Plans Moving Forward

After a night of wild, unrestrained passion and lust, the three lovebirds Shiki, Tsunade and Shizune went back to their duties.

The two women had more research to do and Shiki had plans to draw and execute. Now he was looking to the four events he was previously going to evaluate before receiving the notification from the labs.

There events were the ongoing civil war in Kiri and the events of three of the shippuden movies namely, Hiruko's machinations, Moryo and his terracotta army look alike, as well as the return of the Land of the Sky and the Zero Tails.

Starting with the plots from the movies, Shiki was wondering if he should let them be for now, accelerate them with covert support and let them take place sooner since he currently had the time to deal with them or finally, preemptively solve them.

The first option, one of a passive attitude was something Shiki did not like not something that would bring him any great benefit. Most of of all, it risked things going out of his control, specially if the plots took place while he was already hands full with something else.

The second option would give him greater control of the events and let Shiki set them off in more opportune times and increase his chances of stealing the benefits from other people's work.

The final one was by far the simplest and most direct but it could also diminish the benefits he could get by letting this progress or setting them of early. This was the path he took for the Blood Prison plot.

'I'll have to figure out which approach is better in the long terms for my plans and for each individual plot . . .' Shiki pondered.

'Hiruko's business . . . His actions only cause a rift among the nations of the continent so letting the threat materialize is a poor idea no doubt. Accelerating its appearance won't help me either.'

'I'll just take him out preemptively.' He decided.

'As for the other two . . . I'll give them some covert encouragement so that they materialize over the course of the next year, the last before the events of shippuden . . .' Shiki considered.

'Letting these two plots come into fruition will no doubt greatly increase my gains. Let the fools work for their creations and abilities only for me to take them.'

'Especially the the Land of the Sky business, their defeat and the taking over of their aerial city and fortress will be the first step of establishing my light side identity as a world power, not just in terms of good reputation, but military might as well.' He concluded.

'As for the civil war in Kirigakure . . . It poses an extremely great chance for me to get my hands onto another of the Five Great Hidden Villages other than Konoha and Suna that are already under control. Suna still needs some work though . . .' Shiki plotted.

'The rebels have been a far greater threat to the regime than in the original due to continuous support from Mugetsu, even since before it became the world power it is at the moment.'

'We are intrinsically connected and they new regime of Kiri won't be able to deny it. Taking our relationship into account, I shall try soft methods first but . . . If the carrot does not work . . . Then the stick shall.'

'Better to finish it with this year though . . . I don't want it affecting my other endeavours for next year.' Shiki considered.

And so plans were set in motion.

Truth be told, with Zabuza and occasionally Haku as core member representatives, Mugetsu had become a crucial part of the Kiri rebellion and, thanks to their help, civilian casualties and collateral damage were greatly reduced compared to what they would have been otherwise.

This both granted their organization a great boost in popularity with the citizens of the Land of Water, and greatly earned the rebels' appreciation.

Most importantly, this long standing support created a foundation of trust was well as a connection that is near impossible to break, thus making the inclusion of Kiri and later the whole Land of Water into his controlled forces much easier and smoother.

Shiki was fully planning of joining in on the most critical time in order to ensure a decisive victory while preserving most of the rebel forces.

After all, since he did not need to pressure the government of Kiri into his service nearly as much as he had to do so for Kusa, weakening the forces that will be his in the future was undoubtedly a bad move.

Before that though, he needed to wait for things to boil up for a little while longer. With Zabuza constantly in the core of the rebels' planning and various fringe members of the organization participating in their operations, Shiki had no worries he would miss the timing to personally pitch in.

And so, back to his tests, research and experiments he went, waiting for his moment shine in the next big act while making good use of his waiting time to further his goals in other areas.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Water, some of the core members of the rebellion against the current Kirigakure regime held a meeting together with Mugetsu's representative, Zabuza.

"We are finally moving to the final stages of our plan." An elder said.

Once, he was a respected members of Kiri's council but now, he had to hide like a rat after opposing the 4th Mizukage's policies.

"Indeed, before long, the decisive battle will be upon us." One of the main commanders of the rebellion's forces said.

A tall man with light blue hair and wearing a kimono in a darker shade of blue with an eyepatch over his right eye. He was Ao, the right hand man of the next Mizukage and another of the rebellion's key figures, Terumi Mei.

"Zabuza, can we count on your organization's support for the final battle as well?2 Ao asked.

"Don't worry. The order to support you comes directly from the top, it's why I can direct so many resources to help the rebellion." Zabuza replied.

"Besides, the big boss himself will show up for the final showdown." He added.

"The leader of Mugetsu . . . He will show himself in our battle against the Mizukage?" Mei asked with some surprise.

"Yes." Zabuza calmly responded.

"According to him, it's because he is the only one capable of suppressing a perfect jinchuriki quickly and without too much collateral damage." He explained.

"He . . . He is planning on taking on the 4th alone!?" Ao asked with shock.

Zabuza scoffed.

"Pretty much all veteran core members can take on a jinchuriki in a one on one even we find it hard to win. As for the boss . . . Well, let's just say he is in a different league entirely." He said.

"Looks like Mugetsu's reserves are much deeper than we thought." The elder said in considering manner.

"You have no idea old man." Zabuza said.

"In any case, you can count on our full support until the very end. As for the aftermath . . . The boss will settle it personally with whoever ends up becoming the 5th." As he said this, Zabuza glanced over Mei.

Although no official decision had been made just yet, most were in agreement that Terumi Mei would become the 5th, they only needed to take out the 4th and then "put it in paper" so to speak.

'I wonder what Zabuza's so called boss is like?' Mei asked herself in her mind.

She was massively curious but so was everyone else, even most of Mugetsu's members. They had never seen the boss before so they naturally were curious and made their own private guesses, some being utterly outlandish.

Some even suspected there was no actual leader but a coalition. WIth Zabuza's words on this meeting however, the higher ups of the rebellion mostly dismissed this theory.

No matter the case, they would soon get the chance to verify their guess although they would all come to realize they had missed the mark.

Even then, if they knew a boy about 14 years old was the big bad boss of one of the world's most powerful and feared organizations, their minds might shatter from the shock.

Sometimes, Shiki childishly felt like revealing that information to random people, just to enjoy their reaction. Of course, his reason would never let him do something as stupid as that.

Time continued to pass and, as Shiki advanced his task in research and preparation for all the plans he wanted carry out, the civil war intensified and soon, the decisive battle was on the horizon.

It was time for the Reaper to reveal himself once again . . .

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.