The Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 26: The Best Laid Plans…
Disclaimer: When someone argues the weight of scientific consensus as support, remind them a century and a half back, scientific consensus was for ether as a medium for propagation of light, and scarcely half a century back, scientific consensus was that plate tectonics was fallacy. ^_^
It was a day of death and destruction. It was a day of vengeance and decision. It was a day when a handful of people dismantled the monstrous plans of the rogue Akatsuki and turned the world on its head.
On that day, on Fire's southern front, in the land of Tea, scarcely two days had passed since the brutal Akatsuki assault had turned the densely populated capital into a nightmarish landscape of craters. On the eastern front, the shadow war in Rice between Kumo and Konoha over control of Rice's sprawling rice paddies had turned into a moderate intensity conflict with both sides ramping up their commitment. On the north-eastern front, Grass and Rock advanced into Fire as fast as they could march their units. On the northern front, the corridors of power in Wind were in tumult as news of the Tea disaster reached the ears of their rulers.
On that day, in Pain's lair, Uchiha Madara and Uzumaki Nagato were chagrined to discover that Hiruzen Sarutobi had carried the secret of the shukaku to his grave. Neither man liked the feeling of being outmaneuvered. And both hated the thought that they were back to square one with regards to their plans. Madara particularly did not like the intelligence about Kaze no Kuni's capitulation to Hi no Kuni.
On the day, in Konohagakure…
xxxxx
"We will start with a briefing on the attack on Tea and the situation in other theatres of the war before moving on to discuss the situation at succession crisis at home and our response to the destruction of the Tea capital," Kakashi addressed his gathered lieutenants, the which heads of departments, council members, select jounin.
"Right," Inoichi said, rising to his feet. "I'm sure you've read the reports my people prepared on the attack on the Tea capital. Reports are still coming in, but the situation is very bad. Too many dead, too many wounded, too many businesses vanished with no way for their creditors to recoup the losses… too much everything, in fact. Still, there is a silver lining to the disaster. The Tea populace is absolutely livid at our enemies for the destruction they'd wrought and the story of the Sandaime's heroic death defending the city has increased approval of Hi no Kuni to an all-time high. Tea has never been a better partisan of Hi no Kuni."
"That's a very good thing," Tsunade said. "It means we can drawdown the forces in Tea to a minimum and reinforce the front with those troops. It's even better considering that we were worried about finding reinforcements to combat the insurgency in Tea before this meeting."
Inoichi nodded.
"We can drawdown the troops to a limited extent, yes. There'll be some banditry from insurgents turned to crime, but it shouldn't be all that much. Certainly, most insurgents are bandits in all but name at this point. The militia reinforced with small packets of shinobi will be able to handle the problem."
"So how many units can we transfer to the fronts?" Shikaku asked.
"Immediately? Not more than two battalions. That's just the shinobi, of course. The samurai regulars will be sorely needed to maintain the law and order situation for the next few months. And in four to six months, four regiments, I opine."
"That's two battalions I didn't have when I walked into this meeting," Shikaku riposted. "Fair enough."
"Moving on, Kumo are increasing their troop strength in Rice. Our intel says that they're committing a reinforced division with a regiment of shinobi to the front. With our troops spread out to the back of hell and beyond, we can't counter their move for at least three weeks. And frankly, Rice is pretty low on our priority list at this time. Our strategic posture is defense on that front.
"The Iwa-Kusa penetration towards our capital takes highest priority and we'll be sending the units from Tea to shore up the defenses. The situation there is very fluid. Jiraiya-sama's unit has really been the only thing keeping the enemy from capitalizing on their initial gains, but he and his men have got to be running ragged by now, what with having to contend with a numerically vastly superior enemy, two jinchuuriki and Iwa's strongest operators by themselves. It'd be a complete disaster if they're overwhelmed."
"You think the two battalions from Tea won't be enough?" Kakashi asked.
Inoichi turned to Shikaku.
"Not even close, Godaime-sama," the strategist answered. "We estimate manpower requirements as three divisions of samurai and two regiments of shinobi. And we need those on the front today. We don't have them."
"What do we have and what are our options?" Kakashi asked, looking around the table. "I'm not in favor of such 'in your face, come and get it' battles those numbers imply. And all this is assuming that Akatsuki won't do a repeat of Tea capital on our lines on the Iwa front or on our cities."
"There is that," Inoichi nodded agreement. Hi no Kuni had to do something before the enemy's ability to wipe entire cities off the face of the earth sapped the morale of the army and the nation. That something had to equally flashy and preferably involve the destruction of a stronghold. It must also be punishment equal in magnitude to the Tea capital. But how to punish an enemy that did not lay claim to territory and used roving, secretive cells of two or less?
"So, what do we do?" Kakashi asked again.
"We've given the subject some thought and we believe what your students accomplished in Wind will go a long way towards troop morale, but that leaves the problem of Akatsuki doing an encore elsewhere. And frankly, we don't know what to do about that because we don't have a similar capability."
Kakashi's lips pursed in thought. There were certain things that not even the Hokage's advisors knew. Was it time to open one of those compartments? Doing so would put his children in danger. On the otherhand, not doing so would imperil the nation…
"Assume we do for the purpose of this discussion," he said softly.
Heads lifted up at the suggestion.
"If we assume that, then the question then becomes where and when to use the weapon. The second half of the question is very easy to answer. Damn soon. As to the first part, the ideal target would be Akatsuki HQ, but so far as we're aware, the organization is small, highly dispersed and we have zero penetration into their ranks," the Head of Intelligence replied, lying adroitly about the last fact. Konoha had a mole within Akatsuki, but the knowledge of the spy's existence was limited to four people – three now that Sarutobi was dead. Truth was, aside from the one-upmanship factor over the other villages, the sleeper agent wasn't terribly useful and had never been used for two reasons. First, because there was no mechanism to pass information to and from the spy in a timely manner and second, because any action taken using actionable intelligence passed by the asset would compromise the source's identity to Akatsuki's leaders and that'd be all she wrote for the spy.
"So what do we do?" Tsunade asked.
"We can't influence Akatsuki directly," Shikaku replied, taking over from Inoichi, "but assuming we have such a capability as demonstrated in Tea, we can force Akatsuki's controllers to restrain the rogue organization."
"You kill our cities, we kill yours?" the medic-nin asked.
"Precisely."
"Can we do this?" Tsunade asked Kakashi directly.
"That assumption is the basis of this discussion."
"No, Kakashi, you know what I mean. Do we have this capability?"
Kakashi's lips pursed in thought. But what other choice did he have?
"Yes, we do."
"How soon can we deploy the asset?" Shikaku asked. It did not take a genius to deduce the identity of Kakashi's secret weapon.
"If the decision is made, we can strike within the next couple of days I shouldn't wonder."
"And we've already seen ample demonstration reach is not a problem," Shikaku appended, meeting Kakashi's gaze headon. If he had any doubts, there could be none now. Uzumaki Naruto.
Kakashi nodded.
"Yes."
"So, who do we hit and how hard do we hurt them?"
"I favor Iwa myself," Tsunade said aloud. Her hatred for Rock was well known. Iwa had claimed the lives of her brother and fiancée, and they deserved all they got.
"I think not," Shikaku said. "Who'd restrain Akatsuki if we take out the Iwa command structure? Certainly not Kusa's leaders."
"Kusa then?" Inoichi asked.
Shikaku nodded.
"Yep. It'd punish Kusa, warn Iwa to back off, destabilize the invasion's supply and the Iwa-Kusa border, and force Iwa to restrain Akatsuki."
Kakashi smiled.
"I like it. Who knows, if we do it right, we might even trigger a civil war within their ranks."
"We have to leave a calling card," Inoichi observed.
"Yeah, we want the world to know we did it and since we're going to be inserting a small team, it's possible their origins would be overlooked in the chaos following our strike."
Kakashi's smile turned sinister.
"I'm sure we can do that."
"Moving on," Inoichi spoke, continuing his report, "it looks increasingly likely that the succession crisis for the Daimyo throne isn't going to be settled peacefully. We have intercepts that have all four major contenders sending feelers out to sympathizers and acquaintances for support, and requests from three of the four their known loyalists for armed partisans. Two of the four have also left the capital for their strongholds and all four are gathering household troops for a showdown."
"All the good units – even the household troops - are on the fronts. The ones that are on the rear are garrison troopers, REMFs and pretenders," Tsunade shook her head. "What do they hope to accomplish with those jokers?"
"I'd be laughing with you if we aren't seeing some disquiet among units of the household troops, actually," Inoichi replied.
"How bad is the situation getting?"
"We've had to execute one commandant and about a dozen samurai so far in five separate incidents after fighting broke out between members of different households. That is officially. Unofficially, we're hearing the NCOs have their hands full with fights and disturbances. We estimate better than 95% of the cases are being dealt with using non-judicial punishments."
"That is a large and troubling number," Shikaku observed.
"Indeed. What can we do about this? We can't have units on the front at each other's throats in the middle of a war with Iwa and Kumo," Kakashi asked.
"Solve the succession crisis before things take a turn for the worse," Inoichi replied, blandly.
"By working with the samurai and choosing a successor ourselves, you mean?"
"Preferably, yes."
"Do we have the time? Will the samurai lords cooperate?"
"The samurai lords are uneasy about the current state of affairs. My office has had feelers from about a quarter of them on the subject."
"That is good news, but the other problem is all four major contenders are scumbags and chiselers unfit to manage a pig sty, much less lead Fire country. I think the samurai lords would agree with me on that."
Inoichi smiled.
"In point of fact, a good third of the feelers suggested the same thing."
"Problems of errant noblemen with delusions of grandeur can be dealt with easily and often has been in the past," Shikaku pointed out, "The cure is typically a hundred grams of steel applied at the proper time and space."
Tsunade chuckled and shook her head at Shikaku.
"For a lazy bum, you sure are a bloodthirsty SOB," she said. "Not that I disagree with your suggested cure, mind."
"Without an acceptable heir to the throne, that does not solve the problem and may exacerbate it," Kakashi pointed out mildly. "And none of the lords will bear to see anyone else from their ranks elevated to the post of Daimyo over themselves."
"Perhaps we should let the situation evolve a bit further then and see how things pan out?" Shikaku suggested.
"Why? I can only see it getting worse as time goes by," Inoichi replied.
"The waters are too muddy now. Perhaps a proper candidate will emerge, or the four will choke and die. Who knows, pigs may even learn to fly. But mostly, I want us to lay down the law after we burn Grass to the ground. We'll have breathing room afterwards to do whatever needs to be done."
"The last part sounds reasonable," Kakashi conceded. "I think we have covered the issues to everyone's satisfaction for the day. Let's call in my students and apprise them of the situation, shall we?"
xxxxx
Naruto lay on the grass in a clearing, cloud watching. He was flanked by Sasuke and Sakura. They were supposed to report to the Hokage's office for orders in another half an hour, but the present was for relaxation.
"You guys took over my favorite cloud watching spot," Shikamaru complained, joining them.
"Don't see your name written anywhere, genius-man," Sakura murmured. She had her eyes closed as she spoke.
"Ha! Ha! Shuffle a little to the left, you three. I want to talk to you."
One of Sakura's eyes opened.
"About what?"
Shikamaru shrugged.
"Move you two," Sakura murmured. To the Nara, she said, "Talk."
"First, I have to thank you three for saving Fire's collective butt in Wind."
"We were doing our jobs. If you want to be properly grateful, I recommend a barrel of sake and an all you can eat meal for the three of us," Naruto replied. "There are other ways to show your gratitude, but you aren't the proper sex for that."
"You've got it. The sake and the meal, I mean. You'll have to look elsewhere to have your ashes hauled." Silence. "I'm sorry about the Sandaime. I know you three were very close to him."
"Don't be. He went out the way he wanted. But if we get our hands on the bastard who got him…" Naruto let the sentence hang. Shikamaru's imagination was healthy enough to fill in the blanks.
"I don't doubt it," he agreed. He suspected he'd feel the same way if Asuma were killed.
Naruto sat up in a huff.
"See, Shika, this is what I don't understand," he said loudly. "There was no call to nuke the city after they killed the Third. And there was no reason for Akatsuki to go after him either. I don't understand those goat-fuckers."
Shikamaru remained silent for the better part of a minute while he organized his thoughts and composed his reply. Sakura and Sasuke rose up and joined Naruto as they waited.
"I wish I could tell you I understand them, Naruto," he said, finally. "To tell the truth, I think they are murderous vermin in need of extermination and I don't think that characterization is all that removed from reality."
Sasuke snorted.
"But you see, I also think Akatsuki are a symptom of a far greater disease than the disease themselves."
"What do you mean?" the Uchiha asked.
"Consider the world we live in. Our governments are military dictatorships with power hoarded in the hands of a few. Everyone's looking out for themselves and their clan, and they place loyalty to the clan and to the close family over loyalty to the nation."
"That's the way things are, Shika. You are loyal to your blood because push comes to shove, they're the most likely to support you and guard your back," Sakura replied.
The Nara nodded.
"Yes. But look at the corollary. When we trust our families and to a certain extent, our friends, we don't trust anyone else outside the two groups. As example, consider how techniques and such are hoarded by clans."
"So?" Sasuke asked. He could see being loyal to the Uchiha crest and to his team and teachers. Beyond that, while he was loyal to Konoha, that loyalty wasn't written in stone and only existed because his teachers and teammates were committed to the ideal of the Hidden Village.
"The point is, so long as most people's ultimate loyalty is to the family and not to their nation, there's no reason to trust or respect the due process of the law unless the judge is a member of your family and every reason to circumvent such institutions. That way is death in the long run because ultimately, your descendants will only do well when the country does well. Further, because of the properties of chakra, there is a fundamental inequality in our society. It is the rare individual who has enough chakra to use as a weapon and that individual has a natural advantage over everyone else. Throw in the various bloodlines and you have further stratification in society.
"Now, into this mélange, factor in that clan and family loyalty is supreme to all and you get a world where people with the most power abuse the hell out of the system and damn the ones disadvantaged by accident of birth. Where, in fact, the system is skewed to favor those sons and daughters who wield chakra."
Shikamaru looked at his audience. Naruto had the look of revelation on his face and Sakura was focused on his words with rapt attention. Sasuke looked contemplative.
"So, getting back to the point, Naruto, I think an organization such as the Akatsuki is inevitable in our world. Why shouldn't there be rogues who covet and whose supreme loyalty is to power? Why shouldn't there be people who aren't afraid to use power to stomp on others when our cultural ethos lauds the pursuit of power and the plundering of the weak and the powerless?
"In simple terms, we chakra users are the guardians of the Elemental Nations for good or bad. But the problem with having a guardian without oversight is can be summarized with the question 'quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'
"So, Naruto, this war was inevitable as was Sandaime's death. Sometimes in the dead of night when I'm feeling depressed and thinking dark thoughts, I wonder whether the Yondaime Mizukage was the sanest person in the world, though not nearly sane enough. Because you see, though his solution was murderous and monstrous in intent in the short term, it did not address the question of we chakra wielders, who are also part of the problem. Not just the bloodline clans that he tried to make extinct."
Sasuke snorted.
"You're an idiot, Shika. And I think suicidal. If we go by your words, the single best thing we could do for the betterment of the world would be to die en masse."
"I did not say that, Sasuke. This is a subject that I've dedicated a great deal of thought. As best I can see it, the only way to establish the foundations for lasting peace is to kill all chakra wielders and kill all children who show the aptitude for however long the men live on this world or to somehow render chakra use irrelevant to warfare."
Naruto nodded. Jiraiya was always going on about 'the cycle of hatred' during their sessions, but listening to Shikamaru, the blonde felt that the sannin had missed the forest for the trees. It was clear to Naruto that 'the cycle of hatred' was just another symptom as the Akatsuki.
"I see. Thanks, Shika. You've given me a lot to think about. We'll continue this conversation some other time, but right now, we've got a meeting with the Hokage."
The Nara nodded.
"See you around."
"Yes."
xxxxx
Unknown location…
Uchiha Madara stared at the unmarked grave. He was running late for a meeting with Nagato and a select few others in Akatsuki, but this was important. There were things that not even his closest associates in Akatsuki were privy and whenever he needed to get his mad out, he came here.
"You know the world is screwed up. It's never going to change. I wish you were alive to save the world make things right, but you aren't. So, I'm trying to shoulder your burden. But it's hard. The Senju stand in the way as always, the vermin. I know they don't know better and I shouldn't hate them, but they have done a pretty good job of ruining your life's work and mine. I wish I had taken out the slippery swine as I did the Uchiha traitors.
"They hid the One-Tail and we don't know where it's hidden. And now, they have the Two-tail and there's always our personal nemesis, the Kyuubi and its Senju master. We need those two tailed beasts to execute the plan successfully. Watch over me and bless our blessings so that I can bring our goals to fruition. I know we can still pull this off. We need just a bit of luck and everything will work out fine."
xxxxx
"How bad is it?" Jiraiya asked.
The kunoichi blinked away her wearily. She was dirty and looked like some chew toy that'd been used hard and thrown away, which given the battle she'd survived wasn't all that far from the truth.
"Bad enough. We lost two dead and one wounded. The jinchuuriki were waiting for us in ambush and we walked right into the trap. We were lucky to get out alive."
"You lost them, right?"
"They did not bother with a chase. I suspect they wanted us to spread the world."
"They would. The news of their presence is enough to force me to make their raiding forces stronger, which reduces the number of units we can have on the field and weakens the overall effectiveness of our force."
"What do we do?" asked Jiraiya's aide pro tem. Given the circumstances, that was just a glorified way of saying walking wounded.
"We try to draw them into a trap ourselves. It's going to take a couple of days to setup because we're going to need to concentrate our troops. Effective immediately, the raids on the supply trains cease until we've seen off the jinchuuriki."
"Yes, Sir. The front?"
"The front will have to hold without us for a little while. Because the way I see it, they can hold a little while as we handle the problem or they can hold forever while we push up daisies."
xxxxx
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were shown into the Hokage's office by the Godaime's assistant. Kakashi wasn't alone. Inoichi, Shikaku and Tsunade were with him.
"Godaime-sama, Haruno, Uzumaki and Uchiha reporting as ordered," Sakura snapped a crispy salute. Naruto and Sasuke saluted as well, though the form did not bear thinking.
Kakashi shook his head.
"That was pitiful," he told them.
"Sorry, Hokage-sama," Naruto said seriously.
"No, you're not," Kakashi retorted hotly. Then, in a quieter voice, he said, "I have another mission for you three. It's going to be hard and you're going to pay the price, but there's no other option."
Naruto straightened.
"Godaime-sama?"
"Please kill everyone in Kusa capital for me down to the cats and dogs."
xxxxx
Author's notes:
So, Madara isn't Madara in canon? WTF. Good thing I keep the plot loose or I couldn't have integrated that new plot thread into TBLP. shakes head
One of the reasons for the delay of this chapter was because I wanted to wait until 'Madara's' identity was revealed, but then I thought, hey, let's wing it. Ergo, here's the chapter. This is one of the most crucial chapters in the story for those who're interested in such things. It is certainly important to the story blurb because this chapter contains the seeds of how Naruto's really going to screw up Madara's plans.
As for those that are wondering about Naruto being ordered to destroy a city, well, what do you expect Fire country to do? Surrender? Because that was the only other option after Nagato demonstrated the ability to destroy a city. Now, there'll be a standoff akin to our world's MAD regime.
Next chapter, Kusa in Flames.
Keep reading!