The Adventurous Gamer Ninja - Daichi Hekima [Vol. 02]

Chapter 314 - Battleplans

Hokage Tower.

Time: 2:00am.

Hiruzen, Shikaku and the Anbu commander codenamed Ox were looking over several reports sent by the reconnaissance teams. The old kage had his eyes focused on the reports Danzo had sent earlier. He was in deep thoughts as he looked at all the information.

'Even though I've had people look into Orochimaru and his movements, I haven't gotten as much information as Danzo. Does that mean his Root network is more extensive than I anticipated or is it possible that Orochimaru is able to completely avoid my Anbu.'

Hiruzen took a puff from his tobacco pipe and leaned back in his chair. 'No. The ones I've assigned to this task aren't incompetent. Then why is there such a big gap in the information I have on him?'

The old Kage turned to two of the highest commanding shinobi under him. "So what do you think?"

It was the masked Anbu commander who replied first. "Seven locations. Three of them near towns and two of them near areas with somewhat open terrain and two others near the mountains region with several tunnels going underground. All of them have around two dozen mercenaries guarding it. Based on the observations made by the Hyuga and the Inuzuka on the teams, many of them have Chunin level chakra. And some have shown the usage of Orochimaru's Curse seal with strange powers. So there is the possibility that there are more hidden among them with similar abilities."

"But no one could confirm the presence of Orochimaru himself or Tsunade or her student in any of those locations?" Hiruzen muttered with a sigh.

"No sir. There are barriers blocking the sensor ninjas and the Hyuga. Even the Aburame's insects aren't able to get in." The head of the Anbu division replied.

"These seven hideouts are spread across the Fire country. So we can't have a single heavy attack unit attack each base and move on to the next. That's too inefficient. It'll take too long." Hiruzen said, looking at the map marked with the location of the enemy bases.

"And if we try to attack all seven at the same time, that movement will be too big to conceal and there will be a lack of manpower in the village. It will leave the village vulnerable." The Anbu commander found the problem with the second way of attack.

The Hokage nodded agreeing with him. 'If I didn't have to guard against Danzo this wouldn't be such a headache. I need to have an understanding of all variables before I make my choice.'

Hiruzen crossed his arms and then looked at the other ninja present in the room. "Shikaku. You're silent."

The head of the Nara clan turned to the Hokage with a grim face which put the old kage on alert. "What is it, Shikaku?"

"I think I know why Danzo was able to gather more information on Orochimaru than us... Because he didn't."

The Jonin commander had the attention of both the Anbu head and the Hokage.

Hiruzen slightly narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean? That Orochimaru gave him that information?"

At Shikaku's silence both ninjas were shocked.

"Wait! Are you implying that Danzo is still in contact with Orochimaru?" The Anbu asked.

Shikaku shook his head. "No. Not necessarily. I believe that Orochimaru found out about Danzo spying on him and then fed him all this intel without Danzo realizing it."

"What makes you say that?" Hiruzen asked.

Shikaku took several papers and handed them to the kage and the Anbu. "I've been analyzing all the data and information compiled with the analysis teams all day. Danzo's report was meticulous. It showed when and where his agents got the intel on Orochimaru's movement. Individually, there is nothing abnormal about it. But if you put all of them together then an irregularity shows. It's small and even I would have skipped past it on any other day."