章 22: A matter of State

Akata was right, he was by far the fastest among them as it didn't take him more than a second to appear inside the Hokage's office in Konoha several hundred miles away.

"Gaijin, what are you doing here?" Hiruzen viewed him in surprise.

"I'm here to report critical information from our teams' investigation of the unusual activity in the Land of Mountains."

Hearing Fuzen's serious tone, he indicated for him to wait while he erected a barrier preventing anyone from listening in on their conversation. "You can continue."

"From the information we've managed to acquire, the Land of Mountains is about to finalize an agreement with the Land of Wind to become a tributary nation."

Standing up, Hiruzen exited the office expecting Fuzen and his personal Anbu bodyguards to follow. "Convene an emergency meeting with all available members of the council in ten minutes! And make sure the Fire Daimyo receives a notice." Complying, one of the Anbu's disappeared to arrange it.

On the way to the war room, Hiruzen's kept asking Fuzen different question, which he answered to the best of his ability. Exactly ten minutes after the command was given Hiruzen began the meeting.

Each of the three council members was there, and they'd received notice that the Fire Daimyo would be there soon through a broadcast on the television.

"According to the information provided it appears we'll have to act quickly if we intend to stop this deal... and I don't believe it'd be wise to allow the Land of Wind to have a direct border facing our nation." Homura Mitokado argued.

"Not to mention the additional manpower and resources that would suddenly become available to Suna," Koharu Utatane continued the argument.

Having heard their recommendation, Hiruzen turned to Danzo. "And what do you think? Do you agree?"

"Yes, I agree. In fact, would recommend an immediate strike against Kagero Village and force them to submit to us instead."

Hiruzen closed his eyes and considered the available options and tried to appease an incoming headache by massaging his temples.

"Hokage, the Fire Daimyo is ready." A shinobi opened the door to inform them.

"Put him on..."

The minute the television came on a furious Fire Daimyo gave an immediate order of attack. He wanted the Mountain Daimyo dead for his betrayal, and the Kagero Village burned to the ground. There's was no way, he would ever allow the deal between the Land of Wind and Mountains to take place.

After the daimyo closed down the connection, the Konoha council was left in speechless silence.

Given a clear decree, Hiruzen began planning the attack on Kagero Village and made Fuzen return to his team with information that it'd take at least two days to reach Kagero Village.

Additionally, if the Mountain Daimyo and his representatives set off before they arrived, Akata's team should find a way to dispose of the Mountain Daimyo and the region's representatives at any cost. It was of the highest importance they left none alive who could sign the contract.

"I'll notify my team leader on your decision." About to return to the cave where he left the team, Danzo asked for a minute of his time.

Both of them stepped outside the war room where Hiruzen was currently planning the attack and went away so no one could hear their talk.

"If the opportunity arises, I want you to take out the Wind Daimyo as well."

"Are you sure? Hiruzen didn't mention any of this." Behind the mask, Fuzen smiled knowing this was an attempt by Danzo to reel him in.

"Judging by his actions here, the Wind Daimyo is too dangerous to let live. We can't allow people who intend to harm the interest of Konoha and the Land of Fire to go without punishment, don't you agree?"

"I'll consider it." And with that, Fuzen left Konoha to join his team once more.

It hadn't been more than half an hour since he left, and except for the eagle-masked sensor everybody was still there.

"Well, aren't you guys having a party? What did I miss?" He elbowed his way in to sit beside Akata and joined their discussion.

"Hey! There's no reason to look at me like that Sato. It was you who took my spot in the first place," Fuzen reasoned with Sato who was clenching his fists in annoyance.

"What did the Hokage tell you?" Akata broke up the potential conflict before it developed further.

Fuzen turned his attention to Akata. "Well, Hiruzen said he'd be here with a force in two days to take care of Kagero Village. However, the Fire Daimyo was livid after hearing the dealings behind his back and wants us to find a way to kill the Mountain Daimyo and the representatives so the contract between the two nations can't be signed."

When Akata was about to respond, the cliffside opened, and their sensor-nin entered the cave and reported that the entire enemy perimeter was starting to move in an east going direction toward the Land of Wind.

Akata's initial plan was to follow the convoy and set up an ambush when they knew which road they intended to use.

However, when the collective force of the Suna and Kagero finally set out the perimeter defence only increased. At least a two hundred shinobi had been spread out in a tight perimeter surrounding the convoy to ensure no harm befell the Mountains Daimyo and its chosen representatives. The convoy had at about the same number of shinobi guarding it.

There was basically no way to get close without their explicit knowledge, and they even had a team dedicated to the sole purpose of making sure no ambushes were up ahead.

The prospect of an ambush working was nonexistent, and the enemy force was too large to confront head-on anyway.

Stalking just outside the enemy perimeter for the better part of a couple of hours without observing any obvious weaknesses to exploit, Akata pulled her team together for a strategy meeting. "How long till they reach the border?"

Balancing on a tree branch, the eagle-masked Anbu pulled out a small map and did some quick calculations. "At the current pace, I'd say perhaps eight hours. They should be there at dawn, but there's no predicting if Sunagakure won't have more shinobi join when we get closer."

"Consequently it's better for us to strike now," Akata murmured. "Gaijin, can you bring someone with you into their encirclement?"

"I could, but it wouldn't work. Bringing along another person makes the entire process of materializing take extra time, time that I don't believe we'll be given by the enemy."

"But you can get in there by yourself?" She questioned.

"Sure, yet even I have my limits, and I doubt I could kill all the targets before someone intervened. There's simply too many in the centre."

As this was a mission they weren't allowed to fail, Akata considered all the available options as she formulated a plan of attack.

They couldn't make an ambush, and if they got too close an enemy sensor-nin would no doubt notice and encircle them before they could even get close to accomplish their goal.

"What if we attracted their attention and lessened the amount people bodyguarding the targets, could you do it then?"