Chapter 17

IEYATSU GIN

As the men rested after a fast-paced push towards the Northern border of Shinoi lands, he found himself sitting opposite their young lord as he asked him about their eventual plan.

"So, what is the plan?" he questioned as the young lord rolled out a detailed map of their lands.

"Sakazuki Mahiro has divided his forces into three parts," the young lord began as he put three stones on the three coordinates on the map where, according to their intelligence, the enemy forces were stationed.

"First is the force with himself. He has about two hundred men, along with two samurai," he began as he pointed towards the force located nearest to the border.

"Then the other two forces have two samurai each and are moving diagonally trying to reach the two defensive forts, near our Eastern and Western front," he pointed at the two forts that were basically there for defending against any incursion from lands belonging to Lord Saegusa and Lord Hattori respectively.

Basically, they were arranged in a triangle, with Sakazuki and his main force bringing up the rear, as two other apexes moved out to remove their major defenses to the East and West, hence giving a clear path for a three-pronged invasion.

"So, which fort do we choose to reinforce," he questioned as he stared at the map and saw Akihito smirk as he glinted, and the young Lord shook his head.

"Neither," he replied as he pointed towards the largest of the stones, the one indicating Sakazuki Mahiro and his force.

"We strike the head of the Snake," he remarked, and he whistled as he saw the viability of the plan.

"You wish to kill Sakazuki Mahiro by catching him off guard," he remarked before adding.

"But what if any of our forts fall first? They are already facing pressure from the allied lords. Would they be able to stand an assault from the other direction as well," he questioned, and the young lord answered.

"That is why we won't actually be killing Sakazuki Mahiro. Our aim will be to capture him and neutralize the men he has with himself," the young lord answered, and he realized the point now.

"Because if we kill him, then Lord Mahiro could simply send his second son, or any one of his grandsons with, with a supplementary force," he reasoned, and the young lord nodded.

"Exactly, we have to be swift in our attack," he said as he placed his finger at their current location.

"Sakazuki has already captured the Norther fort; we strike there, capture him, and then divide into two groups, with each heading in the opposite direction," he said as he pointed towards the other two forts.

"As reinforcements," he reasoned, and a nod followed.

"Yes, we hit the other two forces at the back again," the young lord drew the arrows as he divided their force.

"Speed and coordination are key here. We need to coordinate our own attack with our forces in these forts. We threaten them to lay down their arms, or we will kill Sakazuki, and then we take prisoners," he concluded. Gin could see the wisdom in the plan, yet it was all too risky.

And he decided it was time to tell him of the other thing as well.

"There is one more thing," he said cautiously, not knowing how the young lord would react to it.

"Yes?" the young lord questioned as he peered at the map again.

"Before I came, I also wrote a missive to Lord Chiba accepting his request for the alliance," he decided just to tell him and saw him still as he looked towards him with a frown and he could tell from that gaze that the lord was angry.

"I thought I was clear about that…"

"You were, but I did so at the command of Lady Miyuki," he replied quickly before the wrath of the young lord could be directed at him.

"Miyuki? She agreed to this," he asked, and he nodded as he gulped.

"Yes," he replied. He could see the young lord's eyes narrow as he continued interrogating him.

"And why didn't you tell of this earlier," he questioned again, and he gulped down as he saw those eyes focused on him.

"It was Lady Miyuki's command, she ordered me not to tell you until it became necessary," he replied, conveying the words of the Lady of Shinoi.

The young lord glared at him for a moment before he spoke up once more, his tone chilling as he inched closer.

"You do know many a lord would have your head for something like this," the young lord began as a shiver went down his spine, and he, of course, knew that.

"And so can you, my lord," he said as he bowed down. And maybe had miscalculated when suddenly pain raced through his body as he was hit in the gut by the sheath, forcing him to cough violently as he fell to his knees.

He writhed on the ground as he heard his lord sigh as he spoke up.

"What the hell am I to do of my own lady wife and servants plot against me, huh," he sighed before he lightly kicked him in the side, prompting him to stand up.

"And you! You were rather quick in rolling over your loyalty to me and following her command," he complained, though his tone was a bit lighter now yet, and Gin grunted in pain as he rubbed his gut, still reeling from pain as he answered.

"I did what the Lady commanded," he said resolutely, and the young lord shook his head as he folded up the map.

"None of you had any idea why I was against this match!" the young lord clicked his tongue as he shook his head, before he finished up in chilling voice.

"I will deal with all this later when all this is over. Still, we cannot depend on Lord Chiba's support…"

"We can actually," he cut in, making the young lord frown.

"I looked into it as you commanded about why Lord Chiba seemed so interested in making an alliance with us rather than Lord Mahiro, and it seems the two lords have quite some bad blood between them," he informed the young Lord, who frowned and seemed to rake his mind for a bit.

"I don't recall both of them having any armed conflict over the years," he mentioned, and he nodded.

"It's less of an armed conflict but more of an emotional one, and rumor has it that Lord Chiba loved a woman in his past, a woman whom Lord Mahiro acquired as a concubine through various bribes and pressures just to spite the man, and the woman in question later committed suicide," he informed the young lord of the intel he had gathered.

"Ohh, I did not know of that," he said as he rubbed his chin.

"It's an incident from quite some years ago, so very few people still recall it. And that is why Lord Chiba was adamant about making an alliance with us rather than Lord Mahiro and why I believe he would lend us his aid," he replied and saw the young lord's mind race as he turned to face him.

"Then so be it. I will take the Eastern front. You shall take the Western Front after the initial attack,"

"But Lord Chiba's lands border the Western side, and your life is more important. You should take the Western fort," he complained.

"My life may be more important than yours, but there is another thing you are missing out," said the young lord as he turned to face him, his face cold as his eyes became dull.

"I am also much stronger than you!"

And he scoffed at those words, though he didn't refute them, for they were true. He may be older, but the young lord was a whole different kind of monster when it came to martial prowess.

"Tch! But how will we coordinate this all? This all requires extremely accurate information about the enemy's position and movement, and you haven't even sent out men for scouting," he questioned with a frown and saw the young lord smirk as he took out a piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to him.

He frowned as he opened it, yet as he read through it. His eyes widened, for there was a detailed report of enemy numbers, movements, and positions.

"How?" he gasped out as he looked towards the young lord.

"It doesn't matter how. What matters is that we know everything. As long as the enemy is in these lands, I shall know their each and every move." He replied, and he could not fathom how the young lord was receiving such intelligence, for such a source wasn't even in his knowledge.

As the young lord moved away and had the men make preparations, he could think of just who was providing the young lord with such information.

0000

TSUNADE SENJU

Tsunade Senju found herself outside a rather inconspicuous apartment in the village. The building was nothing special, and neither was the apartment per se. Yet the same could not be said of the people inhabiting this apartment.

She knocked on the door once more, with a frown as a loud voice from the inside cut in.

"Coming," and then seconds later, the door opened up to reveal one of Konoha's most powerful weapons and their most well-guarded secret as well.

Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox, is believed to be the last Uzumaki alive today.

They were cousins of sorts, yet the relationship between them was not too close or substantial. Yet, family they were, and that would always mean something to her.

"Tsunade-sama," she gasped in a surprised tone as she looked at her with wide eyes.

"The redhead was dressed in a rather simple dress, with an apron on top, and by the blemishes and the wet spots on it, told her that the redhead was busy in the kitchen. And she ended up scoffing as she imagined a shinobi with as much power and strength as her simply working in the kitchen.

"Huh," a chuckle escaped her lips, and she smiled as her red-headed cousin tried to make herself presentable.

"I didn't know you had come back," she said with an infectious smile, her eyes beaming as she moved to the side.

"Come in, I was just um,…." And she didn't miss how the redhead paled at that before a red blush crept up her face. Though there was no need for that, she could tell that the redhead was expecting someone else, someone with much darker hair than herself.

"Is Minato away on a mission?" she questioned as she stepped into the apartment, and the rather homely feel and nature of the place reminded her of her own youth, of her own house, of times when it had been filled with a similar warmth.

"Yeah, those damned Kumo nin were making some trouble, so the Hokage-sama sent him there to put them in their place," she replied as she closed off the door and led her to the table.

"Kumo, I thought they had retreated after losing their Raikage?" she questioned, and Kushina nodded.

"Indeed, they had. But this is new, and that is why Hoage-sama sent Minato there to deal with it, to see what this whole issue was," she replied as she put away the bowl and, after removing the apron, came and sat by her side.

"And what about you? I didn't think I would see you back here again?" she questioned, her tone rather cautious, and she nodded.

"I had thought so as well, but there was trouble here that I needed to take care of," she replied and saw the redhead's eyes glint at those words. For never let an Uzumaki's chipper nature fool you; the red-headed devils were at one time the most feared clan in all of the continent, and there was good reason for that. Very good reasons.

"What trouble?" she questioned as she looked at her, and she thought of what she could tell her.

She had come here to speak to Minato, yet if he was away and wasn't set to return anytime soon, then she was the next best thing.

"How good is your sensing?" she questioned seriously, making the redhead frown.

"Not at Minato's level, but I can hold my own," she replied before she felt her chakra spread throughout the room, activating various seals placed in the walls.

Nice. She thought.

"But why do you ask?" she questioned as she leaned forward, and gone was the chirpy girlfriend replaced by one of Konoha's deadliest elite jounins.

"Nothing. I just needed someone to keep track of the movements of certain shinobi in the village," she replied. She saw the redhead's eyes narrow before she nodded.

"I could do that," and she nodded. And Tsunade nodded; that would do, and then she looked over the redhead, and a part of her could still recall how broken the young Uzumaki had been when the news of her clan's demise had reached the village.

A tragedy that she often thought of till this day.

"So, do you have it then? The Mind's eye?" she questioned as she recalled the other redhead she had met years ago, and the shift was instant as the redhead's eyes narrowed.

"No, but how do you of that technique." She questioned, and Tsunade thought of the answer as she sipped water that the redhead had brought for her. In the end, she decided that it was time enough as she began.

"Because I know someone who does."

0000

And while the land of fire erupted in the first conflict of the impending succession war, in Konoha, a silver-haired shinobi moved across the surrounding forest in a blur as he rushed to reach his kidnapped teammate, a teammate whose life his dying friend had entrusted with him.

"Just hold on, I am coming Rin!"

0000

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