Chapter 28 On the Road

The three day train from the Land of Bronze was still a day out from the last stop in the city of Celin located on the boarder of the Land of Savanna and the Land of Wind. Riding in the lead passage train car was Temari of the Sand as she made her way back to her homeland. She had gotten on the train heading north within the hour that Naruto had gotten on the ships. She had to travel for hours through the land of Bronzes before even reaching the massive and spacy populated country of the Land of Savanna. Temari looked out over the tall thin grass which covered the country side as far as the eye could see, rarely a short tree or two would appear. Slowly she turned her gaze away from the window and down to the map of the world which laid out on the table before her.

"Alright what do we know about our strategic placement in the world?" asked Temari not only to herself but the demon dog Anita which was now joined with her. Luckily for her Anita was just as smart as her so it was easy to bounce ideas off each other without saying a word to the outside world. In the past Anita was the chief diplomat and ambassador for Kyuubi and his government.

"Well the ninja nations are all to our north and they do not go south of the Land of Wind." Said Anita as she studied the map of the world using Temari's eyes "We have the land of Savanna separating us from them before they even reach the Land of Bronzes and who wants to go through that place."

"I don't." admitted Temari as she remembered the never ending smog that floated over the entire country from the massive smoke stacks which spewed out thick black smoke constantly. The air was choked with iron and other metal flecks which flew into the air from the countless number of steel blast furnaces which covered the land.

"Well if they do get past those we have the massive mountains which surround the land of Granite to protect us." Added Anita as she looked at the massive chain of mountains in the shape of a fish hock which shot out from the coast before running for hundreds of miles to the north before arching back toward the Sea. "It along with the cliffs which run down most of the coast line of the land of Granite provides great protection."

"True but there are still three pass on land alone to get through the mountains." explained Temari as she looked toward the three passes which lead through the mountains. Two of them ran on each coast one up into the Land of Bronze and the other through the southern mountains and into the land of Animals. The only other entrée point by land was a single mountain pass by the point where the mountain chain arced to the east and toward the sea. Like the Northern coastal pass this one too lead into the Land of Bronzes.

"Not to mention the port where we came in." added Anita "Each point should be guarded but first we need to set up our home village and an inner defense line."

"No first we need to rescue everyone." counted Temari knowing that the current plan was to head up from Celin to her home village. With a small amount of luck she would be able to smuggle out the other jinchūrikis while her brothers looked the other way. Then the real challenge was when she had to go up North into land of Earth where she would have no allies to help her rescue every one of her people. Slowly she picked up a cup of green tea which had been brought minutes earlier by one of the staff members. Slowly she took a drink as she let the hot liquid warm her body as she looked forward to another long day on the train.

Thousands of miles away the newly appointed Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves stood in the middle of a barren wasteland that stretched over the radius of an entire mile. The once lush forest was now a mass of burned tree husks and blood soaked grass. Spread out across the battlefield was the remains of the ninja core which had been sent out to search for the demons. Some of them they had identified easily since they had gone down with a single sword slash or kunai hit however there where some which had been cut into so pieces so small it was as if they had gone through a wood chipper. Bodies were burned to a crisp as their weapons covered the ground some of which had been cut in half.

"We didn't know that they were missing until the schedule runner back didn't make it." explained Shikaku Nara as he reported to the young Hokage.

"We would have known if our radios where working." added Hanabi "Any idea on how they were disable for as long as they were?"

"Nearest we can guess Shino sent his bugs into the radios had them rewire them." Explained Shikaku as Hanabi nodded her head.

"Sasuke did this didn't he?" asked Hanabi already knowing the answer.

"Do you know anyone else who would do something like this?" asked Shikaku as Hanabi shook her head.

"No but this means that he is armed." stated Hanabi as she looked at a nearby sword slash body "He is probably the second most dangerous man in the world, behind Naruto."

"But we can overwhelm them with numbers." added an ANBU commander as he joined the conversation. "We can kill them all and end it once and for all."

"As much as I would like to end it once and for all but an attack like that would require not only our forces but the forces of all the ninja nations." Stated Hanabi before turning to an aid "Arrange for a meeting of the Kages to happen within the next 24 hours."

"24 hours?" asked Shikaku slightly stunned at the amount of time the young Hokage was giving for the meeting to happen.

"It will take at least that long for our walls to be repaired to the point where I would feel conformable leaving a smaller force behind to defend the village." explained Hanabi as the head of the Nara clan nodded his head understanding her logic even if he didn't agree with it fully. "In the meantime send out small search team teams to locate the demons."

"We have a good idea which direction they went." explained a chunin as he walked up "We found a pair of footprints heading away from the battlefield heading South West. We can assume that they went that way."

"We can assume that is the one direction they didn't go." corrected Hanabi as the chunin looked at her. "We aren't dealing with some raw genin who don't know how to cover their tracks this is a group of demons with some of the strongest ninjas in the world and the person who did this is probably among the top five strongest ninjas in the world. Those are fake tracks designed to lead us off the real trail."

"Agreed, it is a fake trail they likely head to North West heading toward the mountain in Earth country where they can hid." Added Shikaku as Hanabi nodded her head in agreement.

"In the meantime make sure to collect our dead, they fought for us we need to honor them."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." answered a Jonin as Hanabi stopped for a moment as let the words of the Jonin sink in, she was now the Hokage of the hidden Leaves and she was tasked with the job of protecting them and making sure that they are safe and happy.

Hundreds of miles away south west from the battlefield near the head of the massive convoy of people was the first cousin of the New Hokage was Neji Hyuga. Walking beside him was the love of his life Tenten.

"See anything?" asked Tenten as the two of them moved at the head of the pack.

"Nothing yet." Answered Neji as he scanned the massive forest with his byakugan eyes only to suddenly stop in his tracks as his eyes focus on a single spot. "I take that back, we have company."

"Show me." ordered Tenten as she reached into her pouch and pulled out one of the makeshift kunias that they had made out of some broken window glass with a plastic handle. Before moving behind her boyfriend forming hand signs as she went. When she had finished to placed her hand on top of Neji's shoulder. Instantly their visions linked together as she was able to see everything Neji saw, including the location of the Leaf ninja.

"Seems to be a chunin." offered up Tenten as she studied the young ninja who was sitting in a tree in front of them keeping an eye on the road.

"Agreed there is a lookout post about 15 miles to the North he is likely from there." Said Neji "We could move to the south and avoid him but it would add at least three hours to our journey."

"Time we don't have." Said Tenten both of them knowing that they couldn't let that ninja radio in their location. Tenten put her hand down as she looked at the kunai in her hand. "We have to get rid of him."

"Agreed and he probably has an emergency pull beacon on him." added Neji "All he would have to do is push on button on his radio and it would send a call back to HQ."

"Then I will not let him pull the cord." confirmed Tenten as she jumped up into the nearest tree as she began moving around to get behind the chunin. It took only a few minutes for Tenten to move around behind the Chunin, she paused for a moment as she landed on a tree limb right behind the unsuspecting leaf ninja.

"I am so sorry." thought Tenten as she jumped the short distance landing right behind the chunin, then with one quick movement she put the glass kunai into the base of chunin's neck, cutting the spinal cord stopping all communication between the brain and the rest of the lower body.

"Sorry." said Tenten out load as the still alive and blinking chunin the kunai leave the back of his neck before moving forward and slashing his throat killing him within moments. For a moment Tenten just stood there as she looked at the young chunin who was maybe 13 or 14 years old, likely on his first solo look out mission.

"There was nothing you could have done for him, we couldn't have held him." stated Neji as he landed on the tree beside her.

"I know but it should have been an instant death." added Tenten as she looked at the bloody piece of glass she had to use as a weapon. "It was lucky that this thing even made it through his spinal cord without breaking, going for the thicker scull bone would have been too much of a risk even if it would have killed him in an instant."

"The question is what do we do now?" asked Neji as he looked at the body.

"Take his weapons and set his radio to set off a distress call when the battery power is down to 10%." stated Tenten as Neji looked at her. "Too many mothers never got a chance to bury their kids because of the war, we can't just leave him as an MIA. And the batteries have long enough battery life for us to get away clean."

"Alright." confirmed Neji

Hours later and thousands of miles to the South Shikamaru Nara was walking into the large underground complex where they had found the supplies left behind by the demons before they were sealed away within the ark. He made a turn as he entered one of the two massive rooms containing the gold bars and coins that they would use to rebuild their village. As he entered the room he found Samui standing in front of one of the columns of gold bars counting them with a piece of paper in her hands.

"So is everything in order?" asked Shikamaru as Samui looked up from her piece of paper.

"It seems that apart from the gold you took to buy the country and get those supplies that every piece of Gold that we sealed away is still here." Confirmed Samui "We can assume that all the silver is still there but I am still going to count them."

"Your demon Danae was the one who sealed everything in here in the first place correct?" inquired Shikamaru as Samui nodded her head.

"Yes, she is a banker." Confirmed Samui slightly ashamed that her demon was a banker and not some front line military commander.

"I am just worried that we will run out of gold considering that we will have to buy a lot of supplies to build this village and rebuild this nation." added Shikamaru as Samui laughed a bit. "What?"

"For a so called genius you can be such an idiot." added Samui

"What does that mean?" asked Shikamaru

"The gold in this room was mined from this very mountain." explained Samui as Shikamaru's eyes widened at the news "Just like the silver came from a nearby mine. It probably will not take much to reopen those mines and start pulling out fresh supplies of gold and silver."

"Samui you just made my day." Laughed Shikamaru with huge smile on his face "Why don't you go get something to eat. The ships from the Land of Bronze showed up so we actually have some food."

"Let me guess we didn't get all the supplies on those ships." Grumbled Samui as Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"I know you are upset about Ino's decision but it is needed." stated Shikamaru as he placed his hands behind his back "We don't have the population to fill an entire nation and we will need them to help build this nation. Also if we had kicked them out it would have made major news in the North and news is what we are trying to avoid at the moment."

"I understand that but that doesn't mean I have to like the idea that the daimyo of this new nation is putting them in front of her own people." explained Samui as Shikamaru shook his head knowing that this argument wasn't going anywhere and he was better off dropping it.

The hours just seemed to drag on as Sakura just kept moving putting on foot in front of the other normally she would have been running across the country side jumping from tree branch to tree branch. However she was a member of the rear guard and civilians do not more as fast as ninjas so that meant she was stuck moving at a mind numbing pace.

"Is something wrong Sakura?" inquired her former genin sensei Kakashi.

"I am just not used to moving this slow." admitted Sakura as they passed a roadside shrine "I mean I have moved this slow in the past but it was normally when I was busy treating some wounded people but right now all I can focus on is the fact that at any moment we may come under attack by our old village. Just thinking about the fact that the village I swore my life to defend is now hunting me is unsettling."

"I must admit I never thought I would be on the run from the Leaf but we have no real choice." Explained Kakashi as Sakura nodded her head in agreement. "However it doesn't seem to help much does it."

"Not really." Admitted Sakura "Well maybe time and distance will make it feel better and maybe being with Naruto and Ino will help."

"That should happen late tonight if we are track." Answered Kakashi as he laughed a bit as they kept moving down the road.

Back in the Leaf village Lady Tsunade was finishing up packing up her belongings placing them inside sealing scrolls for easier transport. Over the years as Hokage she had started collecting things that she didn't have during her time with Shizune on the road. Items such as furniture and appliances where items she never had on the road but now had to be sealed away. Over the past few hours she had stripped her apartment within the Hokage's residence of everything that she owned. Finally on one item remained out. She paused for a moment as she looked at the massive group photo that Sakura had given her as a birthday gift. In the middle of the photo standing right beside Sakura was Naruto, Sai and Kakashi then spreading out from there was the other teams that made up the Konoha 11 plus their living instructors, Temari and Shizune. A smile graced her face as she looked at the photo of the generation she had thought would go down in the history of the Leaf village as the best who had ever lived but now most of which was on the run. A knock at the door caused the slug sanin to jump a bit before turning her gaze toward the oak door.

"Enter." Ordered Tsunade as the door opened at two of the people in the photo entered her former home. Both men had matching bowl cut haircuts and green training suits, the wooden floor panels groaned a bit under the combined weight of their training weights located in bright orange straps on their arms, legs and waist.

"Lady Hokage may we have a word?" asked Rock Lee as he placed his hands behind his back.

"I am no longer Hokage, Tsunade is fine." Corrected Tsunade as she took the photo out of the frame before tucking it into her dark gray traveling cloak.

"No offense but to me you will always be Lady Hokage." counted Lee

"I feel the same way Lady Hokage." added his sensei Mighty Guy as the two of them side by side. For a moment Tsunade tried not to laugh as she looked at the pair. The two of them almost matched apart from the fact that Guy had a few gray hair poking out from the mass of black hair and Lee seemed to be trying to grow in some facial hair and failing. "If you order it we will resign our commissions in the ninja core and follow you wherever you go."

"No." ordered Tsunade "You two belong here."

"But Lady Hokage what if we are ordered to attack our friends?" inquired Lee "I do not think I could follow those orders."

"First off you two are probably among the top fifteen or so ninjas in this village, they wouldn't let you go in the first place. Second whatever happens you will be in a command position which means you can do something that will help all sides." Explained Tsunade

"And what is that?" asked Guy

"Save lives." explained Tsunade "You will be in a position to save lives by avoiding pointless battles and refusing to kill civilians."

For a moment Lee and Guy looked at each other before nodding their heads in agreement.

"Very well, Lady Hokage we will stay." confirmed Lee as Tsunade moved past them and headed out into the village as the sun started to disappear.

The days seamed to drag on for Naruto as he walked around the massive cargo ship which along with the other four matching ships headed north from the Land of Bronze toward the land of Fire. Finally as the sun started sinking over the horizon the shoreline of the land of fire came into view. Naruto's heart rose up as he saw the shoreline come ever closer. The docks of the small port was mostly empty since most of the shipping had moved back to the major ports. The shipping companies had moved away from the major ports during the war because of the risk of attack. With the end of the war those ships had come back to the major ports leaving the smaller ports empty.

"Prepare for docking!" yelled the Capitan of the ship as Naruto scanned the horizon trying to see if he could spot his people hiding among the mass of darkened warehouses. As he looked on the massive doors of several dockside warehouses opened up as people began walking out causing Naruto to smile. "I am guessing they are our passages?"

"Yes." answered Naruto with a smile as he spotted a pinked haired woman near the front of one of the groups.

Well I happy New Years and now until next time I hope you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75.