Starting over

#87 Preparations

Naruto POV

"We need to talk to Tsunade.", I looked at Temari who nodded and I held my hand out for our teams to grab ahold of it. A flash enveloped us as I teleported us into the hokage's office.

"What is the meaning of this?", Tsunade asked, with wide eyes, seeing our looks. The two Anbu bodyguards behind the Hokage put their weapons away as they recognized us.

"What happened?", Tsunade asked again. "The council got kidnapped. We were confronted by two members of Iwagakure's black tengu, drawing our attentions away from the council themselves. While we, along with three of your Anbu, talked them down the third member of the black tengu squad apparently snuck behind us and took the group.", Temari explained what happened. Tsunade's eyes widened as she heard that. "Get me Wolf, Inu, Shikamaru and Shikaku.", she ordered turning to her bodyguards, causing one of them to disappear.

"We will have to get back to Suna as soon as possible, since this will be counted as an attack on our clients. We will at the very least have to try to get them back from Iwagakure.", I told the hokage, as we readied ourselves to go back to Suna immediately. "Please wait a few more minutes, I will come with you. I just need to get my men informed.", Tsunade asked. I looked at her confused, while one after another the people she had requested came into her office.

When everyone had arrived Tsunade stood up and looked at her shinobi.

"You all know, of the ongoing talks I had with the village of Ishigakure. Well, we were actually already done with the talks and had scheduled the signing of the treaty for tomorrow. But today a commando unit from Iwagakure infiltrated the village and kidnapped the council that had come to sign the papers. Since they were under the protection of Sunagakure at that time, I will travel to Suna at once to talk with the kazekage what actions we will take. Most likely we will send a commando to Iwa to get the council back.", Tsunade explained. "You do know, that this will most likely trigger a war?", Shikamaru argued, with his father nodding in agreement. "Yes I know, but if we don't act on this, then we lose every bit of credibility we have. Inu, Shikaku I want you two to prepare everything for, if this really escalates into war. Wolf, get your jonin squad and be back in five minutes. Shikamaru, you are coming with us." Tsunade ordered, getting nods from her shinobi. "When wolf and his team are back, we can go.", Tsunade said, looking at us. I nodded and we waited, for the next three minutes, until a small cloud of smoke appeared. Four Anbu stepped out of the cloud, lead by Wolf. The others didn't have masks on, so I could easily identify them as Neji Hyuuga, Shino Aburame and surprisingly Ino Yamanaka.

"Wolf, this is a jonin mission, not one for the Anbu.", Tsunade said earning a nod from the masked man, who removed his mask, confirming my suspicions that he was indeed Sasuke Uchiha. "Alright, let's go. I said, holding my hand out and earning a confused look from the four jonin as everyone but them put their hands on mine. "Come on, we don't have all day.", Tsunade said motioning for them to do the same as her, a smile resting on her lips. They put their hands on top of the pile and a flash enveloped us once again.

We reappeared in front of the Kazekage tower, startling a few civilians and the two guards in front of the tower, but I didn't really care. I went up the stairs towards Gaara's office, knocked, and went in without awaiting a reply.

Gaara looked towards the door with anger written all over his face as we barged into his meeting with the council of Sunagakure, but his look turned into worry, when he saw that it was I who had interrupted.

"What happened?", he asked, holding up his hand to silence the council who had cried out at my lack of 'respect' towards the meeting and the Kazekage. Gaara's look turned even darker as he saw Tsunade entering behind my team. He turned to me again, silently demanding answers. I bowed slightly, before beginning to speak. "The council has been kidnapped by Iwagakure. We were inside of Konoha's walls so we didn't think they would get to us. Our guard was down, when two black tengu distracted us while the third of their squad took the council. We underestimated them and payed the price, it won't happen again. I will take full responsibility for this incident, but I plead for you to postpone the punishment until we have at least recovered the bodies of the council if we can't get to them in time.", I summarised what had happened.

Our council was speechless, Gaara sat down, rubbing his temple. "It was my worst nightmare that something like that would happen. Baki, send out a hawk towards Iwa with a declaration of war. Officially the treaty we had signed was a trade alliance, but it was also a secret defensive alliance against Iwa. There will be no more recovery mission. I want to show Ishigakure that we will honor our treaty even if we couldn't keep their council save. Naruto, Temari you have three days to prepare a strike squad and head towards Iwa. I want you to save the council or at least what is left of them and then you have permission to let loose and show everyone what you can do.", Gaara said, earning a bow from me and my girlfriend. Tsunade looked at us in horror. "You are not really sending a single squad to defeat Iwa?", she exclaimed. "My dear Kage, I said a strike squad. A strike squad in Suna consists of two Anbu captains and at least eight more shinobi that they see fit to take on the mission. And trust me, Naruto alone can give our Anbu a run for their money, so do not underestimate them. I can see that you also have brought some shinobi. My guess is that you wanted to have them tag along on the rescue mission for the council?", Gaara replied looking at the leaf shinobi with a stern face, earning a nod from the blond Kage. "Well, it is up to Naruto and Temari if they want to take them with. I will let them decide.", the redhead said, looking at us. Temari and I looked at each other and nodded. "We will take Sasuke, Neji, Shino and Ino with us. Shikamaru will be of more use if he stays here and helps coordinate the second attack wave, if we fail.", I said to Gaara before turning to the leaf shinobi. "Prepare for a week, prepare to die and prepare to follow orders that might seem unreasonable. This will be a suicide mission, meant to weaken the enemy. If you want to pull out now is the only chance.", I said, waiting for their response. All of them stayed silent. I nodded and turned back to Gaara. "I will take team Daiku, Team Shiro, the four leaf shinobi and Anko Mitarashi.", I said. Gaara's eyes widened as he heard the name of his lover. He took a deep breath and nodded, knowing that Anko was one of the strongest shinobi that we had in our ranks. "I will tell her, myself. You are dismissed.", Gaara said, sadness evident in his voice. He stood up and went to the door, passing me. "I won't let anything happen to her.", I whispered as he was next to me. Gaara kept going but nodded his head slightly, signalling that he had heard what I said.