It had been a little over a year since The Fourth Shinobi World War, and many shinobi were still working hard to restore their villages and way of life. Families were still mourning their lost, and the economy still needed time to recover. All regular shinobi work and much of the civilian work had been halted for many months, leaving may people desperate for money. The allies suffered heavily on all sides, but fortunately the bond that had been forged during the great war lasted into the times of peace.

After the great war, the Allied Shinobi Forces formed the Shinobi Union, an organization primarily led by the Kage. Under the Union, the hidden villages and their associated countries quickly recovered from the Fourth Shinobi World War. In the interest of preserving the peace, a representative from each member village was stationed in every other hidden village so that they could discuss common issues and pursue mutual interests. This also helped to strengthen bonds between villages and create alliances that may have been lost throughout of the years or may have never truly existed.

The Union accepted missions from clients and formed teams from all its member nations' shinobi who were found to be most suitable for the mission. Such a system provided equal opportunity to all villages, eliminating the need for future conflicts. It also invited the opportunity for shinobi to learn more about their brethren from foreign lands — and many existing feuds between villages or individual teams were soon demolished creating a peaceful working relationship or friendship among these groups.

The Shinobi Union held headquarters in the Land of Iron, which was still considered neutral territory. Each village sent a representative to represent their hidden village of origin for the Union. These shinobi met monthly at the Union Headquarters.

Their Head Representative and Chief Organizer, Shikamaru Nara, sat on a bench by the large frost-covered windows of the upper floors of the Shinobi Union Headquarters, lazily looking outside at the clouds sailing across the snow topped mountains of the Land of Iron. To any passerby, he might appear unfocused and bored, but in reality, he was running through the meeting's agenda in his head; notes he and Temari worked on the night before; and the details of important diplomats who would be present today. Truth be told, he was anxious. This was not his first meeting leading the Union, but it held some significance as it was the first of which he would be leading with the full union as it stood to date — with all representing Allies of the Hidden Villages and Allies of the various shinobi lands and territories who had agreed to join after his and Temari's efforts.

"Shikamaru, it's time," called Temari from the end of the hall. Shikamaru suppressed a sigh as he slowly stood and gathered his things to join her.

"Are you ready?" She said as she moved beside him to his left as they walked toward the door that lead to the conference room.

"As I'll ever be," he said, notes of exasperation and annoyance in his voice.

She scowled at him. "I hope you are taking this seriously. The role you were given isn't something to take lightly. It's already been a year after the war, and if we are going to move forward with a peaceful allied shinobi union across all nations, we need not just them to join us, but others, and-"

"I take this very seriously, Temari," he said, interrupting her with a small scowl. "Just as seriously as you do. You should know that. I'm just-" he paused, frowning slightly, and not able to continue as they stood in front of the door to the conference room. Voices and loud laughter could be heard coming from the other side.

Suddenly, she grabbed his left hand and laced her fingers through it, gripping it softly. He looked at her surprised. Keeping her gaze firmly on the door and avoiding his eyes, she smiled slightly and softly whispered, "you will do well. I have faith in you."

Shikamaru blushed lightly before she released his hand and moved to open the door. Quickly planting his usual look of casual boredom on his face, he shoved that hand into his pocket and shifted the contents of his report to tuck under his left arm to free up his right hand.

They walked into the large conference room together and greeted various diplomats standing around the large u-shape table.

Representatives from the Five Great Shinobi Nations, The Land of Iron, and other important diplomats stood around the room speaking with one another.

Temari, ever the politically-savvy kunoichi, walked around to each group to greet everyone with a wide smile and a firm handshake, eyes taking in the entire room with a quick swoop.

Shikamaru followed her and listened with a smile as she asked the meeting attendees for updates on affairs in their individual villages but said very little himself, eventually opting to speak politely and inquire about the weather to a few representatives of the Land of Iron to pass the time before the meeting officially started.

"Shikamaru, it's been a while."

Shikamaru turned to see Kankuro smiling and extending his hand out to shake Shikamaru's hand. Shikamaru returned the smile, and reached out to shake his hand firmly, but quickly moved his hand away afterward to grab some of the papers slipping out from under his left arm - still never taking his left hand out of his pocket.

Kankuro peered down with a raised purple eyebrow at the hand still sitting firmly in Shikamaru's pocket, then looked up at him, smiled and said, "It's good to see you, Shikamaru. Hopefully Temari hasn't been on your case too much recently? We both know how much of a nag she can be."

Temari looked up from her conversation with Chojuro and Kurotsuchi for a brief moment and scowled at Kankuro before turning back to continue.

Shikamaru laughed nervously and said, "Well, she wouldn't be Temari if she wasn't always bossing me around and making me do things I didn't really want to do."

Kankuro grinned slyly and said, "Well, you've always seemed like the kind of guy who needs someone to hold your hand in order to make you do something," Kankuro peered down at Shikamaru's hand in his pocket with a smirk more before walking off to talk with Omoi and Darui.

Shikamaru sighed before turning back to the others in the room, muttering to himself, "Troublesome…"

As the meeting time rolled around, everyone moved to sit down in their usual places around the table. Shikamaru moved to take the seat at the small rectangular table set up in the front of the room at the head of the u-shaped conference table. Temari moved to the end of the u-shaped table to sit near him on his right.

"So, Shikamaru, what's going on that can't wait until we meet in 2 weeks?" said Kurotsuchi casually as she leaned on the table with her elbow, rested her cheek on the palm and knuckles of one hand while half-smiling at him.

Shikamaru peered at Temari from the corner of his eye for only a second before he began:

"Right. Thank you all for coming outside of our usual schedule. We've been presented with a request that has been marked as 'time sensitive' that needs immediate action on our part. You have been called here so that we can come to an agreement as to how to proceed. As you all know, negotiations with Amegakure haven't gone as we have hoped - there has been no clear leader since the death of Akatsuki members Nagato and Konan. It is our understanding that there are now three main clans fighting for leadership over the village. Constant civil war is causing great hardship on the villagers, leading to many unnecessary civilian deaths. We have been contacted by the village police department who is asking for assistance from the Shinobi Union with coordinating negotiations among the three clans and possibly assistance with protection of their citizens. Two clans are willing to form a joint leadership, but one is not. Police Chief Hiroki Kazuhiko believes there is war brewing between both the clans who are willing to form the joint leadership and the remaining clan over leadership of the village. They believe solid negotiations would prevent this impending war. However, they believe that if negotiations cannot be made, they will need assistance with protecting the villagers during the war."

"Why do they need help from us," said Kurotsuchi, eyebrow raised. "Can they not protect their own citizens? Do they not have shinobi on their force? And what about the shinobi of their village?"

"The police department doesn't have any shinobi on staff — at least, not trained shinobi who can handle this sort of combat. The groups fighting for control over the village are becoming too difficult for them to handle themselves. And the vast majority of the shinobi from their village have been hired by one of the three clans, so they aren't able to rely on their own shinobi to handle the problem," said Shikamaru. "They are having a difficult time performing their primary duty, which is to protect the citizens of the village. In the past, they worked alongside the village leader and village shinobi. Now, they do not have that support system."

"Well...Shikamaru…what are you suggesting that we do," said Chojuro, frowning slightly.

Shikamaru flexed the hand that was in his pocket. "You will do well. I have faith in you," he remembered.

"I think we should send in a specialized group of shinobi to complete this mission. But, I don't expect this to be easy. The three clans have special jutsu that could be troublesome for even the experienced jounin.

As I mentioned, there are three clans:

The Dokusuto Clan, lead by Yori Dokusuto, who has roughly 500 shinobi under his command, and possibly more we have not accounted for. Dokusuto is paying the highest in terms of shinobi salaries but his selection process is tight-rigid. He has a personal guard of 100 Shinobi whom he commands that watches over his household, but he does not send them out to fight. We have been told that he and his shinobi primarily use water-style jutsu.

The Masanori Clan is another clan and is lead by Tsuneo Masanori, who has roughly 300 shinobi under his command. He, also, has a personal guard of 50 Shinobi whom he commands that watches over his household, but he, too, does not send them out to fight. Little is known about these 50 shinobi. His shinobi are primarily family members and members of his clan. They are genjutsu users, and known for their intimidation tactics.

Finally, we have the Takeshi Clan, lead by renown gangster Goro Takeshi, who is reported to have about 500 Shinobi and an average of 1500 non-shinobi fighters who are citizens of the village. Goro has offered jobs to non-Shinobi at low wages compared to the normal shinobi salary, but high for many of the citizens of the village for jobs in the village. This money has been an asset to many civilians and many see him as a 'god-sent' because of the lack of jobs available at this time due to the war. But taking these jobs come at great risk to the fighter. Many have lost their lives fighting shinobi; Goro is continuously cycling in new fighters because the jobs are on high demand. Goro owns lots of property in the village - mostly hotels, night clubs, bars, restaurants and other businesses. Goro's clan specializes in Fūinjutsu, Bukijutsu, Kenjutsu and Taijutsu. They are also known for their use of food pills during battle to increase their fighting power, but little is known about these pills.

The police have tried negotiating with all three clans, and so far Masanori and Dokusuto seem to be willing to come to an agreement, but not Goro.

As I mentioned before, according to the police force, there is an impending war on the horizon between the two clans and Goro. Unless Goro can be convinced to join the joint leadership, the war will go on."

"So, you're saying that we may need to work with the police force and other clans to stop Goro and his gang before this can happen, right?" said Kurotsuchi.

"Actually, no," said Shikamaru.

Almost everyone around the room looked at Shikamaru in confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?" said Kankuro as he looked back and forth at Shikamaru and Temari in confusion.

"Doing that would go against what this organization stands to do," said Shikamaru with a tone of finality.

"I'm not sure if I understand. I thought we were trying to prevent war and preserve peace?" said Omoi, brow furrowing in confusion.

"And, as shinobi, why wouldn't we use our skills to fight Goro and prevent this war from occurring? To keep civilians safe?" said Darui as he looked at Shikamaru skeptically.

Shikamaru looked down at the small rectangular table in front of him and closed his eyes. Temari looked at him nervously and wondered if she should say something to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

"What you are suggesting," said Shikamaru, looking up slowly, "is that we step in an shape the outcome of the situation. The outcome of the war and the leadership of the village?"

"What is wrong with that? Especially since we would be able to shape things using an outside, non-biased perspective," said Kankuro.

"I mean, why can't we just go in and kill the bastard who keeps pissing in the flower pot and killing all the pretty flowers," said Kurotsuchi with a tone of annoyance.

"Our organization is not responsible for that, nor should we get involved with that. Our focus is on maintaining international peace and security and developing friendly relations among nations. Our primary mission is promoting social progress and creating better living standards and protecting human rights of shinobi and civilians alike. Politicking is not our focus and installing the best leadership is not our mission," said Temari, looking around the room at everyone at the table. Shikamaru gave her a slight smile, which she returned.

"I see…I understand what you are saying, Shikamaru…Temari…" said Omoi quietly, nodding slowly.

"But shaping the outcome of the situation would prevent a war from occurring, would keep the peace and would prevent a lot more people from dying," Kurosuchi continued. "I still think Kankuro was on to something there."

"But what if we choose the wrong outcome? The wrong leader? Or leaders? Our main focus has always been protecting citizens and shinobi and forming a joint union between the nations. As Temari said: 'friendly relations between the nations' is our focus. We are not responsible for the governing of each individual nation nor should we ever get involved with that. Doing something such as…assassinating Goro to prevent the war, for example…" Omoi looked at Kurotsuchi with a raised eyebrow before continuing, "wouldn't follow along with our organization's core function."

There was silence around the room as everyone contemplated this.

"I suppose I see what you are saying," said Kankuro.

"Yes, yes, I suppose that makes sense," said Kurotsuchi, waving a hand in the air in dismissal, eyes closed in annoyance.

"Continue, Shikamaru," said Omoi with a small smile and nod in his direction.

Shikamaru continues. "Right. Well, um, if Goro and the two clans do not come to an agreement, I am concerned about the citizens and how they will be effected during the war." Many of the individuals around the table tensed at this statement, remembering the death and carnage of the most recent war.

"If the war occurs, our primary responsibility will be to keep the citizens safe. This will likely require shinobi with certain types of abilities in order to counteract the clan's attacks, as well as medic ninja who are trained in battle who can assist the citizens who are injured."

"Who do you suggest that we send?" asked Chojuro.

"I have provided a list of jounin whom I believe would fit the criteria. You will find the list in the folder in front of you," said Shikamaru.

Folders opened, and silence filled the room as people scanned the sheet.

Leader - Shikamaru Nara
Secondary Leader - Temari
Primary Negotiator, Sensory and fighter as needed - Naruto Uzumaki
Medic, Sensory, and Fighter; Genjutsu Release - Hinata Hyuga
Communications, Air Infantry - Sai
Taijutsu specialist - Rock Lee
Militarized Weapons Expert -TenTen
Food Pill Expert, Taijutsu specialist - Chouji Akimichi
Weapons Fighter - Karui
Medic, Sensory, and Fighter; Primary Communications, Genjutsu Release - Ino Yamanaka
Communications, Sensory, Air Infintry, Genjutsu Release - Shino Aburame
Taijutsu specialist - Kiba Inuzuka
Weapons Fighter - Chojuro
Earth Style user - Kurotsuchi

Suddenly, someone let out a soft snort of laughter.

"Naruto…Uzumaki...eh," said Omoi with a chuckle.

"I see that you've volunteered us as shinobi assigned to this mission," said Kurotsuchi with a smirk as she looked at Chojuro, who shrugged in return, and Omoi who was staring down at the paper with a look of anxiety present on his face.

"Karui hasn't been on the field in a long time," said Omoi with a note of hesitation in his voice.

"Is that a problem," said Temari.

"No, not exactly. I just hope she isn't rusty since shes been working in an office for months," said Omoi, his voice laced with anxiety.

"But, Omoi, you've been training with her almost daily," said Darui, looking at him with tired eyes.

"Yes, but, I've at least been on real missions. She's been too distracted by her job for the Union…that, and the opposite sex," said Omoi, with a groan of anxiety.

Many people around the table laughed at this, and Temari and Shikamaru exchanged knowing glances and smirks.

"So, shall we proceed? Any changes? Or is this ready to go to the Kage," said Shikamaru, looking around the room.

"Everything looks fine to me," said Kurotsuchi with a thumbs up and a wink.

Omoi waved a hand in agreement, eyes shifting left and right as his mind rushed with thoughts. Darui rolled his eyes at him.

"O-ok. I am in agreement as well. Let's move forward," said Chojuro with a nervous smile.

Temari smiled slightly, and nodded.

Shikamaru looked around the room as others nodded in agreement.

"Okay. Then we will move forward with the plan. Feel free to report this information to your villages when you return; however, we will send messengers immediately after this meeting seeking approval from the Kage. Thank you all for you time and efforts. Without you, this union would not be successful. Meeting adjourned."

Dozens of chairs shuffled and slid across the floor as diplomats moved to talk to one another or leave. Temari moved to collect meeting folders sitting out on the table. Shikamaru stood and moved to collect folders as well, and placed them on the table he sat at.

"You did well," Temari whispered softly as she came up beside him, setting the remaining folders in the table and brushing his shoulder slightly before turning to talk to Chojuro.

Shikamaru smiled to himself briefly before turning to join their conversation.