The Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 10: War Around The Corner!
Disclaimer: The weed is good! Long live the weed!
Sarutobi glared at the reports on his desk and then at the blond medic nin before him.
"Tsunade," he spat his student's name in an acidic tone, his eyes narrowed.
The sannin flashed a cherubic smile at her teacher and commander in reply.
"I have before me," the Hokage continued, "three formally filed complaints on your conduct. I have had shinobi complaining all week about the cooperation they get from you in the pursuit of their lawful duty to Konoha."
Tsunade's smile widened and the Third firmly quelled the urge to strangle his student. He could do it only because both knew that the cards were stacked against the sannin and there was no way she could win. They both knew, however, that even though her cause was a lost one, she could still make a big nuisance out of herself. Which she was. Rather well, in fact.
"In light of your extenuating circumstances, I could ignore all these complaints, but now," Sarutobi grit out, "I hear that we're two days behind schedule on a project that's vital to Konoha's security. When I ask about my reports to explain the delay, they point their finger at you and make no secret of their contempt for my genius medic student. I'm willing to forgive a great many things of my students, Jounin, but not when the village and my people are at risk. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Tsunade did not reply, though the grin remained firmly etched on her face. For the first time, Sarutobi wondered if he could get through to her or even if he should. Perhaps she was really so petty as to put her interests ahead of the whole village's and turn a blind eye to the crisis almost upon them all.
"You asked me to make myself of use. I'm making myself of use," she replied after a few seconds of that smug silence.
The Hokage shot out of his seat and slammed his hands on the desk, bristling with anger.
"No, Tsunade, you're not. What you're doing is making a nuisance of yourself and being criminally negligent. I would say traitorous, if I didn't know you better. Do not make me doubt the wisdom of my decision to bring you back, Jounin. You can do right by your duty to your people and live, or you can die a traitor. There's no middle ground and there's no other choice. So make your decision. Here. Now. Should I put you down like a rabid dog that's a danger to everyone around it or will you make yourself of use?"
Tsunade's smile faded in the middle of her teacher's rant. She scowled, her face, a caricature of righteous fury.
"Oh, you give me the freedom to choose now?" she growled. "Freedom I didn't have when you ordered me to this hell hole and…"
The Hokage slammed his desk again, cutting off the sannin mid rant.
"What do choice and freedom have to do with duty? And how is what's on the table now different to what you had before?" he asked in a low voice that sounded reasonable, but really wasn't. Truth was Sarutobi was nearing the end of a short fuse.
Tsunade did not reply. She simply glared at a point over Sarutobi's right shoulder.
"You remember what duty is, don't you, apprentice? It's what made Dan and Nawaki fight against impossible odds and sacrifice their lives. It's what made him," the Third pointed at the carved face of the Fourth on the monument visible through the window, "sacrifice his life, his family and his son, and condemn the last to a life of hate and fear as a Jinchuuriki to protect the village. It's what gives honor to every hero who'd ever laid down their life in this village's defense.
"So choose your next words carefully, apprentice mine, lest they be the last few to ever come out of your mouth. I understand your pain and anger, but I will not have my mentor's granddaughter, of all people, dishonoring the many honorable souls who'd laid down their lives for the good of the village."
Tsunade glared at her teacher anew, angered by his low blows. She grit her teeth and was the picture of anger and misery as tears glittered in her eyes. She had given too much already and had nothing left. Couldn't her master understand that?
The Hokage walked around the desk and pushed the blond into a chair even as he leaned against his desk.
"Sit," he ordered in a stern voice. "Your loss was great, but you cannot live in the past forever, Tsunade. What would Dan or Nawaki…"
Tsunade made to stand as the Third spoke those two names again, but the oldster pushed her back forcefully. The sannin could have easily overpowered him – she was old, but he was a lot older than her and there was always her phenomenal strength to fall back on – but he was giving her that disapproving look he used to when he was their jounin mentor and she could never stand up to it.
"Sit down and listen, I said. Your teacher and master speaks to you now."
A pause.
"Good. I feel for you and I understand your pain, apprentice, but it's not right that you should ruin yourself over past regrets."
Tsunade sniffled then as anger deflated and the old, festering wound opened anew.
"I have nothing," she whispered. "They took everything away. I've given all that I had and I have nothing more to give. There's nothing more to take, sensei. Please let me go."
Sarutobi raised her head and his eyes met hers.
"You have the village. You have the memories of the two men in your life. Honor their memories. Honor the village. Protect the ideal they gave their lives for. Defend their dream. Protect their people."
The sannin looked at her teacher in confusion.
"Go, Tsunade. Live their dream as you loved them."
The sannin did not quite acquiesce, but as she walked away, she glanced back and gave her teacher the strangest look.
Sarutobi eyed the door for the longest time as he made the only decision that he could given the sannin's behavior so far.
"Reduce her security clearance," he said aloud, sounding defeated.
A side door opened at the Hokage's words. The ANBU Intelligence head stepped out of a secret closet barely large enough to seat one man.
"You want her stripped of her jounin status, Hokage-sama?" the ever-paranoid commander asked.
Sarutobi shook his head, even though he knew that in Tsunade's case, his subordinate's paranoia was perfectly justified. The sannin could not be trusted. He'd hoped she'd become his successor, but it was now clear that whatever Tsunade had once been, she wasn't Hokage material anymore.
"No, but keep her under observation. Ensure that she's aware of the surveillance, but don't be so obvious that she'll have cause to complain."
The commander nodded. The sannin would expect the spies after that meeting and would think something amiss if there were none on her tail.
"Do not entrust her with anything relating to national security," the Third added as an afterthought. He knew the instruction wasn't really needed, for the commander was as professional and capable as they come, but this was national security and only a fool left things to chance. "As of now, Jounin Senju Tsunade is on probation for six months pending review."
"At the end of these six months…" the masked ANBU trailed off.
The Hokage caught the man's eye in silent acknowledgement of the man's concerns.
"Tsunade main responsibility for the next six months is to document her medical knowledge on scrolls as well as to selected officers in the Medic Corps. If her loyalty is found wanting at the end of this period, we'll deal with her then."
The finality with which the Third said "deal" left no room for doubt that it was an execution warrant. A skilled shinobi like Tsunade who knew a lot of dirty secrets could not be allowed to leave the village if her loyalty was doubtful. More so when said shinobi harbored a grudge against her village, which the sannin would by the end of the grace period if she did not change.
xxxxx
The ANBU tracker knelt down by the remains of the campfire and examined the wet ash. He held up two fingers to his patiently waiting captain. Two hours since the fire was doused.
"We made good time, eh, Stinker?" his commander asked in that calm, collected sounding voice of his.
Stinker, the tracker and a seasoned veteran of many battles, nodded. He liked the rookie officer because the captain had sounded just as calm and collected in the middle of a running battle with three high ranking nukenin. In Stinker's opinion, nothing instilled confidence in men as the knowledge of their commander's carefree conduct in the middle of a fight. Conversely, there was nothing worse than a panicking officer to destroy confidence and morale.
But as professional as the squad leader was and as much as he admired the man, Stinker reminded himself, there was work to be done. He pushed the thoughts about his commanding officer aside and turned his attention to the task at hand. The expert examination of spoor left by the trail animals. Once he'd learned all he could from the donkey droppings, Stinker turned to face his captain.
"We're less than an hour and a half behind them," he pronounced and pointed to the forest bordering the hills a dozen miles to the left of the trail. "They're headed for that forest."
The captain turned to regard the hills and nodded absent-mindedly. That country was wild and mostly uninhabited. Ideal if you're a thief, bandit, smuggler, or in this case, wannabe invader.
Even though his CO's attention was focused elsewhere for the most part, Stinker sensed the unasked question. The captain may be a recently promoted newbie, but he was very good leadership material. Good enough that he understood he had to give his tracker sufficient time to complete his report before interrupting him.
"In a trade route such as this one," Stinker elaborated, partly because the captain was the sort of guy who was interested in such things and partly because it struck his fancy to show off to this man he admired, "there's always the possibility of confusing one merchant train with another. But there are various clues that point to this one as our trail. Our man's piss on that bush over there, the spoor from the worm-infected donkey and of course, the lame one that's hurt its right front leg."
A brief pause as Stinker debated whether he should make a statement as a part of his verbal report that wasn't based on facts.
"That last one's probably the work of our man as well."
The captain turned to regard his subordinate. He debated whether he should praise the man for a job well done for all of two seconds before he made up his mind.
"Nice work, Stinker," he said. "Tell Spitter that we move in five."
Stinker nodded with a smile. The captain had never praised anyone in the unit before, not that the men had exactly been clamoring for his recognition the first two months of his assignment. The situation was now different, of course, after the man led them to an easy victory against the nukenin.
Thus, grinning broadly, Stinker walked to the XO, who was set up on the perimeter and to convey the order. The squad was equipped with radios, but using even short-range ones, which was what they were equipped with, while tracking prey was folly.
The movement orders taken care of, the captain summoned a hawk to carry a message back to HQ.
"Soryuu, please carry this message to ANBU Intelligence. Mule Train 3 headed into Forest 2177."
Forest 2177 was roughly a full day's travel from Konoha – half a day's march and another half to rest and recoup. It was inaccessible country to most and was considered useless from a military standpoint by powers friendly and otherwise outside Fire country.
It was also one of the best-kept military secrets in the land, though the reason it'd remained hidden for so long was mostly because of luck than by design. Konoha had detailed maps of every square inch of Fire country and most places beyond since the first reign of the Third Hokage. The maps gave the armies of Fire and Konoha a marked advantage over the other states as they had never given much thought to cartography as a tool of war. Oh sure, they used maps, but none as detailed or as accurate as Leaf's.
But Orochimaru, for all his mania and insanity, was an ex-student of Sarutobi. He grew up immersed in a military culture that understood far better than its opponents, the important role detailed knowledge of the terrain in the AO. And at one time, when he was he one of the most trusted of the Hokage's subordinates, he was privy to all but a handful of Konoha's secrets. Thus, he knew of the secret, naturally occurring watering hole hidden in Forest 2177 depths.
Since Orochimaru's defection, ANBU HQ had always assumed that the qualitative lead Konoha enjoyed for several decades in the area of maps was lost even when its opponents and competitors made the same stupid use of terrain outside their own lands as they always had. The question, for the Office of Hokage, had always been when and not if Orochimaru would use his knowledge against his former homeland. That time, it'd been clear since the unraveling of the Oto-Suna-Tea conspiracy, was now.
With dozens of similar hard to access but secure hidey-holes peppered across Fire country, many of which were created for that express purpose by Konoha itself, the question once the snake sannin's conspiracy was unraveled had always been which of the many likely spots, the invaders would use for the raid. HQ had narrowed the list down to less than a dozen of the biggest ones from intelligence gathered about the supply trains, but with everything else going on at ANBU right now, staking all those spots was beyond their capacity. There was also the fact that there would be advance parties of the opposition's ANBU guarding the approaches of the locations themselves and nobody wanted to risk a Leaf shinobi falling into enemy hands while scouting the terrain. But now, Soryuu would carry the confirmed identity of one of the staging points – the largest of them all for the watering hole at Forest 2177 was the biggest one - and the rookie captain had no doubt in his mind that the main detachment of the enemy's forces headed for the spot was going to be buggered.
xxxxx
Sarutobi closed the report with his withered hands and looked up at Ibiki. He did not look pleased.
"I would have you explain this failure to me in simple terms."
Ibiki grimaced inwardly. The Hokage was angry. This was not going to be pleasant session. But then, after reading that report, what commander wouldn't be?
"We know who carried out the assassination, Hokage-sama," he said, summarizing the report, "The hit on Chuunin Mizuki was carried out by one of The Contemptibles, but we've been unable to trace the order beyond that point."
"And that is precisely the point that I'm trying to understand," the Hokage retorted. "Each of the black cells has one control, Ibiki. It's pretty simple to follow up that control's chain of command until you find the guilty party."
"But there's almost no direct contact between the control and the cell, Hokage-sama," the Jounin replied. "There are only drop points and somehow, someone knew this cell's designated drop point. We didn't realize it earlier and by the time we did, the trail was cold. However, we were able to confirm the hit was ordered by someone outside the chain of authority."
The Hokage slumped. Given the nature of the unit that was compromised – it was easily the blackest of the black wet-work units in Konoha – the breach of security that particular revelation signified was easily the stuff of nightmares. Someone, somewhere had hoodwinked everyone and breached the veil of secrecy on some of the most clandestine units in the Konoha Ninja Corps.
"That is grave news."
"The order was destroyed as per protocol by the assassin, but we confirmed that it had all the proper authentication codes as well as the seal of your office. It was written on your letterhead. We investigated the possibility that a sheaf was stolen during manufacturing, but the records check out. One of your letterheads had one page missing, however. That is perhaps the only good news out of this whole affair."
Sarutobi nodded in relief. While it was still possible that some foreign agency had penetrated Konoha security so thoroughly – paranoia was the name of the game in the world of intelligence, after all – it was far-fetched enough that they could discard it. But it weren't an outside outfit acting the fool, it some faction within Leaf must have done the deed. Not that it made much sense for anyone within Leaf to use The Contemptibles to assassinate someone like Mizuki, but no self-respecting agency would steal a single leaf of paper from the Hokage's letterhead, fake his seal and then compromise the biggest intelligent coup of the century to eliminate an useless pissant like the dead chuunin. Even still, having covert operations penetrated by some splinter group inside the village working at odds with the Office of Hokage was unbearable.
"It'd appear we have lots of rats in the closet, Ibiki."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. We suspect Root, but without solid proof…"
"I suppose that this more than anything else that's happened in the last few months, highlights the necessity for a complete overhaul of our security setup as well as rigorous unit-wise audits to ensure compliance. Institute security reviews, Ibiki. Rework procedures and update authentication processes. Delegate as needed within your unit. I want this done ASAP."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"And order that compromised assassin back from her post. We'll get her a desk job, or make her an advisor or something else on the field."
Ibiki nodded and rose from his seat, the meeting apparently at an end. Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe and thought about ordering his existing letterheads destroyed and a new one made, but thought better of it.
"Ibiki, are we sure that only one leaf was stolen?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Thank you. That'll be all."
xxxxx
Danzo looked on passively as two of his subordinates dragged the body of the incompetent bastard who'd thrown a wrench into so many half-ripe plans away. His men were supposed to be emotionless but effective soldiers, and not brainless with no capacity for independent thought like this particular despicable specimen of Root. Or maybe the man was guilty of too much independent thought and that was his crime?
Danzo did not really care. He expected his soldiers to expand on his orders and carry them out in the most effective manner possible. He certainly did not expend a considerable part of Konoha's covert budget training them so that they could interpret a casual comment that couldn't, in any way, be misconstrued as a lawful order as one. Even worse was the fact that the imbecile had acted on it independently and with no regard for the ramifications his actions would have on the big picture. In the end, he had compromised Root's greatest intelligence coup within Konoha to date. And all for the sake of a known traitor whose execution was already ordered by Sarutobi and scheduled on the day of the Chuunin Finals.
Now, because of one stupid, son of a syphilitic whore, Sarutobi would know that his own little black corps of assassins tucked away all over the elemental lands was compromised. The knowledge was sure to alert him to Danzo's maneuvering – there was no one else within Konoha with the wherewithal to pull off something like this – and make the wily, old codger wary henceforth. As a direct effect, it was also going to be infinitely harder to bring him down when the time came. Whatever one said about the Third's pacifist nonsense, the man was deadly on any field of battle, be it political or on the field.
xxxxx
"Hey, Kakashi, how're your students coming along?" Asuma asked, sighting the fellow jounin as he stepped into the teahouse.
Kakashi smiled cheekily from behind his mask. He'd been waiting all day for someone to ask that question and he had the wittiest comeback.
"You'll find out yourself at the finals."
Asuma chuckled, but then the jounin laughed at pretty much anything. So maybe it wasn't all that funny a reply, after all.
"You're working them that hard, huh?"
That was information Kakashi wasn't going to share. Not even with the Hokage, much less with his colleagues.
"No comments, Asuma. I don't ask you about your Nara and you don't ask about my cherubs."
The younger Sarutobi snorted at the mental image of Team 7 dressed as innocent babes. Ino still flinched whenever idle talk drifted to Kakashi and his team.
"Oh, ease up, Kakashi. I'm not trying to undermine yours."
Kakashi nodded.
"I know, but it's better this way. There'd always be the temptation to share once you know."
Asuma granted the Hatake that point. It was true, after all.
"How's Sasuke?" he asked.
Kakashi frowned.
"Not safe," he answered, looking very concerned. "Orochimaru marked him and I'm afraid the snake'd come back for him during the finals."
Asuma sat up a little straighter.
"You think so?"
"I know so. That bastard could never keep his hands out of the cookie jar."
Asuma shoved down the urge to grimace.
"True. You know, I'd wondered along the same lines, but the Hokage's been silent on the topic and I thought…"
Kakashi nodded, acknowledging the silent message.
"Yeah. But they're my students, you know. I worry."
"Well, here's hoping the bastard doesn't show up," Asuma toasted.
Later that night, as Asuma left the bar, Kakashi followed the other jounin's departing form in satisfaction. The Hokage's son wasn't a gossip so he would keep their conversation to himself, unlike one of the jounin who'd been sitting close enough to overhear the Hatake. Which was another reason why Kakashi chose Asuma earlier in the evening. Now, their silent interloper would go around spreading the gist of the talk he'd overheard. No one would admit to believing him, but they'd listen to him nonetheless because that's what shinobi did.
Hopefully, more than a few would consider the topic carefully and make the right decision. It wasn't the best solution, but it wouldn't get him before a shinobi jury for revealing national secrets and it would give ninja with brains a fighting chance. And that was enough for Kakashi.
xxxxx
"There you go," Tsunade said, placing a metallic cylinder on the desk. "It's done."
The Director of Medic Corps looked at the container in amazement. After the delays to the project that Tsunade herself had caused earlier in the month, he hadn't really expected to meet the tight deadline and had conveyed the same to his superiors. But he hadn't accounted for the meeting the sannin had with the Hokage. Whatever the old man said or did, it must have done a world of good because the Senju went from 'pain in the ass, loser' to 'self-motivated, go-getter' overnight. She worked on the project as if she were possessed and had somehow managed the impossible by completing it early. Now he understood why the old-timers called the legendary three miracle workers because that's what they regularly did.
"Thanks, Tsunade-sama," he said.
"I still can't figure out why you would want such a large batch of the cocktail," she replied with a grimace, "but I'm not being paid to make guesses here. You tell me what else you need and I'll do it."
The Director nodded. That was just as well. His instructions were clear. Tsunade was to be shielded from classified information of any sort. She could work on sensitive projects, but only so long the data she'd have in her hands was incomplete and inadequate to draw any conclusion, which in this case, it was.
"On that vein, is there anything else that you need?" the sannin asked.
"Not at the moment, Tsunade-sama, though I was hoping you'd do me a favor."
"Oh?"
The Director smiled.
"Yes. It'd be great if you'd write the textbooks for some of the advanced medical subjects as consulting material for and coming shinobi."
"I can do that."
"And if it isn't a bother, I was wondering if you'd document your esoteric techniques, practical observations and such as well. The information would be highly confidential and wouldn't be available to just anyone, of course. But it's knowledge and as a fellow scholar, I'm sure you understand the need to preserve it for posterity's sake."
"Of course," Tsunade agreed, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
The Director was good for a civilian at dissembling information, but he had not the skill to hide subtle clues from a seasoned shinobi. His flitting eyes told her the man was lying. But she was on thin ground, she knew and she had to cooperate.
Not because she feared for her life – though that was also part of the reason – but she wanted to see if it was possible to live the life her brother and her fiancé lived and died. If she could not, then be damned to Sarutobi and his village. She was one of the legendary three and she would damn well get out or die trying.
xxxxx
"There are four encampments, here, here, here and here," ANBU Intelligence head pointed on the tactical map. "The strengths and dispositions are on the reports."
ANBU Operations head turned to Danzo who nodded. Since the ninja groups were going to be made completely of men from their departments, they were going to be in charge of the actual execution.
"We've read the reports," he said.
"Good," Sarutobi said. "We'll leave the force on the left flank pass unmolested. They're large enough that we can claim sufficient provocation for war and it'll give us the numbers to crush the other three utterly."
"Show no mercy. Hunt them all down and kill them. Execute those who surrendered after the battle. We want to crush our enemies," Koharu added.
"We expect some civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure, but the activated reserves and the regulars should be up to the job," ANBU Operations head told his listeners.
"We'll herd them into the old Uchiha compound, set it on fire and pound them for good measure," the head of Reserves added.
ANBU Operations nodded in agreement.
"Massive collateral and excellent propaganda."
"Yes."
"Sealed orders to Kakashi, Gai and a few other trusted Jounin on the morning of the exams," Sarutobi said, handing over several packets to ANBU Intelligence. "Ensure that it's delivered to them on time."
"Any questions?"
There was none.
"Commanders on the ground have the final word. God speed and good hunting! Long live the Will of Fire!"
"Long live Konoha!"
xxxxx
Author's notes:
I know you're cursing me because the chapter's a month late and there's no Team 7 in there anywhere. I can only say, I was busy with real life and Team 7 weren't necessary for this chapter. They'll have roles in the next chapter, I promise! LOL
Anyways, the last of the chess pieces are on the board. Next chapter, checkmate!
Do leave reviews.