47 The Attack II

I apologize for the past few days. I got sick, and some things happened. I couldn't write anything. I spent the days reading some fanfics, but now I'm back. I just hope I'm still in the writing mindset I was before. Before I start writing again, I'll reread the last ten chapters just to make sure I won't write anything wrong.

***

At the ritual site, Tsunade and Mito were conversing in hushed tones, while Yujin stood a little apart, watching Hiruzen giving orders. The attack had begun, and all the decoys created to confuse the enemies were being attacked simultaneously, including the base they were in.

Hiruzen's priority was to maintain the confusion so that the main force wouldn't attack the correct location.

Yujin looked over at Tsunade, who seemed worried. They had finished talking as the ritual was beginning. From what Yujin overheard, thanks to his keen hearing, Mito explained her plan and the potential problems, making it clear that there were real chances of everything going wrong.

Seeing Tsunade approach after the conversation, Yujin remarked.

"The attack has started. It seems Iwagakure is also attacking along with Kumogakure. They've divided their forces and are attacking the six locations that the Hokage created as decoys, including this one."

Tsunade nodded, lost in thought. She didn't seem to have heard, her attention on Mito, who had begun the process of sealing the fox.

Yujin continued to listen to the Hokage, paying attention to the details of the battle outside. He wanted to be prepared with all the details in case he needed to enter the fight.

...

At the same time, on the outskirts of the village, the Raikage and the Tsuchikage had just entered the village with some subordinates.

Next to the Raikage was a young man who resembled him; tall, muscular, dark-skinned, blond, with a goatee on his chin. Next to this young man was a small boy, who couldn't have been more than ten years old, dark-skinned and blond.

"B, does the Hachibi sense anything?"

The Raikage asked as he looked at the boy. He was having trouble finding, among the six locations, the location of the ritual. The forces he had sent were not enough to defeat the forces at the locations, and he wasn't willing to waste more of his troops in futile battles.

The ritual was what mattered.

He tried sending some sensory ninjas to see if they discovered anything, but they felt nothing. Clearly, the Hokage was prepared and had placed seals at all the locations. Unless they enter the locations, it will be impossible to know what's inside.

"Whee, whee, yo, yo, he said, yo, so far nothing, yo, wheeee."

The Raikage rolled his eyes as he saw the boy start to rap.

"When Hachibi senses the Kyuubi's location, let me know."

Ignoring the boy who continued with his rap, the Raikage looked at his temporary ally, the Tsuchikage, and commented.

"Do you have any way to find out the correct location?"

The bandaged man remained silent upon hearing the question, thinking of solutions. Unfortunately, it wasn't so simple. The Third Hokage is known to be experienced in fuinjutsu, not to mention that Mito Uzumaki herself is the greatest fuinjutsu expert from Uzushiogakure. The only thing he could think of was the obvious, to send a larger force to one of the locations and enter the place.

"Unfortunately, no. I think we have to go with the obvious while we wait for a reaction from the Hachibi."

The Raikage grunted an affirmation, dissatisfied with their incompetence. Unfortunately, they don't have many fuinjutsu specialists in their villages.

He only has three solutions, although only one of them is currently possible:

Brute force, Hachibi's senses, or the mysterious contact in the leaf village.

Going for brute force would take time and waste the lives of his subordinates, something he wasn't willing to do easily. Hachibi, who is also one of the tailed beasts like the Nine-Tailed Fox, has a special connection with the fox, and so they can sense each other through Chakra, but maybe because of the seal, Hachibi still hasn't felt anything.

The mysterious contact is a person from the leaf village who mysteriously provides information. The only thing he knows about this person is that they are a high-level figure within the village.

The Raikage doesn't know the motivations of this person, although he assumes it's for political gain. He also doesn't care since the information this person gives always proves to be true after mobilizing some of his own spies to confirm it.

Unfortunately, it's a one-way communication. He can't communicate with the person; he only receives the information passively, making it an unreliable source of information.

Now, for example, would be a good time for him to receive information, but he hasn't received any messages so far.

He only had one course of action possible currently: brute force.

***

At one of the six locations, leaf village ninjas were fighting against cloud village and stone village ninjas. The stone village ninjas were focused on creating fortifications so they could gain ground, and the cloud village ninjas focused on protecting them.

The leaf village ninjas tried their best to defeat the enemies, but it wasn't so simple, and so the battle was extending, neither side gaining an advantage.

In this specific base, in its underground, there was a man with long black hair and reptile-like eyes. He was in communication with the Hokage, commenting on what he thought of the enemy's actions.

"They don't seem to have a good method for finding the location of the ritual. Soon, they will come with brute force to destroy each of the locations. Normally, since we are in the advantage, I would expect more, but if they come to attack with everything, the bases won't hold for long."

The Hokage, on the other side of the conversation, responded after thinking for a few seconds.

"All decoys have an escape route; be ready to flee. When the Raikage decides to attack, I'll send Jiraya to delay him. If he attacks your location, join the fight and keep them busy."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and asked slowly.

"When do we plan to attack? I personally don't like your passive attitude, Sensei. They're invading us; we should counterattack."

Hiruzen frowned and replied, discontented.

"I don't like it either, but the ritual is more important. If something goes wrong, we'll have to deal with the Nine-Tailed Fox in the middle of this battle. The results of that would be devastating. When the ritual is over and the fox is safe with Kushina, we will launch a full attack on the enemy forces. I won't let this attack slide at such a critical moment."

As dissatisfied as he was, Orochimaru could only accept it. He couldn't oppose the orders of the Hokage, especially at such a delicate moment. He thought silently, discontented.

'When I become Hokage, everything will be different.'

***

At the ritual site, Mito was working rapidly. The ritual for the fox's passage was simpler than what she was doing, and therefore demanded more time and effort. The ground, walls, and nearby pillars were filled with seals, unfamiliar words with uncertain meanings.

Her concentration was at its peak; there was nothing else, just what she was doing.

More than two hours after the start of the ritual, she made a hand seal and placed her hand on her belly, where a spiral seal appeared. Her fingers seemed to pierce the skin, and from within, she pulled out a mass of blue Chakra.

Upon seeing this, everyone watching the ritual held their breath. The mass of Chakra slowly took the form of a blue nine-tailed fox, gradually being extracted from her belly.

The process was slow but continuous.

...

At that moment, not far from the ritual, a mystical being with eight tails opened its eyes and spoke aloud.

"I found it."