"That dumb snake! He's ruining all our plans!" Tojuro exclaimed angrily in the Suna council.
He continued, "For our plans to succeed, we had to catch Konoha off guard. However, that dumb snake has ruined it all! Now Konoha would be on their guard and we might not get an opening to make a move!"
Rage could be heard in his voice. Thankfully, Orochimaru couldn't hear his words. Otherwise, Hiruzen wouldn't need to worry about his backstabbing ally.
No one opposed Tojuro's words. Ryusa said, "This move would have been understandable if he could get rid of that troublesome boy. However, not only did he fail, but he also roused the morale of Konoha ninjas and alerted their higher-ups. Our plan will no longer be smooth."
Goza added, "That said, it isn't all bad. This battle shows that we underestimated Suzuki Fujin to a large degree. If we had proceeded with our plan without knowing the threat he posed, we would have suffered heavily."
Tojuro argued, "We would have still been able to handle him. If Orochimaru hadn't alerted Konoha by making this stupid move, Konoha wouldn't have smelled anything fishy and wouldn't have called back their Sannins. The preparations we made for Jiraiya could have been used against him.
However, now we can be certain that Konoha would at least call back one of their Sannins. In fact, they will most likely call both of them. So, we will need to make arrangements for the Third Hokage, two Sannins, the Shinobi of Darkness, Copy Ninja and this brat!
This is impossible to do unless we can suddenly call upon a couple of rank S ninjas!"
The Suna council went quiet. Everyone could feel the pressure. Their initial plans involved dealing with just Hiruzen quickly and causing some wide-scale destruction with Shukaku. Once they achieved these two goals, they would retreat before Konoha could reorganize their forces.
However, due to just one move of Orochimaru, they would have to deal with 2 Sannins and realized that Konoha had another ninja at that level. So, they needed to make plans for 3 Sannin-level ninjas. Even for experienced ninjas like them, it was too much to handle.
Seeing that no one was saying anything, Manabu said, "Silence won't resolve this issue. We need to decide whether we would still make a move against Konoha during this Chunin Exam. Or should we postpone our plans to some later time when Konoha drops their guard again?"
Ryusa nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. We have no reason to hurry. What is more important is our chances of success. If we can't deal with them, then we should stay patient and postpone our plans.
Once the Sannins leave Konoha, we could create circumstances that would force Konoha to dispatch the Copy Ninja and the Spectral Swordsman to separate missions. Once they are away, we may have some opportunities to make a move against the Hokage."
For the first time, Rasa spoke, "That isn't necessarily correct. The longer we wait, the greater the possibility of Konoha getting a hint of our plans. Don't forget the incident in Yamakawa town.
Even though Konoha wasn't behind it, they have become very active in the Land of Rivers after that incident. If they discover some of our movements, they will forever be on guard against us and we won't have any opportunity until the next Great Ninja War breaks out.
Not to mention, attacking the entire Konoha is too difficult. I'll need to meet with Hiruzen face to face like in the Chunin exam to have any chance of killing him. Arranging such a meeting at the same time when everyone is outside Konoha will be difficult."
Goza agreed, "That's right. This was our best chance. Even if we wait for the next Chunin Exam, we won't be able to send Gaara. However, if we still continue with the current plan, do we have any shot at victory, Kazekage-sama?
Orochimaru couldn't even deal with Suzuki Fujin. And, if you two don't attack the Third Hokage together, then killing him in a short time will be very difficult. Instead of outnumbering the Hokage, you and Orochimaru might get outnumbered.
And unlike the Konoha ninjas who would trust each other, we can't trust that snake."
Goza's expression was grim as he said those words. Rasa's expression was ugly as well. The situation was just too bad for Sunagakure.
Their finances were in shambles. Their money had almost dried up and they were only able to sustain themselves because Rasa was mining gold from the desert using his Kekkei Genkai! For a sitting Kage to do something like that was extremely humiliating. If it was leaked, Suna would become a laughing stock!
Internally, their country was still unstable due to the mess Fujin had created years ago. The entire Eastern half of the Land of Wind hated Rasa. Even in the other half, most of the civilians hated him. The Wind Daimyo gave more missions to Konoha than to Suna. And these were just a few of the problems they were facing.
As a result, they needed a massive victory in order to turn their fortunes around. If they could kill Hiruzen and cause a massive amount of destruction in Konoha, the Wind Daimyo would automatically fall in line. After all, political power was useless when he could be killed on a whim by Sunagakure. The deterrence of other Daimyos wouldn't matter if Konoha was a mess because Kumo and Iwa would focus on Konoha's vulnerability instead of listening to their Daimyo.
In addition, Sunagakure could use the victory to improve Rasa's image and increase the morale of the people in the Land of Wind. A lot of Sunagakure's problems would be resolved.
However, that was assuming that Sunagakure won. If they lost, then their situation would become extremely dire. They could lose their Elites, their Jinchuriki and even their Kage! And unlike Konoha, who had a bunch of rank S ninjas who could replace Hiruzen, Suna didn't have any. Rasa had schemed against Pakura and got her killed while Sasori had gone rogue.
So, their plan was extremely risky. No one in the council wanted to take responsibility for such a decision. Finally, Rasa said, "There is still more than a month before we begin our attack. So, we don't have to make a rash decision.
The news we have so far is the one-sided story spread by Konoha. Baki said that he couldn't confirm how much of it is true. My children were in the training ground when their battle happened. Baki will send us another message after he meets them and checks whether they saw anything.
For now, we will continue our current preparations. I'll talk with Orochimaru when I meet with him and ask for his side of the story to get a better idea. We'll also discuss whether he can come up with any way of restraining the two Sannins.
If he has sound plans that I agree with, we will carry out our attack as planned. If not…"
Rasa went quiet for a few seconds before saying, "If not, then this attack will be called off!"
The entire council sucked a cold breath. All of them had spent months to ensure that their plans were perfect and that no mistakes were made in execution. Yet, they could be forced to drop the entire plan! It was hard to digest and yet no one opposed Rasa. It displayed how serious the situation was.
In the Forest of Death, Fujin's clone saw the Oto squad making a move towards Sakura when he realized one thing. He thought, 'Ugh! Lee isn't close to this place! Should I make a move myself or should I bring him here?'
Due to the massive battle between him and Orochimaru, most of the Genins stayed away from the burnt area as it gave them creeps! Since Sakura was quite close to that area, most of the remaining squads weren't near her.
Fujin's clone sensed Lee's position while thinking, 'Luckily he isn't too far away. Oh well, I'll bring him here. After all, this was the first time these squads worked together.'
Another clone appeared next to him and disappeared immediately.
Standing on a branch, Lee looked at dropping leaves and thought, 'If I can catch all 16 of these leaves before any of them hit the ground, then Sakura will fall in love with me! But if I miss even one, then my love for her will never be requited and she'll probably make fun of my hair!'
After creating his own training exercise, Lee jumped down to catch the leaves. However, just then, a strong breeze blew in that area. He barely managed to catch 4 of them when the remaining 12 began flying in another direction at high speeds.
Lee was surprised and thought, 'What a strong wind current! Is a battle happening nearby?'
He changed his direction and caught 11 more leaves one by one before they fell to the ground. However, the last one moved forward at an incredible speed! Even though he ran after it at his highest speed while wearing the weights, he barely decreased the distance between them!
He couldn't help but wonder, 'What is happening? Don't tell me that this is nature's way of telling me that my love will always be unrequited! No, I cannot accept it! I will not be defeated by a mere leaf!'
He continued running after it and managed to catch it in the end. Before he could rejoice, he heard a loud sound. He quickly moved forward to investigate it. Just like in the original story, he intervened in the battle in the nick of time!
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