The war council concluded shortly afterwards. Once Shikaku and Sakura had unveiled their grand strategy and communicated all military appointments to the relevant parties, there was little left to discuss. Though Danzō had bought them some time with his Project: Gozu Tennō, Sakura held no illusions that the likes of the Zero-Tails' offspring would keep the other villages occupied much longer than a day. The defensive lines needed to be established as soon as possible.
"Well, someone's in a hurry." Sakura leaned over, murmuring in Kakashi's ear as she watched Mitokado Homura weave his way to the door. "Remind me again, what exactly are the responsibilities of a councillor?"
"Sit around and drink tea," Kakashi whispered back, his mouth barely moving behind his mask. "At least, that's the extent of my experience so far."
That wasn't to say sitting and tea drinking couldn't be important.
In truth, the members of the Konoha Council were extremely influential, for they were widely known to have the Hokage's ear. Those who wanted a direct line to the Hokage, without the burden of going through tedious official procedures, could turn to the Hokage's advisors and have a spot of tea (read: exchange favours unofficially). In turn, it was these ties to powerful and influential figures that gave the councillors their importance. As a new councillor, Kakashi had yet to cultivate those valuable connections.
Of course, the unenlightened might call such practices corruption, but so long as it was Sakura's people doing it, then it was naturally perfectly acceptable and aboveboard. A wise Hokage, nay, a splendid shinobi, knows that the world is not black and white, and that one must understand when to bend and when to stand firm; the continued existence of the black market was proof enough of that.
For example, ordinary mission shinobi were not permitted to take on contracts without going through the Hokage's mission desk, but the Hokage? The Hokage was the village! Everything she did was for the village, so everything she did was justified!
"Shall I put a tail on him, Milady?" Kakashi asked in a low voice.
Sakura frowned, though not because she was shocked and appalled at the idea of placing one of her own advisors under surveillance.
"I told you not to call me that, Milady was Lady Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura murmured. "Also, yes, you can go ahead and do that, though you didn't hear it from me; and if you do find evidence that he's still colluding with Danzō, report to me without taking further action…"
Kakashi flashed her a thumbs up.
With that, there was nothing left for Sakura to do but finalise her attack plan and decide who would accompany her. The invasion schematics Danzō had drafted were fairly comprehensive, to his credit, but they were twenty years out of date, and Sakura intended to make a few modifications of her own as well.
For one, Danzō's plan to infiltrate Kusagakure and decapitate their leadership was unnecessarily bloody, and Sakura had no desire to leave angry Grass rebels running around behind her defensive lines. Kusagakure was already furious with Kumogakure for crushing Hōzuki Castle, and with Iwagakure for making off with their ultimate weapon, so they were already favourably disposed to being 'convinced' to join the Leaf's cause over that of their rivals.
For two, Danzō's movements remained unknown to her, so if Sakura followed his plan word for word, he would know precisely where she was at all times, should news of the operation ever reach him… which she was certain it would. After all, he was not called the Darkness of the Shinobi World for nothing; he was difficult to track, and he had eyes and ears everywhere.
Sakura had no intention of spending the rest of her life jumping at shadows. Danzō wanted her job enough to murder her, and as much as she did not want to be Hokage, she wanted him to have the job even less; so for her, this Kusagakure operation was the perfect opportunity to flush him out of hiding by offering herself as bait.
…
And so, shortly after the morning meeting with the village's political elite, she summoned Shikamaru to her office to help her devise a way to turn the tables on Danzō and assemble a team suited for the stealthy infiltration of Kusagakure.
"You think Shimura Danzō's gonna act, eh?" Shikamaru said, the dull look in his eyes vanishing instantly. "Yeah, I think I can work that into the old plan."
Shikamaru was taking his job unusually seriously, for once. Asuma's death had tempered his bouts of laziness, and now that Sakura was giving him a chance to bring down the man responsible for his sensei's death, he was willingly devoting all of his mental faculties to helping her.
"Since this is a stealth mission, I was thinking no more than two teams," Sakura said, raising two fingers. "I'll lead the first team, composed of Neji, Karin, and Sasuke, while you lead the second, composed of Ino, Hinata, and Shino."
Sakura's rationale was to fill the teams with as many powerful genjutsu practitioners and sensing specialists as she could, allowing them to bypass enemy patrols with ease and infiltrate the Land of Grass unnoticed. If their cover was blown, they would have to resort to the original plan and eliminate everyone in their path.
"I get why you'd want to bring Sasuke, but I don't think he'd be right for the job," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "He's too volatile, and from what I've heard, he's got a massive grudge against Danzō. What if he goes off mission? It's too risky. I'd rather bring someone who can use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu; it'd open up way more tactical options for us."
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Ino and I can keep ourselves under control," Shikamaru said dryly. "If it comes down to completing the mission or taking out Danzō, we'll prioritise the mission. Asuma-sensei wouldn't have wanted us to waste our lives chasing something as tedious as revenge."
Shikamaru was also doubtful about Neji, since he still considered him as being one of Orochimaru's own, but having spent so much time in the Land of Grass, Neji's experience on the terrain would be invaluable.
"The Lord Second and the Lord Fourth are busy with their own appointments, so I suppose we can bring Tenten," Sakura said begrudgingly. "If we absolutely have to."
Since Tenten's sensing prowess was abysmal, that meant she'd have to be paired with Karin or Ino to compensate; otherwise, her ability to use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu would be completely useless.
"There's just one thing I don't understand. Why does the vanguard have to maintain perfect stealth if the goal is assassination? It doesn't add up," Shikamaru said, frowning. "They'll figure out it was us once we invade Kusagakure anyway. If you don't give me all the information I need, I won't be able to come up with the best possible plan."
Perfect stealth meant that, by the time they had come back home after completing the mission, the enemy would still have no clue they had ever been there; it required them to avoid guards entirely, not even knocking them out, let alone killing them; they could not afford to leave so much as a trace behind, not even something as small as a stray kunai.
Sakura's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Ever heard of a film called Inception?"
Naturally, Shikamaru had not.