Kumo Main Camp.
The northeastern outpost had gone silent sometime past midnight, and by the time a courier reached the main Kumo encampment, silent had become slaughtered.
"Two hundred and eighty men. Gone. In a single night." One of the jōnin commanders slammed the report scroll down onto the war table hard enough to rattle the ink pots resting on it.
"Not gone. Butchered," another corrected grimly. "Heads taken. Bodies burned. This wasn't a raid; this was a message."
Yugito Nii stood at the head of the table, arms crossed, jaw tight enough to ache. The camp had been small, yes — mostly genin and low chūnin cutting their teeth before the real front opened — but that place also had a few of the most promising jōnin of Kumogakure, some of whom were even her own classmates.
All gone...
And that was when the command of the vanguard had been placed on her shoulders. In a way, all those deaths were on her head. No one would blame her for that, of course, but Yugito didn't care.
Technically, they were her subordinates until she became the commanding officer in the main camp. And now this...
"Do we have a number on the attacking force?" she asked.
"Unclear. There are no survivors to confirm the force which took that camp down. However, they were extremely fast and prepared. Not even a single survivor could leave to alert the other guards." A pause. "Whoever did this left no one alive to interrogate."
Her claws lengthened involuntarily, chakra bristling at the edges of her control. "Then I'll go myself. Take a strike team, hit their border patrols before they can regroup, make them bleed for—"
"Absolutely not." The word came sharp from Darui, arms folded, expression carved from stone. "You are not throwing yourself at an unknown enemy that wiped out a camp three times your strike team's size without losing a man."
"I am not asking for permission—"
"You are the acting vanguard commander," another elder cut in, voice cold. "If you die charging in blind, Kumo loses its jinchūriki and its command structure in the same breath. That is not retaliation. That is handing Konoha a second victory."
Yugito's fists clenched, claws biting into her own palms. Every instinct screamed to move, to answer blood with blood before the fear in the camp curdled into something worse.
But she said nothing more. She simply turned, staring out toward the tree line where, somewhere past the dark, whatever had done this was still out there.
'Two hundred and eighty men... and not even a scream loud enough for anyone to hear.'
-x-
The Akatsuki hideout was dim as always, lit only by the flickering glow of the ring-projected holograms, each member's likeness towering in their respective place around the cave. One space, however, remained conspicuously empty. Kakuzu's spot.
"War has broken out between Konoha and Kumo," Black Zetsu announced, his voice splitting oddly between his light and dark halves. "Konoha destroyed a Kumo outpost. Two hundred and eighty dead. Kumo has responded with a formal declaration."
Reactions rippled through the projections — Kisame's low chuckle, Deidara muttering something about missed opportunities for art amid chaos, Hidan cackling about how much Jashin would love the bloodshed. Only two figures remained still.
Pain didn't so much as blink.
"Irrelevant," Pain said, voice flat and final. "Their war is not our concern. What matters is that it creates opportunity."
He straightened, rings around his eyes catching what little light there was. "Konoha's defenses are stretched. Their strongest shinobi are on the front, and the village itself is still recovering from the invasion. This is the moment. We move on the One-Tail now."
"This soon..." Black Zetsu was stunned.
Normally, such a decision came only after deliberation, after Obito weighed in, balancing Nagato's aggression against caution. But Obito wasn't here.
Black Zetsu felt like his blood was boiling.
This had been happening since Obito had fallen into a coma. Nagato had been getting out of their control.
Black Zetsu thought that after Obito's waking up, this rebellion would be quelled, but that unreliable Uchiha didn't show his face in the Akatsuki even after waking up.
"Send a team for Suna's jinchūriki. Another for Kumo's Two-Tails — she should be somewhere on the front lines with the rest of their forces, easier to isolate there than behind Kumo's walls." Pain's gaze shifted, settling on Black Zetsu. "And the Three-Tails. Status."
Black Zetsu hesitated, the pale half of his face twisting faintly. "...Unknown. Location has not been confirmed."
That was, technically, not a lie. Not entirely. He simply hadn't looked terribly hard, not since Obito's endless disappearances had started grating on something resembling patience in him. Whatever important thing Obito was up to, in his own opinion, Black Zetsu hardly thought anything could be as important as managing the organization and stopping Nagato's growing power. Taking action on Project Tsukuyomi clearly wasn't Akatsuki's plan, at least not this early.
Pain's expression didn't change, but something in his tone sharpened. "Find him, then..."
The meeting ended without further discussion, projections flickering out one by one until only the empty cave remained — and one vacant space where a stitched, four-hearted man used to stand.
-x-
Konoha Main Camp.
Tsume's tent was crowded that morning, more crowded than she'd have liked, given how her patience had been running thin lately.
"Kumo's been mobilizing nonstop for the past two days," she said, spreading a rough map across the table. "Movement along three separate points, too coordinated to be random. And after what you did with that camp, I don't see this as another hoax to threaten us." Tsume sent a glare at Sukuna.
"I want to know what they're planning before it lands on us as a surprise."
Sukuna glanced at the marked positions. "Same team as before?"
"Same team. You, Kiyomi, Neji. And this time, only scouting." Her eyes narrowed pointedly. "Scout. Report back. No repeat performances."
"Crystal," Sukuna said with a similar smile, in a tone that convinced absolutely no one.
That was when Sasuke stepped forward. "Send me too."
"And me!" Naruto chimed in immediately, practically vibrating. "You said last time you'd take us on the next one!"
Sukuna raised a brow. "I never said such a thing. I said it depends on what team is formed."
"You said next time," Sasuke pressed, arms crossed, eyes hard. "This is next time."
Tsume pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is a stealth scouting mission, not a brawl. The last thing I need is more bodies to keep track of."
"I can keep quiet," Naruto argued, entirely unconvincingly, given the volume at which he said it.
Before Tsume could shut that down further, Sakura's voice cut in from near the tent flap. "Then send me instead. I want to go too."
"Same," Karin added, stepping up beside her, arms folded. "I can track chakra signatures from a mile off. That's useful for a scouting op."
Tsume shook her head. "Both of you are needed here. Field medical is already stretched thin, and if the front opens up wider, I need experienced hands on standby, not out chasing Kumo scouts."
Sakura's jaw tightened, clearly biting back a retort, but she didn't push further. Karin looked no happier about it, though she said nothing either — just crossed her arms tighter and glanced toward Sukuna as if to make sure he noticed her disappointment.
"Sukuna, Kiyomi, Neji — same as before. Move out within the hour," Tsume said, ending the discussion before it could reopen. "Everyone else, back to your posts."
Sasuke's glare didn't waver as the three were dismissed, already planning, no doubt, how to make himself impossible to leave behind next time.
xXx
A/N : Honestly, I found myself quite unfocused while writing this chapter. Might as well taken some time and think it over.
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