Actually, throughout the entire Fourth Great Ninja War, Naruto and Sasuke were holding the line up front. The ninjas from the Five Great Ninja Villages suffered countless casualties, but the named characters weren't in much danger.
Well...
Except for poor Neji Hyuga!!
Hao Shuai had no part in the plans for the Fourth Great Ninja War. No matter how Tsunade tried to tempt or threaten him into accompanying her to the Five Kage Summit, he refused.
Tsunade didn't take Hao Shuai's refusal to heart.
After all, she didn't have Hao Shuai's foreknowledge. She simply thought the summit was about dealing with the Akatsuki Organization.
So Tsunade was brimming with confidence. Even without Hao Shuai, she believed the Five Great Ninja Villages alone were more than enough to uproot the Akatsuki Organization.
And it was good that Hao Shuai stayed in Konoha. At least with him there, Konoha's safety was assured.
She'd invited Hao Shuai this time merely because he'd been cooped up in Konoha for the past three years. She wanted to take him out to clear his head and, while she was at it, show the other villages what kind of man Princess Tsunade had found.
Since Hao Shuai didn't want to go, she didn't press him.
With her own strength and Anbu protection, she wasn't afraid of any threat.
The day of the Five Kage Summit arrived before long.
As Konoha's Fifth Hokage, Tsunade left the village early that morning.
Kakashi Hatake and Shikaku Nara were assigned as her shadow guards for the trip.
There was an established custom in the shinobi world: whenever the major ninja villages held a joint meeting, each village's shadow guard detail included a leading candidate to become the next Kage.
That precedent had been set at the first meeting of the