Saruto Hyuga: The Last Generation

19.) At War

"Lord eighth, you're right. We have a situation here near Konoha." Inojin says to the phone after hours after he was contacted.

"What is it Inojin?"

"Kurama was found in the Uzumaki ruins as usual but he was tied down by black poles. He said Black Zetsu took Saruto but he went willingly."

"How long ago did he say?"

"Only four days ago, lord hokage." Konohamaru internally winced at this information.

"Thank you Inojin. You don't have to stay at Konoha anymore. You'll be needed here at headquarters so come before tomorrow."

"Yes sir!" Inojin puts down the phone and Konohamaru turns around to meet the four other kages with Naruto.

"Lord Hokage. What's the news on Boruto's kid?" The mizukage speaks up.

"Black Zetsu is no longer sealed. According to Kurama, he visited Saruto in the Uzumaki ruins. Saruto went with him willingly." The four other kages shook their heads at this. If Saruto is with black zetsu, there's no telling what will happen to him.

"Kages, I think we should keep our heads out of this for the moment. War starts tomorrow so we need to be prepared." The Tsuchikage says.

"I agree but I'm still worried. Saruto is the most powerful shinobi out there and he's running loose. We need not to be worried for his safety but what he's been doing." The Kazekage says coldly.

"Don't treat him as an inhumane creature, Shinki." Naruto says in a booming voice. "People in my time were afraid of enormous power. They were afraid of people like me and your father. A child is not an enemy unless you make him one."

"Then I guess it's settled. Fellow kages, let us rest for the night and ready for battle in the morning. Good night." Says the Raikage who then turned to leave.

———

The next morning was hectic. Although everything was more organized than the previous war, there weren't many shinobi so the battle crowd was a large variety of different-aged ninjas. Even genin with little experience had to fight and those way over the inappropriate age of battle were also in the crowd.

The divisions were the same with different leaders. The First Division, once led by Darui himself, was now led by Darui's right hand man and son, Rai. The Second Division, once led by the fourth Tsuchikage's dad, Kitsuchi, is now being led by Tsuchikage Sekki's right hand man, Iwabe of the hidden leaf village. The Third Division who was once led by the legendary Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan is now being led by Yodo who married into the Hidden Leaf after being a Hidden Sand shinobi. The fourth division who was once led by the young fifth Kazekage Gaara, is now being led by long range shinobi, Erena, the son of the eighth Mizukage and great grandson of the fourth. The last group was the Fifth division once led by Samurai leader of the Iron land, Mifune. The new leader is his student, Tsubaki Kuroganem who trained and accomplished missions in the Hidden Leaf but took over the Land of Iron quite a while ago.

The shinobi lined up for war. What was once this conflicted land of five villages always at war and conflict even at the time of the fourth great war was now a tight-knit group of shinobi who knew friends from each other's lands. There was no difference, there was only friendship and guidance. The kages were ready for anything.