Chapter 17 Preparations

Shikamaru Nara walked into a hidden room located near the center of the Hokage Building; the room was dominated by a large table with a map of the ninja nations. In one corner of the table was a zoomed detail map of fire country, the other corner had a map of the Village itself. Located on the map where different movable symbols with the locations of different military unites down as far as the squad level. Nicknamed the war room it was beating heart of the Leaf village command and control.

"Father." said Shikamaru as his father Shikaku Nara.

"Shikamaru good to have you back." said Shikaku without even looking up at his son "We are dealing with a real conundrum here."

"How bad?" asked Shikamaru as he moved toward his dad

"Bad." answered Shikaku "They know all of our plans to defend the village from an attack."

"Do we have an idea what we are up against, apart from the demon races we saw in Iron country?" asked Shikamaru

"What races did you see?" asked Shikaku

"A wolf, Panther, Snake, Fox and when we first came into contact with Adria we saw a lion get killed." stated Shikamaru

"There is also Tigers, Bears, Horses and Ants. The rest of the demon races are dead according" explained Shikaku "Lady Tsunade is going over some of the medical information Itachi gave us but we can make some educated guesses."

"Such as the demons may share some traits with the animal counterpart we know." said Shikamaru as his father nodded his head.

"An average ant can lift 50 times its body size imagine that brought up to human size." stated Shikaku "A lot of snakes have venom which could kill in a single bit."

"Wolves, Tigers, Lions and Panthers all top of the line predators." stated Shikamaru "A charging Bear, a wild horse are powerful animals."

"Foxes crafty animals which can find ways to survive almost anywhere." stated Shikaku "Not to mention they are great at hiding."

"So we have to plan a defense against all that and we can't use any of our old plans." said Shikamaru as he looked at the map of the leaf village and fire country. "Do we have any idea of their numbers?"

"No but one on one they are likely far more powerful than us." stated Shikaku "And the Hokage wants a general plan within the hour."

"This is going to be hard." stated Shikamaru as he looked at the map wondering how he could plan a way to defend his village.

Unaware of the headache Naruto and Sakura walked out of the back door onto a wooden padio into what they believed to be the backyard of the Namikaze den, there was a large yard surrounded by nine foot tall hedges cutting it off from the outside. There was a stone path leading toward a Gazebo in the center by some flowers around it. Two large oak trees where located on either side of the stone path. They both looked them at the house, instead of the normal looking house, it looked like a large gently sloping hill covered with grass on it.

"Well I guess foxes want to have their houses blend in with nature." said Sakura as Naruto turned away from the house and started slowly walking toward the Gazebo his head was down and his hands where in his pockets. "Naruto? What is wrong?"

"Nothing." said Naruto as he kept walking "Normally a training field is in the back."

Naruto was correct in the very back was a large grass field to the untrained it looked like normal grass field nothing special, however to the trained shinobi they could see the impressions in the ground from people fighting and falling.

"Here is the training field." stated Naruto

"Naruto what is wrong?" asked Sakura again

"Nothing." answered Naruto

"Naruto I have been your teammate for years I know when something is wrong." stated Sakura "Don't you dare try and pull that nothing crap again."

"It's just…..I have so much on my mind" started Naruto "It is just a little bit overwhelming."

'That is why we are here, maybe a good fashion spar will clear your mind." stated Sakura

"Maybe so what are the rules?" asked Naruto

"Well we don't want to blow up your back yard so let's make it close quarters no weapons, no Justus." explained Sakura

"Not that we have any weapons to use." said Naruto as he moved into the center of the field, Sakura moved across from him. When she stepped out onto the grass with now fox like feet, it felt strange but good as the grass brushed against the pads at the bottom of her feet. For a moment Sakura closed her eyes as she smelled the mid September air.

"You ready?" asked Naruto as Sakura opened her eyes. Naruto was in a stance with his knees bent and one of his arms out and the other pulled back closer to his body. His three tails moved behind him. Sakura got into a stance herself angling her body to give Naruto the smallest profile she could of herself, the tip of her own tail hovered just above the grass. She double checked that her gloves where on tight.

"Whenever you are." answered Sakura as Naruto charged forward with his fist flying toward Sakura's face. She raised her hand blocking Naruto's attack with her forearm as she brought her other fist around to deliver a body shot to Naruto's gut. She was within inches of hitting him when he suddenly changed his direction forcing Sakura to miss.

'How in the world? There is no way he could have moved out of that attack, his momentum was going forward he couldn't have changed direction without pushing off something." thought Sakura "His Tail….he must have pushed off the ground with it."

"You might want to pay attention." stated Inner Sakura as Sakura looked up just in time to see Naruto's leg coming in for a body shot. Sakura slide under the kick passing right under Naruto's body. As she passed under Naruto she grabbed onto his down leg with her hand. She flipped her body over so legs came up, wrapping around Naruto's neck. Once they were locked around his neck she flipped his side ways so that he landed on the ground. Naruto was stunned as he suddenly found himself on the ground with Sakura sitting on his chest with her hand on his neck and her legs pinned under him.

"When did you learn to do that?" asked Naruto

"Did you think I was just sitting on my ass when you where away for all those long term missions after the war?" asked Sakura "Tenten been teaching Ino and I how to do that, however I never thought it would work on you."

"Also it seemed a lot easier, could that be because of the transformation?" thought Sakura as she stored the information for later.

"Wasn't expecting it." answered Naruto

"What did Kakashi-sensei always tell us about close quarter combat?" asked Sakura

"Expect the unexpected." said Naruto "Do you want to get up so we can go again."

"Not used to being on bottom Naruto?" asked Sakura as Naruto blushed as Sakura leaned forward to slip her legs out from under Naruto. As the two of them stood up and got back into stances.

"You ready?" asked Sakura

"Whenever you are." Answered Naruto as Sakura charged forward to keep sparing with Naruto, neither one of them aware that they were being watched. Standing in the shade of gazebo was Naruto's mother Kushina Namikaze.

"He fights like his father." thought Kushina as her son tried to kick Sakura's head "He is holding back."

While Kushina watched she couldn't help but remember years ago when Minato and her first fought on that field.

Flashback

"We need to find a way out of here." whispered Kushina as her new fox claws smashed against Minato's new claws. They had just finished transforming over two weeks ago.

'Yes.' whispered Minato back as he jumped back before running though hand signs. "Lightening style…."

Minato never had a chance to finish as had to dodge a fireball sent by his wife. The next moment his wife was trying to punch him in the gut.

"We have to get back to Naruto.' stated Kushina as Minato blocked each one of her attacks.

"Don't worry we will.' said Minato with a smile as the two of them kept up their fight hiding their escape planning from anyone who may have been listening.

End Flashback

Kushina lowered her head for a moment, they never did make it back to the human world and her son had to grow up alone. She would never forgive herself for that and not protecting her son from becoming a demon.

"I win." Said Naruto he pinned Sakura to the ground with her arms pinned from their appearance they had tripped over each other and Naruto had landed on top of each other. Kushina's eyes widened as she watched it happen. Sakura slowly lifted her head toward Naruto as she rubbed her cheek lovingly against Naruto's cheek. Naruto's eyes widened as Sakura pulled away with a deep blush on her face.

"My God, did I just do that?"thought Sakura

"You did what both of us have wanted you to do for years, now just go ahead and finish the deal." Answered Inner Sakura back as Naruto got off the ground. His eyes where as wide as dinner plates and he looked confused.

"Naruto." started Sakura

"It is ok, it's the transformation it is messing with your mind." stated Naruto as he looked for a reason for Sakura's sudden affection. "Let's just forget it happened."

Back in the war room Shikamaru was beginning to form a plan to win against the demons however he still had to get approval from Lady Tsunade or three quarters of the council. If neither one of those groups approved his strangity then only the Daimyo could put his plan into action and that wasn't going to happen, not with what his plan called for.

"I think we may have the best plan we can come up with." said Shikamaru to his father as the door leading into the war room opened as four more people entered the room. Leading them was Lady Tsunade, followed by Sai, Hinata and lastly Kakashi.

"Shikamaru, Shikaku do you have a plan?"asked Tsunade

"Yes, but you aren't going to like it." said Shikamaru as he took a deep breath "From Adria we know that the Demons don't have the numbers to last in a drawn out war however they are stronger and everyone of us they take improve their strength."

"Just like how they took Naruto and Sakura, they will now be working for the demons.' stated Sai

"Naruto-kun will never turn against the Leaf." snapped Hinata

"Hinata I may agree with you. Neither one of them would turn against the Leaf however we can't be sure of anything at the moment." stated Tsunade before looking at Shikamaru "What is your plan?"

"It will probably be better if you tell us what you know first." said Shikaku

"Shizune is still going over the medical information but we do know some of the people they plan to target." stated Tsunade

"Ino told me that they wanted everyone." stated Sai

"They do but they have high priority targets, people they want more than others." explained Tsunade

"Just like how we had different levels of targets during a missions." added Kakashi

"Yes." said Tsunade as she pulled out a copy of the list. "We now know who they want more than others."

"Does it say what race they are going to become?" asked Kakashi

"Apart from Naruto No." said Tsunade "The list was only for the Leaf and was pretty old, it has Naruto's genin photo on it."

"Anyone we know on it?" asked Shikamaru

"Everyone apart from Naruto, Sakura and a hand full of others are already turned, here or dead." stated Tsunade

"Lady Tsunade they have been taking people who died, anyone on that list who is dead may be alive only as a demon." stated Shikamaru as Lady Tsunade's eyes widened as she looked down at the list.

"Lady Tsunade who is on the list?" asked Hinata

"A few." answered Tsunade softly as she looked toward Shikamaru.

"Like who?" asked Shikamaru

"Shikamaru….Asuma is on this list." said Tsunade as Shikamaru's eyes widened.

"Asuma is alive?" asked Shikamaru

"We don't know that Shikamaru.' stated his father "That is just a list we don't know how many they took if any."

"Right." said Tsunade as she took her eyes off the list. "Shikamaru what is your plan?"

"Basically Lady Tsunade we can't win this war and at the same time keep the village under our control.' Stated Shikamaru as the other Leaf Ninjas looked at him "To win this war we have to give up the village, it is just too big to control."

"You want to give up on the Leaf?" asked Hinata

"Not on the Leaf itself but on the village, it is just too big of a target to hold." stated Shikamaru "If we commit all our forces to defending the village and the villagers we will likely lose within two months. We need to spread out move into the country side. Small groups of fifty people or less will be able to stay steps ahead of the Demons and at the same time strike back when they can."

"Hit and run, that is your plan?" asked Sai

"That is the later phase, in the first phase we fake holding the village." stated Shikamaru

"See they know that our ninjas will fight to the death to defend the village and her people." stated Shikaku "Luckily the bunkers we have under the Hokage Mountain is the focal point of several of the old underground rivers which drains into the reservoir. The villagers and most of the ninja core would be able to use those tunnels to escape."

"You said most?" asked Tsunade

'Yes, because in order for this plan to work some people will have to stay behind and either get killed our turned." stated Shikamaru as the others looked at him as if he was crazy. "Alright let me explain everything so that you can see why this is the best plan."

The sun was setting over the demon fox village after a slightly less tense supper Naruto was leaning against the wall in his father's workshop. His father was busy selecting boards from his supply for yet another project, neither him nor his son were saying anything. Every once in a while Naruto looked at his hand which was now covered with black fur up about halfway between his wrist and elbow with blonde fur covering the space between the end of black and his elbow. His finger nails had turned black and pointed making them more like claws than anything else.

"Mom told me you had a little instant with Sakura." said Minato as Naruto head snapped toward his father. "She watched your sparing session and what Sakura did."

"It was nothing, it was the drug working on her mind." said Naruto

"Naruto the transformation agent doesn't make people fall in love it makes them like being a demon." said Minato "Like the transformation itself and the power that comes from being a demon. If it caused people to fall in love then the demons would be happy, they could force people to mate and be done with it. "

"Isn't that what they are doing to Sakura-chan and me?" asked Naruto

"Naruto they are not forcing both of you into a locked room and saying have sex our you both die." said Minato "It is more like they believe the two of you being so close and the fact that the transformation does help bring out more animal like instincts."

"Then it was just the instincts nothing more." said Naruto

"Naruto I don't think you understand." said Minato as Naruto looked at him "Just because someone instincts are now more upfront doesn't mean they will jump on the first person they come across, the want have to be there first."

"I see." said Naruto "So your saying Sakura loves me?"

"I can't say that Naruto, however it is a possibility." said Minato as Naruto looked away.

"No it can't be." said Naruto

"I don't understand how it would be a problem?" asked Minato "Do you love her?"

Naruto said nothing as he looked at the ground.

"I'll take that as a yes, do you love someone else apart from her?" asked Minato

"No." whispered Naruto "But it doesn't change anything, Sakura-chan deserves the best and that isn't me."

"From what Kado said to the council you became the hero to Leaf after you defeated someone named Pain." said Minato "ANBU captain soon to become the Hokage sounds like you're the best in the Leaf."

"No I am not." stated Naruto "I will always be the demon's child, Sakura-chan deserves someone better then a demon and that was before all this happened."

"What?" asked Minato as he wondered what his son was talking about as his son started to walk away. "Naruto before you go I am going to tell you something my own told me about women."

"What is that?" asked Naruto

"A woman will choose who they want, you can't pick for them." said Minato "So Naruto let Sakura decide for herself."

Well I hope you liked this chapter, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75