Sharingan No Naruto

Chapter 18: Boneyard

Days earlier

"Jiraiya-sama, I'm surprised you're still in the village."

The sounds of battle had long since quieted down and the reconstruction work in the village kept on progressing admirably. Though the invasion came at a devastating loss for many, the sudden economic boost in the form of a great influx in missions was a very much welcomed surprise, bringing in the resources necessary for the village to be rebuilt as soon as possible.

It also brought another problem in the form of a lack of manpower, their forces had taken a very substantial hit during the invasion, many lost their lives and many other suffered injuries that still kept them in the hospital, Tsunade knows many of them won't be able to return to their life as shinobi. Despite it all they had come out on top and the attendees were amazed with the quality of Konoha's forces.

Mission requests kept piling up on the Hokage's desk, a lot of these missions didn't even need the intervention of shinobi much to her shock, it would seem some merchants and nobles that visited during the Chunin Exams jumped at the chance of making business with the village without ever stopping to think if it even was necessary.

Their forces were incredibly stretched, their Jōnin and Chunin forces led assignments all around the nation and at some point, she was even forced to send teams of Genin all alone to complete some of these missions outside the village, she didn't like it but still wasn't in the position of outright refusing missions, hopefully their need for constant economic growth will soon lessen.

Being brought back to the present, Tsunade returned her focus back to the men present in her office just in time to hear Jiraiya's not so tasteful reply.

"What can I say Kakashi? Tsunade-hime over here was too sad to see me leave and asked me to stay around a bit more..." He replied smirking as he stood beside the Hokage in her seat. "You know I could never say no to her."

"I didn't ask you anything Jiraiya, I ordered you to remain in the village...," She quipped in clear annoyance. "As for you three there is a reason I have called you here today."

In the Hokage's office currently stood the elite of her Shinobi forces, three of her most decorated subordinates and three men she really didn't want to send away from the village at the same time. "Jiraiya, get on with it."

Almost as if a switch had been turned in his head, Jiraiya switched from his usual goofy attitude to the one of a man who's name commands fear and respect in the eyes of many who encountered him before, it was almost unsettling to see.

"After the invasion was finalized I set up to retrieve as much information as possible from Orochimaru's remaining forces as they fled the village." As soon as he started explaining, the three men asked to come to this briefing gave him their full attention.

Kakashi had to give it to him, Gai was more than capable enough to be serious and silent whenever the situation called for it, he hadn't uttered a single word about youth ever since they came into the office. Asuma on the other hand had always been the quiet type, he did appear to be smoking even more than he used to nowadays, he continued to take puffs from his cigarette even at that moment.

"I arbitrarily selected a few of their Jōnin and trailed them in different directions, separating and interrogating them individually," Jiraiya continued, looking into the eyes of the three of them just to check they were still following. "I was able to get some information, apparently some of their forces were ordered to abduct civilians and members from our forces and take them to a specific location."

At this point Tsunade intervened. "I had the heads in every department conduct head counts of our full forces, taking out casualties and injured, 7 of our shinobi are currently unaccounted for," This information raised concern, visible in the faces of the three Jōnin. "But I'm afraid that's not all," Continued Tsunade. "I called for a meeting with every clan head soon after I was sworn into office and received some troubling news, the Inuzuka, Nara, Yamanaka and Aburame reported that one child from each of their clans were also abducted."