Planning
Even after arriving at the capital of the Land of Rivers, Shirō and his team did not allow themselves to relax. On the contrary, their vigilance only deepened.
Their current mission required them to guard the minister until his diplomatic discussions concluded—a task that might last days, even weeks. The city was dangerous terrain: crowded streets, shifting loyalties, and countless places for assassins to hide. A single lapse could doom the mission.
So even if Shirō's suspicions were exaggerated, the team maintained strict caution. Only after escorting the minister safely to the embassy did they allow themselves to loosen slightly, though never fully lowering their guard. Nakamura shadowed the minister everywhere, while Shirō and Shikamaru focused on intelligence gathering.
During the following days, Nakamura stayed close to the minister, while Shirō and Shikamaru scouted the capital. Shirō also made a habit of studying the terrain. He recalled the Dragon Vein beneath Rōran in the Land of Wind—raw natural energy hidden beneath the desert—and wondered whether similar spiritual nodes existed here. If he could establish a Workshop anchored to such a site, their long-term planning would become much smoother.
Still, this was secondary. For now, they collected intelligence by day and cultivated or rested by night. At night, Gray Snake—stealthier and better suited for reconnaissance—took over, since Shirō and Shikamaru's movements would only increase the risk of exposure.
Sure enough, Gray Snake soon discovered enemy traces. But to avoid detection, it withdrew after confirming only the general scope of the threat. Shirō's team followed up with careful surveillance, gathering fragments of information. Unfortunately, none of it pointed toward the enemy's true leaders. The moment they pushed deeper, they risked being exposed—and that would destroy the advantage they had worked so hard to build.
But decisions could not be delayed forever. After consulting the minister about the likely end date of the talks, Shirō called the team together to make a plan.
That evening, Shirō, Shikamaru, Nakamura, and the samurai leader Zongmu sat around a low table in the embassy's common room.
Shikamaru exhaled, scanning their notes.
"Let me summarize the intelligence so far. The jōnin we encountered earlier is definitely with them. That means we should assume the worst: the enemy has at least one elite jōnin."
He tapped the parchment with his knuckles.
"If there were two, they'd have pressed us already. But we sensed another jōnin-class chakra signature—slightly weaker. So, worst case: two jōnin, one elite jōnin, and four chūnin. That's their fighting strength."
The room fell silent. They had already eliminated most of the enemy's genin and lower-rank operatives in earlier clashes, but this remaining lineup was still dangerously lopsided.
Shirō broke the silence. His gaze fell on Nakamura.
"Captain, if you worked together with Orochimaru-senpai's Manda, could you eliminate the elite jōnin quickly?"
Nakamura's brow furrowed. "I could kill him, yes… but not quickly. It would take time. Too much."
Shirō let out a breath. He turned to Shikamaru and Zongmu.
"Then, could you two hold off the four chūnin together?"
Shikamaru glanced at the older samurai leader. As a strategist, his role was usually support rather than direct combat.
Zongmu frowned, considering. "Uncertain. Samurai aren't trained like shinobi. We know blades, not ninjutsu. I can't measure myself against your 'chūnin.'"
That answer complicated things further. None of them had a reliable scale for comparing samurai skill to shinobi ranks.
Shikamaru finally asked the question everyone was thinking.
"You keep probing us, Shirō. Do you have a plan?"
"Yes." Shirō's eyes sharpened. "I have a trump card. If used by surprise, it can take down a jōnin instantly."
Everyone stiffened.
"Don't look so shocked," Shirō added quickly. "It only works by surprise. In a head-on clash, even a chūnin could evade it if prepared."
Still, the revelation changed the battlefield calculus. Shinobi valued assassination over brute force—an instant-kill technique tilted the odds sharply.
Nakamura leaned forward. "Then the key question: will you still be able to fight afterward?"
"That's the good part," Shirō answered. "The consumption isn't great. But once revealed, it'll be useless—if they anticipate it, even lower ranks can defend."
In truth, the weapon he referred to was one of his Noble Phantasms—esoteric constructs that blended technique and legend. This one resembled Sasaki Kojirō's Tsubame Gaeshi in form: a technique elevated to impossibility, devastating in its precision but dependent on fundamentals. Shirō had trained diligently to support its projection, though he had not yet reached mastery.
After a pause, Shikamaru spoke again. "If it comes to that… I can still summon Blue Snake through your blood, right?"
Shirō studied him. "You could—but can you handle it? Blue Snake's chakra is no joke. Combined with Manda's presence, it might crush you. I could lend you my summoning crest instead, but that's our ace of last resort."
Shikamaru shook his head firmly. "No. Save your crest. If Blue Snake restrains itself, I can endure. We'll need the crest at the very end, when everything else fails."
"…Alright." Shirō nodded slowly.
They outlined the plan:
At the decisive moment, Shikamaru would summon Blue Snake while Nakamura called forth Manda.
Manda and Shirō would target the elite jōnin directly.
Blue Snake would support Shikamaru and Zongmu, focusing on containing the enemy chūnin rather than defeating them outright.
Once Shirō eliminated a jōnin with his Noble Phantasm, he would rush to reinforce Taiyi against the second jōnin.
If they held the line until then, victory might be within reach.
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