Amemiya's fan—practically an extension of his hand—clattered to the floor.
He might play the insufferable peacock in public, but he was no fool.
Shikaku's theory sounded insane. A joke, even. But it was also terrifyingly plausible.
To buy into this war, Amemiya had bet an entire generation's worth of Takigakure's accumulated strength. Right now, his village had fewer than two thousand defenders. Not a single elite jōnin among them. If the Wind-Cloud Alliance pivoted toward Takigakure...
They'd roll over it like a training exercise.
"Heh... heh heh." His laugh came out strangled. "But why the stop-and-go retreat pattern?"
Shikaku's expression remained neutral. "Bait."
"To draw out our twenty thousand main force." Shikaku moved to the map, finger tracing the terrain. "Look here. From their current position to Waterfall Country's border—plains and rolling hills. Perfect ground for large-scale deployment. Frankly? We can't beat them on that terrain. They're daring us to chase them. Trying to provoke Lord Amemiya into abandoning these walls." His finger tapped the fortress. "Without this protection, our victory odds drop to almost nothing."
"Then we ignore them." Fugaku's tone carried dismissive confidence. "Simple."
"Then the feint becomes a real assault." Shikaku's shrug was almost apologetic. "I doubt Lord Takikage could accept that outcome."
"You're overlooking something critical, Staff Officer." Amemiya retrieved his fan with forced calm. "Let them enter Waterfall Country. Takigakure's location is hidden. Outsiders can't find the paths. Following rivers? Maybe in a year they'd stumble on us. By then, most of them would've starved in our mountains."
It wasn't empty boasting. The moment you crossed from Fire Country into Waterfall Country, the world transformed—towering peaks, treacherous ravines, winding paths that looped back on themselves. Takigakure sat at the heart of that maze, surrounded by waterfalls, its exact location a closely guarded secret. Since the First Takikage, they'd never revealed access routes to outsiders. Visitors wandered for weeks before being allowed in. Even Konoha's Homura Mitokado had been led in circles for days.
Three generations, zero successful invasions.
Because finding Takigakure was damn near impossible.
Shikaku's next words cut through that confidence like a blade.
"I heard your village's missing-nin, Kakuzu, currently serves under Wind Shadow Jinghang." His tone stayed conversational. "After all these years... think he still remembers the way home?"
The gold-inlaid fan snapped clean in half in Amemiya's grip.
"That—Jinghang's a monster!" He spun toward the door. "I have to—"
"Where exactly are you going?" Danzō's voice drifted from the shadows, soft and dangerous. "Charging the Wind-Cloud Alliance right now would be playing directly into their hands."
Watching Amemiya unravel brought Danzō genuine joy. He'd endured a month of this pompous ass and his stupid fan and his sedan chair.
Serves you right. Now you know what iron tastes like.
But he couldn't actually let Takigakure march to their deaths. He still needed them to fight.
"Come. Sit." Danzō gestured magnanimously. "Panic solves nothing. We need strategy."
Amemiya froze mid-step, his long face stretching even longer.
Reality crashed down. His eight thousand six hundred ninja against twenty thousand Wind-Cloud forces? Suicide. He needed Konoha's main strength. Desperately.
The pretentious act was over.
Before, Konoha had deferred to him because they needed his help. Now the tables had flipped. He was the one begging.
Keep posturing now and he'd be gambling Takigakure's entire future.
Amemiya turned. Bowed deeply.
"Lord Danzō... please. Konoha must help save Takigakure."
Ah. There it is.
Danzō nodded, satisfaction warming his chest. He gestured to a nearby ninja. "Bring Lord Takikage a seat. Can't discuss strategy with him all the way over there."
Their positions sat at opposite ends of the room. Because of Amemiya's earlier theatrics, he'd claimed a plush sofa. Danzō's revenge arrived in the form of a backless wooden stool.
Amemiya stared at it. Frowned. Sat.
"Comfortable?" Danzō's smile could've cut glass.
Danzō's grin widened. "Excellent. You know, there's a crude saying in Fire Country's countryside—'Before you speak, shift your ass.' But war's urgent. Let's speak first, move our butts later." His eye fixed on his chief of staff. "Shikaku Nara."
"Tactics for dealing with the Wind-Cloud Alliance?"
"I have one." Shikaku paused. "Lord Takikage won't like it."
"Let's hear it anyway."
Shikaku's finger swept past Takigakure on the map, stabbing westward into Wind Country. "Stop letting them lead us. We flip the script. The moment the Wind-Cloud Alliance enters Waterfall Country, we concentrate every ninja we have and march west." His finger landed with finality. "Straight to Yuexi Peninsula."
Shocked silence.
"Sunagakure just rotated their forces. Yuexi Peninsula's practically empty—two, maybe three thousand garrison troops at most. We can take it. Easily." Shikaku's tone stayed clinical. "Jinghang will have no choice but to respond. We set an ambush on his return route. Fight it right, and we completely reverse this war."
Danzō's eye gleamed. Brilliant. The Wind-Cloud Alliance attacks Takigakure—no loss to Konoha. The Kono-Taki Alliance seizes Yuexi Peninsula—Sunagakure's wealthiest territory. High success odds.
"NO!" Amemiya's shout cracked through the room. "Absolutely not! What if Sunagakure doesn't come back? You'd be condemning Takigakure to annihilation!"
Then it gets annihilated, Danzō thought coldly. Not my village burning.
Can't sacrifice this much and still call yourself a ninja?
But aloud: "Lord Amemiya, trust me. Sunagakure will respond. Yuexi Peninsula is their treasury. Jinghang could lose Sunagakure Village itself and he'd still defend that peninsula."
"Trust you?!" Amemiya's voice climbed toward hysteria. "You're asking me to let them steal my base while we chase objectives?! Easy to say when it's not your home on the line!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨patreon.com/DarkGolds]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━