At a time

Chapter 8

There was silence as they all gathered in the dining room. Tazuna and his family went up stairs as they discussed their next move.

"Gatō wont allow Zabuza to stay passive. He'll make him do something soon. Hell, he's probably hiring someone else as we speak since Zabuza's lost an arm and man like Gatō would think he could no longer pull off the job." Kakashi states as he looks out of window. "If my suspicion is true this makes it a lot harder for us to come out of this alive. So, any suggestions on a plan?"

Neji was the first to speak. "I suggest that we speed up the process of the bridge, that way Gatō will have to rush into stopping Tazuna himself instead of hiring someone else to do it. We have been moving at a relatively slow pace to lure him into a false sense of s security for a reason."

"You forget that Gatō is a business man." Sasuke cuts in with a sneer. "He'll know it is a trap and realistically it will be a few months before his money runs out which gives him time to hire someone to destroy the bridge after its creation. He won't show himself."

"Then why don't we just, um, it sounds stupid but can't we just steal from him?" Sakura interrupts as everyone turns to look at her. "I-I mean, if he has no money to hire anyone..."

"If we steal from him but he still has a source of income his allies will help him out." TenTen adds.

"But if we do both at the safe time it would be a different story." Kazemi says as she twirls her hair around her finger. "A team to speed up the process of the bridge and another to raid Gatō's base. Of course not all of his money will be in one place so maybe it's more accurate to say that we'll need four teams and prep time to find were the rest of his money is stashed."

Gai rubs his chin in thought. "Kazemi and I will be able to complete the bridge in three hours with my speed and her clones. Neji and Lee can do the raids on the smaller bases since the byakugan will be able to find them easier. Kakashi will be stationed in Tazuna's house to protect his family and work as backup should any of us need it. Sasuke, Sakura and TenTen can lead the raid in the main base."

"I don't think there's much I can do in a raid..." Sakura starts as Kazemi shakes her head.

"Maybe not physically but mentally. You're a great strategist and brute force isn't what we need when taking down a stronghold. Despite what she's been doing since we've got here TenTen specialises in weapons including senbon which can have her quickly take down an enemy discreetly. Sasuke is more of a powerhouse so if you feel that your cover has been blown he can help you out." Kazemi explains to Sakura.

"That is true." Lee states as he turns to Sakura. "A stronghold is not something easily overcome, there will be shinobi, no matter how low ranking they may be. The goal of this operation is to steal from Gatō but that is impossible to do without taking down many of his men."

"So it's decided." Kakashi clasps his hands together. "The teams are set but we need information. I'll go out tonight and scout ahead and tomorrow we set our plan into motion."

"Ah, can you make that two days from now? I need to get my seals ready." Kazemi says as Kakashi tilts his head.

"I suppose it won't make a difference." He replies with a nod. "Ok, in two days we will make our move."

...

There was a tense silence as Kakashi spread a map onto the table. Neji and Sasuke weren't even glaring at each other, that's how bad this was.

"Twenty one strongholds that we know of." Kakashi murmurs as he massages his temple. "The big one has ¥1,000,000,000 at the least with the smaller ones having around ¥200,000,000. As for those who are guarding it the big one has at least two Jonin rank shinobi and the smaller ones around five chunin each."