"Given this, I advise partnering with Chūkichi's contingent in order to combat the insurgents under Kumo's Kinkaku Force. The primary reason for this is Chūkichi's history fighting against Kumo in the previous Shinobi World War – this will afford an advantage to the fighters dealing with the enemies in the region. The secondary reason is for Chūkichi's specialty, which is conducting ambushes during large conflicts."
The Kumo faction analyst wrapped up his brief and asked if any of the four across from him had any questions. The four, of course, were the two heads of the table and their flanking companions, who had each moved to one side of the table, with the three analysts sitting opposite of them. Meanwhile, to her left sat the Kiri analyst and two seats to the left sat the one-armed Kumo analyst.
When the cadre leader had gone through his spiel concerning the exact military positions, tactics, and composition of each of the three factions yet still hadn't prompted her for a brief, Sakura had been relieved – it'd seemed as if she was going to get a reprieve. It wasn't that her brief wasn't fully compiled or that it was particularly bad, but the pinkette had been exhausted all week so another few days to polish her report would have been appreciated.
Unfortunately, after the leader was finished, he gave orders to the operatives to start training in tandem and work on simulations that would deal with the tactics of enemies they would face. Following that, the leader ordered the analysts to stay behind and give their briefs to him, his comrade, the spiky brown-haired ANBU, and Kakashi.
So, here she found herself, trying desperately prepare herself for the skewering she was surely about to go through. For good or bad, she was about to get a small taste of what that was going to be like – it seemed their leader did have questions for the Kumo faction analyst.
"You said that the best way to deal with the Kumo insurgents was to attack the northern islands in order to disrupt their centers of operations and prevent re-supply opportunities afforded to them by Kumo's access to the region via the Kaizoku Sea. This seems like a fairly simple approach. Why hasn't the remnant or the resistance acted on this?"
"The remnant has recently been coordinating with the insurgents against the resistance. This is likely due to Terumī's increasing encroachment on territory between Kirigakure and the capitol of Water Country. As for the resistance, it isn't clear as to whether or not Terumī is aware of Kumo's role within the northern insurgents. "
"And as for Kumo's presence in the region in general. You mentioned that the Land of Lightning was willing to risk tipping its hand concerning its presence in the area. Why? And if so, why haven't they moved more overtly?"
"Out of the Five, Kumo has the strongest economy," informed the one armed analyst. "This is, in part, due to the fact that Lightning Country has near unfettered access to the bodies of water around it – Gaikotsu Bay, Haran Bay, and the Kasumi Strait. The only one that is contested is Kaizoku Sea; however, given the current civil war in Mizu, Kumogakure has seen the opportunity to change the status quo.
As for why they haven't simply attempted an invasion, Kumo is likely worried about provoking both Earth Country and Fire Country against it. If only one of the nations were going rally, then Lightning would probably risk it, but the threat of two of the other Five is too much for them, and they know it."
"In the brief you said that two of Kumo's Kinkaku Force was spearheading the effort, leading other Kumo ANBU forces and training disparate peoples in the north" said the leader. "Given that the Kinkaku Force is involved even, in a limited capacity, it will be paramount that strikes be carried out with the utmost accuracy. Otherwise escalation may occur if they recognized Konoha forces. Do we have their exact locations?"
"Yes. One is heading up the overall operation from the northeastern island, maintaining the main supply line and directing the offensive. The other works on the northwestern island but frequently ventures onto the mainland in order to lead raids and train allies. I believe that one of them also personally makes contact with some of their moles within the top of the caste system who are still within the structure of the remnant faction. It will most likely be necessary to conduct intermittent raids after the initial strikes in order to keep forces from holing back up in the areas."
"You mentioned that the insurgents were able to rely not just on Kumo supplies but also trade with countries to Water Country's east. How would you characterize the relationship between the insurgent faction and those minor nations?"
"It's more a case of a relationship of Lightning Country's. Kaminari brokers the deals and then ships the supplies. The majority of this comes from Sky Country, which is closest to Lightning and furthest from Water. There are two nations south of Sky – Wolf and then further south, Honey Country. Wolf Country is more reluctant to participate in these dealings, though it won't outright refuse dealings with Lightning, lest it lose normal trade arrangements and anger the larger nation. There is no trade currently between Lightning and Honey, though if Lightning is successful in pressuring Wolf, it may decide to pursue an arrangement with the south-most country."
"Very well," said the leader of Calm Waters. "Next is the Kiri analyst. "
'Well, I guess that wasn't so bad,' thought Sakura. The questions the leader asked weren't overly confident, and it wasn't like he'd asked very many. So long as she could restrain her nerves when questioned, it wouldn't be a problem.
Either way, there was still another analyst to go before she would be put on the chopping block. Hopefully the Kiri analyst's brief would help give her another point of reference for when it was her turn.
When the remnant analyst spoke up, Sakura gauged that he was an older shinobi by his gruff voice.
"The position of the remnant faction is moderately stable – its economic position is secure, geography and climate are in its favor, and its military is stable.
Despite the issues with trading off of the coast, they still have a few key ports of their own and many of the mainland resources. More than that, they still have official endorsement of the daimyō of Water Country and a direct route to the capitol of their country – the other factions won't risk attacking that link out of fear of alienating the daimyō, which would give an excuse for other nations to intervene or invade due to a country's own shinobi attacking their own leader.
As for geography and climate, the remnant faction's main center of activities is based out of Kirigakure. Kiri is found within a mountainous region in the country – which makes it more easily defensible; furthermore, the remnant forces have all routes in and out of it secured. Current weather patterns suggest that positions such as the northern islands of Kiri are going to face heavy tropical storms that will compromise the areas – the remnant seems to be relying on this to blunt the Kumo faction, which may be why they are willing to coordinate with them against the resistance.
It is true that the remnant's military forces are pressed, but this situation is not without precedent for Kirigakure. Kiri's population isn't particularly homogenous in terms of dividing lines or unified in terms of clans – it conquered many of the islands near the mainland and even places on the mainland to build itself up as a nation and given the issues that Mizu has had with keikei genkai, rebellions have never been in short supply. While this conflict is on wider terms, Kiri is used to engaging in guerilla warfare; therefore, the situation is not as grim as it may first appear."
Given the issues concerning major sources coming from supply lines that were off limits due to the ties with the capitol, the Kiri analyst recommended taking the rest of the southwestern islands and raiding the coastline to take the ports in addition to taking covert actions to foster negative feelings between the remnant and the capitol – such as sabotage operations to create bad faith or essentially framing the remnant for crimes the daimyō would find unacceptable. For the undertakings, he recommended the forces under the command of Ao be taken used – the hunter nin would be able to move swiftly and silently enough to engage forces on the coastline as well as knowing how to run the covert operations in mind concerning muddying the remnant's reputation with Mizu's capitol.
The young kunoichi was surprised to find that the Kiri analyst had made a very similar recommendation to the one she would be giving in a few minutes. She was even more surprised to find that the Kiri analyst found that the remnant was stable. She would've likely estimated that it was mildly unstable, if she had been asked for her opinion. Then, given that this analyst had subject matter expertise concerning Kiri, so she supposed he would know better. Either way, her judgment on the matter of the remnant faction having been proven incorrect, the pinkette's feelings about her own brief weren't exactly warm anymore.
"As with the Kumo analyst, why hasn't the resistance already taken your advised action?" questioned their leader upon the Kiri analyst's conclusion.
"Terumī is likely overly optimistic about her situation and has therefore chosen to take the safe route and avoid any action that could upset the daimyō. As for the coastline, her optimism has similarly held her back - if she were to seriously disrupt trade there, it would damage her relations to both the native population and trade partners. So far, Terumī has taken care to avoid such effects, but her caution in this matter is ill-advised, lest the remnant just wait for her resistance to run out of steam."
"And you," said their leader, as he slowly turned his head to the Kumo analyst, "said that we needed to break up the Kumo insurgency in the northern islands. Why didn't you mention the weather?"
Sakura flushed under mask, embarrassed for the Kumo analyst and very uncomfortable just by being near the scrutiny of the masked ANBU leader. The weather was something she had failed to properly look into as well, apparently. She was beginning to get even more nervous about delivering her brief.
The Kumo analyst cleared his throat a bit. "I wasn't aware of that particular development."
The Kiri analyst came to his fellow's rescue. "It's not the regular weather pattern for this season, but there have been reports of a large storm in the Kaizoku Sea. Not only does the storm's path suggest it may be on a path to that region, but storms of that nature have a history of causing trouble in that area as well."
The leader gave an "mm" sound that doubled as an acknowledgment of the Kiri analyst and admonishment for his Kumo counterpart. "Now for the brief on the resistance."
Sakura fought the urge to react and tip her hand about being so nervous. All four of the people staring back at her from across the table were intimidating. Kakashi wasn't quite as bad as the others, but he was intimidating in an entirely different way – maybe because he was her sensei.
"Evidence suggests that the resistance faction is somewhat unstable. Although Terumī's faction has had some success, her operation will likely over-extend itself should the resistance continue to operate in the manner that it is. The geography and climate remain relatively irrelevant for the resistance – the problem lies with her economic capability and her military alliances.
The other main area of concern is the lack of proper maximization of economic ties. This is in part due to the fact that she can only bounce supplies through the southern islands and neighboring countries. The countries to the east are still in dialogue with the capitol, which is in the eastern mainland – Terumī is unable to disrupt this due to the aforementioned issues with showing hostility toward the daimyō, who has exclusive access to trade with those countries to the east.
This problem with trade is detrimental to the military ties within the resistance. Straining the resources of the alliances from those in the smaller islands takes away the incentive that Terumī's allies have to work with her. Rather than the problem concerning present resources, it's the temperament of allies in the face of bearing the brunt of keep the resistance supplied in addition to contributing fighters but most of all maintaining strongholds away from the touch of the other factions.
In light of this, the best course of action is to leverage political control and then supplement it with military action. I advise using Umeko and her forces to carry this out. While not an overarching strategy, the goal of this focuses on relieving tension in the ranks of Terumī. Earlier, the Kiri analyst suggested using covert action to win over the Water daimyō; what I suggest is making use of Umeko's political capital to win over the local figures. In essence, this will involve wooing the elites in the capitol with Umeko's military assets, which will be considerably easier, given the civil war and the many derelict stations and duties that shinobi have been in the wake of the conflict. Rather than simply winning over the daimyō, the main goal of this will to be create a movement in the top caste with Umeko spearheading it on the behalf of Terumī's resistance. While this may allow for the kind of long term goal the Kiri analyst mentioned concerning winning over the daimyō, the immediate short term goal will be to open up trade routes to alleviate those straining under pressure as well as giving the resistance more room. While not necessarily a key for overall victory, it will allow for the survival of the resistance.
Should this not be possible due to constraints in the mainland, where Terumī currently has Umeko's contingent holding ground, then an alternative would lie with using Katsurō's forces to bludgeon through and take the island east of the capitol. This would risk alienating those in the capitol, but rather than directly applying military leverage and risk pulling in other nations to the conflict, it would cut the capitol off from trade coming from Wolf and Honey. Katsurō's forces would be used here in order to prevent reputation damage – as he has no political capital to speak of, it will prevent other lieutenants from losing face when interfacing with those in the capitol."
By the time Sakura was finished, she would have killed someone for a cup of water – her throat and mouth were terribly parched. However, throughout the entirety of the briefing the pinkette's voice hadn't wavered once, and that counted as a victory in her book. It wasn't over yet though – the battery of questions to be faced by the leader still remained. Hopefully she hadn't made a glaring error like the Kumo analyst had – that be an unfortunate black mark to have at the beginning of an operation.
It seemed like an eternity before the leader of Calm Waters spoke. "I pose the same question to you as I did the other two: why hasn't this path been taken by Terumī already?"
"The reluctance to alienate the daimyō mentioned earlier is one reason. Katsurō, being more a charismatic leader than a brilliant tactician, normally isn't left to conduct delicate matters such as this and is usually assigned to areas in the southern regions. As for Umeko, a lot of her time is spent managing forces further north and negotiating with landowners and towns throughout the country. However, the main force has hit a snag and there is a stalemate at the moment in the center of the country between the three forces – I believe that even if it means the resistance needs to give back ground temporarily, this line of action would ultimately give the resistance a firmer foundation."
"You just said that Terumī may have to give ground for this. So why would the slower approach with Umeko be superior to using Katsurō, particularly if his forces are found further away from areas of direct conflict?"
Sakura paused, frantically grabbing at the knowledge she'd accrued. It was much harder now to find good answers to the questions now that she was the one being questioned. "Umeko's approach will allow for better relations, facilitating a better flow of supplies and support – in addition to making it easier to Terumī to officially claim the title of Mizukage, which is the end goal of our operation. Furthermore, Umeko's forces may not have to entirely quit their area of the field, given that elites in the capitol may want issues handled elsewhere in the region. In addition to this, Katsurō's forces would be there to shore up the resistance in meantime, and now that Umeko has negotiated with many of the key targets in the area already, there is less of a reason for her to be needed in that capacity."
When she finished her explanation, they sat in silence for a little while. It was all very stressful, and for a moment it seemed as if there had been some issue that the leader had with the report. Fortunately, when he eventually spoke up, he said, "Very well. We will take your recommendations into consideration. A few weeks from now, we will reconvene with a finalized planned and then issue you new orders before we leave to Mizu. Dismissed."
Sakura rose along with the other two analysts, giving a Kakashi a significant glance on the way out. It was nice to finally be leaving that room. Surprisingly, the first half, listening to the leader drone on about things she'd already researched while trying not to fall asleep without her now constant companion coffee was worse than the actual brief. In fact, it was a little disappointing, given the anticlimactic response on the part of those she delivered the brief to. Then again, may it did go badly, and she just didn't know.
Regardless, it was over now, and she was glad to be able to focus on simply passing her evaluations now. Over the week, she'd made some progress on that front, Ocelot had started her on the actually construction of the genjutsu she'd been practicing under for the past few weeks – hopefully she'd be deemed proficient enough in that one soon enough to learn one or two more before evaluation time. However, given that her only person to train the genjutsu on was Ocelot, it wasn't an easy thing to prove proficiency – most of the time acceptable grasp of a technique wasn't judged on whether or not you could successfully snare an ANBU operative in it. Occasionally, Sakura had the urge to try out her new trick on others from around the village, but if she were caught using it on another shinobi with their knowledge, she'd be in for serious repercussions. And if she tried it out on a civilian – well, playing with their civilians was frowned upon in Konoha. Since it wasn't anything too harmful, she'd likely not be severely reprimanded, but that wasn't exactly the kind of attention she'd want right before her evaluations.
As for her time spent with Anko, Sakura had been hard at work getting used to working the snakes. She'd discovered that it wasn't overly difficult to summon a large snake – it wasn't as big as Anko's, but given that as a tokubetsu jōnin, Anko would have a much larger chakra pool than she did, that wasn't surprising. Her mentor had also been sure to note that Mabu was her personal summon so things worked a little bit differently, though it still ate through a lot of chakra to summon him. Of course, the pinkette still couldn't be sure exactly how large of one she could really summon because pushing it too far risked sapping her chakra pool entirely.
The next meeting, they were going to start working on summoning two snakes at a time. So far they'd only been working on fighting in tandem with the snakes, focusing on both combat and communication. That was where most of the difficulty of the practice had been. Sakura could recognize when to call on a summon and perform it reliably, but training herself to recognize the tactics and thought patterns of a snake and act in sync with it had proven difficult. Thus, Sakura had her first lesson as to why shinobi often had a personal summon.
Unfortunately for her, she may have made a slight error when choosing hers. The young kunoichi had elected to work with the two-toned snake that she'd first summoned. The thing was still making no effort to talk, though Mabu had informed her that it was called Sakishi. The main problem wasn't, however, Sakishi's silence, but rather the snake's propensity for lazing about instead of properly contributing.
Sakura's response was, of course, to annoy Sakishi into submission. So instead of giving the snake a reprieve when she didn't' train with Anko, she simply summoned it when she was in her room or working on the report. She'd had to file for a special permit to be able to summon inside the ANBU facility, but it had been well worth it to try and provoke the uncooperative, lethargic little bastard.
Right now, however, she had taken Anko's advice on a whim and was walking through the streets of Konoha. It wasn't because she had anything to do in particular, but perhaps Anko had been right when she said that it was safer for her headspace not to be stuck in such a rigid regiment all the time. So, the plan was to simply stroll around town, and maybe stop off and just relax somewhere.
To be honest, though, the other thing that Anko had wanted to talk about made it hard for her walk to be relaxing at all. The possibility that she may be ordered to kill Sasuke one day frightened her, but when she thought about the fact that she'd be ordered to assassinate a comrade at all spooked her too. It wasn't that she didn't understand what happened to missing nin – deserters were often executed because of treasonous behavior, but she just guessed she hadn't really ever branded Sasuke as a missing nin of Konoha.
'But that is what he is now, isn't he? He's deserted the village, and willing to fight to do so. How couldn't you have seen that?'
She berated herself for the naivety – that was the kind of thing that was holding her back from being the kind of kunoichi she wanted to be. She would have to learn to be sharper if she ever wanted to catch up to her teammates. 'What's the point of catching up if they're just goin to order me to kill him?'
No, she couldn't get caught up in the hypothetical – Anko was probably right; she was most likely being trained to deal with him. The training that dealt so closely with Orochimaru's techniques, and her status as a former teammate made for ideal tools to be used against Sasuke-kun. But for now, she'd have to put the possible order out of her mind – until such a time that it was actually given, it was better to focus on the task at hand. Should luck go her way, she'd have the opportunity to act before Konoha ordered her to kill him or perhaps she could talk them into letting her capture him if she made enough progress with her training.
'I'll need do better than snakes and chakra threads to get him though,' she thought. Remembering him, it was hard to think that such a feat was reachable. Sasuke was already so advanced, knew so many techniques, and then there was his keikei genkai – even if she did improve, countering the Sharingan would be a daunting task. It was even further complicated by the fact that she was predisposed to using genjutsu, something that almost certainly couldn't find purchase against the dōjutsu. 'I'll just have to find a way to counter it. Figure out a way to set up the fight that makes it to where it's possible that only I will win. Maybe I should find Kakashi-sensei and ask for advice. Though he'd definitely ask questions then.'
She shrugged the thoughts off, putting them aside for a moment. There would be plenty of time to contemplate that matter later, after she returned form the mission to Mizu. If she had any luck at all, she'd be able to learn plenty while she was there, even if they hadn't elected to make her a full operative for the mission.
Sakura's trek through the town came to an end at the top of one of the buildings in the center of town. The stars were easily seen, vast and twinkling against the opaque darkness. Despite the beauty and tranquility of it all, the pinkette found herself a little lonely. 'Maybe I should've found Anko? She was the one who wanted me to do this after all. Then again, perhaps I'm forced on her enough as it is – she could probably use a break from me as much as I sometimes need one from her. Ino, then? Maybe if I knew her schedule better. I should look into it before I leave.'
It didn't occur to her until just then that she probably should've gone to see her parents. No doubt, they'd been worried about her and should probably know that she would be out of the village for the foreseeable future. Both her mother and father had served as genin, never progressing far along in the scheme of things. It was just as well, really; it wasn't too long ago that all of those in her family were merchants, and both of her parents were given frequent reprieves of service to tend to their business. Sakura, however, had her eyes set on more than that. Her parents flopped between expecting her to excel as a ninja and being worried for her safety. It made for quite a many confused conversations, and she couldn't tell if they were pleased that she was advancing well in her career as a kunoichi or if they were disappointed that she would not be able to help the continuance of their business. Then again, it was understandable, given that her success or failure would likely mark the direction of her family take.
'Evidently, I shouldn't come out alone to relax, if all I end up doing is brooding about my life,' thought the young kunoichi bitterly. She spied the handful of people on the streets below – either shopkeepers hurrying home after a long day or children running around, no doubt more than half of them out past their curfew. The notion to try out her genjutsu on one of them crossed her mind – nothing serious perhaps a scolding older sibling or schoolteacher telling them to get home. Unfortunately, she also spied a couple of chūnin who were on the street, who were not doubt keeping watch over what was one of the busiest streets in Konoha. She was actually a little surprised that she didn't see any jōnin or ANBU on the rooftops within her line of sight – then again, just because she could not see them that did not mean that they were not there keeping a watchful eye.
She stayed there on the rooftop until all of them left, save for one of the chūnin below. She had hoped that the one left would be someone that she knew, but when she'd had a better look at the figure, it was evident that he had probably been a chūnin for sometime – someone older than her who was likely bound to stay at the position for life. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was clear that the shinobi was a peer she would know, much less one of the Rookie Nine or Team Guy.
Given those circumstances, she left her position on the roof and made her way to the compound. She took her time on the trip, even going the long way, if only to enjoy the stillness of her city in the dead of night. It was when she heard muffled sobs and consoling whispers from around a corner that she stopped.
It was hard to tell from the brokenness of the one sobbing, but through the hiccups, Sakura eventually made out that Ino was the one who was crying. The hushed consolation that was offered to the broken down kunoichi was made by Shizune, the Hokage's aide and elder apprentice. From what she could hear, Ino had been observing an ill-fated surgery, and now that the shinobi had been lost, Shizune was offering some comfort to the Yamanaka girl.
It was an alien thing, to hear Ino cry – she'd always pictured her as indomitable, even after she had proven the clan heiress's equal in the Exams. The pinkette was unsure as to whether or not she should go to help and console her friend. If it were her crying, Ino would almost certainly have gone – the blonde always seemed to know exactly what to say to those around her, able to articulate in such a way that cut through all awkwardness or misplaced heavy-handedness. Sakura, on the other hand, was never gifted with that kind of social grace so perhaps it was best to leave it up to Shizune.
In the end, after much deliberation, she decided to make her way over to the pair. Neither of them addressed her as she approached, but Shizune did offer a thankful glance. Instead of speaking, the pinkette simply put an arm over Ino and sat for a while with the other two. After a while, Shizune suggested that Sakura walk Ino home, so the two headed in the direction of the heiress's home.
The blonde was silent for their entire journey, but once they arrived outside the Yamanaka home, the pair came to a stop, and Ino spoke.
"I couldn't do anything, Sakura," she whispered in a low voice.
Sakura stifled a nervous sigh. "You were just there to observe though, right?"
"It's not just that. I'm always able to figure out some way to get a handle on a situation – I've been trained to do that since I was so young that it's just natural by now," she said, in a dead voice. "I know I was just there to observe and that with just the training I've had, I would've probably done more harm than good. But just sitting there uselessly while somebody died – I'm supposed be doing something, yeah? It felt wrong."
'Dammit, Ino, you know I'm not good at this.'
"Then," she began, hardening her voice, "think it through. What do you need to do to make it so that you'll be of use next time?"
That seemed to bring some sort of life to the other girl's eyes. "Of use? I'm shadowing our Hokage and Shizune-san. I don't really know when I'll be able to help them."
"Directly? Maybe not. But you can be useful in other ways; think about all of the angles."
Ino was quiet for a moment. "So, you mean like providing support or observations?"
Sakura nodded in affirmation. "And paying attention to exactly why they do what they do, not just how."
"I'm still not sure what observations I could offer to them – Tsunade-sama has written about most of what we know about medical treatment."
"That's true, but you get to work with what's been written already – it's a little like you get a head start. Pay attention to the details while they pay attention to the bigger picture. It may take a lot of research. But you're a Yamanaka, right? You're used to getting inside to the heart of the problem, you'll be able to figure it out."
There was a hint of a smirk that played on Ino's face at Sakura's comment. The pinkette couldn't tell whether it was a sad smile or a more genuine one – either way, it was good to see that dead look gone from her friend's face. "Since when were you the one that comforted me?"
Sakura snorted. "Watch out, Pig, or next time you see me, I'll be leagues ahead of you."
Ino made a "pfft" and turned to leave as she shouted, "See you later, Forehead!"
AN: Well, this is technically still Sunday... Chapters like this one are why I said updates will come on weekends instead of a specific day - I decided yesterday that I wanted to rewrite this chapter, which is why it's here so late.
Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment, critique, or simply correct a typo (of which I am sure there are many, due to my laziness this time around).