around the village. In the event that that part of the village was being overrun, the commander of that area would activate the seal, summoning a large group of battle-ready toads to defend their retreat.

Naruto also divided up the village into separate rings of defense. He decided to appoint three commanders to each ring. Since the attackers would come from the east, they built the army up at those points, but left enough troops in standby to go to any area that needed the help. Naruto sent Lee, Choji, and Guy out to the outer ring with a hundred shinobi each. In the second ring, Neji, Sai, and Hiashi Hyuga would lead fifty each. In the third ring, medic ninja would be strategically placed throughout, led by Sakura, Shino, Kiba, and Yamato. They would all have shinobi interspersed for defensive purposes. Finally, in the center, Naruto, Kakashi, Tai, and Shikamaru would keep the mansion safe, along with a force of sixty ANBU and jonin. Half of the chunin would also be combined into the defense of the village, since the villagers would not be in any real danger.

Finally, there was only one important matter to discuss. Naruto wanted to know where the Fire Scroll was. Tsunade was reluctant at first, but because Naruto was the Hokage, she told him. It was hidden in the catacombs beneath the mansion. Naruto nodded. He had heard about the catacombs, and knew that the First Hokage himself had built traps to protect the secret artifacts that were hidden down there.

Naruto took one last look at each of the village's defenses, then went to bed. He knew that soon there would be a big fight, and he knew that he would need all his strength. This man Vallen was responsible for the death of Temari, and most likely Kankuro. There was no way Naruto was going to let that happen here. He loved every member of this village. If Vallen was going to kill anyone here, he would have to go through Naruto Namikaze, Seventh Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.