It was at that moment when everything turned harmonious that Katsuyu spoke in Tachibana's ears, "Shall I reverse summon Shikamaru here Tachibana-sama?"
Tachibana pondered on what role to give Shikamaru in the fight against Gaara and Shukaku but didn't over think it much and spoke back to Katsuyu.
"Send him over…"
Not even a second later, with a poof of white smoke Shikamaru appeared in the battle camp tent holding a forlorn gaze. It seemed like he was no longer the Shikamaru who had just graduated from the academy, he too had already seen death and what it meant for people to go to war.
Shikamaru looked at Tachibana and nodded politely before bowing in respect, "Greetings Tachibana-sama, Genin Shikamaru Nara is at your service."
"At ease Shikamaru, have you been briefed on what we're going to be doing?" Tachibana asked.
Shikamaru shook his head and looked confused for a second as he observed the three other teammates in the battle camp tent.
'With Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke alone in this fight… it'll likely be a small mission… won't it?'
Only Tachibana dashed Shikamaru's hopes immediately.
"We're going on a hunt for Sunagakure's Jinchuriki!"
Shikamaru's mouth hung loose and his eyes opened wide as a sound rolled off his tongue belatedly, "WHAT!?"
Tachibana shrugged and nodded, "Well we are, so you better get yourself ready. You'll be paired up with Naruto and Sasuke to distract the Jinchuriki while I and Sakura clean up the Jonin."
Shikamaru looked at Tachibana and Sakura, he could comprehend the two of them taking down jonin, that was a power level he understood, perhaps his friends had truly become so strong in the span of a few months since he had last seen them.
But then his gaze shifted to Naruto and Sasuke.
'How are these two going to fight a jinchuriki?'
'...what a drag…'
Looking at Shikamaru's worried face, Tachibana reassured him kindly, "Don't worry, me and Sakura will reinforce you as soon as we are done…"
Shikamaru only deadpanned at that information. 'What will throwing two more moths at a bonfire produce?'
Either way, Tachibana didn't give Shikamaru the time to question the orders and so they were already on their way, having taken a map of their enemy's approximate location from Hayate Gekko.
They rushed through the rocky desert like terrain, entering enemy territory as they bypassed the land of fire borders and reached a particularly high hill in the sandy region.
"I see them." Shikamaru spoke quickly as soon as he spotted the enemy squad rushing up to them on the horizon.
Tachibana quickly finalised a plan with everyone present and then waited patiently for the arrival of their enemies.
Not even a minute later, a Jonin squad captain, along with three genin entered the scene.
However, Tachibana was better, he knew that several Jonin were travelling underground since he could see their spirit body threads and also see them with spirit vision.
"Halt!" Tachibana ordered the group.
"May I ask why Konoha Shinobi are trying to order Sunagakure shinobi on their own turf?" Baki asked in a brutish tone that clearly underestimating Tachibana's small five man group consisting mostly of genin.
"You are proceeding dangerously close to the Land of Fire… doing so any further during war time will be accepted as an act of provocation. Are you ready to bear the consequences of doing so?"
"Consequences? Why are there consequences for us walking on our own terrain? Has Konoha decided to declare war on Sunagakure too?"
"You know well that land this close to the border is still under dispute Jonin Baki." Tachibana spoke calmly, "Plus, this is a time of war, you have to consider the circumstances, if you don't return, Konoha will consider this an act of war and will launch equal retaliatory measures."
"And? What will Konoha do? Retaliate with five nameless genin?! Ha! Enough of this farce! Let's deal with this like shinobi and not politicians!"
"You asked for it…" Tachibana said softly before sending a hand sign Sakura's way.
Sakura immediately understood and acted as planned, she swallowed a large amount of special and dense oil from a flask before spitting out the oil onto the surface of the sand by multiplying it with the help of a jutsu.
Baki was about to attack immediately to stop whatever Sakura was planning on doing but he was intercepted directly by Tachibana throwing an explosive tag his way.
And given their advantage in tall terrain which cast a shadow onto the group of genin, Shikamaru instantly used the Shadow possession technique to stop the two other genin in Baki's group, Temari and Kankuro.
Gaara, who was already itching to draw blood, was intercepted by Sasuke and Naruto.
Naruto started with a spinning kick right to Gaara's forehead, only to be blocked by the strange sand that emerged out of his gourd.
However, Sasuke had already activated his Sharingan and realised something special about the Sand!
'She's still alive inside it! As a remnant will!!'
And so Sasuke's eyes evolved to Mangekyo Sharingan status before they gazed deeply at Gaara's sand and spun once.
Sasuke's six pinwheel stripes spun once before one of them vanished, only for the battle field to shift drastically!
On the battlefield was now not just Team seven plus Shikamaru but also Karura! Gaara's mother! A simple brown haired blue eyed woman who looked like she had seen better days.
Gaara instantly froze.
He couldn't comprehend what had just happened but he felt an indiscernible closeness with the lady in front of him.
"...mo- mother?!" Gaara asked belatedly.
"Yes Gaara it's me! I've been protecting you all this time! But unfortunately not anymore."
Everyone on the battlefield was stunned by the sudden development. Even Saasuke who had caused the condition to occur.
Sakura was the only one who carried out Tachibana's orders while Tachibana himself was calm since he had seen this in one of the possible futures earlier when he had divined about the fight before in the Hokage office.
Sakura threw out explosive tags after spitting out the oil and they all exploded simultaneously. The oil caught on fire and instantly the earlier sandy battlefield was transformed into a sea of fire.
The Jonin that had been buried inside the sand erupted out at this moment however most of them hadn't accounted for the sand being on fire, so most of them instantly suffered third degree burns from the oil.
However, that was not the end!
Tahcibana instantly used flame jump!
Within seconds, Tacibana teleported all over the battlefield, moving form one place to the other as he popped out of the flame and sliced at a Jonin's neck before vanishing back into the everpresent ocean of flames!
Eventually, however, the Jonin caught on to Tachibana's assault, however it was already too late for them to do anything!
After all, Tahcibana had already planted explosive tags all over the battlefield while he was teleporting around!
So within seconds, almost as instantly as Sakura cast the ocean of flames around, the battlefield exploded once again! This time taking out another hoard of Jonin making Tachibana's kill count rise steadily into the twenties for this mission.
Immediately after that, Tachibana looked in Gaara's direction and noticed something special!
He could see the spirit body threads of the Tailed Beast trapped inside him!
Within seconds, Tachibana did the unthinkable!
Tachibana teleported right up to the shocked and surprised Gaara and knocked him unconscious with a single hand chop to his neck. Given that Gaara didn't have his mother to protect him anymore his outer shell wasn't hard anymore which allowed Tachibana to immediately knock him out.
And as soon as Gaara went out like a light, he transformed!
He began to transform into a tailed beast!
Temari and Kankuro who had already been trapped by Shikamaru turned their heads in shock and surprise at the happening.
Only, Tachibana stood at the forefront calmly before beginning to turn the first tailed beast into his marionette!
Shukaku who had just been released from his eternal prison suddenly felt the world around him start to slow down.
'What- is- this?'
'A gen- jutsu?'
Soon within twenty seconds! Shukaku was no more! At least until he was released as a marionette and revived somewhere else since he was a chakra beast.
However, at this moment, Shukaku truly belonged to Tachibana!
"Cover me for five minutes! I'll completely control the tailed beast then!"
Everyone on Tachibana's team nodded and focused on their enemies.
Only Gaara's mother Karura looked at Tachibana with concern, realising what her question was Tachibana answered prematurely, "Don't worry, he's alright… I'll make sure nothing happens to your son."
"Thank you shinobi sama!" Karura nodded before turning her focus to the one enemy who she hated with her guts! The one who had proposed to turn her unborn son into a Jinchuriki!
"Baki!!!!"