Sunagakure shinobi converged on the building from every direction, landing through the smoke and debris. Yuji emerged in civilian clothes, unhurt. The guard squad leader checked him over immediately.
"Pursue!" The remaining shinobi prepared to give chase.
"No need." Yuji raised a hand. They stopped.
Sending people after Orochimaru would accomplish nothing except providing him with easier targets.
He stood in the wreckage of the rooftop and thought through what had just happened.
The chakra and presence concealment had been essentially perfect. His fused eyes and the mental power enhancement they provided had been what made detection possible at all.
Without the Bloodline Limit active, finding Orochimaru's position through pure sensory judgment alone would have been considerably more difficult.
The man was using his own body as cover in ways that were difficult to track even with enhanced perception, hiding within summoned snakes, moving at speeds that made standard pursuit pointless.
The number and variety of techniques Orochimaru commanded was staggering. And this was before his later research had been incorporated, before his collaboration with Danzo had begun producing the more bizarre and dangerous developments that would come. What he had faced tonight was Orochimaru at a point before his full evolution.
And it had still been nothing like fighting Yagura.
Orochimaru had come alone, into enemy territory, to assassinate a specific target. His character meant he had prepared thoroughly and would not waste time if a quick kill wasn't available.
The moment the village began consolidating around them, he had cut his losses and left. The exchange had been a probe as much as an attempt, testing capabilities, gathering intelligence to bring back to Konoha, while simultaneously trying to complete the objective if an opening presented itself.
Yuji had not revealed everything. He had also not needed to.
The commotion had woken the village. Senior officials arrived at the scene one by one, taking in the destruction.
"Who was the enemy?"
"Orochimaru," Yuji said.
Chiyo's pupils contracted. Rasa's expression tightened.
"Konoha." Chiyo said the word through her teeth.
"Everyone, I'm fine." Yuji gestured to settle the immediate concern. "This is our village. Orochimaru couldn't operate at full capacity here. We had one exchange." He paused, and his expression carried something that was almost genuine admiration.
"I'll say this honestly, as expected of one of Konoha's Three Legendary Sannin. Exceptionally strong."
He wasn't being modest for the room's benefit. In terms of raw ninjutsu power and hand seal speed, the gap between them had been real.
He had compensated through the Blood Release's passive defensive capabilities and the sensory advantage his eyes provided. Against someone at Orochimaru's level, those compensations had been necessary rather than advantageous.
He was also quietly certain that keeping his distance from Orochimaru going forward was wise. The man's history of manipulating and betraying allies during wartime was documented enough that Yuji had no intention of allowing proximity to become a vulnerability.
"Search the entire village," Chiyo ordered.
The shinobi dispersed.
Yuji looked at what remained of his residence and let out a sigh that was only partly theatrical.
"My house is destroyed."
Chiyo looked at him with an expression caught between exasperation and something else.
Around them, the senior officials were reassessing. The worry that had been quietly attached to sending Yuji, Sasori, and Shimizu against Konoha's front, whether the three of them could actually hold that line, had shifted.
"Meeting," Chiyo said.
The group moved to the office building.
The immediate analysis was straightforward. Orochimaru coming alone to assassinate a specific target in the middle of Sunagakure was almost certainly not Hiruzen's initiative.
The Third Hokage's character didn't run toward this kind of operation. Danzo was the more natural architect, a probe designed to test both Yuji's elimination as a possibility and the Sand Village's subsequent reaction as intelligence.
If Orochimaru had succeeded, the gains would have been substantial. Yuji's death would have damaged the pharmaceutical industry's leadership and created a vulnerability that multiple villages would have immediately exploited.
If he failed, the Sand Village's response would tell Konoha something about their current state of mind.
Yuji leaned forward slightly in his chair.
"Let's set aside the assassination itself and what it signals for a moment. This is actually useful to us."
The others looked at him.
"Danzo wants to use Orochimaru's failure to read our attitude, specifically, whether we'll retaliate against Konoha openly. So we give him a reading." He held up one finger.
"We pretend it didn't happen. We express no stance. In Danzo's assessment, that silence means the Sand Village is hesitating, worried about disrupting the new industry, weakened by the Kazekage's disappearance, deliberately avoiding escalation. He lowers his estimate of our threat level accordingly."
He let that settle for a moment.
"When we move against the Land of Fire, we move from a position where Konoha has already decided we're cautious. The advantage that creates is worth more than any retaliatory gesture tonight."
"I suggest the village issues no response whatsoever regarding tonight's events. Half a month. Then we proceed on the previously agreed timeline."
Danzo enjoyed playing dirty. That was fine. The question was who was better at it.
Chiyo and the others exchanged glances.
"Agreed," she said after a brief pause.
The great battle was close. Giving Konoha half a month of false reassurance cost nothing.
Rasa said nothing during the exchange, but he was observing it.
The thinking in the room had changed. It was subtle but consistent, before any decision or action, the senior officials were now considering more angles, weighing more factors, thinking in terms of larger strategic picture rather than immediate response.
The Third Kazekage's instinct had been to move directly and forcefully. If Konoha sent assassins, you retaliated. That logic had a certain clarity, but it also had limitations.
What was happening now was different. Someone in this room was thinking several moves ahead, and the decisions reflected it.
Rasa turned it over. The rumor campaign that had put Konoha on the defensive without a single official statement from Sunagakure, that had been a similar quality of thinking.
Konoha's silence in response had been the tell. He had expected them to push back, to demand explanation, to use the opportunity to publicly assert themselves. Instead they had said nothing and let public opinion move where it wanted to move.
….
Bonus@500