Chapter 9 Arrival Part Two

-Two Weeks later in a Hidden Underground Location-

Currently sitting in their underground meeting room Orochimaru and his allies were discussing Kiri's failed invasion of Nami no Kuni. Thanks to The Raikage and his forces intervention, but if you want to be more precise the meeting was mainly listening to the Godaime Mizukage Shiro yells of angry and fury, about New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance and The Raikage (who Shiro was mainly cursing).

When Shiro heard what happened to Raijuta along with his forces from the Ninja named Sanji that The Raikage let go to deliver his message, he was furious beyond words where he literally destroyed his office along with most of the Mizukage tower in a fit of rage. Fortunately no was killed during the Shiro's fit of rage as they had all quickly ran out of the tower when they felt his Killing Intent.

But even as annoyed as some of the other leaders were about Shiro shouting and yelling, most of them did agree with him now, since The Raikage and the Heavenly Alliance was a threat to them that needed to be dealt with.

Once Shiro had finally stop shouting about how they should forget Konoha and Suna and attack New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance, The Yondaime Tsuchikage Ryoku spoke up.

"As much as I hate to say this I agree with Shiro, The Raikage and the Heavenly Alliance are becoming a threat to us. As their interference with the invasion of Nami no Kuni has ruined our chance's to open a new front against Konoha, and spreading their forces out more to make our operation easier when it begins. If we do not do something about them soon now they could cause us more trouble".

"Is there any chance that we could send a new and larger force to try and take the country?" asked leader of Kusagakure Doku.

"No!" growled Shiro as he clenched his fist in anger, "New Kumo has sent a full battle group of ships and has stationed an entire Shinobi division there, and are already fortifying themselves in it. By the time we can organise a new invasion forces, the New Kumo Shinobi's will be fully dung in. Where they would be nearly impossible to push out and that is not counting that New Kumo and the rest of the Alliance will send reinforcements to help and drive our forces back".

"I agree with Ryoku about New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance being a threat, but I believe that we should wait till after we have destroyed Konoha and dealt with Suna, once their out of the way we can deal with the Heavenly Alliance in our own time", spoke the leader of the Hannya Clan Shinrin.

"NO!" yelled Shiro, as he slammed him fist down at the table they were all sitting around, "If we don't do something soon about them now. Then we will be giving them the opportunity they need to either attack us or prepare defences to stop any kind of attack we make against them".

"But we cannot change our plans against Konoha when we're so close to finishing them, even with the failed invasion of Nami no Kuni and opening up the new front. We can easily change the plans so that we can still meet the schedule date for the operation and go a head with it" spoke Shinrin.

"Besides why should we attack New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance? Not counting your forces neither New Kumo nor the Heavenly Alliance has ever made any kind of attack on us. The only reason they attacked your forces at The Hold was because you captured the future queen of Tsuki no Kuni (Moon Country) who is an ally to the Heavenly Alliance. Also the reason they defended Nami no Kuni is because they asked to be members of the Heavenly Alliance and because you would threaten to cut off their trade at sea. Since with Nami no Kuni under your control you and the Mizu Daimyo would control trade in the Central Elemental Sea and there by cutting trade off with their allies in the south which was true. Besides that the Heavenly Alliance has stated that they are neutral in the War and will not take sides in it" spoke the leader of Kusagakure Doku.

"Do you seriously believe all that tripe he said in the letter he sent", cried Shiro angrily.

"No I don't, but I still don't see the point of giving Konoha and Suna a major new ally that could help them, right when we have them on the ropes as it is and we are so close to winning this War", spoke Doku.

"That may be true, but they are still a threat to us and they could attack us when Konoha is destroyed and we are weakened from all the fighting, where they would take advantage of us", spoke Ryoku.

"I believe that we should leave New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance alone or at lest for now, until we have dealt with Konoha after which we can then concentrate on the Heavenly Alliance and deal with them. Since as Shinrin-kun said, we have come too far and to close to destroying Konoha to get distracted by something else", spoke Orochimaru.

"WHAT?" cried Shiro in anger, "Orochimaru you can't be seriously, have you not been listening to what we have been saying, considering what they have done lately they could be allied to Konoha for all we know".

"I have to concur, the Heavenly Alliance actions, both at the Hold and at Nami no Kuni, suggest that. They could be also using their so called neutrality to get us to turn our backs on them so that they can attack us when we are off guard", spoke Ryoku.

"I understand what you are saying gentlemen", spoke Orochimaru smoothly, "But as Doku-kun has said there is no point in giving Konoha and Suna a new ally to help them in the War. Once we have Konoha and Suna out of the way we can deal with the Heavenly Alliance as we planned in our own time and as for Ryoku-kun belief that New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance being secretly allied with Konoha. I can assure you that neither New Kumo nor the Heavenly Alliance is allied with Konoha".

"And how can you be so sure of that Orochimaru?" asked Shiro with a sneer, as he did not believe the Snake Sannin and wanted to make New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance pay in blood for his humiliating defeat and the death Raijuta his most loyal supporter.

"Simply Shiro-kun", spoke Orochimaru with his traditional snaky smile, "Konoha as already tried to get an alliance with them"

"WHAT?" cried Shiro, while the other members of Orochimaru's coalition turned their head to look at Orochimaru, as they wanted answers to this new information.

"It seems that about two weeks ago my former team-mate Tsunade sent The Raikage a petition to try and form an Alliance with the Heavenly Alliance".

"Then we need to act now and attack The Heavenly Alliance before they coordinate a joint strike with Konoha and Suna against us", cried Ryoku furiously.

"There will be no need Ryoku-kun as the Heavenly Alliance has rejected the Alliance after The Raikage visit Konoha for talks", spoke Orochimaru with a smile.

"But you said Konoha was a forming an Alliance with the Heavenly Alliance" said Doku.

"I said that they tried to a form an Alliance with the Heavenly Alliance", replied Orochimaru smoothly. "The talks failed due to two certain incidents, one being a Civilian Council member who insulted The Raikage's wife. Who was also his bodyguard and is the Jinchuuriki of Nibi no Bakeneko (Two-Tailed Monster Cat)".

"The Raikage married a Jinchuuriki?" asked Shiro in surprise, to which Orochimaru nodded. As even he was slightly surprised by the information, but then again it wasn't that unexpected. As it was an unspoken tradition among the Shinobi nations that the Bijū's would be sealed into, the family of the village's own Kage. So to ensure that jinchūriki's not only had strong ties of loyalty to village and their leader, but they also serve to show off the Kage's might and it prevented the jinchūriki from turning traitor on the village. Hence marring a Jinchuuriki was not completely unorthodox for the tradition as it achieved the same goals as just placing it into a family member of the ruling Kage.

"The other reason as to why the talks failed was because seemly, Shimura Danzō the leader of Konoha's ROOT division sent in two teams of his agents to infiltrate Taki no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni to try and capture Shinobi's belonging to the respected villages. He also had them disguised as Shinobi's from Iwagakure and my village so that if someone saw what happened, the Heavenly Alliance would blame us and they would side with them in the War. But fortunately for us, Danzo planned failed and his men were caught and identified by Kumo's and Taki forces", spoke Orochimaru.

"But why would Danzo have his men try and capture Shinobi's from Takigakure and New Kumo's, as there must be something your not telly us Orochimaru. Since The Raikage would not believe we would risk War with him just to capture some of their Shinobi's", spoke Shinrin.

"AAAAAHHHHH, that's quite correct Shinrin-kun, the reason why Danzo tried to capture Shinobi's from New Kumogakure and Takigakure is because The Raikage has created a special seal that blocks the abilities of Doujutsu's on people. Such as blocking the Sharingan's ability to copy Jutsu's and the Byakugan's ability to see the chakra circulation system inside another's body. He has also placed the seal on all his Shinobi's and all the Shinobi's of the other village that are members of the Heavenly Alliance. Hence you can see how useful such a seal would be to us in our War with Konoha, which would be why it would not have been hard for New Kumo to believe that we did try to get our hands on the seal had Danzo plan worked", spoke Orochimaru.

When the other leaders of the coalition heard this they had naturally been shocked to hear about a seal that could basically make Doujutsu useless and how it had been created by The Raikage. Orochimaru himself had to admit that he himself was just as shocked as they were, when he first heard about the seal, after which his respect for The Raikage's skill grew, as he doubted even his former teammate Jiraiya nor his prize pupil the Yondaime Hokage could have done it. Although he was still a little angry at The Raikage for creating the seal as it would make things very difficult when he finally got Sasuke as his new body and gained the Sharingan, where the seal would keep him from learning all of the world's Jutsu.

After getting over their shock both Shiro and Ryoku started to shout about how they should try and kidnap some Shinobi's from some of the other Shinobi nations that were part of the Heavenly Alliance. But their shouting eventually ended when Orochimaru, told them that if they tried they would fail just like Danzo men and it would have the Heavenly Alliance turn on them, which was something that they wanted to avoid right now.

Although Shiro did mention that he would be more than happy send his men disguised as Konoha-nins in Kaminari no Kuni and grab some Kumo-nins to analyze the seal. Although after saying that Orochimaru informed him that should he do that he would most likely fail, since if the same trick didn't work for Danzo it wouldn't work for him and also told him that New Kumo and the Heavely Alliance would declare War on Kiri if he did. In which case Kiri would stand alone as he would not help Kiri, both Doku and Shinrin agreed as they weren't going to support Shiro in his thirst for revenge and ruin their chance of destroying Konoha. Even Ryoku agreed, for even though believed the Heavenly Alliance was a threat, he wasn't going to let the best chance he had in destroying Konoha and finally getting his revenge on it slip pass his fingers.

After hearing this Shiro relented knowing his forces would stand no chance in defeating the combined forces of the Heavenly Alliance by themselves.

Once that matter was settled Doku spoke up, "So will New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance declare War on Konoha after what happened at the talks there with The Raikage?"

"Unfortunately no, they will not", replied Orochimaru.

"Why is that?" asked Ryoku.

"I believe it is because The Raikage knows that Konoha is already on the verge of losing the War and doesn't see the point in attacking and destroying it when we will do it for him", answered Orochimaru.

This caused several of them to mummer around the table, as it did make sense, after the murmuring ended. Orochimaru then went on to explain what his spies told him about Jiraiya's near capture by New Kumo's SHOCK-nins and the fact that Kumo had been destroyed and rebuilt in a new hidden location.

When the other leaders of the coalition heard this, many of them grew concern to the fact, that New Kumo's SHOCK-nins were skilled enough to nearly capture Jiraiya the Toad Sage, the strongest of the Sennin. Orochimaru himself had been impressed, with the trap they laid and had Jiraiya not lucked out he would have been surely captured by the SHOCK-nins. He also made a note that should he ever come into conflict with a group of SHOCK-nins, he would not underestimate them.

Orochimaru then went on to explain what his spies told him about what Jiraiya had learned when in Kaminari no Kuni. When Shiro learned that the Ning Clan had joined New Kumo he had been furious with the news and swore revenge on the Clan for being traitors. Ryoku had also became concerned when he heard that the Kisaragi Clan and the Wengi Clan had joined New Kumo as he had fought both Clan's before in the third Great Shinobi World War and both were powerful enemies to have. But when Orochimaru mentioned the Tatara Clan still existing and was with New Kumo now, the other leaders concerns evaluated even higher as they all knew of the powerful Clan as well as their powerful Bloodline the Kōton (Steel Release). Orochimaru himself was greatly intrigued when he heard that the Tatara Clan still existed, as he knew of their Kōton well and where it could easily rival the abilities of his former subordinate Kimimaro and his Clan the Kaguya. Plus the idea of gaining a body with the Kōton Bloodline or having the chance to examine and experiment on someone with it, greatly appealed to Orochimaru.

But as interesting as that was to him, the news about the Yuki Clan and the Ishida Clan and how their Bloodlines were artificially created by the Godaime Raikage scientist's interested him far more. The idea of doing such a thing had often appealed to Orochimaru, but all his attempts had failed, where he then gave up and went on to different projects. But yet the Godaime Raikage scientist's had succeed and Orochimaru had to applaud to their brilliance, but at the same time be greatly angered as he did not like to be up staged by anyone.

When Orochimaru told the other leaders of this, their reaction was very much like to how Konoha's Council was to the news where there was much shouting about how they should send men to infiltrate New Kumo and gain the information on how the Bloodlines were created. Shiro himself was so angered by the news the he even stated that the Yuki Clan and the Ishida Clan, were even bigger freaks than natural Bloodline holders as they were at lest were natural, while Yuki Clan and the Ishida Clan were created in a lab.

Fortunately Orochimaru was able to calm them all down, where he explained how Jiraiya stated that the research was destroyed by The Raikage and was backed up to the fact that only a few Kumo Shinobi's showed the abilities of those Bloodlines. The news did calm the other leaders down a bit but they were still concerned with the news that there were now two new Clans in New Kumo with two new powerful Bloodlines.

Orochimaru of course left out the information he learned about The Raikage Raipō as he had planed to try and recreate the Technique himself. Since the idea of having a Technique that rivalled the Youndaime Hokage Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) greatly appealed to him.

He also had to admit he had enjoyed the look on Ryoku face when he first heard the Jutsu was described and how similar it was in speed to the Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin no Jutsu. Where when he heard of The Raikage's Jutsu's, Ryoku face changed from pale white with a stunned look on it, to bright red and a look of absolute rage and hate on it, which no doubt showed Ryoku's fear and hatred of the deceased Hokage and anything remotely similar to him.

Once the other leaders of the coalition had fully settled down again, Orochimaru told them what happened during the talks in Konoha with The Raikage.

When Shiro learned that both Mitsuhide and Saiyuri had joined New Kumo and were the Sensei's of The Raikage, he went ballistic and started to scream and shout curses and swore he would make them both pay dearly for being both traitors and for training his worst enemy".

After a few minutes Shiro started to calm down a bit, but he still mumbled about the different way he would kill Mitsuhide and Saiyuri and make them suffer for their transgressions.

When Shiro had finally calmed down, Orochimaru then went on to explain that Zhuge Liang the legendary Nemuriryu (the Sleeping Dragon) who was also with New Kumo and was another one of The Raikage Sensei's. This made Doku and Shinrin extremely nervous and it got Shiro and Ryoku slightly worried at this news, as Zhuge Liang reputation was well known to them all. Even Orochimaru was concerned when he first heard this as he knew how dangerous an enemy Zhuge Liang was and if he trained The Raikage then it explained one of the reasons as to why The Raikage was so strong.

But as worrying as this news was to the other leaders, it paled to when Orochimaru told them of The Raikage two Bloodlines or to be more precise when he told them about the Ranbure-ka limit (Stormbreaker limit).

Upon hearing this Shiro went pale white with fear as the Ranbure-ka Bloodline was the most sought after and most feared Bloodline in all of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist). Since from the founding of Kirigakure, most of the pervious Mizukage's spent years searching for any descendants of the Main Branch of the Stormcallers Clan, in the hope of rebuilding the Clan in Kiri s, the pervious Mizukages believed that with it, Kiri would be unstoppable. The Yondaime Mizukage Yagura also spent a great deal of time searching for the Bloodline as he feared the Bloodline greatly and wanted to make sure that the Bloodline would never remerge. Shiro himself feared it as well, but had believed until now that the Bloodlines along with Clan were now extinct.

"IMPOSSIBLE! That Bloodline is only a myth" cried Ryoku in disbelief.

"I'm afraid it is true Ryoku-kun, especially if you consider The Raikage abilities that he has shown when he destroyed the Kiri and Mizu no Kuni armada four years ago and the fleet in Nami no Kuni", spoke Orochimaru. Who unlike the rest of his allies was not terribly worried, he was actually excited. Since not only was The Raikage the wielder of one of the oldest and most powerful Bloodlines to exist, but was also a dual Bloodline holder with a completely new and powerful Bloodline. Where together they made for a near perfect vessel for him, Orochimaru only wished he had learned of this sooner, where he could have planned away to possess his body.

Quickly pushing that thought aside for now Orochimaru decided to regain his allies' attention and have them focus on their new plans for destroying Konoha.

For the next hour or so they talked about what they were going to do, after which once they had finished their plans they adjourned the meeting until a fortnight from now, where they would finalise everything and sort any last minute details. Once that was sorted all the leaders of this coalition left to return to their respect villages or bases.

-An Hour Later in another room of the Underground Complex-

Sitting on his throne, Orochimaru was reading the rest of the report to what his spies in Konoha told him about what Jiraiya had learned about New Kumo, the Heavenly Alliance and The Raikage.

Although there was not much more to the report that he did not know already, there was still some interesting things he learned, one of them being that The Raikage was not native to Kumo or Kaminari no Kuni. Which both surprised and impressed Orochimaru greatly as he knew what the odds were in such a thing happening.

Soon after finishing reading the report, Kabuto entered the room, "You asked for me Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes I did Kabuto, I have a mission for you", spoke Orochimaru.

"And if I may asked what is the mission?" replied Kabuto.

"I want you to negotiate and Alliance for me between us and the Heavenly Alliance or more importantly between us and New Kumo", said Orochimaru surprising Kabuto slightly. After which Orochimaru then went on to explain how upon first hearing of the event of Nami no Kuni and the Jiraiya failed infiltration mission, along with the failed talks in Konoha, Orochimaru sent his own letter in the hopes of gaining an Alliance with the Heavenly Alliance. He then went on to explain that just before his meeting with the Mizukage, Tsuchikage and the other leaders of his coalition. He received a replied stating that The Raikage will meet him to discuss a possible Alliance in a few days' time in a neutral location in the Ishi no Kuni (Stone Country), which was neutral between their forces and the Heavenly Alliance.

"If I may ask Orochimaru-sama, why don't you go there yourself, since surely the meeting would go better there if you were there?" asked Kabuto.

"AH well…..you see as you no doubt remember my reputation is not held in the highest regards when meeting with other leaders of villages. Considering how I killed that weakling fool the Yondaime Kazekage and took his place during our first attempt to destroy Konoha. Where if I go there myself The Raikage will be on guard and expect something to happen, hence he will not be in a negotiating mood, not to mention Jiraiya may hear about it and Konoha may use the chance to eliminate me", replied Orochimaru. Which Kabuto nodded to as it made sense, especially the fact with Orochimaru reputation in such matters as it took many years of hard effort and negotiating to gather this coalition together against Konoha.

"But if I may ask Orochimaru-sama, what would make you think that New Kumo and The Heavenly Alliance would be willing to join us against Konoha and Suna", asked Kabuto.

At this Orochimaru smirked and began to explain what happened in Konoha during the Talks with The Raikage. After hearing what happened and hearing what Orochimaru planned to offer New Kumo, Kabuto had to admit it could work, considering what happened there not to mention what Orochimaru was offering them in return for helping them.

"Interesting purposely Orochimaru-sama, but what about Kiri or more specifically Shiro, as I don't believe he will be too trilled with the idea of allying with The Raikage and his forces", spoke Kabuto.

"True but he can be easily dealt with, much like the Yondaime Kazekage was", replied Orochimaru with a sadistic smirk. Where Kabuto match it with an arrogant like smirk of his own, after which he nodded his head and went of to prepare for the meeting with The Raikage.

"SSSSoooooonnnnnnn, the Library of Benzaiten will be mine along with aaaaaallllllllllll iiiiittttttttssssss knowledge" thought Orochimaru with a smirk and started to chuckle alone in the room.

-Ten days Later-

Currently standing in the middle of a wide open plain surrounded by large standing stones, was Kabuto along with four masked Sound Ninja's wearing balaclavas and ANBU like armour. These masked Shinobi's were among Orochimaru's new fighting division to fight Konoha's ANBU and ROOT divisions. They were called SONIC, which stood for Strategic. Operations, Ninja, Intelligence, Combat and were basically his version of them as they were highly trained to fight them.

Soon enough The Raikage dressed in his Kage robes and hat along with his face mask appeared with Okatsu and Fū.

When Kabuto first saw The Raikage he felt the same aura of dominating authoritative power coming from The Raikage which he had become infamous for which nearly made everyone submissive to his presence. Both Kabuto and his men had to fight hard to fight the submissive urges they were having from The Raikage and to remain ineffective to it. Unfortunately Kabuto men were unable to hide their intimidated of the man as their body language showed they were intimidated by him, while Kabuto himself was just able to hide it, but just barely. As The Raikage came closer they could also feel the powerful essence about him which people described he had, which made both Kabuto and his men, feel a combination of fear and respect for The Raikage, something that Orochimaru himself often strived to have everyone feel when around him.

Quickly calming himself down Kabuto then quickly came up to The Raikage and bowed respectfully to the man, which was a sincere gesture. As his respect for the Kage's skill and power in recent years had earned Kabuto's respect, as he respected power and The Raikage had plenty of that.

"Greetings Raikage-denka it is an honour to finally met you in person, your fame and reputation is known to many in Otogakure including our leader Orochimaru and is well respected and revered. Although I must say finally meeting you in person, shows that the stories I have heard about you do not do you justice", spoke Kabuto. For although he knew he was laying it on thick with the complements, he had learned that often enough continuing praising a ruler power and presence often helped to smooth a ruler over and help him become more negotiable.

The Raikage simply nodded his thanks for Kabuto comments, not really caring what he was saying, after which he then spoke, "I was led to the understanding that Orochimaru himself would be coming here to speak about a possible Alliance".

"My master Orochimaru-sama sends his apologise, but unfortunately he was unable to come here himself, as current matters with the War we are engaged with along with our allies, has left him unable to attend this meeting. Hence he has sent me in his stead and left any negotiations between our respected Alliances to me", replied Kabuto.

"Very well then, but I doubt that your master Orochimaru can offer me anything that would make the Heavenly Alliance, my village or myself interested in joining you or in making it worthwhile in joining in the War on your side", replied The Raikage.

"With all due respect Raikage-denkai I believe we can indeed offer you something that Konoha could not or at lest was not willing to", replied Kabuto, which caused The Raikage to raise his eyebrow.

"Oh! And what exactly could you offer us?"

"Well other than the shared spoils you would get from helping us destroy Konoha you would also get something that your village has wanted for many years…a Hyuga Clan member", spoke Kabuto, which got another raised eyebrow from The Raikage. "Since if your help us destroy Konoha you could capture several members of the Clan and use them as breeders to create a new Hyuga Clan in your village so that you can finally have the Byakugan".

At this suggestion The Raikage seemed to think it over and spoke again, "A Intriguing offer I will admit, but I have to ask, what is the Godaime Mizukage and your allies' opinion of you trying to form an Alliance with the Heavenly Alliance? Since I highly doubt he would be happy of this".

"Neither the Godaime Mizukage Shiro nor the other members of our coalition knows about this meeting, as we thought it best that that they did not know. Due to recent events in Nami no Kuni would makje them prejudice of such an Alliance between us especially The Mizukage's. But I'm certain that once you join us and they see how beneficial you and your Alliance could be in helping us defeat Konoha, they will come around", spoke Kabuto.

"Perhaps, but I highly doubt that The Mizukage would have the same enlighten view as you and your other allies might have. As from what I understand The Mizukage would like nothing more that to use my skull as a drinking cup", replied The Raikage.

"Perhaps, but I doubt The Mizukage would be much of a problem in the near future", replied Kabuto with a slight smirk.

"Oh!...Does that mean that your Orochimaru plans to have The Mizukage replaced with you or one of his other followers just like with what he did to the Yondaime Kazekage", replied Okatsu as she stepped forward.

"Or better yet simply have a little accident happen to him and have him replace with someone more along Orochimaru's line of thinking", spoke Fū.

"Of course not!..." replied Kabuto rather calmly, "But per say if something were to happen to him I would think you would be pleased with him gone, since as you stated The Mizukage and yourself are not on friendly terms".

"Although I will admit I would not shead any tears to see that man dead, why would I wish to join a coalition of nations. Who are lead by a man who would use me and have me killed if it was in his best interest", spoke The Raikage. This caused to Kabuto to narrow his eyes, since this was not turning out the way he thought they would.

"Hence that is why I must decline your offer of an Alliance between your coalition and the Heavenly Alliance, regardless of the benefits I may receive later on from allying with you", said The Raikage.

"Come now Raikage-denka I sure that we can come to some understanding, besides it would be a grave mistake for you to throw away the Alliance, a mistake that you would greatly regret in the near future", spoke Kabuto.

But upon saying that a small amount of Killing Intent started to leak from The Raikage, (although it was not a lot but still enough to make Kabuto and his men shudder slightly and get them worried). The Raikage's eyes also started to glow bright Blue and emanating Lightning, making his appearance all the more frightening to them where he then spoke in a dark and dangerous tone of voice.

"Is that a threat Kabuto-san because I do not like to be threatened and if it is, you will regret it I promise you".

"N-No of course not Raikage-denka, you just misunderstood me, all I meant was that you would regret the chance of finally claiming the Hyuga Bloodline that is all", said Kabuto slightly nervously.

At this The Raikage stopped the Killing Intent and his eyes stopped glowing and emanating Lightning and spoke in a more calm tone of voice.

"Although it is true that there are some who would like to have the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan in our village, most no longer care. As we have enough Bloodline holding Clans in it and are no longer interested", spoke The Raikage, causing Kabuto to frown again in failure of his mission. Since that was their best offer to get The Raikage and the Heavenly Alliance to join them.

Also…" spoke The Raikage in a dangerous tone of voice, gaining Kabuto and his men attention. "I want to tell you Orochimaru something for me…..tell him that my village has no interest in joining either his forces or Konoha's in this War and we will remain neutral in it…But if for any reason your master and his allies ever threaten the Heavenly Alliance or any of our allies…." said The Raikage were he then did a circular motion with his right arm and cried out "Byakurai (White Lightning)!" and destroyed a massive standing stone about a hundred feet away from where they were, after which he then turned to Kabuto. "….I will destroy him" finished The Raikage with a snarl and a massive burst of Killing Intent that caused Kabuto to fall to his knees and start breathing heavily as he saw a image of himself being struck by that attack and making a massive hole in his chest.

"I-I-I U-Understand R-Raikage-denka", spoke Kabuto as he breathed heavily and pulled himself up.

"Good….then I suggest you leave now Kabuto-san", replied The Raikage, to which Kabuto nodded and ordered his men to come, where they quickly left.

When they left, Okatsu spoke, "Do you think that they try anything?"

"Doubtful….or at lest not until after they have destroyed Konoha, since from what they no doubt know now from Orochimaru spy. They will be at lest hesitant to try anything against us until they dealt with Konoah first, as they know from both our military power and from what I showed at Nami no Kuni. They know that we are no pushovers and they would pay a heavy price for any attack they could make right now, a price that they cannot afford until Konoha is out of the way", replied The Raikage. After which he then made a few hand signals and twenty STORM-nins appeared out of the standing stones showing that they were from the Yuki Clan.

They were here to help protect The Raikage just encase Orochimaru tried to play the same trick twice, by replacing The Raikage with himself, like he did with the Yondaime Kazekage.

After which they gather around The Raikage, where they all started to head home.

-A Four Days later back In Orochimaru Underground Hideout-

After the event with The Raikage, Kabuto and his team returned back to Orochimaru's underground base and upon hearing what had happened he had not been entirely pleased with how the event turned out. Although he had been interested in how Kabuto described The Raikage to him, but was again disappointed when Kabuto couldn't give him a better description of The Raikage.

"So The Raikage refused our offer and threatened to wage War on us should we ever attempt anything against them is that correct Kabuto?" asked Orochimaru with some disappointment.

"Hai! Orochimaru-sama" replied Kabuto as he knelt before his master.

"How disappointing I had hoped to met the man and it would have made my plans so much easier. Not to mention I may have learned the location to the Library and gained access to it, once we had established the Alliance with them", spoke Orochimaru.

At the mention of a Library Kabuto became curious, "Excuse me Orochimaru-sama but what library are you referring to?"

At this Orochimaru smiled a little and then spoke, "Tell me Kabuto have you ever heard of the Library of Benzaiten?"

"No I have not?"

"Then let me tell you…..Long ago hundreds of years ago during the age of endless War before the Sage of the Sixth Paths spread the Great Shinobi arts to people. There existed an ancient order called the White Lotus society made up of Scholars and Monks trained in an earlier form of the Ninja arts before the Sage of the Sixth Paths built the foundation of Chakra and founded Ninjutsu. Upon seeing the endless amount of lives being lost and the towns, cities along with hundred of books and scrolls being destroyed the White Lotus society decided to do something about it. They built a massive Library dedicated to collecting and preserving Knowledge and began to collect and gather books and scrolls of every kind and even writhing and recording great events and things they had seen. They even discovered two separate Summoning contracts to help them to collect books and scrolls and bring them back to the great Library. They continued to do this for hundreds of years recording, collecting and even in some cases stealing the books and scrolls so to preserve them. They would even write down and describe in detail all the different techniques they'd seen Shinobi's Clans do, and how they are done and how a person could do them and because of this they were hunted down. For you see when the Shinobi Clans learned that the White Lotus society was writing down all their secret techniques that they saw and even stealing srolls on them in other cases, the Shinobi Clans decided they could not be aloud to continue to exist and hunted the society members down so to keep their secrets. But even despite all this, the society continued to exist in secret and continued to collect and gather knowledge all over the Elemental Continent and stored it in the Library that they called the Library of Benzaiten, after the goddess of Knowledge. The society existed even when the Great Shinobi villages were founded and the kept collecting and gathering knowledge, right up until fifty years ago where the last remaining members of the order were captured and killed by the Shodaime Raikage. Who had tired to get the location of the ancient Library out of the members so to use the knowledge they collected to help make his village the strongest of the Great Five Shinobi Nations, but unfortunately he failed and the location of the ancient Library was lost to the ages. It is even said that even to this day that ancient summons that the White Lotus society used continued to gather and collect books, scrolls and Knowledge all around the Elemental Continent and protect it from outsiders", finished Orochimaru.

Upon hearing all this Kabuto was naturally shocked, as he had no idea that such a place even existed, it was then that suddenly something came popped into his mind.

"Orochimaru-sama are you saying? That The Raikage knows the locations of the lost Library of Benzaiten", spoke Kabuto in shock.

At this Orochimaru smiled, "Kukukukuku…..You were always the sharp one Kabuto, and to answer your question I believe so".

"But how do you know?" asked Kabuto.

"AAAAhhhhh!...you see several years ago I discovered a ancient scroll in an old ruin, The scroll stated that it was a map to the location of the hidden Library, the map itself was a series of riddles and clues that would lead you to the hidden location. After many months of working I was finally able to decipher the riddles and with the help of some maps I learned the location of the Library. I found the location of Library to be inside a hidden valley in one of the Mountain ranges of Kaminari no Kuni in the very northern part of the Country (6), but unfortunately when I found its location the Civil War there started, hence I could not go there".

"But still, why do you think that The Rokudaime Raikage knows the location of the lost Library when none of his processors found it?" asked Kabuto.

"Ah! Well you see it would explain a great deal as to New Kumo new found great strength, for you see from the report we have gotten about New Kumo's Shinobi's, where they have been unusually stronger. They have even shown abilities to do Techniques that have not been seen in hundreds of years and as the old saying goes Knowledge is power", said Orochimaru, which got a nod of understand from Kabuto.

It was then at the thought of the Library and what it held that Orochimaru smile grew bigger, "Imagine it Kabuto a Library with hundreds of years worth of Knowledge and where it is said to be the location of the greatest collection of Jutsu's in the world, enough Jutsu that could even quench my trust for knowing Jutsu's.".

At this Kabuto nodded his head the idea of all that Knowledge was greatly appealing even to him.

"So what are you going to do about it Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kabuto

"We will ignore New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance for now, as they clearly have no wish to enter this War and mostly likely stay out of it, so to see which of us will win. Besides we need to finish off Konoha and Suna first, but once they have been dealt with we will turn our attention of the Heavenly Alliance. I had originally hoped to use the Alliance with them and us to infiltrate New Kumo and learn its new location. As well as even try and find away to get them to allow me to enter the Library, where I could then explore it and the find away to size it when the time was right to attack and take over New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance. But since that plan has failed we will have to come up with something else, where we would have to take things slowly", said Orochimaru.

Upon hearing this Kabuto nodded again, where Orochimaru then told him to come as they were about to meet with the other leaders of coalition to finalize everything as well as their plans to deal with New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance.

Once Orochimaru and Kabuto left the room, in the dark shadowy corner of the room a dark figure emerged from it before disappearing right into the walls like a ghost or spectre.

-Two Weeks Later-

Currently Alone in the middle of the night under a full moon in a ruins of an old forgotten Fortress, was Jiraiya the Toad Sage who was waiting for someone.

This person was an unknown informant who had contacted him through his intelligence network, telling him that he had information for Jiraiya that would be extremely important to Konoha in its current War with Orochimaru and his allies.

For about fifteen minutes Jiraiaya waited for the contact to arrive, as he waited a dark Cloud covered the moon for a moment or two and when the Cloud cleared. A tall figured wearing an old tattered Crimson Red Cloak stood before right Jiraiya, causing the old Toad hermit to nearly jump in fright as he had never even sensed the man arriving and that was something as Jiraiya sense's were on full alert in case it was a trap like in the Old Kumo ruins.

"Who are you?" asked Jiraiya as he steadied his fast betting heart.

"Who I 'am is of no importance Jiraiya-san, but what I have to tell is important and is vital to your village's survival", replied the man.

Upon hearing this Jiraiya immediately got serious, "So what exactly do you have to tell me?" he asked.

"Orochimaru and his allies are planning a major offensive against your village, where they plan to wipe your village out in one massive attack", spoke the man and shocking Jiraiya.

"What proof do you have of this claim?" asked Jiraiya, since he wasn't sure if he could trust what the man was saying, since he did not know him.

"This!" spoke the man, where he took out a file and threw it to Jiraiya. "In that file contains supply coveys and where they are headed, as well as the locations of several different camps of the invasion force in Ta no Kuni (Rice Field Country) and Kusa no Kuni (Grass Country). The file also gives a detail account of how their going to attack and when it's going to happen".

Jiraiya gave a quick look over the file and upon seeing it; he could tell that if this was true then Konoha was in grave danger.

"How do I know that this is true and how do I know that this isn't part of Orochimaru plan, by having you give me misinformation, so that our forces will be out of position and caught off balance when his forces attacks. That is if they do, since none of our scouts of reported any signs of a large gathering of forces along the boarders".

"That is because they are far enough away from you boarder and hidden well enough so that they cannot be spotted by your forces. But whether you believe me or not Jiraiya-san is of no concern of mine I have given you the information, whether you use it or not is up to you. You can validate the information if you wish through your Intelligence network to prove what I'm telling you, is the truth".

"Fine then I will, although I find it strange that my own informants have not mentioned something like this to me", said Jiraiya as he narrowed his eyes slightly as he still did not trust the man.

"That is because Orochimaru, set up several decoys and false leads for you to follow and kept you busy from finding out about their plan", replied the man.

At this Jiraiya frowned since it did make sense since many of his recent leads about his former teammate and his allies had turned up to be dead ends or simply useless.

"Ok then if that's true then how do you know all this when I don't and why are you telling me all this?" asked Jiraiya as he wanted answers.

"As to how I know all this, that is none of your concerns, but I will tell you that you are not only person that has a large network of spies, informants and contacts and as for your other question. The reason I'm helping you is to strike back at Orochimaru for what he did to me" replied the man.

"And what exactly did he do to you?" asked Jiraiya.

"Like he did to so many other people, he ruined my life", replied the man with a hint of anger in his voice.

For a moment or two there was a pregnant pause, between the two men, where the two of them remained silent, after which the cloaked man then spoke again.

"I have now given you what I came to give you; it is up to you and your village now to use it, I wish you luck in your fight", said the man. After which he then turned and started to walk away from Jiraiya.

"Wait!" cried Jiraiya "I still have more questions for you", but just as he was about to chase after them cloaked stranger, another dark cloud covered the moon for a moment. Where when cloud passed by and Jiraiya could see again, he saw that the cloaked stranger had disappeared without so much as trace or a sound and could not even sense him.

Sighing to himself, Jiraiya quickly decided to head out and confirm some of the things he had learned and what the file mentioned. As he headed out Jiraiya honestly hoped that his contacts would tell him, that what the cloaked stranger told him was a lie, for if it was true, the Konoha was in grave danger and could very likely be destroyed.

-A few Days Later in the Hokage's Office-

Currently sitting in her office, Tsunade was having a meeting with her military advisors, Shikamaru, Shikaku and The ANBU Commander over what they should do about the sudden halt in raids by Kusa, Oto forces along their boarders and raid along the coast by Kiri forces. They were also currently planning on send a deep recon teams to investigate the unusual behaviour of their enemies.

Normally Danzo would be among these meetings as would Koharu and Homaru, but ever since the debacle with The Raikage the Elders powers began to decline. After the escapade with The Raikage, Tsunade could have used the event to have Danzo executed as a traitor, but unfortunately as much as she hated to admit it she needed Danzo to continue to lead and command his ROOT division, as Konoha needed all the manpower they could get. But even still she hadn't let Danzo get away for going against her, Tsunade was able to use Danzo's disregard for her authority as Hokage and for causing The Raikage to cancel the negotiations. To take away a good bit of the Elders and the Civilians Council member's power away from them. She was also able to use the event to gain more control over the ROOT division and although she still did not have full control over the division, she could still restrict their movements, where she forbid any ROOT operation to happen without her approval. Hence no ROOT agent could leave the village without her written and sign permission, she also forbid any ROOT agent or team to leave the village without members of her own loyal ANBU to accompany them. She even forced Danzo to give her a complete list of all his ROOT agents, with their names (both real and code), their skill level and what abilities they were capable of.

This of course severely weakened Danzo position, not to mention public support for him went down hill as a certain someone (coughcoughTsunadecoughcough) leaked it out to the populace of Konoha, what Danzo had done. Hence once people heard this, they turned on Danzo, as they blamed him along with Ashikaga Shin for ruining the possible Alliance between Konoha and The Heavenly Alliance.

Also at the same time that all this happening, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had decided that to leave Konoha much to the sadness of Tsunade, most of the Konoha eleven and several others. When asked, Ayame told them that, neither she nor her father could take living in a place where they continue spit and curse Naruto for something that wasn't his fault. Hence they decided to move somewhere else for a fresh start in a new place.

Many of course could not blame them for wanting to leave, especially during these times, Tsunade herself and said she often pondered the idea of just leaving, but decided against it as she had reasonability's and she wasn't going to run away from them this time.

As Tsunade and the other's discussed their strategies, Jiraiya suddenly burst into the office, through an open window.

"Jiraiya!...What is the meaning of this?" cried Tsunade angrily as she wasn't in the mood for one of Jiraiya's shenanigans right now.

"Sorry Hime but I have something that you need to here now!" spoke Jiraiya urgently.

Seeing the seriously look on her former teammate face, Tsunade signalled Jiraiya to go ahead, which he did.

"A few days ago I learned through my intelligence network that someone had information that I would be interested in and how it involved Orochimaru. I then got word to him that I would meet him in an old abandoned Fortress outside Otafuku Gai. When he met me, he gave me this file", said Jiraiya showing the file to Tsunade and the others. "He then told me that Orochimaru and his allies are planning a major offensive against us that would destroy Konoha and they are just about ready to launch it".

"WHAT!" Cried Tsunade is shock.

"Are you certain of this Jiraiya-sama?" asked the ANBU Commander, to which Jiraiya nodded.

"I'm positive as I checked some of the things that the man told me about through my own intelligence network and what it says in this file and what he told me checks out. Orochimaru in planning a major attack against us, from what it says in this file, Orochimaru is planning a pincer movement. He and his forces along with the Hannya Clan forces, who Orochimaru sneaked into Ta no Kuni, will launch a massive attack from Ta no Kuni. At the same time Kusa forces along with Iwa forces, will launch their own attack from Kusa no Kuni, also at the same time Kiri's fleet will then land with most of Kiri's forces and launch their attack on us from behind. Once the three forces have attacked they will rapidly move forward and overwhelm any forces that we could assemble at the time to try and fight back. After which they would then surround the village to prevent any escape and then attack and destroy the village completely".

"Impossible!" spoke the ANBU Commander, "How could they plan all this out without us finding out about it?"

"Your forgetting this is Orochimaru we're dealing with here and very little is impossible for him", replied Jiraiya, which the ANBU Commander had to reluctantly agree with him on that.

Shikaku then asked Jiraiya if he could look at the file detailing Orochimaru plan, where both he and Shikamaru looked over the plan, once they finished Shikaku spoke.

"Troublesome, Orochimaru has planned this well, with the massive numbers he has assembled combined with surprise and rapid speed along with attacking us on three different fronts at once. He could easily overwhelm us and destroy us within three to four days of launching his attack, before we could even try and reorganise our forces and put up any kind of defence".

"And what's even more troublesome", spoke Shikamaru, "Is that Suna couldn't even help us since even if they somehow heard about the attack the moment it happened. Their forces would take up to three days at full speed with little rest stops to get to us, by which time it might be too late and even if they got to us in time they would be too exhausted to fight from racing here to help us. That is probably what Orochimaru planned, so that his attack on us would be easier".

"How many men will he have to attack?" asked Tsunade.

"According to the file that I was given Orochimaru has about Five thousand Shinobi's and the Hannya Clan have about Two thousand Shinobi's. Both the Hannya Clan and Orochimaru have been gathering Rogue Shinobi's, Missing-nins, Shinobi mercenaries and whatever type of Shinobi's who would be willing to fight for them to build up their numbers and they have been training them for many years. Iwa will be sending about Eight thousand Shinobi's and Kiri will be sending another Five thousand Shinobi's, altogether they will be sending over Twenty thousand Shinobi's against us".

"That nearly twice our numbers when combined with Suna forces", spoke the ANBU Commander worriedly. As at full strength Konoha had over Seven thousand Shinobi's to call upon and Suna had over Five thousand Shinobi's, giving their combined strength to be over Twelve thousand Shinobi's.

"Jiraiya do you know when they will attack?" asked Tsunade

"One week from now" spoke Jiraiya.

"DAMN THAT BASTARD! That not near enough time to do anything to stop them", cried Tsuande angrily where she slammed her fist on the table in anger and cracked the table. Tsunade knew that they needed at the very lest two weeks to inform Suna and have them gather their force's, so that they could link up with Konoha force's. So that they could then plan and organise and Pre-emptive attack against the force's in Ta no Kuni and Kusa no Kuni and still have time to race to head off the Kiri invasion force.

Tsunade knew that without Suna's help they stood no chance of making any kind of Pre-emptive attack against Orochimaru and his allies forces by themselves. As they did not have enough Shinobi's to send to attack the enemy forces in Ta no Kuni and Kusa no Kuni and to fight off the Kiri forces when they land. Even if they just split their forces in two and attacked the forces in Ta no Kuni and Kusa no Kuni and scattered their forces, by the time they did that. Kiri's forces would have landed and Konoha's forces would be too week and exhausted from running and fighting to fight off the Kiri forces. There was even the Chance that even if they made a Pre-emptive attack by themselves, Orochimaru and his allies would be prepared for it or he would have scouts, lookouts or spies to look out of any large gatherings of Konoha's forces along the boarders of both Countries. So to warn his forces, where they would be prepared for Konoha's attack and overwhelm them and slaughtered the Konoha's Shinobi's. Also even if they sent word to Suna now, they would only arrive when the attack begins and they would be exhausted and would need at lest a days or two to rest, by which time Konoha would be surrounded by the Orochimaru and his allies forces.

"So what do we do?" asked the ANBU Commander.

"As troublesome as it is we have no choice but to fight the battle here in Konoha in a defensive battle", replied Shikamaru, where his father nodded in agreement.

"But if we do that we will be allowing them to surround us", replied the ANBU Commander.

"We have no choice, Troublesome, if we face either force in a pitch battle the other two forces will out flank us and attack us from our flank or from behind and they will then slaughter us. Even if Suna could arrive in time to help us, we would have to divide our forces to meet one of the other forces where the third force would still out flank us and destroy us both. Besides dividing our forces when our enemy forces is numerically superior is suicide as they would overwhelm our divided forces and we would still be all slaughtered. Our best Chance of winning this battle let alone surviving it is if we fight here in Konoha when we can fight a defensive battle effectively", replied Shikaku.

"Shikaku is right" spoke Tsunade, "We have no choice but to fight them here, but if we are, then we going to make Orochimaru and his forces fight for ever inch of soil in Konoha", after which she then turned to the ANBU Commander.

"Tiger! I want you to help plan and organise the evacuation of all civilians and non-combatants from the village once I've announce that we are going to be attacked next week to the civilians and our Shinobi's, which I will be doing this evening".

"Hai, Hokage-sama" replied the ANBU Commander named Tiger, who then Shunshin'd (Body Flicker) away.

"Shikamaru! I want you to send word to Suna informing them of what going to happen here and tell them that we need their help. After which I want you to form a plan to help with the coming battle to increase our odds in winning", spoke Tsunade, to which the young Nara muttered "Troublesome" but nodded in understanding and left the room.

"Shikaku! I want you to send word to the Tsuchigumo Clan and tell them to send as many of their Shinobi's as they can to help. After which I want you to work out what we can do to slow down Orochimaru forces to give Suna time to arrive in time. As well as reduce Orochimaru's forces and improve our odds against them" said Tsunade to which the elder Nara muttered "Troublesome" much like his son but still nodded and left the room.

"Jiraiya! I need you to go out again and try and find out anything else that your contacts might know that could help us and give us a better chance. But I what you back here as soon as possible as we're going to need you here", said Tsunade.

"Right hime", spoke Jiraiya, but just as he was about to Shunshin away Tsunade called out to him, where she told him to be careful, to which the Toad Sage nodded and said he would, where he then left.

Once Tsunade was alone she turned around her chair to look out at the village that her Grandfather and her Great Uncle founded. As she did she should could not help but wonder how many lives would be lost in this coming battle and if Konoha would survive it as it was now facing the greatest threat to it survival since the Kyuubi attack.

As she thought about the coming battle she could not help but wish for the millionth time that Naruto was alive here and now as he always could give people hope and made victory seem possible regardless of the odds.

"I wish you were with us here now…..Naruto"

-Four Days Later at the Boarder of Kaminari no Kuni-

Currently sitting in the high Command seat on the bridge of his personal airship, The Raikage was holding out his projection orb in the palm of his hands and was focusing on the people he wished to contact. Soon enough the astral projections of fifteen people appeared, to The Raikage's right stood his right hand man and best friend Seiwa Anisu and with him was Gan Ning the Commander of Kumo's Fleet. Along with them as well was Admiral Matsumoto the Commander of Kaminari no Kuni's Fourth Battle Fleet, as well as the Admirals of Cha no Kuni (Tea Country), Umi no Kuni (Sea Country), Tsuki no Kuni (Moon Country), Haru/Yuki no Kuni (Spring/Snow Country). Also as well were the leaders of Yukigakure (Hidden Snow) and the Getsugakure (Hidden Moon) and Zhuge Liang's wife Yue Ying. All of these people were the leaders of different groups of Operation Clean Sweep, which was one of the four parts of Operation Divine Storm.

Operation Divine Storm was a major operation that was spilt up into four different and separate Operations the first being Operation Raging Thunder, which The Raikage himself was the main leader of. The Second was Operation Clean Sweep, the Third being Operation Judgement and the and Fourth and final being Operation Tidal Wave.

The Person on The Raikage far left was Sun Li Commander of Kumo's Submarine fleet and underwater Shinobi fighting force AQUA, she was leader of Operation Tidal Wave.

The people next to Sun Li were Naomasa Ii the son of Naomasa Katsumoto, Lady Daimyo Kicho's Sensei and Bodyguard. Li commanded a Samurai division called the Red Devils, who were famed during the Civil War for wearing Red Crimson armour and cloaks and were said to have fought like Devils, next to Li was Ryūken leader of the Ishida Clan and Shibuki leader of Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall). These men were the leaders of Operation Judgement.

The person in front of The Raikage was Sumaru the Yondaime Hoskikage, leader of Hoskigakure (Hidden Star) who was leading a separate Operation from Operation Dive Storm, called Operation Cleansing.

"Greetings Gentlemen…..and lady" spoke The Raikage, which caused Sun Li to smile that The Raikage addressed her as should be instead of just saying Gentlemen.

"Now that that we are all here we can begin, are all your forces ready?" asked The Raikage.

"Hai Raikage-sama, my forces are ready to go", spoke Anisu.

"My men are also ready to go and will be in position at the schedule time", spoke Ryūken.

"As will be my own forces", replied The Admiral of Cha no Kuni, where he was followed by the other various different leaders of the different Operations.

"Hai Raikage-denka my forces are all ready as well and many of my men are eager for some payback against Kiri and Mizu no Kuni for Kidnapping Princess Sachi", spoke The Admiral of Umi no Kuni.

"Very good Admiral and don't worry, you and your men will get it in a few days time", replied The Raikage.

"Anisu!...is Saitō and his people ready with things on their end", asked The Raikage to Anisu.

"Hai, he reports that allthe other factions have all agreed and are in their designated position and know what they are to do as does Kenshin and his forces", answered Anisu.

Nodding, The Raikage turned to Shibuki "What about Hanzaki and Mochi? Are they and their people ready".

"Hai!" They are ready to go when we're ready", replied Shibuki.

Nodding again The Raikage then turned to face all the other leaders, "Now then, you all know your orders and in a just a few days time Operation Divine Storm will fully commence and you will all begin your separate Operations at the designated time, so good luck to all of you".

"Hai!" said all the other leaders together, after which their astral projections faded away. After which The Raikage turned and spoke to Lu Xun the Captain of The Raikage personal airship and Commander of the Air fleet of Kumo and Kaminari no Kuni.

"Captain Lun Xun signal all ships and our ground forces to move out Operation Devine Storm is about to begin", spoke The Raikage.

"Hai! Raikage-sama", answered Lu Xun and nodded his head in understanding and began to give out orders on his com channel.

"So it begins" thought The Raikage

Within minutes of The Raikage giving the order to go, a fleet of twenty airships along with The Raikage's personal airship leading the fleet rose out of the crater of an extinct volcano. The Volcano was near the Kaminari no Kuni boarder and had been converted into a secret hidden military base for New Kumo.

At the same time that the airship fleet was rising up into the air Two massive doors disguised as large rocks at the base of the extinct volcano opened up, revealing a large wide entrance way. As soon as the doors opened up a force of well over two thousand Kumo Shinobi's started pouring out of the entrance at top Shinobi speeds and in tight formations.

Once both the airship fleet and the army of Shinobi's were all out and in formation, The Raikage gave the order for all forces to move out. After which the airship fleet and the Kumo force moved forward.

New Kumo and the Heavenly Alliance had now officially joined the Fourth Great Shinobi World War and were now on the warpath.

Leaving only one question…who's side where they on