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"What are the chances that Danzō's heard about Baizan?" Tern glanced at her squad leader sitting beside her, who posed the question to Weasel, who sat across from them in his office. She had been in the room only a couple of times, specifically when Ratel asked her to provide granular details about their progress. It was always nerve-racking to be in the captain's presence because she could never tell what he was thinking.
"He'll have eyes and ears on the capital city," Weasel replied. "We must assume the worst-case scenario. He's at least very suspicious that we went after Baizan to get to him."
Tern didn't like where the conversation was heading. She had worked very hard over the past few months to coordinate and get the two labour strikes off the ground. And she knew that the team's main mission was to isolate Danzō, but when the opportunity to potentially get at his throat was so close, she didn't want to waste it. The sooner Danzō died, the sooner the Shimura clan and many people close to her would have an earnest chance to get on a possible path of recovery.
"… Are we giving up on tracking ROOT's location?" she asked.
Ratel scoffed. "That'd be ridiculous."
"We have two choices before us. We either target the upcoming delivery or wait to ease any potential suspicion," Weasel said, the warm lights in his office casting a shadow over one half of his face. "The same risk is associated with both—losing this opportunity. If we rush and attack the nearest opportunity, they might be expecting it and cut the cord before we can get anything of value. If we try to soothe their suspicion by taking our time, they might decide that the risk is too great and drop Baizan as their supplier."
She wanted to say to go for the next delivery as they had initially discussed after Baizan's confession, but held her tongue because, of course, it wasn't that easy. If patiently waiting could increase their chance of finding ROOT's new base, then taking that option was a legitimate one they needed to consider, especially when something so important was at stake.
"Either way, it doesn't change our plans." Ratel turned his head to her. "Move on to the next target and start preparing. If we decide to wait, then we need to look like we're doing something. It's by no means strange for ANBU to be going around targeting Danzō's known acquaintances. I'll coordinate with Boobook and have her line things up with the initiative so we can kick up a fuss…"
Tern wasn't the only one working on isolating Danzō by creating a hostile environment. It would take years if she were the only one. She handled the complicated cases that required extensive planning. Boobook and Mor were responsible for leading the other efforts by doling out cases to the initiative.
"Proceed with the preparations as though we're targeting the coming delivery. Reserve the required resources, coordinate with the scouts and assault units, and get everything cleared with everyone involved. I'll get everything clear," Weasel said.
Given how important this could turn out to be, they needed to be prepared not only to track the location but also to move on it by launching an attack within the week, which would be considered late, and Ratel's squad was nowhere near enough to handle it by themselves.
Tern shared a look with her squad leader.
"Are we going for it?" Ratel asked.
Unlike Weasel, Ratel was much easier to read because he conveyed his thoughts and feelings when he was with his team. Communication was quite high on his leadership tenets. However, it was often difficult to know the exact breadth of what he was doing at any given time because he was doing so much with his little army of clones.
She knew that while he, too, swayed between both choices like Weasel, he leaned towards waiting for a couple of deliveries. He was willing to wait, but not for long. The shipments went out every other month, with four weeks remaining until the next delivery, making it so that if they skipped it and the one after that, they would be looking at a wait time of five months. And if she knew him, that was just about as long as he would be willing to wait—and so was she.
"I need time to make a decision, but I don't want to rush it," Weasel replied.
"How long do you need?" Ratel asked.
Tern's jaw clenched because asking their boss, an ANBU Captain at that, was far too bold and blunt. Even with how open Ratel was with them, neither she nor anyone else on the squad would dare to ask that, at least not so directly.
"Two weeks," Weasel replied with no change in expression.
The tension deflated from her body. She looked at the two teenagers who outranked her. They didn't seem like the other teenagers she knew. Perhaps it was wrong of her to judge and treat them by normal standards.
"It'd be too late by then to start the preparations, so we'll start it now, and if we think we should go, everyone else won't have to rush and make mistakes because of the crunch."
That choice was something only a captain could do because, in case the operation was cancelled, all of that preparation would be for naught. It would also waste a lot of resources and time for those involved, as everything would remain locked for the operation when they could've been diverted to other matters.
Tern wondered how much of that decision would be Weasel's. While Ratel was the squad leader, the decision was beyond his control. In the same way, Weasel had ANBU Commander Stag over him, who then answered to the Lord Hokage. She knew that Stag was already informed about the situation because Ratel had accompanied Weasel to see the commander, and she guessed that Danzō and ROOT would be on the intelligence summaries and reports presented to the Hokage frequently.
That was already two levels of authority that could dictate the decision.
And it made her think that Weasel didn't want to target the upcoming delivery and was going to try to convince them of the same, and that the preparations were in place, with the higher-ups having ordered the operation to go through.
"I'll see it gets done," Ratel said.
Tern finally relaxed, thinking that the meeting was over when Weasel said:
"I'll be participating. Plan accordingly."
"Are you sure? Will you get the authorisation?" Ratel asked after a moment of surprise.
Due to their status, jōnin couldn't move freely. When international relations were involved, the movement of jōnin could cause tension between two nations. Even domestically, territorial conflicts could sometimes arise between two jōnin or between samurai and shinobi. But more importantly, hidden villages didn't like sending jōnin on field missions until either it was absolutely necessary or they were sure that they would be safe because of how strategically important they were to the hidden village's military strength.
With ROOT, the risk assessment was always high. It was possible that Weasel wouldn't get field authorisation. Not to mention, Weasel was a generational genius, and no one doubted that he would inherit the Uchiha clan in the future. He was too important for the village to move him without much discussion and assessment.
"I'll get it. Proceed accordingly," Weasel said with utter certainty.
After the meeting ended, the two chūnin were returning to the squad offices when she noticed the sober and grim look on Ratel's face.
"Is something wrong?"
"…I wonder whether the reason he's asking to be a part is because he thinks he'll be needed."
That was a terrifying thought. Tern thought Weasel had only asked to come along because he was nervous about the operation and wanted to be there to see that everything went smoothly, but the fact that he wanted to be there because he thought that someone of his calibre was needed for success meant that the potential lethality level of the mission had just gone through the roof.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
"I don't think failure is possible if he gets involved," Ratel answered, showing he held Weasel in very high regard, which wasn't unjustified for the youngest ANBU Captain in the history of the organisation. "But it does make this extremely dangerous. What if we encounter an enemy jōnin? There's no reason to be worried about Weasel, but a battle between jōnin is anything but safe. What about us?"
Tern knew firsthand how strong jōnin were. Every year, the chūnin of her clan travelled to the middle of nowhere with two clan jōnin, who then sparred in earnest to frankly terrorise the other clan members into knowing that if they one day ran into an enemy jōnin, their only choice was to run, escape, or become cannon fodder.
Be it a new chunin or those who had already seen it for two decades, attendance was mandatory. She, herself, had seen it a few times, and every time she couldn't help but gaze out at the scarred terrain after their spars. The scale at which jōnin could cause destruction was something one needed to see with their own eyes to believe.
Imagination never got it right.
Ratel bit his lip with a frown. "I need to rethink my preparations."
Tern nodded. She needed to do the same.
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