Naruto Senju Shippuden

Chapter 26

The summer heat is unbearable. Just as unbearable as Naruto thought they were going to be. There was no news from Anko and her team on the location of Kabuto. Nor any information from their allies on the whereabouts of Madara. The Gokage had all agreed to divide the labour during their frequent meetings. Kumo had volunteered to take up the search for Madara's lair. They had the most manpower out of the five great villages. Before the Pain attack, Konoha always boasted the highest number of trained shinobi. Most of those were now locked into rebuilding the village's defences and infrastructure to ensure they had something to return to after this war. Konoha is to be the tactical hub of the alliance. It wasn't surprising to anyone with men like Shikaku, Shikamaru and Kakashi.

Naruto is sitting in on all the meetings, as is Shikamaru. Naruto for his first-hand knowledge of fighting Madara and meeting him at the Gokage summit. And Shikamaru, at the behest of his father. He wanted someone to bounce theories and strategies with. No one questioned their presence at the meetings even though no other Chuunin was allowed near the war room. There are even seals courtesy of Naruto to guarantee that no one could eavesdrop from outside. Showing the immense trust the old guard has for both of their skill.

The days soon bled into months. And the overwhelming summer heat is beginning to fade into the damper early autumn weather they were all familiar with. Still no news from the Madara search nor the Kabuto one. But they couldn't do anything else other than train and plan for when Madara was making his move. He still has seven Bijuu at his disposal and could unleash them at any point. Naruto was restless. He hated this. The constant fear that was lying over the village was suffocating. The villagers still greet him with warm smiles and deep bows. But he can tell those are fake. They are afraid. It isn't directed at him for once, and it is nice not being the centre of their fear for once. But he doesn't want them to be afraid at all. The hollow feeling in his gut has also mutated. It now makes him sick whenever he sees their smiling faces. He doesn't know why he feels like this but has begun isolating himself when he isn't in a war meeting.

He's usually at the training grounds in the Senju complex, meditating or doing basic physical conditioning. The pressure is too overwhelming for him to focus on ninjutsu or genjutsu training. He sighs heavily as he leaves the training grounds for today. Another war meeting is waiting for him in twenty minutes, and he would at least like to not smell like a sweating tree for it.

Naruto is standing in front of Tsunade in her office again. Two months of no activity from Madara and many meetings later. They are standing still, trudging water. Waiting for a lead... or anything they can use to make a better plan. The plan they have now is the best they are going to get. And they have relayed that plan to the other Kage and their trusted supporters. Naruto opens the doors and walks into the office. Tsunade sits with her back to the doors, hands folded and her head resting on them. This can't be any good if she is like this...

"Let me get this straight: You are sending me on a mission now. With Yamato and a team from Kumo..." Naruto tries to understand what Tsunade had just ordered him. "Yes. It's an S-ranked mission. I can't send anyone else," Tsunade says with a straight face. "It sounds like you want me out of the village," Naruto says as he crosses his arms. "I know you better than that," He says when he sees her dismayed face. "Maybe you do..." Tsunade concedes. "This is some sort of a training mission, isn't it?" Naruto concludes. "We haven't seen any movement from Madara in two months now. So it is unlikely for him to attack anytime soon. And we are going to need you and Yamato at your best if we are going to win this war. This is also training for you to unlock the chakra the beast in your stomach is holding. Hopefully, we won't need it, but we can never be too careful. This is for the best," She says as she lowers her eyes from his. She knows Naruto is going to kick up a fuss over this. He hates being left out. And he hates leaving Ino behind. Even if she hasn't seen the two of them together much during these two months of war preparation.