A Change of Plans!

{Hokage's Office, Administrative building, Konohagakure}

{5:31 PM, 2nd July 13 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

...

There was a solemn silence in Hokage's office, Hiruzen sat in his chair as he stared out of the window at Konohagakure. There were just 4 people present in the room, Shikaku had his eyes closed as he leaned back in a chair while Hayate and the ANBU commander both stood silently. 

Hayate's face was set in a grimace as he sighed, Hiruzen finally broke the silence and asked, "...what happened to Temari and Kankuro?"

"Both of them left for Suna along with Baki as soon as they came out of the training ground 44..." Dragon replied.

Hiruzen sighed, he looked at the peaceful Konohagakure one last time before he turned around, his face hardened as he turned to Shikaku and asked, "Suna's expected response?"

"Well, there is no reason to think too much about this, their only move is to ask for the genin who killed their Kage's son along with demands of monetary value as compensation," Shikaku replied.

"They knew the risks before participating," Hiruzen muttered as he looked at Hayate's stoic face.

"We can deny it on the basis of the waivers that they signed, we would have the moral high ground in that case but Suna would only escalate the conflict and it could lead to a small conflict and even the war breaking out," Shikaku replied, he had been trying to think of ways to get out of this political incident but nothing seemed to jump out at him.

'How did things escalate so suddenly,' Hiruzen thought, he looked at everyone's face once again and then turned to Hayate and asked, "How do you evaluate Ren's strength?"

Hayate froze, he understood the implications in Hokage-sama's tone, "In almost all combat scenarios he could go against normal Jonins, his chakra capacity is still too low but he's progressing in the right direction. He has Low-Jonin level speed and reflexes, he has mastered Wind manipulation to a degree where he can use chakra flow with wind-natured chakra so his kenjutsu style is deadly and his most effective weapon."

'That's good enough, if he hides in the Land of Fire he shouldn't encounter any problems.' Hiruzen thought as he pulled out a scroll from the drawer and began writing a mission brief.

"Suna won't believe that he abandoned the village Hokage-sama," Shikaku spoke, although he did believe this was the best way to de-escalate the situation.

'Yeah but if Ren chooses to stay in the village quite a lot of clans would put political pressure on me to sacrifice him to stop the war... it would be best if he takes this mission.' Hiruzen thought

"Well, Suna lost a Jinchuriki in addition to just the Kazekage's son, so they won't risk war so easily." Dragon countered, he believed that they could win even if the war really started, the variable would still be Iwa and Kumo that were just waiting for an opportunity.

Hiruzen finished writing the mission brief in silence, he pulled out two other scrolls and then placed 3 scrolls in front of Hayate.

"Go into the training ground 44. Tell Ren that he is promoted to Chunin effective immediately. This scroll contains the mission brief for an S-Rank mission that he could take if he's up for it, assure him that we'll come up with an alternate strategy so he doesn't necessarily have to bear the burden if he doesn't feel ready for it." Hiruzen spoke.

"Burn the first two scrolls, or give it to him after giving him the details. This third scroll contains a pardon stating that if Ren chooses to take this mission, his defection form Village Hidden in the Leaf is ordered by me, as my capacity as the Third Hokage. And in case anything happens to me I will leave a black scroll detailing his mission." Hiruzen finished, he nodded to Hayate who carefully collected all 3 scrolls before he flickered out of the room.

Hirzuen turned to Dragon and spoke, "Prepare supplies for war and replace the sentries..." Hiruzen began ordering around. After getting some instructions Dragon also flickered out of the room leaving Shikaku alone with Hiruzen.

Shikaku sighed as he muttered, "What a drag..."

An amused smile appeared on Hiruzen's face as he looked at the ever-tired Nara, "Begin analyzing the points from where Suna would most likely start skirmishes."

...

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{In a Dark Cave}

{7:12 PM, 2nd July 13 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

Pain looked as one by one everyone arrived and in a few moments, there were 9 projections of Akatsuki members present in the room. Before the commotion could begin Pain asked, "What news do you have Zetsu." 

Zetsu was the main source of information for the Akatsuki, he was the one who called this meeting, "The Ichibi Jinchuriki just died in Konohagakure."

The information caused everyone to stop for a moment as they took it all in, "Wait who killed the Ichibi Jinchuriki?" Kakuzu asked, he saw an opening and he was thinking about traveling to the Land of Fire, quite a lot of bounties had been piling up in that area.

"According to what I could find, it was a genin named Ren," Zetsu replied. 

Pain frowned as he looked around, their plan was set to begin in 2 years but Ichibi's death delayed their plan for the foreseeable future. 

'It would take at least 3 years for the Ichibi to reform, the three tails is still not found and according to when it died there are 2 more years left until it begins reforming again...' Pain concluded, the beginning of their plan was delayed already because the Sanbi died during the Kiri civil war.

'This would cause us another year of delay at the latest, even though the 5 shinobi nations would not be able to stand in front of a God. If we start our plan too early and would have to wait a year for the Ichibi to reform then the chances of failure increase slightly...' Pain concluded as he looked down. The S-ranks missing nins were once again indulged in their own petty squabbles.

"Itachi...Kisame, go to Konoha and check out if you can find the place where the Ichibi Jinchuriki died, and see if we could trace where the Ichibi would reform." Pain ordered, his eyes locked onto the Sharingan of Itachi's.

'Let's see what you plan on doing, Itachi Uchiha...' Pain thought, this was also a small test for Itachi. Until recently Pain hadn't cared about the personal motives that people had when they joined Akatsuki as long as they did the missions assigned to them.

Orochimaru's departure and his stealing a 'ring' that was needed for the extraction jutsu had woken him up though, he can't risk losing any more pieces.

'I need to assign Zetsu to shadow Itachi and Kisame and watch over them...'

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AN- A small change in the timeline, what would happen!

Gaara's arc incoming?

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