For Mei Terumi, Charles planned to have her absorb S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, boosting the Mist Village's external ranks.
Through summoning beasts, Charles relayed instructions to Mei Terumi, Orochimaru, and the Cloud Village ninjas.
As for the Sand Village, their focus remained on deepening ties with Pym Technologies.
Charles was particularly interested in the Pym Particles and the quantum realm, especially with the looming presence of Kang the Conqueror.
Once the notifications were sent, Charles considered another issue: whether Steve Rogers would fail.
While Steve's strength far surpassed an ordinary super-soldier, Pierce's faction had more personnel, many of whom were enhanced with Orochimaru's Curse Seal of Fire.
If it were just Steve and Natasha, there was a real risk of failure, allowing Pierce's faction to take control of the situation.
Charles believed that the ideal outcome was for Hydra to be exposed and S.H.I.E.L.D. to disband entirely.
In the ensuing chaos, he could claim even more spoils.
With this in mind, Charles decided to lend Steve and Natasha a helping hand. The best way would be to arrive just as Natasha exposed Hydra's secrets and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files.
He also planned to have Selene extract secrets from Pierce, uncovering more about S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, and their 084 artifacts. Using the ninjas' mobility, he could raid S.H.I.E.L.D. bases worldwide before other governments could seize them.
After firming up his plan, Charles ordered, "Red Queen, summon all Konoha ninjas to the meeting room, except the two still recovering in the hospital. Have Ginny and Selene join as well."
Red Queen responded promptly, "Yes, Master."
Charles's figure vanished from the dining area and reappeared in the meeting room.
…
Mist Village-
After receiving Charles's information, Mei Terumi understood that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse was imminent. To better absorb personnel from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, she decided to lead the Mist ninjas herself.
"Notify the three members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to meet in the conference room," Mei ordered.
"Understood, Lady Mizukage."
…
Sound Village-
In his lab, Orochimaru put down his scalpel and glanced at Lorelei, restrained on the experiment table. Turning to his shadow clone, he instructed, "Let Kabuto handle this matter."
The shadow clone left the lab to assign the task to Kabuto.
…
Cloud Village-
Cee, looking at other Cloud ninjas, suddenly announced, "Karui, inform everyone that we're closing shop for a week. We have a new mission."
Hearing this, Karui cheered excitedly, "Finally! A break!"
As she left to spread the word, Yugito smirked, "It's about time we got a mission. I can't wait to test my strength against the top fighters in this world."
…
Elsewhere-
Natasha and Steve arrived at a large shopping mall and entered an Apple store. Natasha plugged the USB drive into a computer and began working.
"This drive has a Level 6 tracking system. As soon as we activate it, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be able to pinpoint our location," she explained.
Steve scanned their surroundings and asked, "How long will it take?"
"About nine minutes. Starting now."
As the drive activated, S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately received the location and dispatched a team led by Rumlow.
The 16-person team included six enhanced operatives who had been injected with the Super Soldier Serum, along with nine strike team members, heading toward the signal in four SUVs.
While Natasha worked on cracking the USB drive, she remarked, "Fury's suspicions were correct. Someone wanted to hide something on that ship. This drive is protected by some sort of artificial intelligence."
"It's constantly reorganizing itself to resist my commands."
Steve watched the screen and asked, "Can you crack it?"
Natasha replied, "The person who developed this program is smarter than me... but just a little."
At that moment, Rumlow and his team arrived outside the mall. The 16 operatives, dressed in plain clothes with pistols holstered at their waists, stepped out of the SUVs and began heading into the building.
Inside, Natasha continued her decryption efforts. "I'm going to try using a tracking program. It's a program S.H.I.E.L.D. uses to trace malware. Even if we can't read the files, we might be able to find their origin."
Just then, a sales assistant approached them and asked, "Can I help you with anything?"
Natasha glanced at him and replied, "No, thanks. My fiancé and I are just picking a place for our honeymoon."
Steve smiled and added, "Yeah, we're getting married."
The sales assistant grinned, "Congratulations! Where are you planning to go?"
Steve glanced at the screen, where the tracking map displayed "New Jersey."
"New Jersey," he replied.
The assistant looked at Steve's glasses and seemed surprised.
Steve tensed, thinking he had been recognized, but the assistant said, "I have those same glasses."
Natasha chuckled as she continued typing, "Wow, you two could be twins."
The assistant laughed, "Haha, I wish I had your physique."
He gestured at Steve's impressive build, then added, "If you need anything, just let me know. My name's Ben Aaron."
"Thanks, Ben," Steve said with a nod.