The Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 12: Post-orgasmic Bliss?
Disclaimer: Do fanfic writers get laid regularly?
When Jiraiya and Kakashi answered the summons around mid-afternoon, the medic was scrapping dead skin off the Hokage's burnt arm. Like any governing body, Konoha's council had its share of idiots and they were there in the corner of the room, bearing witness to the procedure. The councilors had come to make their indignation clear at being kept out of the war compartment, but were quiet for fear of the ANBU in the room. Ignoring the gathered carrion-feeders, Sarutobi bore the excruciating pain – he wanted to be clearheaded for his meeting with the Copy-nin and the Sannin, and had refused anesthetic against advice – without complaint.
"Leave us alone," the Hokage ordered the councilors as his two visitors strode into the room. He pushed himself upright, grimacing in pain as he did.
Some of the officials looked like they might object, but left without protest when ANBU advanced on them. As far as ANBU guards were concerned, they'd tolerated the wallflowers only because their principal hadn't objected to their presence so far. Now that he had, the councilors had better vacate the room post haste or they weren't going to bother with niceties.
"You called us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked after the room emptied of both medics and councilors, and only ANBU remained.
"Yes. I wanted to talk to you before they put me under today on a subject of import. It involves Jiraiya, too."
Kakashi nodded. Jiraiya smiled wryly at his teacher. He'd guessed what this meeting was about as soon as he saw Kakashi waiting outside the Hokage's room in the hospital.
Sarutobi cleared his throat.
"As you know, a new age of war is upon us. I estimate four years at the maximum before the shadow wars burst into the open again. In a way it's already begun since we've fired the first shots today, here in Konoha. The village needs a strong leader to lead us through the turbulent times ahead. I'm not him. I'm too old."
Realization dawned in Kakashi's eyes as he finally understood the Hokage's purpose in calling him to the meeting. He turned to regard Jiraiya, who shot him a broad smile return.
"I'm honored, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, turning back to face his commander, "but I feel Jiraiya-sama would be a better choice."
Sarutobi sighed.
"So do Koharu and Homura. This is why the two of you are here. But, Kakashi, my advisors aren't looking at the whole problem and neither are you," the Third replied.
Kakashi, who'd looked thoughtful while Sarutobi spoke, nodded. He thought he understood the Third's concern.
"You're worried about Jiraiya-sama's intelligence network," he ventured.
The Hokage smiled and then grimaced again as a jolt of pain shot through his spine. He consoled himself with the fact that he had to bear the agony for just a little more time.
"Yes. It'd be criminal to waste such a fine weapon of war."
"And if I'm Hokage, we can kiss the whole network goodbye," Jiraiya interjected helpfully. The sannin was enjoying himself. He'd been afraid that the Sandaime would foist the hat on him, but it looked like his fears had been unfounded. The old man was very wise.
"The council respects Jiraiya-sama more," Kakashi pointed out, gesturing at the door through which the councilors had exited. "I'll have much more trouble with them. What about Danzo-sama? Who does he support?"
"Danzo is ambivalent. Given a choice, he'd elect himself, but so long as he thinks Konoha's in good hands, he won't be a problem. Or at least, not too much of one."
Kakashi shrugged. He was not privy to the power struggles between the ruling four. And Danzo was the most secretive of the whole lot.
"And the council?"
"That useless nest of parasites?" Jiraiya sneered. "If the Four support you, the rest will fall in line. You command as much respect as I do among the regulars and ANBU, anyways. And that's all that should matter. This is, after all, a ninja village."
Sarutobi nodded.
"Political power comes from the sharp edge of the sword," he stated, using an old quote from his younger days when war was the law of the land.
"It's a huge responsibility, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said honestly. "To stand in the shadow of Shodaime, Nidaime, Minato-sensei and you."
"Kakashi," Sarutobi replied, "you've been training for the job for two decades. You've been accepted as a possible candidate for five years now. Your mentorship of Team 7 and their devotion to you has convinced ANBU commanders and I that you are our man. Konoha needs a warrior in his prime to lead her through the coming turmoil. The village needs a leader of men who'll command loyalty like Minato did. You're it on both counts. Trust me on this."
Kakashi still looked a bit uncertain. The Hokage's arguments made sense, he supposed, but what was to become of his team?
"My team?" he asked.
"They'll be cared for. I'll take them under my wing after Tea. Or Jiraiya will."
"I'll strive very hard to be worthy of your trust, Hokage-sama."
Sarutobi nodded. He'd work on Koharu and Homura and get them to see things his way. And Danzo wasn't going to be a problem for long. The old war hawk had made one mistake too many and Sarutobi meant to extract his pound of flesh as payment.
xxxxx
It was evening when all but a handful of the enemy holdouts within Konoha had been overrun that Homura met with the highest-ranking and/or the most influential nobles. Wherever those two weren't one and the same, both the senior and the most powerful of the nobles were summoned for the sake of politeness. Homura's message from the Fire Daimyo for the lot was impolite enough that the old advisor needed all the courtesy he could manage to sweeten the bitter pill.
As per the decision made prior to the exams, the assembled nobles were the first of the genjustu victims revived in the stadium. After verifying their physical health, Konoha ANBU escorted them to the Hokage tower on a roundabout but premeditated route. It was by design that this path took them close to the blazing ruins of the Uchiha clan compound as well as through some of the neighborhoods that witnessed the most intense fighting and thus, suffered the most property damage. Regular nin vigorously patrolled the village so as to give the impression of a village under siege, but still standing proud with plenty of fight left in its heart.
The nobles got the message loud and clear. They would tread lightly. The sleeping giant was awake and on the warpath.
"Lords," Homura said, staring the gathered nobles in the eye, "my apologies for being an imperfect host and for any inconvenience you've experienced. As I'm sure you must have guessed already from the scenes you'd witnessed, Fire country's borders have been violated and Konoha invaded. You were caught in a genjutsu when the enemy launched the surprise attack. Fortunately, our courageous shinobi were able to thwart the invaders, but at terrible cost to life and property."
"Who were the attackers?" Shinji, a member of the Lightning court asked.
Shinji was a middling ranked but fairly senior member of the Lightning court. He was powerful enough that his death would cause a diplomatic incident but junior enough that there were others who could replace him. Certainly, his Daimyo considered him expendable, since ANBU had intercepted several attacks on his unconscious person as well as the Earth representative during the attack, but no other.
Homura had no doubt that the Cloud backers of the invasion as well as their Lightning counterparts had conspired with Orochimaru to have their diplomats assassinated, hoping to frame Leaf and Fire for their death and use the ensuing incident to negotiate concessions. Furthermore, it would have reflected very badly on both parent country and client ninja village if only nobles from Earth and Lightning died during the attack and given good reason for the two to turn a deaf ear to Konoha and Hi no Kuni's complaints later on.
Fortunately, ANBU Intelligence had anticipated such an action and posted guards close to the Earth and Lightning contingents.
"The invading force was composed of Suna and Oto shinobi led by Orochimaru," Homura's replied, waving several hitaite before his audience.
"Suna participated in the attack?" Lord Akio asked asked, his shock and surprise clear at Homura's announcement. He was the Wind Daimyo's closest friend and confidante and he knew how much trouble this meant for his country. In fact, the news caught him so badly off guard that he did not immediately think to protest Wind's innocence, seasoned politician though he was.
"Yes, Noble Lord. Orochimaru was masked as Kazekage to assassinate the Sandaime."
Akio paled.
"Did he…"
Homura shook his head.
"Fortunately, he did not. The traitor is caught and behind bars. He will be executed in public for his crimes against Leaf and Fire as soon as our ANBU are done questioning him. But this does beg the question, why was Orochimaru dressed as Kazekage? Should Konoha and Hi no Kuni assume that a state of war now exists between our two nations and shinobi villages?"
Akio paled even further.
"On my soul and honor, Wind did not have anything to do with this," he replied.
"Then as a token of Wind's continuing friendship, you will do us the favor of sending a message to the Daimyo regarding Suna's treachery and promise reparations."
"Reparations I cannot promise without consulting the Daimyo and without knowing the extent of your demands," Akio answered. "The other, I can and will do."
"Very well. We will discuss this in detail later."
"Where's the Hokage?" one of the gathered nobles – someone too minor for Homura to identify – asked. "Is he okay?"
"He was injured by Orochimaru during the attack. He's receiving treatment right now."
"What's his prognosis?" another asked.
"Very good. He managed to block the assassin's killing strike with his arm," Homura lied adroitly. Let Earth and Lightning think that Sarutobi escaped by a hair. It would make them all the more wary of pissing off the foremost shinobi village in the land for the next while. "But he's the picture of health otherwise. Anything else?"
Silence. The faces of the lords bespoke their curiosity, but they held their tongue. Homura hadn't yet made his most important announcement and laid down the law, after all.
"The reason you're here," Homura said, addressing the gathered bunch, "is because Fire and Leaf wish you to contact your governments. Inform them that Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure no Sato have declared war on Rice and its client shinobi village, Oto until such a time comes to pass when Hidden Sound is disbanded and ceases to exist as a shinobi village. We refuse to abide their foulness anymore and Orochimaru and all his abominable creations must go. We will not tolerate any foreign interference in this regard. Any belligerent action towards our shinobi by your personnel within Rice will be considered a formal declaration of war.
"Towards this goal, two companies of our shinobi departed less than an hour ago to secure the borders of Rice and safeguard the traitor's facilities from interlopers. More will leave soon. Orders have gone out to forward detachments within Hi no Kuni to cross into Rice as well. Your governments are welcome to heighten security on your side of the border, of course, but do not violate the boundary. Rest assured our forces will withdraw to Fire's borders once their mission is accomplished and none of Orochimaru's legacy is left standing.
"Hi no Kuni and Konohagure no Sato also strongly condemn any nations or states that helped the invaders in their nefarious plot. The Fire Daimyo has stated he reserves the right to wage war against these outlaw states on his own volition. Orders have already been dispatched to mobilize the armies of Fire and declare a state of emergency. Such flagrant violation of our borders with belligerent intention cannot and will not go unpunished."
The nobles nodded. The wisest and most knowledgeable among them understood that the speech wasn't just political rhetoric and jingoism. They knew of Fire's mobilization, which had begun months prior and knew that this was a real warning to their countries to keep their noses out of Hi no Kuni's business or else... They had no doubt that the Fire Daimyo would use Orochimaru's attack as an excuse to invade Tea since, as they suspected, that was what he planned to do anyways.
In fact, both Earth and Lightning delegates to the exams carried as part of their mission strongly worded condemnations addressed to the Fire Daimyo that warned of dire consequences should he proceed with his 'foreign adventure.' There had been little enough chance Fire and Leaf would heed them before, though a crippling attack would have made them more amenable to the diplomatic mission. Homura doubted if Shinji knew it – chances were overwhelmingly against the man being privy to that compartment – but Lightning had vigorously supported Orochimaru during the latter stages of his conspiracy to defend their allies in Tea.
Now, with Konoha triumphant, the Daimyo and the Hokage had even less reason to pay any attention to the demands of the other powers. Especially when, in truth, their saber rattling was all bark and no bite. The other major nations were not ready for war unlike Fire and they were too far from Tea with no effective means of force projection.
xxxxx
A day later…
The center of the cave was surprisingly well lit, but not so well that the ceiling was visible. On the fringes of the circle cast by the light were ten stalagmites, playing pedestal to nine figures, some corporeal and some not.
"Zetsu, report," the central figure said.
"Konoha has crushed the Oto-Suna alliance," Zetsu's white half replied and paused for the black half to take over, "They've taken Orochimaru captive as well as the One Tail jinchuuriki." Switching again, "The jinchuuriki will not survive long."
"Their plans?"
"Unclear," black replied.
"Zetsu, keep an eye on Konoha. Itachi and Kisame, depart for Suna at once. Observe and report. Deidara and Sasori, you're in charge of recovering Orochimaru's ring. Hidan and Kakuzu, your mission from before is unchanged. Summon a meeting once you make some headway in your missions."
xxxxx
The room was brightly lit. On the rack before him and hanging on the walls were various instruments of torture that Orochimaru was intimately familiar with. He'd used them on many an unwilling subject himself over the years, after all.
His first goal was escape, but he could break neither the chakra suppressing manacles nor escape the restraints that kept him secured to the chair. His body ached – and the aches sapped what little strength remained in him – from chakra deprivation and from the healing he'd received from Leaf medics. The latter was because Konoha's healers remained unaware of his true nature and had used techniques that worked well on humans, but not on one who'd transcended human boundaries such as he.
"It's good to see you again, Orochimaru."
The sannin used the limited degree of movement the restraints gave his head to turn towards the voice. He knew the man behind it, of course, having presided over the incumbent jounin's entry into the ANBU Corps all those years ago.
"Ibiki," he acknowledged Konoha's foremost interrogation expert. It said much of the sannin's mental fortitude that his voice was utterly devoid of fear.
"Yes, it is I," Ibiki replied, nodding to his helpers. "And I must say that it gives me great pleasure to entertain you today."
The three ANBU strong security detail in Ibiki's group moved to their positions behind Orochimaru. The two torturers who accompanied the jounin went to examine the instruments of their trade.
Orochimaru leered. The sannin's records were part of Konoha archives and they'd have told Ibiki that he was one of the few people who do not break under torture, which meant that the jounin'd come for other reasons.
"I didn't know you were a sadist rather than your garden-variety amoral critter, Ibiki," he said. "Maybe I should have tried to recruit you instead of Anko-chan all those years back."
Ibiki laughed and checked the IV that fed Tsunade's cocktail into the traitor's veins.
"Perhaps, but Orochimaru, I'm here mostly on business, though I won't deny the pleasure. Konoha knows that you won't break under torture, but most of your foreign allies don't. And the ones that do will doubt you did and that serves Leaf's purpose equally well. You see, we know a lot about your little clique and it turns out Konoha and Fire have to reveal some of our hand to achieve our objectives.
"But your friends don't need to know we got our information elsewhere, do they? And there's also the bonus of ruining your reputation forever to motivate us. Think of it as Konoha spitting on your dead body and pissing on your grave. A fair price for your crimes against the village."
Orochimaru struggled against his restraints then. He didn't fear torture or death, but such was his hatred for his village that he couldn't stand the thought of Leaf benefiting through him at all.
"Start with the nails and teeth. Then work on his/her/it's bits," Ibiki instructed his help calmly. "After that, we'll see what a skinned snake looks like and how it sounds when basted with vinegar."
xxxxx
General Hiro, long serving Head of Intelligence and longtime companion of the ruler of Wind, took one look at his Daimyo's face and knew at once that there was going to be bloodshed in the near future. His liege was amicable enough most of the time, but when provoked, as the Kazekage discovered to his bad luck, made for an implacable foe.
"Your Highness," the General said, bowing deeply.
Kusakabe Tetsuo, the Daimyo, made an imperial nod of acknowledgement in return.
"General Hiro, it has come to Our attention that the Honored Kazekage," the Lord said, laying stress on the title as he was wont whenever he talked of the commander of the Wind's Ninja Corps, "has taken it upon himself to wage war on the Land of Fire. Our representatives to the Chuunin Exams inform us that Our Cousin, He who rules Hi no Kuni, is irate and suspects treachery most foul on Our part. We would know why Our intelligence apparatus failed so miserably in this regard. We would know also how you intend to expiate this dishonor."
General Hiro, whose pallor had paled dramatically through the Daimyo's speech, took a deep breath, feeling his life flash before his eyes. The ways of honor gave him only one out if he'd shamed himself, his clan and his lord so.
"I, and I alone, failed at my duty to defend my Lord and people from enemies within and without," he spoke, formally in a voice that betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man making a painful confession. "For this crime and dishonor, I will disembowel myself. I beg my Lord to do me the honor of witnessing the act."
The Daimyo nodded.
"We will. This afternoon. Recommend a worthy successor and entrust to him the investigation on the lapse."
"It will be done, Lord," the General said.
The Daimyo's eyebrows furrowed in thought. He knew that it was high time that the disrespectful fools in Suna paid for their deplorable manners and treacherous behavior. But what should he do? More importantly, what would satisfy Fire and keep them off his back until such a time as when his treasury was full, his ninja loyal and obedient, and his forces ready for war? The answer, when it came, was so obvious that it felt inspired.
"That is all, old friend. Please inform General Zenzaburo that We wish to meet him to discuss war plans against the Hidden Village in Sand."
The General bowed deeply and took leave. His steps quickened once he exited the room for he had to write farewell letters to his family, put his affairs in order and carry out his official duties before the appointed time for his seppuku ceremony in the afternoon.
xxxxx
Two weeks later…
"Hey, Naruto," Kiba hailed.
It was early evening and three exhausted heads turned as one at the Inuzuka's call. Having performed admirably well in the exams, as their teacher put it, and because Konoha felt like rubbing Cloud's nose in it, Team 7 had been pulled in for the daytime security detail of Kumo's dignitaries by ANBU. Of course, the genin did not know of the political aspect of the decision or that ANBU Corps was using the mission to evaluate them as possible candidates for its program. The nature of the exam being what it was, Kakashi wasn't allowed to babysit them, which made the job stressful work for his team. Especially since their debriefer told them that their main duty was not to protect the diplomats from external threats but to ensure that the Cloud delegation did not steal unnoticed into the village.
"Join us," Kiba invited, gesturing at his table. All jounin had been busy for the last two weeks since the attack and having worked their 8-hour shift, Team 8 was socializing with Team 10. Kiba did not know about the others, but he definitely wanted Team 7 to join him and his friends. He'd been aching to listen to a firsthand account of their story about the recently concluded exams.
Naruto looked at his teammates. They shrugged.
"We were on the way to Ichiraku's, but I guess this'll do," he said, taking the proffered seat and looking around. "What's on the menu?"
"Does it matter?" Sasuke retorted before anyone could reply. He'd made sure he wasn't sitting next to the Yamanaka by sitting between his teammates. He did not want to be groped by the blonde kunoichi if he could help it. "We'll have whatever you ordered."
"What he says," Sakura seconded.
Naruto shrugged.
"So, what are you guys doing?" Chouji asked.
"Guard duty," Sakura answered. "You?"
"We're doing cleanup of the burnt out ruins of the Uchiha compound. We are scavenging for precious metal – any metal really – and anything else that's salvageable as our sensei's ordered us," Chouji replied. To the raven-haired Uchiha scion, "Sorry about your compound, by the way, Sasuke."
"Yeah, where are you staying?" Ino piped in. She had yet to get over her fear of Naruto and Sakura – privately, the Yamanaka thought she never would – but her Sasuke-kun was okay. His teammates were the killers.
"Naruto," Sasuke replied, laconically.
"Him?" Ino asked, acerbically.
Naruto snorted.
"Sure as hell ain't with you," he muttered, earning a glare from Shikamaru's teammate.
"Anyways," Kiba said, sensing the conversation was headed for troubled waters, "who're you guarding?"
"The Kumo delegates," Sakura replied.
Shikamaru arched an eyebrow in interest.
"Troublesome," he said by way of contribution to the conversation. Everyone ignored him since they knew from long association that the Nara used the term to describe pretty much everything.
"Really?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah," Naruto replied. Then, "Where're the eats? Service is terrible here. There's no delay at Ichiraku."
"Shut up, Naruto."
"You shut up, Pinky. I don't know what you got against ramen."
"And there you go again, you blond prick," Sakura shouted back into Naruto's face. "For once and for all, it's not about the ramen."
Naruto glared, but shut up. Sasuke snorted in amusement as Kiba looked at Sakura with interest.
The pink haired kunoichi snorted in disgust at the dog user.
"Aren't you sad your clan compound burned down?" Shino asked Sasuke. The insect specialist knew it was perhaps tactless of him to pose the question, but he wanted to gauge the other genin's reaction.
"The place had no meaning to me except the memories," Sasuke replied. Oh, he had issues with his house and everything else he owned, including the only surviving souvenirs of his family, going up in smoke, but didn't see why he should share it with anyone outside his team. "And I carry those with me wherever I go."
Shikamaru yawned. Sasuke shot him an enquiring glance and caught the light of intelligence in his eyes that said the other genin wasn't fooled.
"What were planning to do after you maneuvered Neji to Naruto's crater?" Shikamaru asked, shooting a very lethargic, apologetic look at Kiba's spectacled teammate. The lazy genius understood where Shino was coming from and normally, he wouldn't have bothered, but he'd seen Team 7 in action in the forest and the insect wielder had not. As Shikamaru saw it, it was better for everyone concerned to turn the conversation away from the painful memories and towards something more mundane, but interesting yet. If Sasuke took Shino's questions the wrong way, it'd become troublesome for all.
"You deduced that, huh?" Sasuke asked, curiously as his teammates looked on with interest. As he spoke, he made sure to make eye contact with Shikamaru so that the latter understood his gratitude.
Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow as if to ask Sasuke what kind of idiot the latter thought the former was, ignoring the unspoken part of the message altogether. It was just too troublesome to acknowledge these things.
Sasuke shrugged. What did he care so long as Shikamaru got his message loud and clear!
"Win the fight, of course."
"Hey, Uke, what were you going to do?" Naruto asked.
Ino, who'd been sipping water, sputtered at her crush's nickname and sprayed Naruto. The boy shouted obscenities – though he had enough sense to leave his offending classmate out of it – and left to clean himself up. Ino looked mortified at the offense she'd just given the murderous blonde and her hands shook just a little in fear. She knew it was irrational, but she was afraid that Naruto would hurt her like he did that Sound genin.
"Good going, Ino," Kiba jibed. "I'm sure Naruto appreciates how you did everything but slap him in his face."
Ino glared at Kiba in return as her fear gave way to anger. Kiba, not understanding her reaction glared right back.
The awkward silence that followed the declaration of hostilities between the two broke a few seconds later when the waiter came with their fare. By the time Naruto returned, conversation had pretty much taken a backseat as everyone set about enjoying the meal.
xxxxx
"It's done, Lords," Hi no Kuni's chief negotiator said, pushing two copies of the final version of the negotiated agreement across the desk.
Lord Watanbe picked up the scroll and weighed it in his hands. Sarutobi picked up his and unrolling it, read through the executive brief.
"Well, it has everything we wanted," Watanbe said aloud with a bright smile. Like Sarutobi, he had not participated in the negotiations, but he knew the gist of the treaty from the daily briefings he'd attended for the past week.
"Yes and it was all done in record time, too. The Lightning and Cloud delegation tried to drag their feet, but Wind and Sand delegation wouldn't have any of it. The Wind Daimyo wanted the negotiations brought to a quick conclusion and the newly established Kazekage couldn't wait to put everything relating to the old regimen behind him. The threat of force by their Daimyo certainly helped matters some there. And when we brought out Orochimaru's confession and hinted at sharing the information of Cloud's culpability with Stone and Rock, Lightning and Cloud could not wait to get the treaty signed. They even started seeing things our way with regards to Tea."
"So we get to keep the One Tail like we wanted?" Sarutobi asked, looking up from the scroll. "I'd thought that the Kaze no Kuni and Sunagakure no Sato delegation would negotiate hard to have it returned. I was afraid it'd become a big bone of contention. What happened?"
"We think the Wind Daimyo forced the issue, Hokage-sama."
"Did he now?"
"We think he did it to show Suna who's boss and as you know, Sand cannot refuse his dictates as weakened as they are now. Of course, we have to come to his aid in case of disturbances at home. In exchange for quarterly tithes as detailed in Annexure C."
"The tithes are good, but protection? That's going to be hard, stretched as we will be," Watanbe commented.
"We can deal with it. We expected there'll be small scale conflict between the hidden villages while the nations themselves get ready for war," the Hokage replied. "We'll simply have to ensure that we tie up things at Tea and Rice soonest. With Kumo officially neutral to the invasion, there wouldn't be too many of their ninja to oppose us, though there'd be enough 'renegade Kumo nin' and the customary nukenin to give us a headache if we let things get out of hand. But I don't think Tea will be too hard." To the negotiator, "What of the Kazekage's children?"
"We've reached an accommodation regarding the two surviving children. Konoha can grant them political asylum provided they don't don Leaf's colors," the man replied. Then, shooting the Hokage a wry smile, "The agreement doesn't say, however, that they shouldn't train or teach others. We think Suna just wants them out of the way and isn't too worried about the knowledge they carry."
Sarutobi shook his head.
"They give us two new shinobi as well. Wonderful. I'll grant the siblings access to the training areas. For exercise purposes, of course."
Watanbe nodded.
"Anything else?" he asked.
The negotiator shook his head.
"Then with Orochimaru's execution today evening, we're good to go. Here's to sweet victory against Tea, Sarutobi. We're going to be rid of those pissants forever soon."
xxxxx
Author's notes:
That's the end of what feels like the worst chapter I've ever written, even though a lot happens in it. Please leave reviews. ;;
Seriously, I could not think of a better approach to this chapter (as proof, I wrote the first two scenes on last Monday and could not think of anything to write till today) and still stay true to my goals because of 'design limitations.' The plan was to cover the aftermath of the raid in two chapters and then, maybe a couple more on a mission that is critical to the plot after the coming time skip. Turns out there are too many damn plot threads. I have to tie up Danzo's thread and the Hokage succession thread (even though this is a new one), detail the actual fallout of the raid and how it's going to help Konoha and Fire pursue their goals, the impact of the burning of the Uchiha compound on Sasuke, hint at what's going to happen to Team 7.
Oh, to those few who'd commented that you should bring a gun or a knife to a fist fight, I've experience with a bat and thus, prefer it. ;; Also, I'm looking for an official proofreader or two. If you're a grammar nazi and good at spotting typos, then do drop me a line.