บท 291: Chapter 291 - Daichi's Strategies

Hokage office

The Jonin commander of the Leaf village let out an audible sigh after he was made aware of the ongoing crisis by the Hokage.

"What a disastrous situation. That Orochimaru is becoming more and more troublesome."

"Shikaku. I need you to draw up battleplans. We'll be going into a direct conflict with him and his people. Alert all the Jonins and Chunins and have them on standby."

"Yes sir." Shikaku nodded as he looked at the old leader. Seeing the thoughtful look on Hiruzen's face, Nara spoke. "What are you thinking, Lord Hokage?"

"Orochimaru had been planning this for a while. I'm sure of it. What do you think his tactics would be?" Hiruzen asked the man.

Shikaku was silent and carefully thought about the answer. After a short while he replied. "This whole thing, he's strategically planned his encounter with Lady Tsunade. Now to keep us from rescuing her he'll most likely use false information and diversion tactics. Maybe even brute force."

Hiruzen leaned back as he listened. "So there is the possibility of an attack to keep our attention away huh…"

"Yes." The commander nodded.

"I need you to assemble a small team with an interrogation specialist and a tracking specialist… Orochimaru must have gathered intelligence on Tsunade's whereabouts and routines."

Shikaku quickly understood what the kage was implying. "Someone must have observed her movements and habits and reported back to Orochimaru. That's valuable intel and he must have used it to plan his attack."

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes. Mizuki's attack last night… There is no doubt in my mind. It must have been a diversion to keep us occupied. Keep the patrol squads occupied while he carried out the attack and abduction."

"But if we can retrace Lady Tsunade's steps and investigate we might be able to gather some information. I understand."

Hiruzen sighed as he turned his head and looked out at the village. "It's a long shot. But we need to pursue all avenues. Go. I'll leave it to you to pick the team."

Shikaku nodded and vanished.

'Tsunade, Shizune. Please be safe.' Hiruzen closed his eyes and prayed.

"Oink…" The sad whine of the small pig was heard and Hiruzen looked at Tonton with a soft gaze. "Do you miss her…? I miss her too…"

Uchiha Compound.

Sasuke was home standing in front of the mirror wearing only his trousers. Even though his eyes were on his reflection in the mirror, his mind was far away.

''Die." Sasuke saw the moonlight glint on the blade as it came down on him. He felt Mizuki's killing intent along with pain spreading in his chest. His Sharingan recorded every moment and he could only stand by helplessly and watch. The blade was only several inches away before Mizuki was blasted away by Daichi.

Sasuke suddenly let out a long breath of air and closed his eyes. He was slightly sweating as he recalled how close he came to death.

'I can't believe I almost died to Mizuki… Even more than that, I can't believe I would risk my life for Naruto of all people… Damn it… I put my own ambition at risk to save his life…'

Sasuke opened his eyes and his hands went to his chest. He looked and felt the area where Mizuki's sword first pierced. 'Not even a scar. Daichi's an excellent medic. I don't feel any abnormalities with my body. So everything should be alright.'

He then turned his attention back to his eyes. Sasuke's onyx eyes soon changed colour to crimson. A tomoe in each eye. The young Uchiha looked at the Sharingan with pride. "Well, at least I awakened my eyes. So it wasn't a waste."

He turned around and took his iconic blue shirt and quickly dressed. 'I need to train. I have to quickly master the Sharingan as fast as I can. From now on, I might stand a chance against Daichi.'

He stepped out the front door of his house with the intent to head to the training ground but stopped seeing Shikamaru and the others coming towards him.

Sakura, who was at the front, smiled brightly as she saw Sasuke and quickly ran up to him.

"What are you all doing here?" The young Uchiha asked with narrowed eyes.

"Um.. We wanted to see how you were doing? And um… I wanted to give you this." Sakura showed the flowers in her hand hoping Sasuke would accept her gift. "Thank you for saving us."

Sasuke initially wanted to reject her gift but he recalled her desperate cries for help when he was bleeding out.

"Hn." Not wanting to seem ungrateful he gave a small nod and took the flowers inside his home and placed them in a watering pot.

Sakura was excited to see Sasuke not reject her gift. 'Chaa! Yes! He's into me.' Her inner self screamed with excitement.

Sasuke came back outside and looked at everyone. "As you can all see, I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be." He turned around and was about to walk away when Kiba spoke up. "Where are you going?"

Sasuke let out a small breath and rolled his eyes before he gave a short reply. "To train."

"Wait." Sasuke was about to walk away when Shikamaru's voice stopped him.

"What?" Sasuke turned around and asked with slight irritation in his voice.

Shikamaru sighed seeing his classmate's annoyed expression. 'This guy. He's still the same as before. I don't know whether I should be relieved or not.'

"Sasuke, you and Daichi spar a lot right?"

"What of it?" Sasuke asked.

"Do you know where Daichi lives?" Naruto immediately and bluntly asked before Shikamaru could speak and the Nara could only sigh tiredly.

"What if I do?" Sasuke crossed his arms and looked at the group.

"Can you tell us?" Ino asked.

"Why are you looking for Daichi so early in the morning?" Sasuke found it strange that they would want to see Daichi at this time. 'I clearly remember him saying that he's going to take a day or two off to relax.'

"We think something might have happened. Look, can you help us or not?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the boy.

Sasuke slightly narrowed his eyes and finally nodded his head. "Fine. I'll show. But you need to tell me what's going on."

Shikamaru nodded and soon the group was making their way to Daichi's home.

Kensei's House.

Daichi quickly arrived home after he left the interrogation building. He went to the backyard and quickly created 3 shadow clones.

After making sure no one was near or spying on him, he nodded to his clones.

The four Daichis sat down and quickly started using parallel processing to create strategies and figure out Orochimaru's plans.

The real Daichi opened the quest and looked at the conditions required to complete the quest. He began going through them one by one and discussed options with his clones.

[Conditions:]

[Find the location of Orochimaru's hideout.]

"Do you think Orochimaru took them to the main base in the Land of Sound?" One of the clones asked.

"It is the perfect hideout. I mean, not even Jiraiya with his spy network could find it for years…" Another clone spoke.

The real Daichi shook his head. "No. I'm not so sure about that."

"The main base is too valuable. If anything should go wrong Orochimaru would lose too much. Is that what you're getting at?" A clone looked at the real Daichi asked.

The Genin nodded. "Yes. From the quest details and the given time limit, it can be inferred that Orochimaru needs Tsunade sensei and Shizune senpai for something. It's most probably for experimentation."

"Orochimaru didn't find Tsunade even when his prized ninja Kimimaro was in danger. But the fact that he's gone to her now… It means it's most likely not for her help with healing someone. So the probability of using her for some kind of experiment or having her help with some delicate experiment is the most likely answer." Another clone deduced.

"But whatever it is takes two and a half days to complete. So during this time, if the village finds and attacks him, it will be problematic."

"So the probability of Orochimaru creating a temporary base for whatever his purpose with sensei is high… Hmm… I think that's why the quest said 'location unknown'."

The real Daichi agreed with that theory. "Yes. I think if Orochimaru and Tsunade were at any of the locations Amachi told us about then perhaps the mission would have said the name of the specific location… But then again, it's also possible the quest says 'unknown location' because we don't know where they are, even if they are in one of the bases we know…"

A clone suddenly looked at Daichi with a serious gaze. "But this also means that Orochimaru might not be in the bases we know."

The eyes of the other 3 Daichi's slightly widened as they immediately realised what the clone was getting at.

The real Daichi crossed his arms and thought about it. "You want to raid the main base and take that item huh."

"Not just that, but we can take their blood samples too. If we can get our hands on their DNA, we might have the answers we're looking for and we could finally complete that quest."

Daichi was silent for a few moments before he spoke. "As I recall, Orochimaru also has several other valuable items like the horn of the 8 tails. If we can retrieve a piece of that, we'll be able to study tailed beast power... Not to mention the detailed information he has on Akatsuki, Zetsu and other villages. If we can get access to that information… With that jutsu, we'll be able to finally start building a powerful force."

"But we can't forget our number one priority. Tsunade and Shizune are our top most priority. We have to save them before something unfortunate happens." The clone reminded everyone and the others nodded.

The clones turned to their creator and waited for his decision. After a short while Daichi made his choice. "We need to do both. We need to rescue sensei, and we need to raid Orochimaru's base. If Orochimaru has taken Lady Tsunade and Shizune to the main base then things will become easier. With our Mana skills we'll be able to easily sneak in, avoid the traps and get what we need and rescue those two."

"But if they are in two locations, we will have to split up. Or create two teams. This is all on the premise that Shizune is with them. If they are all separated then things will become even more complicated." The clone opposite Daichi pointed out.

"I'm aware." The Genin nodded.

"Let's do both. But I don't think our Mana will last long if we use it here. We need to get closer to the Land of Sound. Then we can create clones and have them infiltrate his location."

"Should we destroy the base and kill his people?"

Daichi disagreed. "No. Let's keep this a stealth mission. We get in, get out and make sure they never know we were even there."

One of the clones looked at the next condition on the quest and frowned.

[Do not let Orochimaru capture you or anyone with you during the rescue mission.]

"This is going to be tricky. If it's a large force, then chances are that Orochimaru or his guards will capture or kill whoever is with us. Assuming the Hokage lets us go into his base."

"So it can't be too big of a team and they can't be weak. A high level Jonin team. Maybe a total of three or four people including me…"

"Do you think Kakashi sensei and his team will find them?"

"Chances are slim. I doubt it would be that easy. Orochimaru would no doubt have erased his presence. Unless he intends to lure them into some trap, I don't think they'll find anything." The real Daichi replied with a sigh.

[Rescue Tsunade and Shizune before the time limit and bring them to the Leaf village.]

Daichi was tense as he looked at the timer. "Two and a half days. We have a very short time period. If they're not in the Fire country, it will be troublesome."

[Escape from Orochimaru and his guards. ]

[Do not die.]

"If we play this right we'll have a chance at completing this quest. But if anything goes wrong the outcome will be catastrophic."

[Defeat/Kill Orochimaru's Guards(Bonus)]

[Defeat/Kill Orochimaru(Bonus)]

[Destroy Orochimaru's base(Bonus)]

"What do you think about the last three Bonus conditions?" A clone asked his counterpart.

"I don't plan on confronting Orochimaru directly. If it's possible I'd like to escape without a fight… But still, I won't be unprepared. I'll have to create powerful jutsu that instantly kill. Destructive war jutsus." The real Daichi replied.

"Creating new jutsus of that level will take some time… So you're going to increase the power of the Rasengan variants aren't you?" The clones looked at their creator and already figured out what he was thinking.

"Yes. If possible I'd like to complete this mission without a direct confrontation. But if it comes down to it… I won't be unprepared."

"You'll have to use the saved stat points. Otherwise it's difficult." A clone spoke and Daichi agreed.

"Yes. This situation is far too serious and our enemy is too dangerous. Holding back or not using the points is not a good plan."

The clones smirked as they looked at their creator. "Looks like it's time for another powerup."

Daichi nodded and made a seal. The next second the clones dispelled and their plans, ideas and strategies came flooding into his mind.

Daichi opened the status page and looked at his stats. 'I can't hold back. This time my enemy is Orochimaru the Sannin. I guess it's time to power up my attributes again.'