Shikaku sat in the meeting room, where Lord Fourth had called him and his other assistant. There was only one thing on the agenda: check in on the progress of the conflict with Yama, the village that had attacked Konoha during the Chunin exam over a year before.

"From the reports we were given by our ninjas and Anbu, they have been going low profile since we repelled them away from the Land of Fire. I thought that since we hadn't heard of them in a long while, we could lower our guard and send less ninjas in the territories separating the Land of Fire and theirs. But things changed this morning."

"What happened?" Shikaku asked. He hadn't read a single report on Yama ninjas in over a month, the last one being that some Anbu crossed their borders and came back with no data proving they were planning another attack. Considering that, Shikaku really expected the Hokage to lower his guards: they had been discussing it for a few weeks now.

"Lord Kazekage called me. A few Yama ninjas made their way inside the borders of the Land of Wind. One of them crossed paths with the Kazekage's children as they were on a mission, and tried extracting Shukaku from Gaara."

Both Shikaku and Fugaku were both aware of Gaara's jinchuriki's status. Fugaku had learned about it during the chunin exam that turned wrong, but Shikaku had been there from the moment the One-tail had been sealed into the Kazekage's youngest child.

"That's threatening. They are still after their goals, then. Do we know if they tried harming other villages? Have they stolen any tailed beast so far?" Fugaku asked.

Shikaku couldn't help but think of the Akatsuki from his previous life, and how much damage they had done by collecting the tailed beasts, one after the other. What was Yama's intent? Were they trying to provoke another Great War as well? Naruto and Kakashi had lived just long enough to know it was Obito and Madara behind the war before having to retreat and time-travel, but what if there was someone else that had manipulated those Uchiha all along? Could this person use Yama as their puppet, this time? It couldn't be caused by Uchiha clanmates, this time. Fugaku hadn't reported a single one of them leaving the village. And Shikaku trusted Fugaku well enough from working together for years now, he knew very well the clan head was not behind such things.

Shikaku shook his head, trying to go back to the present. He was getting ahead of himself. They had to focus on the immediate threat, which was Yama.

"As Shikaku knows, Kumo tried reaching out to us this year, asking if we could make peace to fight Yama together," Minato said. "Yama has tried to weaken them by stealing missions and overcharging for them. Where are we at with the negotiations?"

"There is a bit of tension regarding the Hyuuga clan, but Hiashi said they could put the incident aside if Kumo helped us. As far as politics goes, what Kumo proposed seemed fair, and most of our demands got positive feedback as well. I believe we could sign a treaty soon with them, a real one that both parties will acknowledge, this time. Also, I hear Fugaku's worries about the tailed beast. I have a scroll coming from Kumo on my desk, from the Raikage. Hopefully, Yama hasn't got their hands on the two-tails or eight-tails beasts."

Shikaku regretted not having the time that morning to read the scroll. Mission reports on Yama had seemed more important to scan through considering the meeting Minato was holding, but now, Shikaku felt like he was empty handed.

"If you hear anything regarding this issue, keep me in touch," Minato said to him, before turning to Fugaku. "What is our current manpower?"

"Most of our Anbu, jonins and half our chunins are currently away. I don't feel confident in giving out more missions outside Konoha right now, I'm afraid it would leave us with too little defensive power. Shisui told me he could lead the police forces if something happened, but we know his mission would be first and foremost to protect and evacuate the civilians, not to engage in fights."

If the police forces were once only filled by Uchiha clansmates, being one of their purposes in the village, the position had been opened to all clans years ago. It was an attempt by Shikaku to prevent the massacre of the clan. It had worked out well. They had seen how great it was last year, when buildings were destroyed and the Inuzuka and Hyuuga classmates in the forces joined their talent to find civilians, elders and children under the debris and saved their lives. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to do that again, though.

"I assume you'll want to continue watching Yama's every move even more closely, and send more ninjas away on tracking and spying missions?" Shikaku asked.

"Fugaku, can you go around the village and ask recently retired ninjas if they'd consider joining back our ranks, at least for defending Konoha if they don't want to leave the surroundings. Meanwhile, we have some genin teams that have one chunin in them, such as your sons' teams. I think we could give them higher ranked missions. I'd keep them with their jonin sensei for those missions, though."

Shikaku nodded to the Hokage even if the question wasn't addressed to him. It was far from ideal, but tension was building up in the village. They didn't have much choice. They needed more manpower. And having lived two lives, he knew his son could handle the pressure of getting harder missions. Fugaku seemed to be thinking the same, even though he didn't have the experience Shikaku had.

The Hokage was about to close the meeting when Fugaku expressed the desire to bring something on the agenda. "At first, I didn't think it had to do with Yama, but I want your opinion on the matter."

Shikaku raised his eyebrow. He wanted to rush to read the scroll from Kumo, but if Fugaku wanted his opinion, he had to stay.

"I have about five minutes before an elder meeting, go ahead," Minato said.

"Obito is back from a mission, and while he has yet to give me his mission scroll, he mentioned he noticed from afar a ninja from the bingo book. He is injured so he didn't engage with him. But he wasn't sure if the ninja in question was part of the village hidden in the mountains or not. So I wanted your opinions."

"Which ninja?" the Hokage asked.

"Hidan. Obito saw him in a territory between our two lands. He seemed to think he was leaving theirs and coming towards us. Because of our constant patrols around our borders, Obito said Hidan would have to take detours to get here, so we have time to assign a mission if you believe we need it."

Shikaku gulped. In his former life, he was part of the Akatsuki, so his involvement with Yama was possible, but the Nara clan head didn't want to jump to false conclusions. He couldn't let his first life guide him to unnecessarily endangering teams.

"Shikaku, what do you think? You always seemed to make wise decisions," Minato said, and Shikaku felt like he was put in the spotlight. The Hokage had expressed in the past not understanding Shikaku's pieces of advice at some point, but they often turned into good decisions. Mostly the decisions Shikaku took to avoid problems faced in his first life. But he didn't know what to make out of Hidan, this time. Too many things had changed from the first life Shikaku lived. There were no doubts the man was as menacing as he had been the first time, and Shikaku tried not to think about the lost life of Asuma, but what if Hidan was not associated with Yama, and they put ninjas in trouble for absolutely nothing? What if Hidan was just traveling in the Land of Fire to get to other places unrelated to Konoha or their allies, minding his own business?

"I can't tell if he is working for Yama. But he's in the bingo book, and if he enters the Land of Fire, we have to make sure our village is safe. I think we should get a squad to track him down, and kill him if they believe it to be necessary."

"Alright. Fugaku, who is available?"

"Jonin," Shikaku said. He couldn't have Asuma's team on the mission this time. He didn't want to have to allow it.

"As much as I'd like to assign this mission to a bunch of jonins, we don't have many available. We have a whole bunch who just came back injured, and sent another bunch closer to our borders. I'll get back to you when I know the exact names of who is able to take on this mission, but honestly, our ninjas are still affected by the attacks from last year, burned out from the surveillance."

Shikaku sighed. It was not his decision to make, and he had a few scrolls to read, so he just left.