Naruto came back to the village without his beloved Sasuke. As the group entered the village gates, all I could see was suppressed anger on Naruto's face and utter remorse on Sakura's. Akamaru had his tail between his legs and the other three were ashamed of themselves for being so easily fooled. They brought a red-headed girl, dragging her along all tied up.

"He slipped right through my fingers" the blond sobbed angrily later that day, clawing at the black fabric of my shirt. "I was this close..." he mumbled.

I patted his head and hugged him tighter. "Don't worry, brother. I doubt the enemy will make him fight in this war. As far as we know, Sasuke went blind after you two fought" I said.

Naruto sighed. "I really hope he stays put" his blue eyes now darkened with determination. "When this shit storm ends, I will knock some sense back into him"

I smirked. "You do that, but first, you have to get off of the Akatsuki's radar. If they catch Kurama, the odds will be in their favor"

"What about the Ten-Tails?" he cautiously whispered. "He's the most powerful, isn't he?"

"Kuronuma is a rational being that puts reason before impulse, thus he will remain in the shadows for as long as he pleases. We shouldn't worry about him right now. Kurama, on the other hand, is unstable and you need to control him if we want to win this war" I replied, standing up and leaving the tent I shared with a kunoichi named Ten-Ten, heading to Tsunade's.

She was still feeble, lying almost lifelessly on the mattress, her chest moving slightly.

"Will she come around soon?" I asked Shizune, who stood by the blonde's side day and night ever since the village was somewhat back on its feet.

"She might not make it" the black-haired woman softly said, sighing. "The Elders have already appointed Hatake Kakashi as the Seventh Hokage, in case she doesn't wake up in time"

"Maybe we can help, Naoto" Kuronuma suggested.

I raised an eyebrow at him, now conversing with him inside my mind. "Yeah, how?"

"The Karuigan has many uses, other than the one you are using daily" he said. "It can heal a severed chakra network and stitch up wounds..."

"So it's a glorified medical jutsu" I cut him off.

"...it makes the fusion of two opposite chakra natures possible, and with some training it may even give you the use of all five chakra natures and their derivates, such as wood, lava, sand and mist. You have some mid-class genjutsu abilities, such as some mild mind control and memory erasers, also granted by the Karuigan. And the most dangerous, yet the most handy of all, is the Dark Style, enabling the user to open up wormholes, break the time-space continuum for a while, then closing it and mending the continuum as if nothing happened" he continued solemnly.

"Why didn't I know of this sooner?" I asked gravely.

He sighed. "The enemy is planning on reviving the original Jyuubi, and the creature, despite the fact that it lacks the Eight, Nine and Ten-Tailes, can easily wipe out and entire country with the right Bijuu bomb. You using the Dark Style might just be the only thing that can stop it" he sighed again and laid his scaly head onto his front legs. "Now go and help the Hokage" he urged.

I nodded and found myself back in Tsunade's tent. Shizune noticed that I zoned out and now she was worried for both me and the Hokgae, but I ignored that and knelt down beside the blonde woman. She looked older, her skin looking almost mummified, the purple mark on her forehead gone, and her eyes sunk back in their sockets.

"Now activate the Kariugan"  Kuronuma advised.

I did as he told me, now noticing that the entire chakra network had been severed from the source near her heart.

"Now place your hands over her chakra source and infuse it with your own chakra" he said again.

I concentrated and I felt the chakra leaving my body, entering hers, while I watched the severed network slowly mending itself. I watched as her skin stretched normally across her bones, leaving no wrinkles behind, the purple rhomboid claiming its place on her forehead. Suddenly, she took a large gulp of air and sat up, looking around in a state of shock.

"What is going on?" Shizune panicked.

"Don't worry, Shizune. I put her chakra network back on its feet" I said, standing up then I turned to the blonde. "Tsunade-sama, the Akatsuki declared war against the Great Nations while you've recovered from the siege on the village..." I started, but Shizune cut me off.

"Naoto! She just woke up! This is no time to burden her with this news!" she shrieked.

Tsunade rose a hand and slowly stood up on her feet. "I can handle it, Shizune" she slowly said. "Get me some food, please, and you, Naoto, continue with the dreadful news" she grumbled and sat down at the desk in the tent.

I nodded and pulled out the message I was supposed to deliver to her. "The other Kage sent this. Also, during the Summit, the Sixth Hokage Danzo deserted and got killed by Uchiha Sasuke. And there's something I need to tell you about me"

She lifted her eyes from the scroll. "You aren't a spy, are you?"

I shook my head. "No, but I am a Jinchuriki"

She seemed a bit amused. "Oh, please go on, I would very much like to hear this" she mocked. "Of what might you be the vessel of?"

I gave her a dead serious look. "Of the Ten-Tailed Dragon Kuronuma"

"Okay, cut the crap, would you? Don't make me throw you in the loony bin, because I need you in this war. You are my right-hand, aside from Shizune" she smirked, not believing me.

"Are you sure you want me to show myself?" Kuronuma asked me.

"It's about time, don't you think?" I retorted, feeling him shrouding me in his black chakra.

"You're serious?" Tsunade breathed out, watching the black chakra flow out of my pores, three tails now wiggling behind me.

The lizard took the shroud back, and I looked my higher-up in the eyes.

"I am very serious, Tsunade-sama. Didn't you wonder why I had the eye technique of the Tailed Beasts, or the massive amount of chakra I have, or even the fact that I knocked Nine-Tails unconscious?" I asked her.

She looked scared now, as the pieces fell into place in her mind. "Can you control him?"

"He chose to be sealed within me when I was three. We are practically one being" I started. "When the original beast was separated, the nine others ran amuck, but Kuronuma got the little reason the beast had, and hid from the world at Mount Jenga. I assure you the enemy doesn't know about him. I've only told you and Naruto" I said, and she seemed to calm down.

She nodded, and looked back into the scroll. "We're going to Kumogakure tomorrow morning, where Ay-sama arranged another Summit. Go and announce Nara Shikaku of this. He's coming along with us"

I nodded and headed out to find the man who was the greatest strategist of the village. I found him with the Intel Division, interrogating the prisoner Naruto and the others brought form the fight with Sasuke.

"Nara-san, may I have a word?" I asked, and the brunet man handed over the interrogation to his blond companion, Yamanaka Inoichi.

"What is it, Naoto?" he lazily asked.

He looked and talked so similarly to Shikamaru, it was scary, really.

"Hokage-sama wants you to accompany her to Kumogakure, where there will be a Kage Summit to discuss the Fourth Great Shinobi War strategy" I told him and left as soon as he agreed.

In a few days time, Tsunade, Shizune, Shikaku and I ventured up North-East to the Land of Lightning, reaching a village so far into the mountains that it was literally covered by the clouds. The Sensory Types that guarded the gate cowered before Kuronuma's and Tsunade's chakra, and out of fear they kept us at the gate while they called for the Raikage himself, disregarding the fact that I showed them the scroll that the Raikage himself handed to me back in the Land of Iron.

"This is the big problem, you scaredy cats?" the buff man boomed as he power walked through the gates.

One of the guards, with his ego heavily deflated, tried to defend his action. "The redhead and the blonde have scary amounts of chakra! Of course we got alarmed. We thought they were a threat" he said behind Ay-sama, but the man didn't really care.

"The redhead you just accused of being a threat is the Hokage's right hand, you dumbass" Ay said. "And the blonde you accused is the Hokage herself"

The two guards immediately apologized for their lack of propriety and respect for the Hokage, but still quaked when I went past them.

"See, Naoto? This is how cautious you should be when it comes to me" Kuronuma praised the two, and I rolled my eyes.

"I've been hiding you ever since we set foot into the Ninja World. With this war at our doorstep, the world may need us. You said it yourself" I replied and focused on the outside world rather than the insides of my mind.

We reached Ay's office, where the other three Kage sat, their guards on either sides of them. I entered last, as Kuronuma distracted me all the way to the building, and the door closed behind me loudly, all eyes turning to me. Tsunade was already sat down, Shizune on her right, Shikaku behind her, my spot on her left still vacant. The table was large and round, with the Raikage further away from everyone else, as he was the host, and everyone else almost crammed up opposite of him. I walked past everyone to reclaim my spot at Tsunade's side, with all those eyes piercing through the back of my head.

"Nice entrance" Kankuro joked from Gaara's left, opposite from us.

The snide comment earned him a smirk from me, a slap from his sister and a disapproving glance from his brother.

"Can we talk war? I will fall asleep" the dwarf Tsuchikage threatened somewhat jokingly.

Ay nodded. "We have a common enemy, therefore I propose we unite forces for the first time and create an alliance for the greater good" he solemnly spoke.

"You have to remember that you attacked Konoha as soon as you became Raikage after the Third Great War, disregarding the truce" Tsunade accused.

"Hokage, the Uchiha are a clan from your village. If they wouldn't have threatened my village, I would have left you to deal with your problem all alone" the Raikage countered.

"Those are all in the past" the Kazekage calmly, but firmly spoke, breaking the stare-down between Tsunade and Ay. "This Uchiha Madara guy, apart from stealing an identity from a dead man, is guilty of planning to end the world as we know it, and to stop him it is imperative that we work together" he continued.

"An alliance between all five Nations is a first, but right now is the only wise move to make" Shikaku said, and the Kage turned to him.

Tsunade nodded. "If Shikaku says so, I take his word for it. He is the greatest strategist in the Land of Fire" she praised him, and I swear I saw him blush a little.

"So this officially means we shall fight as the Allied Shinobi Forces!" Ay boomed, seemingly happy that his idea was approved by a teenaged Kakge and a great strategist.

"You've been coming up with a name for quite some time, haven't you, Ay-sama?" the Mizukage Mei asked.

"It's been the only thing I thought about last night, Mei-sama" he replied.

"So we fight as one?" the Tsuchikage asked.

The others nodded.

"Okay, then. Let's see what advantages we have" Shikaku suggested.

"We have two Bijuu and about 80.000 shinobi" Mabui, the Raikage's assistant, said after doing some calculations of each village's stats.

Tsunade cleared her throat. "Actually, make that three Bijuu" she said.

Everyone gave her looks of disbelief.

"What are you on about, Tsunade-hime?" the Tsuchikage asked.

"It turned out that instead of nine Tailed Beasts, there are actually ten. The tenth one hid itself until now, so the enemy doesn't know about it" she explained, yet no one seemed to buy into it. "Just thought it might help to form a better strategy" she said and sat back down, almost sulking.

Ay started laughing. "Does this tenth beast just wander alone, or does it have a Jinchuriki?" he mocked.

"Actually..." I started, walking away from the table, stopping when I was facing Ay. "...I am its Jinchuriki" I finished, letting Kuronuma shroud me with his chakra, giving me three black tails.

The ones in the room froze, and the dragon took back his chakra.

"That explains why the guards cowered before you and how you were able to save me back in the Land of Iron" Gaara mumbled, his foamy green eyes staring at me.

Everyone else just stared at me, unable to let out words. Finally, Shikaku shifted his weight from one leg to another.

"In that case, Naoto, I'll have to find out what your beast can do, so I can make up a viable strategy"