Son of the Sannin(Back)

Prelude to the Invasion

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After the Crimson Citadel was secured, Mei ordered the rest of her forces back into the Kirigakure's Hope. Once they were in the security of the open sea, the Mizukage aspirant called for a meeting at the ship's war room. Like the previous meeting, her highest ranking officers and Konoha's Jonin were present.

"First of all, congratulations everybody on a job well done. We managed to recover most of our prisoners of war, my head of intelligence among them, and we did so while sustaining minimal loses," Mei praised all the ninja before them, before her expression turned serious. "However, what we did back then is nothing compared to the task ahead. It is now time to invade Kirigakure."

"And there are more complications that the ones we initially expected, right?" Kakashi guessed.

Mei sadly nodded. "Yes. Despite our best efforts, they managed to sneak a message to Kirigakure, and now Yagura knows what happened there. Since he knows we finally came out of hiding, we have no choice but attack Kirigakure now. If we take too long, Yagura will drag us into a war of attrition we have no hope of winning."

"And do you believe that, with our current forces, we will be able to take over a major village?" Asuma asked.

"Especially now that they know we're coming for them," Kurenai added.

"Yes. Now that we rescued so many p.o.w's, our numbers have grown to a more acceptable level. Besides, there might be a silver lining to our prison break not being a secret anymore," Mei stated and nodded at Ao, who took a step forward.

"This victory has proven that the Blood Mist is not invincible. We know of many groups and individuals who opposed Yagura, but feared him too much to join us. We believe it might not be the case anymore," Ao explained. "And with the news that we now have four of the Seven Swords in our power, as opposed to the two that remains within the village's walls, it will help our cause to gain more support as well, especially with the Feudal Lord of the Land of Water.

"But we shouldn't ignore the fact that even with the additional support, the information leak robbed us of the element of surprise. Yagura will be waiting for us to come, and there won't be any way to prevent that," Mei added.

"Kirigakure has two accesses: one from land, and a gated dock," Ao continued.

"I can take a small team with me to infiltrate the village and open the dock gates, just like Ameyuri did when we stormed the prison," Zabuza suggested.

Mei, however, shook her head. "Sadly such thing won't be possible anymore, since Yagura will be expecting that. In fact, my original plan consisted in luring Yagura's forces to the land gate, while a small team of infiltrators would open the dock gates, which the bulk of our troops would use to penetrate the village, and trap the enemy between us. The typical pincer movement. Our best option would be to do the last thing Yagura expects us to do."

"But that would be full assault from land, and we aren't going to do that," Chojuro pointed out, then he nervously looked at Mei. "...right?"

Mei looked at him, and sighed. "I'm afraid we have no other options."

Needless to say, the whole room erupted into a cacophony of yells, shouts and even profanities as the present ninjas tried to support or debunk the reckless, almost suicidal strategy of the Mizukage aspirant. It took Ao and Mei a couple minutes to calm down everybody, at which Mei continued her explanation.

"I'm not done yet. Listen, I'm not suggesting that we take over the village with our current forces. That's impossible and stupid. But we can do what we did at the Crimson Citadel: if we kill or capture Yagura, the other side will have no choice but surrender," Mei explained.