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After the short pause, the Leaf forces resumed their march towards the ROOT base. The ANBU team was dissolved and given new assignments. The Leaf jōnin were going to operate in pairs. The reconnaissance team was split into two; the three-man team went to the Hyūga Utsuse and Aburame Shibi pair, while the two-man duo went to the Inuzuka Gaku and Sarutobi Asuma pair.
Itachi resumed command of Hopper's assault squad and Ratel's squad. It would've been suspicious if an ANBU squad were shifted to Kakashi's command, even if Hopper's squad were part of Fox's command. Kakashi and Itachi ran at the front. Hopper and Takuma ran near them as Kakashi laid out the plan for their understanding.
"Once we are within Jōnin Hyūga Utsuse's range, she'll know where the ROOT agents are," Kakashi explained. "Jōnin Sayuri and Kurenai, along with their troops, will pour into the village. The rest of us will split into two and move around the village towards wherever the ROOT shinobi are."
"What are the chances of them moving together or splitting up?" Itachi asked.
"It's much more likely that they'll split up into smaller groups. We far outnumber them," Kakashi said. "Our contingency plans suggest as much as well."
Even though ROOT was independent of ANBU, both had their origins in Danzō. After stepping down from his position as the Hokage's jōnin commander, he had raised ANBU from its fledgling beginnings to its current status. Much of the existing ANBU's standard operating procedures, their playbooks, and their contingency planning were all developed while Danzō was leading it in its foundational years. He had put in all his hard work before moving on to setting up ROOT. There was no reason to think the many contingency plans had been updated, since the scenario in which ANBU/ROOT would need to escape from their home in the Hidden Leaf Village was extremely unlikely.
There was the possibility of ROOT jōnin acting as the rear guard to hold back the enemy to let everyone escape, but the chances of that happening were close to nil. Danzō would rather lose all of his men than even entertain the thought of sacrificing his jōnin. This meant that there was a high probability that ROOT would split up into small groups and flee in all directions, taking advantage of the familiar location and terrain to move faster than the Hidden Leaf forces.
"You, me, and Gai will hunt down Danzō," Kakashi said.
"There's a Hyūga on Ratel's squad," Itachi offered.
"Is he in good condition?" Kakashi asked Takuma, who was running while gazing behind him and missed the question.
"Ratel?"
Itachi's voice snapped him out of it, and he returned his attention forward. "Yes, sir?" he asked, realizing that he had missed the conversation.
"I was telling Jōnin Kakashi about Aquilla's Byakugan. How is his condition?"
"Aquilla has been preserving his eyes since yesterday. He's ready to go," he answered, somewhat embarrassed.
Kakashi nodded. "Good to know… However, Danzō isn't the only target. Our jōnin will track down and finish the enemy jōnin. We have great trackers with Hyūga Utsuse and Inuzuka Gaku, but ideally, we don't want any long-term chases. It's important that we end them there, near their base, because the further we allow ROOT to run, the higher the chances of their escape become; beyond a point, we will be stretched far too thin, giving them an advantage…"
The Hidden Leaf side had superior numbers, but if the smaller ROOT groups broke away, the Leaf groups chasing them would be at a disadvantage. They would be putting themselves in danger because the further they chased, the greater the distance would be between them and the main force, which would mean slower or no support if the chase turned into a fight. Even if it were their orders to hunt down ROOT, most would have self-preservation as a high priority, which would give rise to an increasing hesitation to give an aggressive chase as the distance increased.
Even if the troops were trained shinobi, they were still humans who wanted to live or had people back home depending on them. They might, even if only subconsciously, put those things over the mission, and that would be enough to allow the desperately motivated enemy to escape. It was only human nature.
"There's narrow room for error. Our troops will surround them by flooding the hills and woods around the village, so they can't slip by undetected. Half of our chūnin are leading teams, and the remaining half will operate as pure combatants. There's enough manpower to get the job done," Kakashi said.
After some more discussion about the Leaf jōnin pairings and plans for the logistics and support lines, Itachi turned to Takuma, who was once again looking over his shoulder.
"What's wrong, Ratel? Your focus is not here."
"…I just saw some people I know, sir," Takuma said, pursing his lips behind his mask.
"I hope that's not going to be a problem," Itachi asked.
Takuma took a deep breath. "No, sir."
Itachi paused. "I know it has been a long few days, but we are close to achieving what you've been working towards for the past year. Don't lose focus now."
"Yes, sir."
Takuma momentarily closed his eyes to refocus his concentration. He just had to trust their capability as shinobi and that their team leader was strong enough to keep them safe.
———
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Some distance back, one of the chūnin-led teams was running in the crowd.
"It's quite a coincidence that both of you got put on the same team again," Arisu said, making idle talk with her teammates; she felt nervous as they got closer to the location and wanted something to distract herself.
"Right? I was so happy when I saw her," Anko sang as she ruffled Kameko's hair, who was running beside her.
Kameko slapped Anko's hand away from her head and fixed her straight bangs with an irritated expression. "It's no coincidence. They knew that we had worked together and put us on the same team, knowing that we would work well. That's basic."
"Kameko, you're so smart," Anko smiled, bumping the girl's shoulder.
"And they put you and me together because we were classmates," Kameko said, looking at Arisu.
"That makes sense," Arisu smiled. Even though they were classmates, they didn't really run in the same circles. However, Kameko's bluntness had a charm to it when she wasn't being tactless. "With those reasons, Takuma would've been locked in for a team as a former teammate and classmate. Does anyone know if he was deployed for this?"
"He told me he's out on another mission. Busy guy, that one," Anko said.
"Oh."
"I'm surprised that you didn't know," Kameko said. "Aren't you two close?"
Arisu pursed her lips. They hadn't talked since what had happened. She still sighed every time she recalled what a mess it had been to read through the files and find out everything he had done during his tenure as the leader of the Narcotics Taskforce.
"Oh, they're close?" Anko's eyes twinkled as she wiggled her brows suggestively.
Arisu sighed again, even deeper. That was in some way even a bigger problem. She had confessed her feelings to him at possibly the worst time. That same night, assassins had tried to kill him and had put him in the hospital for nearly two months, after which he had been deployed to the Steam-Frost war. There was no good time to ask him for an answer. And it felt completely awkward after he returned home from the war. They both sort of pretended that it never happened.
It was cruel of him not to give her an answer; even rejection would've been better than silence. However, she was also at fault for not pushing him for an answer. Regardless, it was too late now.
She sighed again.
"I don't know much about Jōnin Might Gai. What's he like?" Kameko asked. Their team was placed under him.
"He's strong, exceedingly so." Anko eyed Gai running in front of them. "But if he's in charge of us, I think we're going to see some gnarly action," she said with an excited, toothy grin.
———
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On the opposite side, another team was doing their final preparations on the go.
"Masaaki, are you missing anything? I noticed you only took a few shuriken. Are you sure you don't want more?" Momoe asked. She had rearranged their team's supply by giving every member a kit that suited them, while also designating one person as a logistics leader who would feed supplies to the rest of the group.
"It's all good," Masaaki said, shooting a short salute.
"Nenro?" Momoe asked.
"I'm all set. What about you?" Nenro replied. "We can afford to distribute a couple more tags to you."
"Thank you, but I'm satisfied," Momoe smiled. She had been regularly working with Nenro for over a year now, and he was among the easiest people to work with. He was smart, vocal, supportive, and knew how to navigate a team of any combination of personalities. She had taken him on every mission that required genin.
She had got a good team. She trusted Nenro, and from what she knew about Masaaki, he had great chemistry with Nenro as they came from the same hometown. More importantly, Masaaki was sponsored by the Akimichi clan. With her, they were going to be the three frontline fighters. She turned to gaze at her other three members. Other than the logistics leader, who would hang back, one of them would operate from a distance, throwing projectiles and explosives, and the last one would support anyone who needed help at the time.
Overall, she was satisfied with the team, though there was room for improvement. However, the main thing she had to do was focus on keeping them safe and pulling the most out of them to complete their objective.
"Chūnin Momoe. Jōnin Sarutobi is calling for you."
"Yes, I'll be there," Momoe said.
———
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Danzō sat in a sterile room with his upper body laid bare. The green iryōjutsu glow from the agent beside him irradiated the left side of his upper body while he slowly channelled chakra through his body. While the rest of the base was being turned upside down as his agents rushed through the final steps in preparations to abandon their base under the threat of the Hidden Leaf, the room was completely silent, as though the chaos of the outside or the army marching towards them didn't exist.
"How is it looking?" he asked.
The iryō-nin stopped his iryōjutsu. "There are no signs of rejection."
Danzō ignored him and looked at the man with pale-white skin, as though he had painted his face, but it was his natural colour, leaning against the wall in front of him. He wore plain grey garb, a black polo, and pants, with a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot.
"It went well," the man said, his snake-like yellow eyes gazing at Danzō. "Are you satisfied?"
Danzō clenched his hand into a fist and felt a surge of power course through his body. He hadn't felt like this since his twenties, reminding him of his prime. It was amazing that he could feel so much power at his advanced age. He gazed down at the place between his shoulder and chest, where the skin was now a pale white, with uneven patches that seemed to outline a face.
"So much power," he said, almost to himself.
"Yes, I reckon it feels exhilarating. Makes you wonder how strong he was."
"I don't need to wonder. I was there and saw the Lord First Hokage with my own eyes," Danzō said, putting on his clothes. He touched his chest while also feeling the eye beneath his bandages. The power of the two founders now resided in his body. And it was because of the man in front of him.
"No need to thank me. Anything to make the life of the old man back at the village miserable. Though that doesn't mean you don't owe me."
"Orochimaru," Danzō said, narrowing his eye. The man before him was dangerous, but more specifically, he was a danger to the Hidden Leaf. He hated Hiruzen and anything the latter loved and cared for, which meant he hated the village.
Danzō wanted to get rid of him because he could see an inevitable future where the snake's poison would threaten the great tree. However, the man had immense value, and he could be one of the pieces Danzō needed to return to the Hidden Leaf and take his place as its leader.
"It seems you have a lot going on out there."
"A little something. You can go have some fun if you want," Danzō said.
Orochimaru chuckled with a sickening lipless smile. "If you want me to help, you can ask. Maybe I'll do it if you ask me nicely and give me something valuable. I know you got out with some very valuable things…"
Danzō didn't react and waved the agent to leave. When he didn't respond, Orochimaru said, "I'll take my leave then. I hope you survive. It'd be a pity if you died so soon after I worked on you. It'd be a waste of the important time I spent on you."
As Orochimaru turned to leave, Danzō momentarily smiled. The younger generation acted like they knew everything, and the wisdom of age was worthless. However, he had met many arrogant men like him and knew how to make them dance to his tune.
"Oh, I thought you'd be interested. After all, Uchiha Itachi is coming this way," he whispered the magic words as though casually throwing an irrelevant comment, but that was enough to make the Legendary Snake Sannin stop in his tracks.
"Care to meet him? Of course, only if you have the precious time to spare for it."
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The link is in the synopsis!