Chapter 54: Operation Tsunami

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THAT?" yelled A as the Kages and their bodyguards continued to stare out the window at the large plume of smoke that was billowing up into the sky a good distance away from the Hokage Tower. Tsunade let out a small grunt before getting out of her seat and making her way toward the door, quickly gaining the attention from her fellow Kage. "AND WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TSUNADE?"

"I'm going to go see what happened for myself? You're welcome to come if you like." grumbled Tsunade as she opened the door and left the room, Shikamaru and Kakashi quickly following right after the pissed off looking blonde.

"Well . . . it's better than sitting around this table doing nothing . . ." said Mei as she slowly got out of her seat. "It'll be nice to stretch my legs for a bit. . ."

"Gaara?" Temari asked in a low tone as both A and Onoki, along with their bodyguards, began walking out the door after the female Kages. Gaara only exchanged a quick glance with his siblings before getting out of his seat himself. He grabbed his gourd and placed it on his back before leaving the room with his older siblings in tow.

"Judging from the loud rumbling noise that we all heard before the large plume of smoke appeared, it's definitely safe to say that something was definitely destroyed. Likely by a bomb if you think it over," mumbled Kankuro as the three quickly made their way out of the building. "The question now is this: What the hell went up in flames?"

"That's what we're planning to find out . . ." said Temari as the three followed the other Kage down a large road that lead toward the plume of smoke, passing by scores of civilians and ninjas that stood on the street gaping at the growing black cloud in front of them. Gaara stayed silent as they continued to travel through the Konoha streets, never ceasing in their movements till they reached the site of the explosion, which was eye opening to say the least. ". . . Holy shit . . ."

"This warehouse is completely up in flames . . ." said Kankuro as he looked at the burning building in disbelief. ". . . And it stretches for the whole block."

"Tsunade-san, any ideas on what happened here?" asked Onoki as he floated over to the blond Hokage.

"That's what I'm about to find out . . ." mumbled Tsunade as a few Leaf jonin ran over to her. "What the hell happened here? A normal paper bomb couldn't have done this amount of damage. . . Also, this explosion looked too controlled to be just an accident."

"Because it was . . ."

Everyone looked up to see a masked ninja staring down at them from his perch on top of the building behind them. The growing animosity in the air grew even stronger once everyone noticed the Amegakure symbol on the top of the ninja's mask.

"I guess it's safe to say you're the one behind all this . . ." said Onoki as he let a stoic expression come across his face.

"That is correct . . ." said the ninja as he began to twirl a kunai between his fingers. ". . . I was the one to set off the explosion . . . Don't worry, I made sure that there was no one inside the building when I set the bombs off."

"Now isn't that just kind of you . . ." growled Tsunade as her hands clenched into fists. ". . . . Care to tell us why you decided to blow up a random warehouse in the middle of the day?"

"I needed to get your attention . . ." answered the ninja as he cracked the knuckles in his free hand. "I knew going straight to the Hokage Tower would be pushing it, insane even . . . So I decided to get your attention through a different means."

"By blowing up a whole damn warehouse?" asked A as a sneer came across his face.

"Well . . . it got you all to come here now didn't it?" asked the Ninja in return as he gestured to the ongoing fire that was now being put away by a few of the Leaf jonin that knew water style jutsus.

"Hmm . . . he makes a good point," said Mei as she thought it over. ". . . But still, you must have some reason for wanting to get our attention like this. Care to explain . . .?"

"Well . . . I would be defeating the purpose of my mission if I didn't tell you," said the ninja as he began to fish out an item from his ninja pack. He slowly pulled it out and held it up for everyone to see. "Do any of you remember this little item?"

The expressions on the Kages faces were mixed. They ranged from the pissed off scowls on A and Tsunade's faces to the absolute disbelief on Mei's face and to the look of disdain on Onoki's. Gaara, on the other hand, managed to keep his expression as neutral as possible, but inside, he was brutally resisting the urge to use his Sand Coffin on the Amegakure ninja. He snuck a quick look at his siblings, both of them looking like they were holding off their attacks as well, their eyes trained on the item in the ninja's hand. All three of them we're down right angry, and why wouldn't they be . . . ?

. . . The item in the ninja's hand was Izuka's amulet.

"How in the world did you get that?" asked Gaara as he looked at the ninja as he held Izuka's amulet up like it was some worthwhile trophy. "How did you manage to gain possession of that item?"

"Ah . . . I see the young Kazekage is as formal as ever, even when the enemy holds up his girlfriend's most prized item?" said the ninja as he shook his head. "I have got to give you credit. You've managed to keep your composure quite nicely."

"Going with the good ole patronizing tactic huh?" mumbled Onoki as he shook his head. "That's a childish tactic of you ask me . . ."

"It may be childish, but it still works . . . well most of the time," said the ninja as another ninja dressed in similar gear suddenly appeared right next to him, much to the annoyance of the tense looking Kages. "Did you get the document?"

"Indeed I have . . ." answered the other ninja, the voice feminine as she pulled out a paper filled folder from the pack strapped to her back. "Everything on the Lady Sage, from her ninja file to her mission stats to her medical records, is in this folder."

"WHAT?" snarled Tsunade as her hands clenched themselves into fists. "You were just serving as a distraction?"

"Correct . . ." answered the male ninja as he nodded his head as the female began to do a summoning jutsu. She summoned a black hawk and practically forced the folder into its beak before sending it away with a thrust of her arms. Gaara quickly sent his sand after it, but the female Rain ninja used a water jutsu to stop his attack, clearing the bird as it got further and further into the air. ". . . And since you all have been just a wonderful audience; consider this as your reward."

The ninja threw the amulet down to the ground with so much force that the purple crystal cracked with each hit it made to the ground, never stopping till it reached Gaara's feet.

"Let's go . . ." said the ninja as he turned to his accomplice, but then A suddenly appeared before them already shrouded in his Lightning Release Armor. The two managed to move out the way before they could get hit by the Raikage's incoming attack, but they ran straight into Gaara's sand as they did. Gaara quickly commanded his sand to enclose the two, covering them fully except for the upper half of their bodies.

"Well they certainly walked into that one didn't they . . ." mumbled Mei as she crossed her arms as Gaara commanded his sand to bring the two Rain nin over to them. ". . . What should we do with them now?"

"Well . . . I guess interrogation and torture is the way to go," answered Tsunade as she eyed the two. "If they talk, they should be able to provide us the answers we want."

"Like that's going to happen . . ." said the male as he suddenly managed to pull his arm out of Gaara's sand. He unzipped his flak jacket to reveal that his chest was covered in paper tags . . . explosive tags. The female quickly followed in his actions, revealing that she too was wearing paper tags underneath her vest. "Goodbye everyone . . ."

"KAZEKAGE!" exclaimed Tsunade, calling the redhead to attention. Gaara didn't hesitate to cover the two fully with his sand before the bombs could detonate. The two sand shells that eventually formed expanded as the tags blew. Once Gaara felt that it was all clear, he loosened his control of his sand to reveal that there was absolutely nothing left of the two Rain nin.

"Hmm . . . they wore enough explosives that it completely obliterated them. There's not a trace of them in sight . . ." said Onoki as A walked over to them.

"If it wasn't for the Kazekage's sand, the explosives could have done a lot more damage than just obliterate those two," mumbled Tsunade as she turned to Kakashi and Shikamaru. "I want you guys to gather up as much jonin as you can. I want to be sure that Konoha doesn't have to expect any more surprises, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am . . ." said Kakashi before he and Shikamaru disappeared from the group.

"Now why the hell would Amegakure want the Lady Sage's file?" mumbled A as a scowl came across his face. "Isn't having the Lady Sage herself enough?"

"From what we have gathered so far, Izuka's managed to hold herself together, even though she's been going through Amegakure's reeducation program these past few months," said Mei as she brought a hand to her chin. "Maybe they want to look through her files in order to find something that they could use to break her . . . you know, put the final nail in the coffin, that sort of thing."

"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!"

"Shizune?" asked Tsunade as she heard her assistant's voice call her from somewhere down the road. The Kages all turned around to see the raven haired woman running toward them from down the road, her breathing haggard as she stopped a mere three feet away from them. "Shizune . . . what's wrong?"

"I've got bad news . . . The Hokage Tower's been getting reports from members of the councils from the other four shinobi villages. Paper bombs have been set off in various areas throughout the villages, some in abandoned areas, others, well . . . in not so abandoned areas."

"Have there been any casualties?" asked Onoki as his eyes continued to stay widened in surprise.

"There have been casualties, with Suna and Kumo reporting the most so far." answered Shizune as she caught her breath.

"Now that's very depressing . . ." said Mei as she shook her head. "Those explosions must be Amegakure's Operation Tsunami finally coming into action . . . Even though we still have much to discuss, I suggest we tend to our villages first before we discuss anything further."

"I believe that's for the best . . ." said Onoki as he let out a small breath. "If we want to stop Amegakure, we better make sure our villages are ready for the coming onslaught first . . . But . . . I have a feeling things may get worse before they get better."

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