The lost soul..

The conquest of Kiri, was an event that would be marked forever in the history of the Shinobi nations. Yet it also marked the move of Konoha's rivals.

In Kumo, increased activity along its southern borders, indicating their raising of defenses. In Iwa the decrease of high ranking missions, indicating that they were calling back all of their high level ninja in preparation for an all out war. In Suna, civil unrest was erupting throughout the entire village which could quickly lead to downright pandemonium.

However, one group was not so subtle in their movements. Barely two weeks after the news of Kiri's conquest spread, an army gathers to the west, and without any warning, launches a vicious assault on one of Konoha's western border guard bases, the border garrison is destroyed, letting this army enter freely into Konoha territory.

"I see." Naruto spoke as the scout finished delivering the report to him, it was around midnight. The doctors and nurses soon led him away to recuperate. Naruto turned to another of his chuunin messengers. "Tell Anbu squads five and eight that they are to go and investigate this army, what village are they from and who's leading them, also bring me Morino Ibiki, Mitarishi Anko, Jiraiya of the Sannin, Maito Gai and the sound team. I want them in my office within the hour."

The man bowed and immediately rushed off to complete his assigned duties.

Naruto began mentally counting off the list of possible enemies. 'That area is accessible only to Iwa, and Suna if they cross the Ijuo river...Kusa and Ame are also near that area with Taki being just a bit further west. Kumo would have to cross through Iwa in order to get to that pass so it it highly unlikely that they would attack from that direction, Snow would also have to pass through Iwa. So that only leaves Iwa and Suna that can gather an army the size of that man's report.'

With that thought in mind, Naruto left the hospital and began making his way to the tower.

Sure enough, exactly one hour later Naruto found himself facing the Toad hermit, the two top ninja in the Torture and interrogation department, Konoha's green beast and the five sound ninja.

The eight ninja kept their silence even Tayuya who had sobered up considerably on the way there.

Naruto leaned back in his seat as he pulled back his hood, revealing his blond hair to everyone currently in the room. "I will get right down to business yesterday at 3:00 am one of our border garrisons was destroyed by an unknown army. Judging by the size of this force, and the difficult supply routes they need to secure, I would say they are possibly one week away at most." At this news the air in the room grew heavy with tension as they processed the implications if this news.

"Now…your assignments are simple. Ibiki, Anko. I realize that it has been some time since you have seen active duty, you more than Anko Ibiki. However, we are somewhat shorthanded at the moment. Therefore, you three along with you five…" He said gesturing to the sound five. "Will lead our forces."

Everyone was taken aback by that statement and looked at each other questioningly. Ibiki was the one to break the silence. "But…Naruto-sama…isn't it the Hokage supposed to lead the army? And unless I am mistaken, last time I checked, you were the leader of the village, thus the Hokage." The scarred man stated calmly yet still somewhat incredulously.

Naruto nodded. "That is true and I will be leading the army, however, the eight of you, will each be leading squads, I will lead you."

Ibiki then looked to the sound five. "Lord…no offense meant to the former sound ninja, but…aren't there stronger, more experienced individuals that you could give the post as important as squad commander?"

Tayuya growled rounding on the scarred man. "You got something to say you Scar-faced piece a shit?" She snarled.

Jirobu and Kidomaru leaned in and began whispering to eachother. "What happened to the "I love you guys" thing?"

Kidomaru shrugged. "I don know."

Before Tayuya could keep running her mouth off Kimimaru broke in. "Tayuya silence." He cut in stopping her tirade mid sentence. "He is right, compared to many Shinobi we are considerably weaker than them, even with our curse seals." Tayuya was about to go off again when Naruto held up his hand for silence.

He then calmly passed his eyes over the people infront of him. "While he is right, there are stronger individuals I can give the post to, you five will lead the squad for another reason entirely.

Ibiki suddenly had a look of realization dawn on his face. "Ahh I see…you wish to lower the tension between the Konoha ninja and the newly recruited ninja from Oto."

Naruto nodded. 'Precisely…there is a clear division between the ranks…it is unacceptable…having five ninja from Oto assist in this upcoming battle will help to bridge that gap, and will prove fortuitous in the long run."

Jiraiya spoke up next. "So why am I here?" He questioned as he straightened, crossing his arms for emphasis

Naruto locked gazes with the toad hermit. "My attention will be on this strange army, you must contact your spy network and keep a close eye on all of the major villages, Kumo, Suna and Iwa…if the army we are facing turns out to be from one of those villages then disregard spying on that particular village and instead focus on Kiri…I wish to make sure the situation there is stable. Regardless of who is leading the enemy however, you are to send a message requesting a relief force to Kiri. Tell them they are to send men, immediately I also wish for you to keep up the search for your old teammate.. Understod?"

Jiraiya nodded before he silently turned and jumped out the balcony.

Naruto then turned back to his other subordinates. "Now…gather your teams, we march to war soon.

With a nod they each turned and walked out the room.

Kumogakure: Raikage residence:

The Yondaime Raikage, could be found sitting in his vast library, reading over one of the many scrolls in his expansive collection. Around him, scrolls and books of all kind numbered in the hundreds, perhaps even early thousands. Around the walls were also various weapons of all kinds, everything from Nunchaku to Naginata

Next to him, a young girl with pale blond hair, possibly in her late teens or early twenties was sitting next to him, reading over one of the scrolls as well. She sighed and looked at him with a mixture of pleading, annoyance and childish anger. "Master why do you have me do this every week. It is so boring."

Zhuge Liang calmly continued to unroll the scroll infront of him as he traced over the Kanji. "One must be strong in both mind and body Yugito…as my apprentice I believe I have taught you such."

She sighed irritably. "Yes master, but for all you have taught me how to read that isn't making it any easier to land a decent hit on you."

"As I said Yugito…a one must be strong in both mind and body…if you do not have both…then you will never defeat me…or replace me one day."

Then with little preamble he stood, and the hour bell rang a second later. "Now then Yugito…your studies are over for today, I suggest you go and get ready, we will be having guests soon."

"Guests?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow as she struggled to catch her breath. "Guests from where?"

Just then a messenger walked in. "My lord, the gate guards say that…"

"Yes I know…you may go, thank you." He interrupted, dismissing the confused messenger. "Now Yugito, don't you need to get cleaned up?" He asked in a tone which was calm but practically dripping with so much smugness that she could nearly feel the smirk on his lips.

Yugito growled in annoyance. She had given up long ago on trying to discover how this man apparently knew everything before it even happened…that didn't mean she had to like it. "Are you at least going to tell me who it is that's visiting?"

"Just an old acquaintance." He replied simply as he sat down in his desk again and continued reading over his scroll.

"Cryptic bastard." She ground out through her teeth as she turned and walked out the door.

Konohagakure: Outskirts. 3:34 am

Naruto awoke to the sound of someone frantically knocking on his estates main door. He slowly stood up and got dressed before he walked out. Finding his Anbu scouts. "Report." He commanded.

The head Anbu bowed his head before he spoke. "My lord...the enemy army is calling themselves the Anti-fire coalition. They are formed through an alliance between the villages of Kusa Ame and Taki They are lead by the tree village leaders. "Kenpachi Zuroku, Yoshino Migumi, and Zaraki Kouetsu."

Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger. "Kenpachi Zuroku and Yoshino Migumi you say?"

The Anbu nodded at his question.

Ame, Kusa and Taki all had a fierce rivalry against each other for the central marshlands…if Kumo or Iwa got word that they had united to fight against him…

"Contact Ibiki, Anko, Gai, and Kimimaro, Tayuya, Jirobu, Kidomaru, and Sakon…inform them that they are to have their teams ready by tomorrow at dusk."

The three Anbu scouts bowed again. "Yes sir." They chorused before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto snarled as he closed the door…Yoshino...Kenpachi.

They dared.

They dared to stand against him? Him?!

He was there when Kusa had been at war with Ame and Taki…it was because of his assistance that Ame and Taki were able to achieve their independence from the more powerful nation of Kusa, who had been close to seizing the western marshlands entirely thus becoming the sixth great Shinobi nation. And now those two...

"Kenpachi Zuroku and Yoshino Migumi…" He spat out the names with anger. "You two have a debt to repay…I will now take payment for it…in full." He snarled as his eyes flashed red in the darkness and his bracers glowed fiercely.

Fire Territory: War camp of the Kusa-Ame-Taki coalition.

Inside a rather spacious tent a man wearing a modified Anbu uniform with a green dragon mask sat at the head of a decent sized table, over which a map of fire country was sprawled over it. Wrapped tightly around his arm was a Kusa headband

Two more individuals entered, one was a rather large man. He was bald but had a well groomed beard and mustache, he was at least 6'7 Buddhist prayer beads were laced between the fingers of his right hand. He wore gold and black robes with the design of a tiger facing off against a dragon on his back, with the Taki symbol between them.

Next to him was a young girl, she was very petite, barely reaching five feet with long black hair that reached just a little lower than her back and blue eyes. She wore a simple jounin uniform, only exception was the vest was cut a little shorter so it left her stomach exposed. Around her neck was the Ame headband.

The dragon masked ninja nodded in greeting and the other two returned his nod as they sat down.

"Good, you're both here…now I believe we should-" The dragon masked Shinobi began but was cut off by the young woman.

"If I may, lord Zaraki…this was reckless, when we created this alliance it was under the agreement that we would each defend our borders from an outside invasion from Konoha…"

"It was not for you to all but hand drag us into a conflict by invading-them. " The larger man spoke.

The dragon masked Anbu snarled. "If you two fools wish to roll over and let him plow through your lands first then go ahead. I however wont stand for this upstart of a child telling me what to do in my own home. Nor will I see my land, the one closest to Konoha mind you, be damn near burned before your villages can act."

"You have-'

"Done what I needed to." He said, standing up. "And what's happened cannot be changed. We are on our course. You both know that otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Now…seeing as you two are somewhat uncomfortable. Let us postpone this meeting until tomorrow morning." That said, Zaraki exited the tent with an irritated air about him.

Kenpachi sighed through his nostrils. "That fool doesn't know what he's gotten us into.

The young woman looked down to her lap. "Lord Kenpachi…you do realize…that…this is betrayal, not only to Konoha who has been our ally for years…but to the Uzumaki child himself…"

Kenpachi nodded, fingering the prayer beads in his hand. He sighed before speaking. "Yes I know…however…" He stood, his towering form looming over her smaller form. "We have no choice…we must fight now. Konoha will not allow for a slaughtered garrison to go unanswered…lord Zaraki is correct in his words, lady Yoshino."

The woman, Yoshino nodded uneasily as she stood. "Yes…I…need to rest…I bid you goodnight, lord Kenpachi." She bowed once before she walked out of the tent.

Kenpachi fingered the prayer beads again.