Naruto: Tango with Death

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Silence ruled in the room as no one expected this. Most of them did not even know who I was, which made sense since I was Anbu and my actions were not supposed to be known.

I, myself, was not expecting this, we had talked about my promotion barely a few days ago and agreed it wasn't time, yet Minato promoted me right as I arrived.

Fuck. That can only mean one thing.

The two Elders looked unhappy, but they both decided to remain quiet, ignoring me. Minato nodded slightly, and pointed at the large map on his desk, which represented our continent.

He pointed at three of the villages, that is Suna, Iwa and Kumo, and said, "As we speak our enemies are gathering their troops, destroying all of our outposts faster than we can react."

Ok, that's bad.

"Our estimates are that there are at least 10 000 enemies gathered, and that number is a low estimate, as well as rising."

That is very bad.

"Thanks to our efforts, the Land of Forests has been taken over, meaning that Kiri can't attack us directly. And even if they send their forces through the Land of Lightning, it earns us time, and still leaves only three fronts to fight on."

Minato sighed, "We need to split our forces in four main groups. One that defends the village, and one for each of the enemy village."

Immediately, Fugaku Uchiha, Clan Leader of the Uchiha Clan, raised his voice, "Send the Uchiha Clan to stop Kumo, Lord Hokage. We will not disappoint."

Minato frowned and said, "I understand your concerns, Fugaku, but the Uchiha consist of some of our strongest fighters, and we cannot send them all to what is probably the most dangerous battlefield."

Minato pointed at each of the three villages and said, "We are facing three Kages, one perfect Jinchuriki, three experienced Jinchuriki, as well as one inexperienced but deadly all the same. Kumo is our biggest threat, with the Raikage and Jinchuriki of the Two Tails and Eight Tails most probably being the two strongest of the bunch."

He then pointed at Iwa and added, "Iwa is just as much of a bother, Onoki may be old, but his Dust Release only needs a single hit to finish the battle. Adding into that the two experienced Jinchuriki of the Four Tails and Five Tails, they may be even more annoying if left unchecked."

He then pointed at Suna, and said, "Suna is weaker in terms of pure strength, ever since the death of the Third Kazekage. However, the Fourth Kazekage is nothing to laugh at, and although inexperienced, the One Tail Jinchuriki has access to the Absolute Defence, which makes it very hard to kill him before his transformation. Moreover, Suna's poisons will kill many of our men if we aren't careful."

I could see several people around me nod, but I was still in shock. What the fuck happened while I was away?!

Before going, I had just stopped a possible invasion from Kiri, and everything seemed to go relatively well. So how could things turn this bad in barely a couple of days?

However, now wasn't the time to address the issue, so I continued listening.

Minato looked around the room and solemnly worded out, "This operation will be vital to our village, for if it fails, then the war will be lost."

Everyone tensed, and Minato continued, "Our goal isn't to defeat the entirety of the enemy's army. Instead, it is to stop them from moving any of the three fronts to the village. Your goal is to stop any of the three villages from pushing the battlefield into the Land of Fire."

At this moment, I raised my hand, and Minato nodded. As every pair of eyes turned toward me, I asked, "What about Amegakure? Hanzo most certainly does not want his land to once again turn into a battlefield. Will he be helping us?"

Minato shook his head, and Jiraiya said, "Hanzo has been killed, and the country has been taken over by an organization. We do not know their stance."

Shit, the Akatsuki has already taken over Ame? That could either be a good or a bad thing.

If things went according to canon, then Nagato will definitely not want his homeland to turn into a battlefield once again. On the other hand, it was Konoha that helped Hanzo try to crush the Akatsuki in its infancy, and thus participated in the death of… whatever the name of the red haired friend student of Jiraiya. Ya… Yahiko! Right, Yahiko.

Well, if Nagato is still mad about that, then its bad news.

Minato continued, "If there aren't any other questions, then we are going to need to discuss how our forces are split."

Minato looked at the Clan Leader of the Inuzuka Clan, Orime Inuzuka, and said, "The Inuzuka Clan has the most experience fighting against Iwa, but is also valuable for smelling Suna's poisons. That's why I believe they should split between the two fronts."

Orime nodded, and Minato pointed at Suna to say, "The Suna front will be spearheaded by the Hyuuga and Aburame Clans, and have the help of Jiraiya."

He looked at the Hyuuga Twins and said, "You two's task will be to deal with the Kazekage, should he show up."

He then looked at Jiraiya and added, "As for you, if the Jinchuriki shows up, you are to either kill it, or if possible seal it and bring it back to Konoha. This would be an extremely valuable asset to us."

Jiraiya nodded, and Minato then pointed at Konoha and said, "As for the village, the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka will remain behind to protect the village, along with a part of the Uchiha, who will resume their duties as the police."

Getting the approval of the three clan leaders, and an unsatisfied grunt from Fugaku, Minato pointed at Iwa and said, "Aside from the Inuzuka, I want some of the Uchiha Clan against Iwa, as well as Kakashi and Guy."

He looked at the Eternal Rivals and said, "Your job is to deal with the two Jinchuriki."

The two nodded, both didn't' look very confident. So Minato looked at Fugaku and said, "Fugaku, you and your wife will also be heading there, to help with the Tsuchikage, and help with the Jinchuriki if needed."

Fugaku frowned and said, "Lord Hokage, I am not letting my son…"

Minato raised a hand, making Fugaku stop, and Minato said, "I am sorry, Fugaku, but I am not sending some of my best men for a possibly dead man. Not when they are needed elsewhere."

Fugaku clenched his fists, and Mikoto had her head buried in Fugaku shoulder.

BUT WAIT A FUCKING MOMENT!

What does he mean a possibly dead son? What the fuck?

Sasuke is, as far as I know, still in the academy. So no possibly dead Sasuke. Itachi, on the other end…

Then it clicked. Why Shisui looked so bad, why Fugaku wanted to go to Kumo so bad.

Before I left, Itachi and I had a fight, but more importantly, Itachi would also be leaving for a mission with Cat the next day. Don't tell me something went wrong…

Who am I kidding, of course something went wrong. Fuck. Steel yourself.

My eyes turned cold as I rejected any ounce of emotion from oozing out of my brain, and heard Minato continue, "Danzo will also be coming to help with either the Tsuchikage or the Jinchuriki situation."

Danzo nodded, not displaying any particular emotions.

Minato then looked at Kumo, the biggest problem, and sighed before saying, "Kushina and I will be heading there, to fight against the Fourth Raikage and the Jinchuriki of the Eight Tails."

We all nodded, this was the best choice. Minato's presence would also be useful against Iwa, because of the trauma he left behind, but the Fourth Raikage was a threat that couldn't be left alone. Moreover, if there is any urgent situation, then Minato can arrive in a matter of minutes with his teleportation.

Minato sighed and said, "However, while that would stop the two strongest fighters, Kumo still has many strong Shinobis, and also the most forces out of the three. There is also the missing Itachi Uchiha and Yugao Uzuki."