As news of the Chuunin Exam, intermixed with rumors and gossip, spread throughout the elemental countries, certain people with vested interests gathered to discuss the implications.
"I apologize, Tayuya-san, but Orochimaru-sama has his own plans," the bespectacled, silver-haired spy answered. In quick succession, the recipient of his words cursed him, his serpentine leader, their ancestors and their progenies in very graphic and lively terms.
"By your leave, Tayuya-san," the man remarked cheerfully before vanishing in a puff of smoke, completely unaffected by the tirade thrown.
"Bad news?"
The redheaded ninja of Iwa turned to see Baki's one uncovered eye looking back at her. She gave the Suna jounin a wry look.
"You could say that." The closer the invasion drew, the more uneasy Tayuya became. The Snake bastard's minions seemed to delight in tormenting her, denying her access to intelligence one day and delaying troop status reports the next. Kabuto, Orochimaru's point man and their resident spy, had not been forthcoming when she questioned him about his leader's apparent stroll through the Forest of Death. Seriously, what the fuck was the crazy snake doing? Hunting for fresh specimen for his perverse experiments? Whatever it was, it smelled fishy to her. If she didn't know better, Tayuya would be tempted to think that Orochimaru wanted them to fail.
"Just the two of us?" Baki asked as he scanned the empty area.
"Sorry I'm late."
Both jounin turned to see a girl roughly Tayuya's age appear.
"Baki, I want to introduce you to Tsuchi Kin, a Sound genin I know. We are in Konoha territory so I didn't want too many people to be gathered here." Both the Sound genin and the Suna jounin nodded in agreement.
"So what the hell happened? Did we really lose that many teams?" Tayuya asked, jumping right into the heart of the issue.
"I'm afraid so. This is the list of where we stand right now." Baki handed over a crumpled piece of paper. After reading it, Tayuya expressed her displeasure with a predictably loud and brash string of unladylike curses.
"There's more. The Rain and Grass ninja apparently had an axe to grind with each other and the tension boiled over. Nearly all of their genin died in the fighting. Some of the spectators have insisted that the Hokage provide security for the upcoming tournament. An ANBU team is almost certain to be deployed at ground zero on the day of our operation. Tayuya-san, with just the teams we have left, we might not be able to take the arena," Baki assessed.
"Fuck! I knew this was going to happen. Rain is more concerned with the war that they'll be having with Grass after this exam than their obligation to our alliance. Fucking flip-flopping parasites! They pulled almost their entire contingent from the invasion force just a few hours ago."
"What's the big deal? Rain isn't that powerful." Kin blushed when she realized she had blurted out loud.
"If you had bothered to do your homework, Kin," Tayuya reprimanded, "you would have known that Hidden Rain's specialty is genjutsu, which is Konoha's biggest vulnerability right now. With the destruction of the Kurama clan and the loss of so many Uchiha shinobi, Konoha is practically defenseless against an entire branch of the ninja arts. We were depending on Rain's genjutsu specialists to disguise our main force until we reached Konoha. Losing their cooperation means losing a big tactical advantage." Rain was going to pay for reneging on their agreement… after the Konoha invasion.
"So, you think Konoha might be on to us?" Kin asked, putting the pieces together. The raven-haired girl realized she probably shouldn't have said that when she found herself the recipient of Tayuya's patented "are you just stupid or are you really, really stupid" glare.
"Isn't it fucking obvious? They move the location of the one-on-one fights to an old arena in the middle of nowhere. We lose dozens of genin in a forest that our jounin aren't allowed to enter. And now we have a political crisis that gives Konoha the damn perfect excuse to move up the exam date and to put seasoned veterans into the combat area itself. Right, this is so not a trap!" Despite being accustomed to the temperamental redhead, the sarcasm was still laid on thick enough to make Kin wince.
"You truly believe that Konoha could have planned all this? That they set fire to their oldest monument? What about the conflict between Rain and Grass? I don't see how the Hokage could have set that up," Baki sounded doubtful. They were talking about Konoha, and the Sandaime Hokage was not exactly known to be an enthusiastic warmonger. There was also confirmation of an assassination attempt against one of the Hokage's relatives. Amidst such internal chaos, it was hard to imagine how Konoha could be conspiring against them.
"Tayuya-sama, it's true that a number of Konoha teams made it through the forest, but this is their home so that's not surprising. However, only one of their teams won the team round and that was against another Konoha team. I don't think they did all this. Just look at the complete list of teams that didn't make it out of the forest. Rain, Kiri, Grass ... Grass is actually an ally of Konoha. Why would they attack their own allies?" Kin pressed her argument. The Sound genin had not been the least bit impressed with Konoha's performance thus far. The Suna jounin nodded slightly in agreement.
"To throw off our suspicion, perhaps?" Tayuya looked at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She shook her head when she noticed that the others didn't buy her argument. Some people just weren't paranoid enough. "It's what I would have done had I been in their shoes."
"Then, we should all be thankful that you are not a ninja of Konoha, Tayuya-san," Baki offered only half-jokingly. Tayuya flashed him a devilish smile. While hardly vain or self-conscious—how could she be when half the time she was covered in soot and grime from being in the field for so long—she appreciated genuine praise from an equal or near equal, even if it was from a Suna ninja. Baki was probably the only allied jounin that both knew of and recognized Tayuya's abilities. While he had never explicitly said so, he suspected (correctly) that the young kunoichi played a key part in obtaining Suna's aid.
"Fuck it! It really doesn't matter. None of the leadership is willing to call off the operation." Not for lack of trying on Tayuya's part. For whatever reason, the Tsuchikage was quite adamant about carrying through with the invasion. Ok, that was fine. But why leave overall command in the hands of a lunatic like Orochimaru? Ostensibly, it was because he used to be a Konoha shinobi and would therefore know its defenses best, but the Iwa jounin had her doubts.
"About your village's asset," Tayuya started. The word "jinchuuriki," somehow just didn't sound right to her. Of course, that could just be Yugito's habits rubbing off on her. The cat ninja had never liked the generic term for people like her. The blonde ninja from Kumo might be a pain in the ass, but at least she was useful to have around. In contrast, Tayuya found the host of the Shukaku to be somewhat lacking.
"I'd like to make a small change in the plans. I've already cleared it from my end, so it all depends on you and the Kazekage."
"What do you need?"
It was at this point that a shift in the wind alerted Kin to something or rather someone that shouldn't be there. She twisted her head and was confused to see both of her companions acting as if nothing was wrong.
"Excuse me, Tayuya."
"Not now, Kin."
"But—" Kin's mouth slammed shut as Tayuya gave her a glacial stare that sent chills down her spine.
"Regardless of what these fuckers know, I want to shift the target zone of one of our strike groups to two miles south of the examination arena."
"That would put us behind the examination battle arena," Baki noted.
"Damn straight. While the idiots are busy sending their reinforcements into the combat arena, my strike force will smash into the heart of their village and hit them where it hurts."
Baki nodded, but did not comment on the dark shadow in his Iwa counterpart's eyes. He was very much aware of what Konoha had done to its enemies during the last great shinobi war.
"I know what you're thinking. What if Konoha has a reserve while our force is divided?" Tayuya snorted in amusement. "Be real, Konoha's force organization and fighting doctrines haven't been updated in years. You really think these idiots are going to hold a sizable number of their guys back while their Hokage, the Fire Lord and all those dignitaries are being overrun at the exam location? I don't think so. But even if they keep a reserve, it won't matter… so long as I have your cooperation, or rather your asset's cooperation."
Baki tilted his head in a questioning manner.
"For this attack to work, the strike force will need a critical mass of competent fighters. There's no way I can convince the fucking powers that be to give me command of a large enough strike force." Tayuya was very aware of her place in the hierarchy and how unpopular she was with certain people above and below her. "I'll need the Shukaku as a trump card to make up for the lack of numbers."
Baki had a thoughtful expression on his face and motioned for his companion to continue.
"I'm sure you've heard stories of how the nine tailed beast reduced the greatest ninja of the Land of Fire into piles of whimpering cowards little more than a decade ago. Just imagine how demoralizing it would be for these fools to see another tailed beast trash their village," she said with a sadistic smile.
"Your plan has merit, Tayuya-san. I'll plead your case to the Kazekage. I'm sure he will be pleased to know that his offspring might still be of some use in the coming battle," the Suna ninja responded.
Tayuya displayed the briefest of interest in the surrounding foliage when there was another shift in the ambient environment. Kin, however, gasped out loud.
"What is it?"
"He's gone. The guy that was spying on us got away!" Kin uttered before staring back almost accusingly at her superiors. The Sound genin was confused and frustrated. She couldn't understand why the two jounin didn't do anything! If that had been a Konoha ninja, then they were going to be in big trouble.
"Be quiet and listen. You might learn something," Tayuya hissed. For a moment, Kin was tempted to pester before realizing who was standing beside her. She knew the redhead would have no compunction against snapping a couple of her ribs to keep her in line. She had done it before.
All of a sudden, Baki disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kin's eyes widened. The genin almost jumped out of her skin when the Suna jounin reappeared a second later and tossed a body into the clearing.
"What took you? For a moment, I thought you needed help," Tayuya remarked nonchalantly as the Suna nin dumped the fresh corpse in front of her.
"I had to circle around and he was tougher than he looked," Baki explained.
Kin gasped as everything clicked into place. "You put up a genjutsu, didn't you? So he wouldn't notice any changes," the raven-haired girl asked. The genin was amazed at how easily she had been fooled, considering she fancied herself a genjutsu specialist in the making. "But I didn't see or hear anything."
"Shit, Kin. Think outside the box for a minute. I just used a combined visual and auditory illusion; the first to cover the switch Baki made with his clone and the second to keep anyone from hearing him move. Both you and our idiotic spy were too caught up in my story to notice something was off."
Kin was stunned.
"Did you really think we didn't know there was a spy around? There is a reason why we are jounin and you are not," Tayuya admonished harshly. Kin's cheeks tinged red as she looked away. Times like this, she wondered if she was a masochist. She must be, with all the abuse she put up with from Tayuya. The Sound genin pouted briefly when Tayuya then ignored her in favor of the dead body. She really wished she were stronger. Standing beside the two jounin showed her just how far she had to go.
"Definitely a Konoha shinobi," Tayuya said as she pointed out the etched symbol on the dead nin's forehead protector. "Do you recognize him?"
"Yes, he's one of the exam proctors. He must have followed us," Kin said.
Tayuya cursed. She was going to try and hide the body, but the disappearance of an exam overseer would certainly draw attention to the foreign teams in the village. It could also expose their operation if it wasn't exposed already. Better to allow the body to be found sooner rather than later. Her eyes flickered briefly to Kin, who watched Baki with an intense expression. "What is it, Kin?"
"I apologize, Baki-san, what was that that you left in your place? It looked too real to be a normal clone," Kin asked the Suna jounin. Baki looked questioningly at Tayuya, who gave him a curt nod of approval.
"It's called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's a spatially defined manifestation of one's self that also carries an internal chakra source," Baki explained.
"He means that the clone has physical substance and can appear real," Tayuya clarified when she saw the genin going cross-eyed. "Pfft, he makes it sound fancy, but I personally prefer the elemental clones. They're easier to make, cost less chakra and are just as useful."
"With all due respect, Tayuya-san, the functions of elemental clones are restricted to favorable terrain. Shadow clones work well, no matter the circumstances," Baki argued back. Tayuya was sorely tempted to point out the economies of scale of creating multiple elemental clones, which used existing substances in the environment as their source, versus the rising marginal cost of summoning hordes of shadow clones, which needed to be created entirely out of a person's internal chakra reserve. However, the young jounin recognized their precarious position in enemy territory so she merely agreed to disagree.
"So shadow clones are very difficult to make?" Kin asked.
"More or less, yes. The upper version of the technique is A-ranked. If you try it right now, it'll probably kill you," Tayuya noted.
"Okay, so how come a genin at the exam could do it?" Kin asked in confusion. She was pretty sure she saw the blond on that Konoha team perform that same technique.
"What?" Tayuya's head spun around so fast that it was a miracle it didn't snap. "Are you certain?"
"Absolutely. He tried to hide it by doing it in the hallway, but I was standing directly across from him so I saw. One moment, there was one of him, the next, there were two of them helping some Konoha nin," Kin answered.
"That sounds like the shadow clone. A fluke?" Baki asked, glancing at Tayuya.
"Yeah fucking right! You and I both know there's no such thing as a fluke in our profession. Do either of you remember this guy's name or any defining feature?" Tayuya asked. The intensity of her gaze would have scared Kin had she not been used to it by now.
"Ahm, he was, well, the typical blond type... you know, really loud, annoying and pretty dumb," Kin offered in what she thought was a joking manner. Unfortunately, Tayuya did not find it amusing at all and for good reason. The Sound nin quickly dropped her attempt at humor. "He was sort of short, had messy hair and he had these strange whisker marks on his face. I thought it was really strange."
"Now that you mentioned the whiskers, I think I remember him as well. His name is Haruto, Uzumaki Haruto," Baki added, frowning. The Suna nin watched with alarm as the redhead suddenly grew silent and pale. "Is something wrong?"
"I want this Haruto neutralized, preferably before the day of the operation."
The directive completely blindsided both Baki and Kin.
"Excuse me?"
"What?"
"You heard me, Baki. Kill this guy. Use your students and even the asset if you have to. He's dangerous, so make sure your students don't go after him alone."
"What about our cover?" Baki was stunned. This was an unexpected deviation from plan. It made him wonder who the hell this Haruto fellow was.
"Obviously, don't do anything that would expose you or your students, but if you can corner him in an alley somewhere before the exam, then by all means, kill him. I'm serious. Killing him would give us a big advantage," Tayuya stated calmly as if it was the most normal thing in the world to order the premeditated execution of a twelve-year-old.
"How do you know?"
"I just do," Tayuya responded, giving away nothing. She sure as hell couldn't reveal what Yugito had said. That the jailor of the Nibi was a Kumo turncoat working for Iwa was one of their most prized secrets.
Baki frowned with distaste, but said nothing else, having recognized that it must have involved some sensitive information. "I'll see what I can do. Is that all?"
"Yes. I'll take care of the body here," Tayuya offered. Baki nodded before disappearing. "Kin, you stay..."