Chapter 5: Prologue: Conflict Arc: Episode 1

One Year Later

"Are you sure that it is feasible, Yugito-san?" Gashir, the high Jonin of Kumo asked Yugito who nodded emphatically.

"It is simple in concept, Gashir, all you have to do is get the package to the embassy, and once inside, you are practically as safe as you would be in Kumogakure. Not even Konoha ninja would dare to assault a diplomatic embassy building in public view. Once inside, use the reverse summoning seal arrays devised by Nakamura and transport the package to Kumo," she spoke softly while Gashir nodded.

"The new hokage…," Gashir began with a frown, when Yugito interrupted him.

"Will not do anything, in fact she cannot do anything at all, even if she wants to; that is the beauty of this operation, your cover will be your trump card, even if you kill somebody in public view in Konoha, you will still not be held accountable," Yugito pointed out as Gashir nodded slowly. Even though it was a bit of exaggeration on Yugito's part, the implication was clear. As long as he held to his cover, he was untouchable.

The concept was so simple, and yet so daring, he admitted softly. In the turbulent world of shinobi, diplomatic mission buildings were the only buildings that were considered inviolate. And to date, despite the numerous shinobi wars, no shinobi village had dared to assault an embassy belonging to a enemy nation; because, all nations knew the fact that wars did not last forever; and that there would be an after the war scenario, in which all of them would have to re-engage each other, and Ambassadors were the only people capable of achieving that. Ambassadors were probably the only politicians most insulated from assassinations, their rulers and masters were targeted, but not them, because they were more vital than any others were. Attacking an emissary was considered the ultimate taboo in the shinobi world.

In addition, if he conducted his mission under the cover of being an ambassador, then even if his op was blown, Konoha would still not dare to attack him, because the repercussions would be severe, Gashir thought smugly, as he nodded his acceptance to the mission, which Yugito had assigned to him.

He was wrong, he was very wrong.

As the people and ninja of Konoha watched stupefied, Senju Raiha stood atop the roof of the burning embassy of Kaminari no Kuni holding Gashir by his throat. Then, as the horrified civilians and ninja alike watched, he calmly twisted and broke Gashir's neck and threw his corpse down the burning roof to the ground below.

A moment later, he vanished as a loud explosion occurred; raising a cloud of dust, ten meters high. As it cleared, Raiha could be seen walking out of the rubble that was once the embassy of Kaminari no Kuni, and in his arms was the unconscious figure of one Hinata Hyuuga, the four year old daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi, whom he handed over to a much relieved Yuuhi Kurenai, who hastened to hand over the unconscious child to her father, who was arguing with the council to request permission to assault the embassy of Kaminari no Kuni to reclaim his daughter; something that he wouldn't need to do anymore.

As he watched the jubilant cheers arising from the gathered crowd, Nakamura slowly made his way out, deep in thought. For the first time in his life, the man was flustered and rightly so. Disregarding all political ramifications, the Godaime Hokage's grandson had single handedly assaulted the embassy of Kaminari no Kuni to retrieve the kidnapped daughter of the Hyuuga clan head, whom the shinobi of Konoha had seen being taken into the embassy.

He cursed Gashir, for the man's incompetence, and the ninja of Konoha, who had kept the embassy in round the clock surveillance. If the idiot Gashir had had the sense to make his way out of Konoha, instead of going into the embassy gambling on the fact that Konoha would not assault an embassy, then everything would have gone properly.

True, he had been told to use his diplomatic cover as a shield, but that was on the proviso that he maintained his cover intact. The idiot, panicking after realizing that the ninja of Konoha had discovered that he had kidnapped the girl, had run full tilt into the embassy. Dumbass, there was only so much 'Protection' that diplomatic immunity could offer. Konoha knew they had the girl, and the embassy had been besieged on all sides, and eventually, even if they did manage to get the child back to Kumo, they would have been forced to return her, now that Konoha knew that Kumo had violated the integrity of the diplomatic mission. If he had brought the child in undetected, then Kumo would have gained the Byakugan by now.

Nevertheless, the idiot had ruined everything. In his panicked state, not only had he compromised his cover; he had also dealt a severe blow to Kumo's reputation. By an international treaty between all major shinobi nations, it was decreed that an embassy could not be used for staging shinobi operations. To date, none of the great five had violated that agreement. The success of Yugito's plan depended on the very fact that nobody expected them to use this avenue. However, due to the panicked reaction of one man, not only had the operation been compromised, but also their reputation was now tarnished forever.

What he had truly not expected was the action undertaken by the Hokage's grandson. As soon as the young man had learnt of the situation, he had simply blitzed into the embassy single handed, and had executed Gashir, a fully accredited and recognized ambassador, in full public view.

Something, which even a Kage, would hesitate twice before doing. He had then systematically executed every person inside the embassy, destroyed the building, and had retrieved the kidnapped girl. From what he had heard, the young man was an extremely shrewd and calculative person, one not prone to giving into impulsive actions like this, and that puzzled him greatly.

Nakamura realized without delay, that there existed at least one person who had the ability to make life very uncomfortable for Nii Yugito. Moreover, Yugito was not the kind to take to interference in her work in stride. Things were about to get very unpleasant, of that he was sure.

As immersed as he was in his thoughts, he did not notice Raiha's eyes on him, assessing and calculating his every move.

"Who the hell do they think they are? I report to the daimyo and even he is smart enough to not ask me how I do my job! Have you ever seen such a bunch of self-righteous ass covering pricks? They do not care about what we do. They care only about the publicity these things generate, and how the hell could he be so careless? I fight tooth and nail with the Go-Ikenban and allow him to remain a civilian, and how does he repay me? By blowing up an embassy! Is he deranged? Moreover, where the hell is he? In the old days, if one of my ninjas were to act so carelessly, he would have the good sense to defect or become rogue! God, I miss the wars!" Tsunade raged as she walked back to her office, while Shizune hurried after her, cringing at the venom in her master's voice.

As she neared her office, everybody in the area became quiet sensing that the Godaime was in one of her infamous tempers, and wisely opted to remain silent.

Tsunade opened the doors of her office, and entered in, only to see her grandson sitting in front of her desk, gazing at the portraits of the previous Hokage's.

"You've got a bloody cheek," Tsunade spoke coldly as she eyed her grandson, who gazed at her indifferently, while Shizune began to chew her nails in anxiety.

"I will try to be more diligent the next time, if something like this happens again," he spoke nonchalantly while Tsunade snorted as she sank down into her chair.

"If not, you had better kill yourself," she retorted coldly as she stared down her grandson, who looked back at her with the same icy indifference.

"You stormed an embassy," Tsunade pointed out, "You broke the only absolutely inviolate rule in the area of international relations! Do you have any idea of the damage you have caused?" she snarled as she pounded her fist on the table.

"I did try to mitigate the damage," Raiha pointed calmly at which she snorted.

"You broke a man's neck in full public view and threw him off the roof of that embassy! I would hardly call that showing restraint, especially since that man you killed also happens to be the High Jonin of Kumogakure, who was here as the chief negotiator for the peace talks between our nations," she spoke curtly while Raiha's eyebrows rose a tiny bit.

"I find it hard to believe that you are the one who is lecturing me about restraint, considering who you are and what you did all those years ago…," Raiha began when Tsunade interrupted coldly, "Utter one more word, and grandson or not, I will have you killed," she finished as the young man nodded and stopped.

"Frankly speaking, you are over thinking about this matter, in reality, there is nothing they can do," Raiha continued while Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

"Really? Care to explain that, grandson mine?"

"First of all, their protests are flimsy at best. I proved it beyond doubt, when I stormed that building and rescued that young Hyuuga child, and an embassy is hardly the place to provide asylum to a fleeing criminal. By blatantly housing a known criminal who had kidnapped the heir of the Hyuuga clan, they stand to lose all credibility. An embassy and its personnel are granted diplomatic immunity from all sorts of prosecution from local laws, in order to create trust between two nations. While it is true, that they are granted immunity from most of the laws, that does not give them the right to blatantly violate our laws in such a flagrant manner, and then use their diplomatic immunity as a shield. By storming that embassy, I have saved that child from a terrible fate, and saving an innocent child's life and honor is more important than maintaining a shallow pretense of diplomacy with a treacherous nation. I have also proved that they do not adhere to the principles expected by nations in international relationships, and this incident will further dent their credibility worldwide."

"And furthermore, as far as accountability for this goes, let me remind you that I am a civilian, and not a ninja under your employ. That is a matter of public record, and it is indisputable. Therefore, if Kaminari no Kuni and Kumogakure intend to hold me accountable, they will find it particularly hard to do so. Especially since, Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni do not have an extradition treaty; and trying to assault me personally would be even more problematic for them, because then they would have assaulted the grandson of the hokage, and that is a guaranteed cause for war, a war which they certainly do not intend to fight as of now. Therefore, the only option left to them would be to file a legal complaint against me in the Daimyo's court, to have me prosecuted, and the last time I checked, the daimyo's court, had a backlog of cases worth ten years. You should have realized by now grandmother, that I do not attempt anything without calculating all possible outcomes, have a good day," Raiha concluded softly and left his grandmother's office, leaving her speechless.

Raiha had nailed it spot on. There were no miscalculations, which was his greatest miscalculation. In addition, as he had intended, everything was about to fall into the worst-case scenario because of his actions, which was vital to his plan.

Nii Yugito was about to have a very harsh dose of reality assault her.