Prepare for War

"Welcome back, Team 9," Sarutobi greeted them as Inoichi opened the doors into his office.

"Hello, Hokage-sama. We're here to report the completion of another B rank mission," the blonde answered, "Human-trafficking near the Tea country is now stopped and won't come back in the nearest future. Slavers had guards consisting of mostly genin level ninja and 2 young chūnins, from our side excluding some bruises there were no injuries."

"Good job, Team 9. It looks like your pupils are almost ready to become chūnins themselves, Inoichi-san. I have some good news, Chōza was released from the -." Hokage was interrupted by someone barging into the office.

Kaname from the corner of her eye saw three old people barging inside the office like they owned the place. She knew two of the faces, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane - members of Konoha Council, but the man standing between the two gave her creeps. He appeared as a frail, old man walking with a cane, but Kaname saw hidden strength underneath this facade. He had black, shaggy hair, and the right side of his face was bandaged.

"Sarutobi, we the Council with approval from Daimyo overruled your defiance. It's effective immediately." the black-haired man announced.

"How dare you, Danzō! Following the Konoha's Law, I must oversee all Council meetings! Especially the ones about the fate of our ninja."

"Your voice was unnecessary. We had the Daimyo's request to send them all to the frontlines." Danzō calmly replied.

"I will get you back for this someday, all three of you get out of my sight!" Hokage ordered.

'What now?!' Kaname thought worriedly.

"*Sigh*... I'm sorry for this unbecoming spectacle, in times of war the Council got bolder than ever, especially now, that they have Fire Daimyo's words behind them... I have got some bad news for you, and pretty much all the new teams," After a long pause and another sigh, he continued, "the Konoha Council and Fire Daimyo call all our ninja troops to the frontlines, even the young genin teams are conscripted. I'm sorry I was trying to stop this order for as long as possible. I beg you to come back to Konoha alive." the old man bowed his head.

"Fuck…" Kaname guessed correctly, "Did I thought it out loud?" Kaname asked, seeing Maki's scared eyes on hers.

"Hokage-sama, we will move according to the order, but with all due respect, fuck the Council and the Daimyo," Inoichi growled out.

"*Sigh* Normally that would be punishable with death Inoichi-san, but now these are pretty much the same words that are on my mind. What's worse you won't be their captain, young ninjas will be assigned to their divisions, I will try to pull some strings and keep them together. Good luck, watch your back out there and stay alive - especially you, Kana-chan, you have a weird gift with landing into the hospital with grave wounds, promise me you will come back alive."

"It's hard to promise something I don't have control of Jiji… But I will try my hardest to come back, I promise," Kaname replied.

"I suppose I can't ask for more. Further instructions will be sent to you in thirty minutes. Farewell and good luck, Team 9!"

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"Thank you for keeping calm when those three old fossils came, kids. There are so many things to say, and I don't have enough time. Prepare your equipment as you would prepare for a very long spy mission, you don't have to worry about food or sleeping conditions, kunais and shurikens will be provided, pack everything else you need. Do it quickly, thirty minutes is not as much time as you would imagine. Let's meet at the north gate after we get our instructions, go!" Inoichi directed them for the last time.

Kaname got to her home in record time, she created two shadow clones and started packing herself.

"Kana-2! Take Mr. Fluffy to aunty Mikoto… wait!" she stopped the clone, Kaname took the hare in her hands and hugged Mr. Fluffy one more time.

"Okay, go!" [AN: ninjas are killers, but they still got emotions - at least Kaname has them :-)]

After checking the list the third time, a small brown monkey jumped into her room "Instructions from the Sarutobi-sama!" it said.

"Head north-east and join Army B ... a division under the command of Jiraya-san," she read, 'Okay, that's not so bad.' Kaname skipped most of the instructions just to get general orientation on what to do next. 'I need to go meet with Inoichi-san and the team.' she thought, leaving her home, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time she has seen it.

"You're here already, Take-kun?" she asked, seeing her friend's pineapple-shaped hair.

"*Sigh* You will never stop with this nickname?... My mom's raised hell and made me ready in ten minutes, now she is on her way to 'kill every member of Konoha Council a tiny bit.' How can you kill someone a tiny bit?" Takeshi deadpanned.

"Hahaha, nothing to worry about, most likely many parents are there on their own, Anbu will stop her before she does something bad. Where are you going? I'm joining the Army B on Jiraya's-san division."

"Good, me too-"

"Me three!" Maki shouted out, jumping down from a nearby roof.

"At least we're together to watch each other's back," Kaname sighed out in relief.

"And I believe you will do it for the rest of your lives," Inoichi shown himself from around the corner, next to him stood two of his friends, "let me introduce you, this is Shikaku Nara, and this is Chōza Akimichi. I hope you three become as close friends as we are, and always remember, with teamwork, there is always hope for victory. Regrettably, we're sent to army A, and I won't save your hide when something bad happens. After this war is over, I want all of us to meet at Yakiniku Q, the one with the most injuries will pay!"

"Hey! That's not fair, Inoichi-sensei, you know my luck with getting ambushed!" she replied, hurt.

"Hahaha, pay up or get better, Kana-chan" he laughed out, he hugged his young students and left with his partners heading north-west.

"Let's go, Takeshi-kun, Kana-chan, according to the letter we need to be there before the dawn. And Kana-chan, if you get ambushed one more time, both of us will dress you like lettuce and feed you to the snails!"

And so they ventured out of Konoha with the sun slowly setting behind their backs.