It was because of other missions before.
Kakashi and Jiraiya were temporarily not in the village. Otherwise, for this meeting, the two would definitely have participated. Also, due to the urgency of the situation, Tsunade couldn't wait for the two to return before convening the meeting.
In that case, the initiative would be lost.
The current situation in the ninja world was undeniably complex. A delay of one or two days could be a fatal difference. Not to mention Menma's side, the attitudes of the Hidden Cloud Village, Hidden Waterfall Village, Hidden Stone Village, and even the Hidden Sand Village were all important issues their Hidden Leaf had to consider.
"Yes, Lord Fifth!"
Upon hearing their Lord Tsunade's words, Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka immediately straightened their bodies and replied loudly.
Danzo, on the side, was forced to swallow back the words he hadn't spoken yet. His expression was as ugly as it could be.
But with the general situation decided...
Danzo couldn't say much more.
He could only secretly decide in his heart that this time he must seize the opportunity. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was an important bargaining chip for him to compete for the Hokage position in the future!
Danzo, who was completely obsessed, didn't even consider whether his Root subordinates had the ability to capture Menma.
Or in his view...
A mere Menma was nothing at all. The series of failures before were just accidents.
The decision was made.
The war machine of the Hidden Leaf began to operate accordingly.
This situation was completely different from the small-scale skirmishes between local areas before. Once the conflict escalated fully, the subsequent development was something no one could predict or control.
Needless to say about them and the Hidden Cloud.
The Hidden Mist, Hidden Stone, and Hidden Sand might also participate depending on the situation.
Wouldn't that be a solid new round of Great Ninja War!?
In just one day.
It could be seen that the atmosphere of the entire Hidden Leaf Village became heavy.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Figures constantly flashing across the high sky.
One after another, ninja wearing the standard Hidden Leaf uniform gathered under the Hokage Building. After receiving their missions, they sped away towards the main gate of the village.
No special announcement was needed.
The moment the experienced citizens in the village saw this scene, they realized that huge waves had arrived in the ninja world again.
Otherwise, their ninja village wouldn't have such actions. One must know that ninja qualified to wear uniforms were existences of Chunin level and above.
In the eyes of true powerhouses, this was naturally nothing.
But for a ninja village...
Chunin could be called the backbone force.
A mission requiring large-scale deployment of Chunin...
Must involve other major ninja villages. Immediately, the citizens in the village subconsciously thought of the Hidden Cloud Village in the northeast.
After all, in the past half month, only the Cloud ninja had been engaging in high-intensity friction and collision with their ninja village at the border.
"Could it be that the conflict has escalated?"
"It seems that Fourth Raikage couldn't hold back again, right?"
"Damn Land of Lightning barbarians!"
"Can't these guys live a peaceful life for a while?"
"Is a new round of ninja war going to break out again?"
"Ah!? No way?"
Within the entire scope of the Hidden Leaf Village, similar discussions spread directly. Everyone was worried about the arrival of war.
As citizens of the Hidden Leaf Village...
Their lives had always been very comfortable. Over the decades, only the Nine-Tails Rebellion 13 years ago and the Konoha Crush Plan a year ago brought disaster to the citizens of the Hidden Leaf Village. For the rest of the time, they had been enjoying a truly peaceful life. They were the ones most unwilling to see war.
Fearing that war would affect the Hidden Leaf Village again.
Even if not...
They would also worry about the safety of their relatives and friends who became ninja.
Heaven knew if they went out intact in the morning...
Would news of serious injury, disability, or even death in battle be received in the evening?
How could these people not feel worried?
"Is the scale of the war going to expand?"
On the left side of the main street of Konoha, the three members of Team 10, who had just returned from executing a B-rank mission, looked at the seniors and colleagues shuttling back and forth in the sky above with grave faces. Ino also spoke with a very worried expression.
After a year of experience...
Especially after last year's Konoha Crush Plan...
These rookies who graduated from the Ninja Academy truly had the appearance a ninja should have. The previous childish nature seemed to disappear overnight.
They realized more deeply what the meaning of "ninja" was.
How exaggerated the weight of the responsibilities they needed to shoulder was.
Being a ninja wasn't playing house.
It was a terrifying profession constantly walking on the edge of death.
They also knew clearly how destructive a war could be for ninja and for a ninja village. The history of the Great Ninja Wars wasn't unstudied in the Ninja Academy.
But still that sentence.
People who haven't experienced it personally find it hard to truly experience the cruelty of war.
These new generations who hadn't truly lost relatives and friends were even less likely to understand what heart-wrenching pain meant.
Except for very few special cases...
Humans ultimately cannot truly empathize.
Only by experiencing it oneself can one understand this pain.
This point was the same for the new generation of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Hey? Shikamaru, what do you think?"
Ino turned her head to look at Shikamaru, who was already wearing the standard Hidden Leaf ninja uniform, asking with a hint of urgency.
Although slightly different from the original story...
Shikamaru was still the first new generation in Naruto's batch to be promoted to Chunin. It wasn't that Shikamaru was the strongest, but Shikamaru possessed extraordinary command ability and strategic ability. Because of this, the team leader of Team 10 also became Shikamaru. Asuma, although not a particularly strong Jonin, was ultimately a Jonin and a precious combat power of the village.
Not to mention this period was when the Hidden Leaf's predicament was most obvious.
Therefore, after Shikamaru was promoted...
Asuma was deployed to other posts.
"It's not certain what the situation is yet. After going back, ask the elders at home. Our Team 10 will also temporarily stop activities. Maybe our assigned mission will come down soon."
Shikamaru also changed his usual lazy appearance, shaking his head with a solemn expression.
"Mhm, Shikamaru makes sense."
Choji on the side nodded in agreement.
The three embarked on the road home at high speed respectively. When Shikamaru returned home and found his father wasn't there...
He didn't stay at all.
After greeting his mother and putting down his luggage...
He flashed towards the exclusive office location of the Jonin Council at high speed.
As the most important institutional facility in the Hidden Leaf Village, a department that could exercise some powers and fulfill certain duties on behalf of the Hokage under certain circumstances...
The office location of the Jonin Council was set up inside the Hokage Building, directly below the Hokage's exclusive office.
This was also to facilitate the Hokage to summon the responsible Jonin of the Jonin Council at any time to understand the situation and issue corresponding orders.
Unless it was very important specific business...
Many orders from the Hokage were transmitted directly through the Jonin Council.
"Dad."
As Shikaku's biological son, and having shown extraordinary resourcefulness early on, and being promoted to Chunin last year...
With Tsunade's special approval...
Shikamaru could often enter and exit the office location of the Jonin Council at will.
The ninja responsible for open and secret defense outside wouldn't stop Shikamaru either.
Upon entering abruptly...
Shikamaru could see his father busy handling official business in the main seat.
"Mhm, take a look first."
Shikaku, completely aware of his son's intention, didn't have any superfluous words or actions. He just threw a document in his hand over directly.
After Shikamaru took it, scanning ten lines at a glance, seeing some content clearly marked in red inside...
Shikamaru's expression also became very grim and solemn.
"Are we really going to act? Dad?"
Ordinary people needed a certain amount of time to digest and understand.
Shikamaru realized the seriousness of the problem almost the moment he saw the beginning content. The content recorded later...
Almost didn't deviate from Shikamaru's guess.
Still very young, Shikamaru looked at his old dad with a look of unbearableness and said.
As a classmate...
Shikamaru's initial impression of Menma was actually quite good. This was not only because Menma's childhood experience made Shikamaru feel sympathetic, but also because Menma's performance and personality made Shikamaru feel admiration.
Later, after learning that Menma's true identity was actually the same as Naruto...
Shikamaru's feelings towards Menma became even more complicated.
Even putting aside everything else, just discussing Shikamaru's personal view, he still hoped for a relatively beautiful "peaceful ending" with Menma.
Of course, with Shikamaru's wisdom, he knew very well that this was extremely difficult, even almost impossible to achieve.
But seeing this day finally arrive, Shikamaru's heart couldn't help but twitch slightly.
Subconsciously, he thought of Naruto's face.
'What should Naruto do?'
Hearing his son's words, Shikaku's movements paused slightly. He looked up at his son: "Shikamaru, after that day, this was almost a foregone conclusion. Unless Menma is willing to turn back himself, but you and I should both understand that this is impossible. That child's heart is completely filled with hatred. Of course, the question of right and wrong cannot be explained, but we can't care about these now. You must remember, whether it's you or your father me, our primary identity is still ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Then the benchmark for all our behavioral judgments is the interests and safety of the Hidden Leaf. The current Menma is completely beyond controllable range. One careless move, and it might not even be something our Hidden Leaf alone can handle. We must harden our hearts!"
Stance!
It was still the damn stance!
Right and wrong?
Justice and evil?
Sorry, talking about these is a joke.
Any action, any word, appears pale and powerless in front of stance and identity.
Shikamaru wasn't a stupid person; he should be said to be a smart person surpassing 99.9999% of people in the ninja world.
He naturally understood this.
His father's words also made Shikamaru lower his head slightly, involuntarily sighing secretly in his heart.
"For the current you, it is indeed a bit early, but you have to start learning to accept it, Shikamaru. Your peers also need your guidance, especially Naruto, do you understand?"
Shikaku patted his son's shoulder gently, speaking in a low voice.
"!?"
Shikamaru's face changed slightly.
But only after a long time did he nod very difficultly.
That's right!
The Hidden Leaf decided to attack Menma with full force, holding the resolve to ensure that as long as Menma had one breath left, they could smoothly recover the Nine-Tails!
And doing so...
The only point needing attention was Naruto.
Danzo and the others might not care.
But people like Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shikaku couldn't.
Different from Menma's identity as the Hokage's son, which the Hidden Leaf had never admitted on an official level, Naruto had been living in the Hidden Leaf Village with the identity of the Fourth Hokage's son for 13 years.
They had to be prepared for the possibility that Naruto might make a "wrong" decision.
They couldn't attack Naruto.
But they absolutely wouldn't watch Naruto take action to stop them, or directly support Menma and the like.
These were all taboo matters.
As the general strategist of the Hidden Leaf Village...
Shikaku naturally needed to consider all possibilities.
The relationship between Shikamaru and Naruto was still very good.
This could be considered Shikaku giving his son a preventive shot in advance.
"Very good. Next, the village will be busy. You stay here to assist me during this period. You don't need to worry about Ino and Choji; Inoichi and Choza will instruct them well."
A faint smile appeared on Shikaku's face, and he said softly.
His own son.
Shikaku was still very assured and trusting.
He took after him in his bones.
He could understand what matters were the most important.
"Yes, I understand."
Shikamaru took a deep breath and replied.
The opportunity for change that must be welcomed.
The change in state of mind under different encounters wasn't just for Shikamaru; it should be said that Ino, Choji, Neji, Shino, Kiba, and the others were all the same.
Only whether Naruto would welcome his own change...
That was unknown.
Because this Naruto seemingly was the Naruto in the original story...
But there were fundamental differences.
For human growth, innate conditions are certainly important, but the acquired growth environment is fundamental. Without the encounters in the original story, Naruto Namikaze couldn't possibly be Naruto Uzumaki.
Whether he would firm up his thoughts and persist in walking the path he had set before...
That was unknown.
The Hidden Leaf's actions...
Also attracted the attention of spies from various ninja villages around.
One by one, they recorded the scenes they saw very quickly and loyally, and then immediately sent them back to their own ninja villages through relevant channels.
However, before their news was transmitted back...
Major ninja villages should have received the news sent from the Hidden Leaf long ago.
Because of this action...
If possible...
Under Shikaku's suggestion, they were to drag all other ninja villages to act together as much as possible. It was hard to say for the Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village currently, but the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Mist Village were ones the Hidden Leaf must drag into the water.
Acting alone?
That was absolutely impossible.
In fact, it was so.
While the Hidden Leaf's ninja army was in action, the dispatched mission members had already transmitted the corresponding news to different ninja villages respectively.
Or to be more precise...
These high-level officials of ninja villages had already obtained part of the intelligence in advance through different channels.