Even before the war, Jiraiya would usually take the initiative and show himself to speak with Pain, the leader of Akatsuki—or, rather, Nagato. Tsunade didn't believe her old friend could persuade a fanatic bent on carrying out his own justice and creating the peaceful world he envisioned, but they still had to prepare for every possibility. Tailed Beasts and the Rinnegan could both easily ignite a war. If they resolved their differences peacefully before the fighting, that would be one thing. But if the enemy refused negotiations and they had to fight with everything they had, then defeat was out of the question. And if they won, the distribution of the spoils would become an obvious issue after the war. Tsunade wasn't the only one thinking about this.
The Fourth Raikage, Third Tsuchikage, Fifth Mizukage, and Fifth Kazekage all felt the same way.
The Tailed Beasts might be less of a concern.
Even if someone coveted them,
each of these Tailed Beasts already had a "owner"!
Unless their own village chose to "give them up"—such as Konoha's Nine-Tails, the Mist Ninja's Three-Tails, and Six-Tails—
even the Cloud Ninja couldn't force anyone to hand one over. If the Sand Ninja and Rock Ninja joined forces, they'd be more than enough to give the Cloud Ninja a hard time.
The real focus, though, was the Rinnegan.
Some things didn't need to be said aloud.
But anyone could guess what they were.
Tsunade had to prepare for the worst.
As the armies of the various nations marched in unison, the Konoha Ninja forces set out. The Rock Ninja, Sand Ninja, and Cloud Ninja followed under their respective commanders, as did the Snow Ninja and Mist Ninja, far away on the other side of the sea. They all headed for their designated areas in