Tactical Withdrawal

Five hours have passed since the failure of the coup on Konoha, where Orochimaru ended up using Sunagakure beyond its terms and managed to kill the Third Hokage at the price of losing the functionality of his arms.

"Why isn't Takara here yet?" Baki was pacing anxiously at the rendezvous point that was supposed to be used in case things went wrong.

Which they did.

He still had trouble believing that his Kazekage, Rasa, could be assassinated so easily and replaced without anyone being aware.

Was his self-proclaimed Kage strength an empty title?

Personally, he didn't even care that the egotistical idiot was gone, and from what he saw, his sons didn't seem too affected either. He was more concerned that he wouldn't be able to excavate gold to support the village's economy anymore.

Although perhaps now that he was dead, the Wind Daimyo would support the ninja village in his territory again, stopping the diversion of missions that rightfully belonged to them.

Too bad it was a perhaps, rather than a fact.

A blue blink appeared to his right, and he tensed, but relaxed upon recognizing the genin they were waiting for, just at the meeting hour limit before giving up and withdrawing.

"Report, what happened to you?" Baki frowned, visibly half of his face exposed, seeing Takara's condition.

Broken bandages, bloodstains, and even his cherished mask was cracked, causing the light of his right eye to flicker. It was the first time he had seen him in such a bad state.

Baki knew from Gaara that Takara had to cover the retreat of the jinchuriki and his siblings, but a handful of genin shouldn't have left Takara in this state, let alone delay him for so long.

"When I was about to retreat after buying enough time, several ninjas from Otogakure approached my fight and made things even more complicated," Takara recounted as a Suna kunoichi applied medical ninjutsu through the bandages.

"Orochimaru's subordinates?" Baki raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the information. "Why would they bother going where you were?"

"Their target wasn't me," he shook his head. "They seemed much more interested in the blond kid dressed in orange, although I don't know the reason," Takara lied, making sure his constants didn't give away anything while still receiving medical treatment for the wounds he inflicted to make his lies realistic. "I noticed they were forming a siege, and there were too many, so I had to detonate my puppets as a distraction to escape, but still, there were a couple of them who didn't want to let me go and chased after me."

Kankuro grimaced, deducing that the puppets that exploded were Ram and Rem. For a common puppet ninja, detonating their tool is akin to playing their final card.

It succeeds and they barely survive or fails and they die. Furthermore, if it's the former result, they have to pray not to encounter enemies on their way back.

Baki remained silent as he processed the information Takara provided. Perhaps the genin wasn't aware, but he knew about the blond kid's other identity. It was an open secret for all the adults of every major ninja village, even the minor ones knew it.

A container, just like Gaara.

Did Orochimaru decide that killing the Hokage wasn't enough, and he wanted to take their jinchuriki?

Sunagakure had truly sunk into this plan, damn Rasa!

"Can you move?" Baki asked, knowing they couldn't stay here. "Forget that, summon that centipede puppet that serves as a carriage; we have several wounded, and we've already been delayed too long."

The medical kunoichi stepped aside, and Takara took a deep breath visibly before tossing a seal, deploying it with chakra threads, and forming a seal, causing a smoke cloud to burst, and the same puppet he used for his journey to Konoha appeared.

"I'm fit to control it, but I don't have much chakra left," Takara commented as he positioned himself as the driver.

Baki nodded, understanding in broad strokes how the large puppet worked and remembering that they hadn't recharged it during the entire journey to Konoha.

"Anyone with more than sixty percent of their chakra left, come here!" he called around. "The rest, help the wounded aboard and those who can't move."

While they needed to conserve some chakra for possible fights during their retreat, with the speed of the centipede carriage with a full tank, the likelihood of fighting plummeted.

Even if a dozen ninjas stood in their way, they would end up trampled or brutally rammed at high speed.

Several Suna ninjas took a soldier pill during this waiting time and had recovered a bit, so even with their spirits low, they approached to contribute chakra to the puppet.

Once they filled a tenth of the tank, Takara set the puppet in motion while some ninjas took turns to keep supplying chakra to keep it going.

"Do you know what happened to the blond kid?" Temari asked, who had taken the initiative to sit next to Takara to monitor his physical condition.

No one wanted the driver to make them crash into a tree because he passed out in this situation.

"I don't know," Takara replied without looking away from the road.

As she could see through the broken mask, it was a mystery to Temari too.

"To be honest, I thought if Orochimaru was going after someone, it would be the Uchiha," he explained, very aware that Baki would be listening to their conversation. "Why would a Sannin want the blond kid?" Takara pondered aloud. "Maybe because he's a summoner from the toad clan, while he uses the snake clan?"

Temari hesitated but remained silent as she also watched the road and the trees passing by rapidly.

Naruto was like Gaara.

Does that mean Orochimaru could be interested in his younger brother?

"Hey," Gaara called from inside the centipede carriage, looking tired. "I need to sleep, give me a couple of noxins... please."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow, as did Temari, but neither of them showed their surprise beyond their not-so-subtle actions.

Takara handed Gaara four noxins directly; as far as he was concerned, the more chakra from the Shukaku he could get, the better.

After all, the noxins he sent to investigate the desert before heading to the chunin exams finally started finding traces of "that thing".