CHAPTER 22
* It's time to go to bed, I've already stayed up for an extra hour. It's still too early to start walking on vertical surfaces. I think I'll wait a bit, don't want to break one of the walls with my clumsiness. – Witnessing how he wasn't even doing well at attaching leaves on his first try, Yuske settled on doing a simpler version of walking on vertical surfaces first.
He decided to start by attaching his soles to the floor with chakra, and if he felt the stickiness of sufficient strength while walking that could hold him steadily on the surface of the wall, he could boldly begin his ascent to the ceiling of the room.
The youth spent the whole day practicing, occasionally distracted by meals and other absurdities during his mother's visits to his room.
He was alternating between mastering control and meditatively accelerating chakra recovery, eventually gaining a good amount of progress for the first day.
Yuske tried to mark his progress by increasing the number of attached leaves, which confirmed that he was making enough improvement.
___________________________
Iwagakure, Tsuchikage's office.
* The thud of a fist hitting the table. *
- OLD MAN!!! stop lingering, we need to seize the chance we've been given. - Kitsuchi, Iwa's jonin, couldn't contain himself after hearing the report of the recon squad leader.
- Just sit down and shut up, your racket won't make us think any faster.
- There's nothing else to think about, White Fang of Leaf has committed suicide, Tsunade and Jiraiya are out of the village, the economy is in decline, the clans are fighting amongst themselves - this lack of unity is the first time in Konoha's history, and possibly the last time, we can't pass up an opportunity like this.
- Without your muscle head, I know all of that, but it was way too easy for our intel gatherer to come back, considering the missing entire squad.
- What do you mean easy, he's the only one who made it back, the whole team went down there and we shouldn't leave their sacrifice in vain.
- The whole team was gone during the very first stage of the mission, and further information gathering and his risky initiative to catch a genin team, which could have cost us the whole operation, went too easy. I sent an extra squad to the border in case there was a chase and our scouts needed help, but they reported nothing, not even the reinforcement of the Leaf patrol on the border or the deployment of additional troops. As if Konoha was still unaware that an entire enemy squad had died in their territory, or that a team of genin usually led by a jonin had disappeared.
- You're overestimating them, it's impossible for the Leaf to carry out some large scale actions without disclosure, maybe something doesn't add up, but it doesn't change anything.
- It's you who underestimate them, especially the old foxes that Konoha has nurtured. It could all be Hokage's trap or a play of wicked Danzo. – Oonoki, relying on his vast experience knew that it was wrong to act first, taking the entire brunt of the attack, it was better to let someone else take the lead.
He couldn't rely on Cloud, the old monster had learned to use his head over the years, and Mist had harbored a grudge against them since the days of the Second Tsuchikage Mu.
The information received was not reliable, the parties were in a multi-sided conflict, which means they should only act after one of the parties shows its 'claws' and expresses its intention to start first in this time rich of complicated circumstances. From all of this, it appeared that the only proper outcome was to encourage Sand to take action.
- Pass the reports to our agents in Sand, and have them inform Chiyo of Konoha's current deplorable state.
- Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. - With those words, Kitsuchi left the office to carry out orders, leaving Oonoki with thoughts of the monsters that once lived in Konohogakure and whether or not there are any hidden ones to be wary of as well.