Chapter 60.3- One Thousand Hands

XXXXX- THE TSUCHIKAGE

His grip on the stone he kept on his desk tightened as he received the rest of the report.

“Right now, we’ve recorded about one hundred and forty nine fatalities so far with close to two hundred injuries— most of them debilitating and disqualifying from Iwa’s military service” His wife said and he resisted the urge to crush the stone and show his rage. This was not the time for that. It was his job to be the stone right now, and the stone did not rage. It did not sulk. It stood, stalwart and unbreakable.

“Our academy” One of the councillors moaned, while the others nodded their heads in unison. It was a terrible blow— an atrocity. And by the gods he felt like a bastard for even thinking it but it was not the true loss.

“And all our search parties have reported the same thing. Azula is no where to be found” She said next, and this time the rock shattered to pieces, never even giving him the chance to push his restraint further.

“She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air, could she?” One of the idiots asked. Like that was not what he saw with his own two eyes. They just disappeared.

“What do our spies have to say about this?” He asked, feeling his voice deepen into a growl at the last bit. Let to him, they would all have lost their jobs by now. What was the point of having spies in all the major villages if they couldn’t see something like this coming.

“They have been unable to confirm Kumo’s involvement in the attack, but they have sent reports about a rumored jutsu used by the Raikage’s secretary that allowed her to send objects all over the world. It seems to be how they solve their supply line problems” She said.

“So just the kind of thing that could be used to evacuate from our village right in the middle?” He asked, thinking.

“Still, we have no conclusive proof that they did it” She said, and he knew what she was doing but not now, not here.

“We have all the proof we need. Dozens of shinobi saw those headbands. Kumo lost both their jinchuriki to Konoha. It only makes sense that they would strike out for another one. We predicted that they would seek both the eight and nine tails from Konoha as retribution for their losses, but their decision to take the fourth from us is not far from their usual behaviour” Kitsuchi said, looking none too pleased at the situation as well. Onoki nodded. He was right.

“We need to call everything we have received from our spies in Kumo into question. If they could not get wind of an operation as large as this one, then one only wonders just what else they might have missed” Daisuke said from the side. Onoki nodded again.

“What if they weren’t waiting at Frost’s border trying to train a next set of troops but instead hatching this operation?” His wife asked, and he wanted to toss his chair out the window next. They had been in a stand off with Kumo, knowing that Konoha would bleed them if they got the chance. Shorirama Senju was a crafty piece of shit and so the second he was made the Hokage, they knew he would hatch something to punish whoever took the first crack at them. Sure, they would most likely win nonetheless, but then what?

Once Konoha was out of the way, this alliance— if it could ever even have been called that— between them would break. They would face each other then and that was why they all hesitated to step into the shark’s maw. At least that was what he thought they were doing. Except that Kumo had been ahead on the ball. They knew Konoha was practically done with, and instead of wasting time to strike a finishing blow, they came for Iwa next. He smashed his fist into the desk. He should have thought of it first.