"Immediately tear it down, play along, set a trap . . . Decision, decisions . . ." Shiki talked to himself out loud.
While it was a bad habit, one he attempted to not to partake in, it did bring him a sense of spiritual relief as crazy as that might sound.
It was dangerous though.
You can never know who is listening, the boy certainly took advantage of such behavior to learn secrets he was not supposed to know, and he did so often . . . very often.
*
"That's about it." Shiki calmly reported the information he "overheard".
Through a genjutsu conference, he linked the surviving four elders on the battlefield with Mito who was still within Uzushio itself.
"They think we will let them get away with that!?" The Third Elder had fire in his eyes.
Being rescued from capture had been, as he saw it at least, a highly humiliating matter.
The Uzumaki were not known to be calm and reasonable people in the first place so he was in favor of going all in for a decisive battle.
Two of their fellow elders had already been lost and, if Mito did not secretly intervene and capture the Three Tails, the Sixth Elder might have lost his life as well.
Meanwhile, if not for Beni and Shiki's respective timely rescues, the First and Third Elder would certainly be enemy hostages right about now.
"In my opinion, at least partially going along with the enemy's plan would be ideal. Otherwise, if Mito-sama does not enter the field personally, this war will be impossible to win.
Even a brief stalemate might cost more lives than we're willing to pay." The First Elder's attitude was more measured.
"Before all of that, this ally the enemy speaks of should be our foremost concern!" The Fourth Elder interjected with a solemn tone.
"Hmph! Is there really such an individual that can bring down Uzushio's Defense Barrier at will whenever the enemy reaches our gates? I say such a thing can only be a trick or a delusion." The youngest and most impetuous Sixth Elder gave his take on the matter.
"This ally of theirs is very real but Shiki has already gathered their information long before the invasion even came about as a possible enemy of the Uzumaki. If he dares to show himself, within the village I will act to swiftly capture him." Mito spoke, silencing the elders.
The Uzumaki matriarch's reassurance assuaged the concerns of her fellow clansmen entirely though, the fact that someone who could infiltrate their barriers undetected existed, was a hard pill to swallow for the four men.
'Still . . .' They thought, discretely gazing upon the boy establishing the genjutsu communication.
Shiki had once again done a great service for the Uzumaki, detecting a dangerous enemy that could evade their fuinjutsu and barriers, well ahead of time and even gathering enough information to give Mito the confidence to catch him.
The Elders could not help but feel indebted to the young boy once more. His contributions towards the Uzumaki's clan and village had exceeded even their own in some regards.
Speaking of Shiki, for once, he did not carry as much confidence in the matter as his mistress did.
'Black Zetsu . . . That filial son has schemed for over a millennium, while he's not very powerful, I doubt Mito-sama will be able to capture him. Still . . . stopping him from lowering the Defense Barrier should be doable.' The boy made his internal considerations.
He did, however, decide to share any of them out loud.
But with his mounting contributions, Shiki's opinion became more highly valued as his age became a non-factor in the face of power, skill and results.
"What do you think, Shiki-kun?" The First Elder inquired with curiosity.
The boy pondered for a few extra minutes, organizing his thoughts before he shared his two cents.
"Well . . . Uzushio's alliance with Konoha is hanging by a thread, the course of action we take depends on whether we want to cut that thread or reinforce it to eventually renew the alliance." Shiki stated with a casual tone.
His words though were anything but casual.
The boy was technically a shinobi of Konoha, unaffiliated with Uzushio.
Mito, the current hidden Daimyo of Uzu behind the official Daimyo, the First Elder, was the widow of Konoha's First Hokage and one of that village's founders.
And yet, here Shiki was, casually talking about breaking off the alliance with Konoha.
Sure the Uzumaki's dissatisfaction with Konoha's leadership was at an all-time high and tension seemed to rise without stop but, considering their Matriarch's position, they were all still hesitant to make a decisive split.
But right then, the very individual the Elders were trying to give consideration too, was the one to speak up.
"What kind of damage would Konoha be looking at if we go with your plan for a split?" Mito questioned.
"Depends on the competence of the leadership. Konoha's position will be rather precarious but if the internal conflict stops and their forces are deployed intelligently, they should be able to make it through even if the lower ranks of shinobi are likely to suffer some serious casualties."
Shiki's response which emotionlessly turned the lives of his fellow shinobi from the same village into cold numbers was rather hard to swallow and Mito never liked it when the boy showed this side of himself, even though she knew that's just how he was.
"And if we want to reinforce the alliance instead?" The First Elder, seemingly a proponent of a continued connection with Konoha, even if the current leadership was unreliable, inquired.
After all, the Uzumaki were long lived, they could just tough it out during the Third's reign and hope things would get better with his successor, or so the First Elder thought.
"In that case, Mito-sama will have to pressure the Hokage to order a deployment and we'll launch a coordinated, lightning fast pincer assault, committing enough resources to force the enemy to retreat but not annihilating them, that would require too much spent blood.
Konoha might be left temporarily vulnerable but, as long as we leave the enemy with a path to retreat, the battle should end quickly enough and with few enough casualties for them to recover their defensive posture." Shiki explained.
Then, without being prompted, he elaborated on the cutting off Konoha option as well.
"If however, we want to preserve Uzushio's strength and buy some longer lasting peace, at least for this country specifically, letting the enemy act according to their plan but pulling the rug, just slightly, on them at the last moment, that would be the best option." The boy declared.
All eyes turned towards the genjutsu projection of the Uzumaki matriarch and Mito sighed with exhaustion, mental not physical.
Her ward's calculating mentality and callous planning weighed more heavily on her than the war but she knew Shiki's way was the best to ensure he thrived in this cruel world, he was never the sweet innocent type but Mito wanted to protect this perhaps non-existent side of him.
'But he cares . . . Even if just for a few select individuals, he does care and feel.' The Uzumaki matriarch could only comfort herself with that knowledge.
All the sentimentality aside though . . .
"Alright. For our plan . . ."
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -