"The village itself isn't large. The houses are packed tightly together, with lots of wooden beams, storerooms, and cellars. The courtyards are also close to one another. If we're doing large-scale chain explosions, the mini Chain Explosive Tags we're still testing aren't suitable. Those are better for intersections and targeted kills, not for taking out a village all at once."
Shikamaru tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You sure say 'taking out a village' casually."
Chizumi ignored that and continued, "What I want isn't to wipe the village off the map, but to make the first troops who enter it fall flat on their faces. Blow up houses, courtyards, alley entrances, and areas around wells. Concentrate the impact on the first batch of people who enter."
Kakashi looked at the map and said slowly, "So it's not ant to deal heavy damage."
"No," Chizumi said. "It's ant to break their montum."
Tsunade's eyes shifted slightly.
Chizumi's voice remained steady.
"When they co again in a month, they won't just want to advance steadily. They'll also want to regain face. Then I'll make sure that the mont they step into the Land of Fire, they end up filthy and humiliated in an empty village."
Shizune asked quietly, "But what about the villagers? Moving this many people overnight—it's impossible for there to be no rumors."
"There will be rumors," Chizumi said. "But that doesn't matter."
"Why?"
"Because sooner or later, they'll know the village is empty anyway." Chizumi looked at her. "I don't even mind if they know in advance."
Shikamaru couldn't help laughing softly. "Now it really feels like an open sche."
After a mont of silence, Tsunade finally asked, "You're going now?"
"Now."
"Alone?"
"I'll bring people, but not many," Chizumi said. "Kakashi, Tenzō, a few Anbu, soone from the ninja tool team who understands explosives placent and wiring, and two from the sealing team. Fast horses. We leave tonight and arrive at Bamboo Village before dawn."
Shizune frowned. "How are you going to convince the villagers to leave on such short notice?"
Chizumi said flatly, "Pay them."
Everyone in the room froze.
"Pay them?" Shizune repeated, as if she thought she'd heard wrong.
"Mm," Chizumi said. "By household. Pay generously. Cash, ninja tool compensation, follow-up resettlent grain, temporary housing—none of it missing."
Shikamaru looked at him. "You're planning to buy out the whole village?"
"More or less."
Tsunade snorted. "You sure know how to think."
Chizumi said, "The villagers aren't ninja. They don't owe Konoha their lives by staying behind for a battle. If we want them to move overnight, we need to pay enough."
Tsunade looked at him, her gaze deepening. After a mont, she said, "Shizune, open the treasury."
Shizune froze. "Now?"
"Now," Tsunade said. "Cash, reserve vouchers, temporary resettlent docunts, grain coupons—bring whatever can be taken. Also notify the border logistics team. Once the villagers from Bamboo Village are evacuated, the two nearby reception points must imdiately prepare to take people in."
Shizune answered at once. "Yes."
She turned and left, her steps so quick they almost carried a gust of wind.
Shikamaru rose from his chair, his lazy expression vanishing completely.
"Then I'm going too."
Chizumi glanced at him. "You're not suited for going into the village to set explosives."
"I know," Shikamaru said. "I'll look at the positions. I can read village alleys and movent routes faster than most people."
Kakashi put away his book. "I'm going too."
Tsunade didn't stop him. She only looked at Chizumi.
"I'm giving you one night and one day. Get the people out before dawn and finish setting the trap before tomorrow night. After that, use your own judgnt. Don't bury your own people in there too."
Chizumi nodded. "Understood."
"And one more thing." Tsunade's voice sank. "Don't look terrifying during the evacuation. Those are the Land of Fire's own villagers, not rabble from the Allied camp."
Chizumi looked at her. "I understand."
Tsunade stared at him for half a second, then added, "Actually understand this ti."
Chizumi paused. "Mm."
Shikamaru listened from the side and thought that line from Lady Tsunade sounded like it had been tailored specifically for him.
Before long, the entire Hokage building was in motion.
The storeroom was lit and unlocked, with Shizune personally supervising. Several heavy wooden chests were carried out, filled with cash, small-denomination vouchers, and compensation slips that could be issued directly to ordinary people. Anbu were quietly pulled from their posts. Two mbers each from the ninja tool team and sealing team were dug out of bed and rushed downstairs, still looking like they hadn't fully woken up.
"To the border?"
"Bamboo Village?"
"Now?"
"Don't ask. Move." Kakashi casually patted one of them on the shoulder. "You'll hear the details on the way."
Tenzō took several people ahead to collect transport scrolls and the larger explosives for setup. Unlike explosive tags, those things couldn't simply be stuffed into a sleeve. They had to be sealed into scrolls in layers, and they couldn't be shaken too violently. The middle-aged man from the ninja tool team counted supplies while his face turned pale. "If this gets bumped on the road—"
The Anbu next to him said expressionlessly, "Then we all ascend together."
The man's face turned even paler.
As gusts of night wind swept over Konoha's rooftops, the hastily assembled team silently left the village through the western gate.
The forests of the Land of Fire were far deeper at night than during the day. Tree shadows overlapped, making the road almost entirely black, with only the occasional sliver of moonlight leaking through the leaves. The team avoided the main road, instead flying along familiar border paths and forest trails. Wet, cold grass and packed earth flashed beneath their feet.
Shizune had not originally been on the travel roster, but she insisted on coming. Her reason was simple—she knew the money and compensation docunts best, and soone had to make on-the-spot decisions about the villagers' temporary resettlent. Tsunade had originally wanted to stop her, but after thinking it over, she only told Shizune to bring two additional dical ninja.
After they had been traveling for a while, Shizune eventually caught up to Chizumi and asked in a low voice, "Do you really think they'll enter the village even if they know it's a trap?"
"They will."
"What if they only send two or three people to scout—"
"That's enough," Chizumi said. "I never planned to rely on this one strike to cripple them. If a few enter, we blow up a few. If a squad enters, we blow up a squad. As long as it happens inside the Land of Fire, inside an empty village, in a place they know may be suspicious but still have to enter, then they've already lost half their face."
Shizune looked at his side profile. The wind swept a few strands of hair near his temple, but his expression was calm, as if he were discussing sothing completely ordinary.
After a mont of silence, she asked quietly, "Did you never intend to only fight them head-on from the beginning?"
Chizumi didn't answer imdiately. Only after leaping over a fallen tree did he say calmly, "Why should I play by the rules they prepared?"
Shizune had nothing to say.
Shikamaru, listening from behind, couldn't help letting out a low sigh.
"Honestly, I'm starting to worry about Bamboo Village's na after this."
Kiba hadn't co this ti, but a young Anbu couldn't help asking, "Why?"
Shikamaru said lazily, "Because once this spreads, that place will probably seem haunted to the Allied Forces from now on."
Tenzō said quietly from the side, "Assuming we really set the trap well enough that they can't see through it."
"We will," Chizumi said.
Tenzō glanced at him and asked no more.
The night road was long, but the team moved extrely quickly.
By the ti they approached the outskirts of Bamboo Village, the sky already held the faintest trace of gray-white. It wasn't daylight yet, just the deepest layer of night beginning to fade. From a distance, Bamboo Village looked even smaller than expected. A few dozen to a hundred houses crowded between a patch of lowland and a gentle slope. The rooftops rose unevenly. So courtyards were tightly walled, while others had only simple wooden fences. An old wooden sign hung at the village entrance, its corners worn pale by wind and rain.
There really were a few old osmanthus trees outside the village. At night, they looked like dark masses, with a faint dry fragrance still lingering among the branches.
The village hadn't fully woken.
Only a few hos had lights on, probably won making breakfast or old people who rose early.
Looking at the quiet village houses, Shizune subconsciously slowed her steps.
"…We're just going in like this?"
Chizumi nodded. "Directly."
"It'll scare people."
"That's why we knock on the village chief's door first."
They didn't alarm the whole village. They went to find the village chief first.
It was a small courtyard slightly north of the village center. The courtyard wall was low, and two strings of dried herbs hung beside the entrance. After they knocked, it was quiet inside for a mont, then footsteps approached, and an elderly man asked from behind the door, "Who is it?"
Shizune was just about to speak, but Chizumi already said, "Konoha."
The person behind the door imdiately stiffened.
A mont later, the door carefully opened a crack. A man in his fifties stood inside, still wearing an outer robe, his eyes full of caution and unease. When he saw so many people standing outside, his expression changed again.
"Konoha… why at this hour—"
Shizune quickly stepped forward half a pace and softened her voice as much as possible. "Don't be afraid. We have an urgent matter."
The old man was clearly still nervous, his gaze constantly sweeping over the Anbu and scrolls behind her.
"Wh-what happened?"
Chizumi didn't beat around the bush. "The Allied Forces may prioritize entering Bamboo Village."
The old man froze, as if he didn't understand for a mont.
"Wh-what?"
"They've set their eyes on your village's location," Chizumi said, looking at him. "In a few days at the latest, possibly within the next two or three days, their advance scouting team may arrive outside the village."
The color drained from the old man's face.
"H-how could…"
Shizune imdiately said, "That's why we're here now. We need to move the villagers out first."
The old man opened his mouth, but for a long while he couldn't form a complete sentence.
"M-move everyone?"
"Yes," Chizumi said. "Imdiately."
The old man instinctively took half a step back. "But… but the village's belongings, grain, dicinal herbs, livestock—"
Chizumi raised a hand, and two Anbu behind him carried a wooden chest forward and placed it directly at the courtyard entrance. The lid opened, and the neatly stacked silver notes and cash inside glead in the morning light, dazzling enough to make people stare.
The old man froze completely.
Chizumi's voice remained calm. "Compensation by household. Houses, grain, dicine, and field losses will all be paid once first. Konoha will continue resettlent compensation afterward. What you need to do now is wake everyone in the village. Within half an hour, pack essential clothes, dicine, grain, and livestock, then leave with us."
The old man looked at the chest of money, then at Chizumi, as if he found it even harder to believe.
"You… you're serious?"
"I don't have ti to joke with you."
More footsteps ca from inside. An old woman and two younger villagers poked their heads out. Hearing words like "Allied Forces," "the whole village leaves," and "Konoha pays," their faces turned paler one after another.
Shizune knew that delaying would only make the situation more chaotic, so she imdiately took out the prepared docunts and Konoha seal.
"This is a temporary resettlent docunt. All evacuated residents of Bamboo Village will be registered, and Konoha will handle your resettlent and compensation afterward. For now, trust . Trust Lady Hokage. Don't hesitate, all right?"
The old woman's voice trembled. "Then… then what about our houses?"
Chizumi looked at her. "Stay alive first. We'll talk about the houses later."
His words were flat, without any warmth or comfort, but sohow they made people more clear-headed than a pile of pretty reassurances.
The old man gritted his teeth and suddenly turned. "Third! Go ring the bell! Wake everyone up!"
A heavy bronze bell soon sounded from behind the village chief's house.
One ring after another spread through the village before dawn had fully broken.
The first people to open their doors thought there was a fire or bandit raid. But when they rushed out half-dressed, they saw Konoha people standing at the village chief's door, along with that bright, obvious chest of money.
Shock, panic, suspicion, and shouting erupted all at once.
"What's happening?"
"Why are we suddenly leaving?"
"The Allied Forces are coming? Why would they co here?"
"Is that money real?"
"What about my chickens?"
"I still have a batch of dicinal roots buried in the field!"
"My mother can barely walk—how is she supposed to leave?"
The front of the courtyard imdiately beca a ss.
Shizune and the two dical ninja were busy calming people down. The village chief shouted until his voice was nearly hoarse. "Don't crowd! Don't shout! Listen to Konoha! Listen first!"
But at a ti like this, who could truly stay calm?
A man in his thirties rushed to the front, his face red. "Konoha says one word and we have to move? On what grounds? Our families have lived here for generations! Why should we leave just because you say so?"
Others behind him echoed him.
"Exactly! You say the Allied Forces are coming, so they're coming? Where's the proof?"
Shizune was about to explain, but Chizumi had already taken one step forward.
His voice wasn't loud, but strangely, it pressed over all the chaotic voices around them.
"On the grounds that if you don't leave, when the Allied advance team reaches here, the first people to die will be you."
The courtyard fell silent.
The man's face stiffened. "You—"
Chizumi looked at him, his tone completely level.
"You can stay. You can also leave your whole family here. I won't stop you." His finger lightly tapped the chest of money beside the gate. "But those who stay get no compensation, and Konoha will not be responsible for dragging you away afterward."
For a mont, the man couldn't say a word.
Chizumi's gaze swept over the frightened and unconvinced faces before him.
"I am not here to beg for your cooperation. I am here to give you a way to live."
"Starting now, the elderly, children, and sick will pack first. Take whatever dicine and grain you can carry. Leave heavy items behind. Livestock move with the group. If they can't walk, release them. Any household with soone unable to walk reports it imdiately. Each family collects compensation and docunts at the village chief's house, recorded by na. In half an hour, the first group leaves the village. In no more than one hour, the entire village must be empty."
No one in the courtyard spoke.
The wind stirred the old osmanthus trees, and the leaves rustled softly.
Shizune looked at the expressions on their faces and felt her chest tighten. She knew Chizumi was right, but that tone was still too hard for ordinary people to hear.
Yet strangely, the people who had been shouting a mont ago really did stop making trouble after being hamred down by his words.
Not because they had been persuaded.
But because the feeling of, "This man isn't trying to scare us—he really will leave us here if we refuse," instantly crushed all their wishful thinking.
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