Pre-Chapter A/N:Another chapter on time? Guess my lock-in is going pretty well. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
The bodies told a story. I retreated behind my shinobi training, pulling on the analytical mindset that Granduncle had spent years beating into me. Don't think about the fact that one of those bodies is your friend, or that the other bodies are children, I told myself harshly. One of the medical-nin was throwing up. I wished I could join her, but that was not the role of a Kage.
The bodies were arranged between two trees. There was a line of ninja wire joining both trees, and then that single line branched out in seven ends. One for each of the genin, and one for Kizuru. The branches led to nooses that were wrapped around each neck. They hadn't died like this; it was obvious enough to see from the various wounds and trauma marks on their bodies. Kizuru had suffered the most. A crushed arm, a severed leg, and a snapped neck marked the worst of his injuries. Well, the worst of his injuries if one ignored the obvious.
The obvious wound that had almost certainly been inflicted after he had died. Wound, or was it wounds? Whoever had done this had undone his upper body clothing and taken a knife to his chest. Not just him, I noted. The bastards had done the same to the genin. I took a breath to release the emotion I felt rising. Analysis only, Shori, I reminded myself. Now was the time for coldness.
It read: "The Stone will never break." I read it aloud. I almost chuckled. How stupid. To invite my wrath and then leave a calling card? Someone was feeling bold.
"Are you familiar with this phrase, Lizard?" I turned to the head of the Anbu squad.
"Intelligence suggests it has been used by the New Stone in several of their attacks within Kusa, Hokage-sama," he said.
"Now the question becomes, why do you think the New Stone has left all their woes in Kusa to come pick a fight in Rivers?" I asked.
"I don't know, Hokage-sama," he said. I nodded.
"What did this squad come to Rivers to do?" I asked.
"To engage in palliative disbursement and to provide aid, Hokage-sama," he said.
"And what is conspicuously missing?" I asked.
"They stole the resources to support themselves," he sussed out.
"Indeed. All the intelligence we have on them suggests that the New Stone is barely a shadow of a shadow. A barely guarded convoy of resources must have been too appealing a target. My mistake, unfortunately. My mistake has led to the death of another of my friends," I said to myself. Lizard did not speak. That was one thing Anbu were good at: shutting up when you needed them to. I thought I was done with this. I thought Tsunade would be the last, but it seemed the world would not be done with me for a while.
"Take pictures. Document everything. And then spread out and question every farmer, fisherman, trader, or merchant who could have seen something. Question the animals and the grass itself if necessary. Get me something. Anything," I said, and then I was gone.
XXXXXX- Big Dee
"What do you have for me now?" his Kage asked, slamming straight through the door. Dee said nothing about it even as he watched the rest of the room bristle at the entrance. They would get used to it in time. Ay had his own way of doing things, and that was not going to change just because he now held the position of Raikage in his own name.
"All our searches lead in the same direction. Takigakure. They have the Seven Tails somehow," Cee spoke. That was his job, keeping the Anbu on track and ensuring that the information they needed got to them.
"Say the word, Raikage-sama. I will assemble the necessary forces," Dee spoke now. Cee's job was to gather the information, but it was Dee's to act. That was the role he had been chosen to fulfill for his friend, and he would do that.
"Can we afford a war?" he asked, and the room actually froze. Ay was usually not the one to preach reason or restraint. Still, Matsuki the penny counter replied.
"Barely. Not having to pay Iron for all that Chakra Steel has given us more fiscal space than expected, but then again, not receiving the Chakra Steel leaves our inventory tighter than is appropriate. We can stretch things here and there, but a short war against a smaller village should not ruin us."
"And if Konoha stirs?" he asked.
"We will break those tree-fucking bastards. One of ours is worth ten of theirs," Dee snarled. He would never forget what Konoha had done. They had killed his father and then never sent back his body even after saying they were going to do so. The arrogance to wage war so unashamedly and then pretend to be the slighted party at the end. It pissed him off. Ay flashed him a warning look, and he stayed his tongue from saying more.
"We cannot afford a war against any of the major villages as it stands. Even a war with Suna would put our accounts in dire straits," she said. Damn penny counter, he growled but did not speak.
"Then we shall not wage one. Redirect your efforts to finding me the Five Tails and preparing for the return of the Two Tails," he said.
"Ay—Raikage-sama, surely we can—" the words died on his lips.
"Don't piss me off, Dee. I've given my orders. Go execute them. When we have two fully trained Jinchuriki and thousands of shinobi ready for war, we will go for Konoha. A weak animal knows better than to bark at a stronger one. For now, Kumo is the weaker animal, but like the mountain wolf cub, we will grow quickly. You will have your vengeance, brother. But for now, you must have patience," he said, and Dee exhaled with a long breath before nodding.
"Yes, Raikage-sama. Your will be done," he said with a nod of his own.
"Good. Now on to the other matters. The recruitment from the villages, how does it proceed?" the Raikage asked.
"As of now, we are well on track. The civilians make their usual protests, but with the permission of the Daimyo and his writ to allow us to recruit by all means necessary to refill our numbers and regain our might, we stand at about one hundred and thirty percent of peak Academy capacity. The surplus has begun training outside the village walls until accommodations can be made and expanded," Matsuki said.
"We can pay for this expansion?" he asked.
"Pah, when did you start caring so much for coppers and—" Dee froze. Ay's gaze focused straight on him and made it near impossible for him to move his lips, move anything. The man who looked straight at him was not his friend. None of the warmth in Ay's eyes was there. Those eyes were the eyes of a Kage, not a friend, and Dee did what every single instinct he had screamed for him to do and shut up.
"We can afford it at present. In the next few years, the costs are expected to rise if we continue to recruit at this level as other avenues for expenditure increase or become due. We can, however, unlock some headroom in the budget by easing payments on survivor benefits from the last war by up to 30%," she said.
"No."
"Raikage-sama?" She sounded shocked.
"I said no already. Figure something else out; that is your job, isn't it? But don't ask me to steal from the families of men who died for this village."
"It is not theft, Raikage-sama. Your father had set the rates in different economic conditions. He had expected spoils from war to be able to aid in covering them. No one will think any lesser of you for not keeping a promise you did not make, and which frankly was too kind in the first place."
"And yet I will not have it. I will do it. Find something else," he said. She worried her lips, the damn penny-pinching copper-counter.
"There might be some additional headroom unlocked if we increase the share recouped from lower-ranked missions. They have been capped at 7.5% for decades now, while S-rank missions see the village recoup up to a 45% share," she said.
"D-ranked and C-ranked missions are taken by lower-ranked shinobi with lower earning capacity," Dee added, not fully on board with the plan. While he hated talking about money like this, he still remembered when he was younger and just how many of his classmates had needed that money to make bills like rents and their next meal. His parents had meant he hadn't needed to worry about things like that for a while. At least, until Konoha's Butcher got to them.
"Do it," his Raikage said, as if Dee himself had not said anything.
"Raise the rate to 15% on C-ranked missions and 10% on D-ranked missions. Anyone having issues with making ends meet should simply take more missions," Ay said with a shrug of his broad shoulders, and that was that.
XXXX- HOZUKI SUIREN
He stared out off the boat that they occupied. The eight of them—he, his teammates, and the Sailor. A local fisherman press-ganged into their service with this needle sword poised at his heart. The man had begged and prayed and done his best to deter them, but they had their orders, and if there was one thing he knew about anything, it was that he did not fail. It did not matter what the mission was, Hozuki Suiren had been raised for success no matter what.
"My Lords, Ladies, the whirlpools!" the sailor yelped in warning. Suiren looked out in the distance and could see the shifts in the water's surface that gave away the massive whirlpools that acted as the final guardian to Uzushio. Even now with the Uzumaki gone from the island, their protections remained. It was what made his presence here essential. He was the only one in all of Kiri—barring perhaps the Mizukage himself—with the Water Release skill to safely navigate the deathtrap that Uzushio's surrounding waters had begun.
He ignored the sailor for now, however. His warning had been overeager. They were still a ways away. Whatever objections he had to the seeming lack of action were swallowed as Shigure pointed the needle sword at him, getting him back to his station in no time. It was interesting that such a delicate weapon had found itself in the grasp of such a brute of a man, but their weapons all fit them in various ways. The needle sword fit Shigure in that it concentrated all his strength in a single point, granting him unstoppable piercing power. The spear that could pierce through the heavens itself, Suiren had heard some of the more flowery members of his clan describe Shigure as, after watching him spar with Kabuto and Hakoda at the same time.
Kabuto himself was another whose relationship with his blade was not easy to see. It seemed a mismatch, the complex twin sword placed in the hands of someone who used more ninjutsu than kenjutsu. But it fit him in another way, with the malleable nature of the twin sword matching perfectly with the Yuki Ice Release. It made him a foe difficult to predict most of the time, but nowhere near as perplexing as Hakoda. No clan, no last name to speak of, and sometimes Suiren still feared him as the most dangerous of them all. Not because of his skill with a blade—but just because it was near impossible to tell what he would do in any situation. It made the Helmet Splitter an interesting weapon when paired with him. Because who else but Hakoda would find a thousand ways to use a weapon that had only one trick to its name?
Judging that they were finally close enough for him to do something about them, he dropped to his knees and placed his hands against the ship. He could feel the raging waters begin to approach the ship's position. He closed his eyes and then began to work his magic.
—
He had expected that they would have to spend hours searching for their quarry. Uzushio was not a small island by any means, and it was far from flat. Hills dotted its surface, creating several pockets that their target could have hid in. While their records said the Three Tails did prefer to lounge in water bodies, it was well known to have no difficulty spending long periods on land.
Before Hashirama Senju had subdued it and handed it over, it had been far inland, after all. For their luck, when they beached, it was possible to see it surface for a few seconds off in the distance. Only its massive size made spotting it possible, and even then, it was only thanks to eagle-eyed Kabuto that they managed to notice it before it dove again. And so, after threatening the fisherman—Shigure's action—and paying him—his own contribution—to make sure he waited for them, they ran off towards the port of the island closest to the water the Tailed Beast had just dived into.
"Kurogane," he called when they arrived. She nodded. They had discussed this. She pointed the Thunder Swords in the sky and their power made clouds gather right above them. Two bolts of lightning struck the blades, making Suiren's eyes burn and his skin tingle, but he was not new to either of those feelings.
She pointed both blades at the water, sending millions of joules of electricity into the water. As expected, the water itself exploded outwards as the Tailed Beast reared its head, screaming. Suiren noted that the scream seemed to be one of irritation rather than pain. But that didn't matter. They had succeeded in getting its attention. Now they could worry about really hurting it.
Mahito flickered behind the creature, and then there was an even larger explosion of water as he triggered his blade's ability. The force of the explosions pushed the Tailed Beast further inland with only its rear feet left in the sea.
Kabuto moved next, weaving seals before he thrust his hands into the water. The temperature lowered abruptly as Kabuto froze the surface of the ocean for at least a mile into the ocean. That should deter the beast from just retreating where they could not reach it. And as for making sure it played their game, Kurogane struck again with another pair of lightning strikes that were perfectly aimed for the soft tissue between its neck and its shell. Soft tissue for a Tailed Beast was still plenty strong enough to handle a single strike of that magnitude.
Still, it roared in pain, turning its attention towards the source of the strikes. There was the rhetoric sound of shattering ice as the Tailed Beast shoved itself out of the frozen layer that held its hind legs still and stumbled onto land. The first two parts of his plan had come together. Now it was time for them to implement stage three: put it down.
Shigure roared a challenge straight at it before he pushed off the ground with the needle sword held in front of him. The Tailed Beast brought one of its spiked tails to bear, swinging it right at Shigure. He saw the oncoming attack and shifted his charge to stab straight through the tail. The beast roared in pain as it was dealt a wound that must have been minor for a being of its size. It stomped the ground, creating a shockwave that threatened to destabilize their footing. Suiren kept adhered to the ground with a quick application of chakra, and he could see that the rest of them had managed to do at least that much.
Kuren pushed against the shaking ground into the air, unwrapping Samehada and preparing to do damage. The beast brought two tails to bear, aiming to swat her out of the air. Suiren took a breath and then activated his clan's Hydrification Jutsu. He turned his arms into massive water whips that grabbed onto each tail. A contest of strength with a Tailed Beast of all things was not something he could win, but the goal was not to win. Just to delay.
Kabuto struck out with the twin swords, sending spiked blades across the creature's body. It did not flinch from impact, but it definitely felt it when Hakoda body-flickered right above his head. The blade first found little purchase against the Tailed Beast's rough crown, but then when he smashed the mallet into its back, there was an audible crack.
Kurogane fired two more bolts at it. It twisted, sending him and all those around him flying. And then just as Kuren was about to strike, the beast opened its mouth and swallowed her whole.
"Hahahahahaha, that stupid fucking bitch got herself killed," Shigure cackled. Suiren looked over at him and spat a water bullet at his head. He managed to dodge, but he got the message. Focus. Kuren had lost focus and now she was dead. Not a disastrous loss all things considered, but just how were they going to get the Samehada from the body of a Tailed Beast? He'd never hear the end of it if it was under his leadership that one of the most powerful of the Seven Blades was lost.
Mahito moved, keeping the beast on its toes as each of his movements was followed by an explosion, forcing it to sharply turn from place to place to keep him within the sight of his lone eye.
"Keep at it. Kuren was not mission-critical," he said, and prepared to continue.
A/N: So we get to see all four of the "Great" villages in two or so chapters. Don't worry, if there is to be another war, it is still quite a ways away with no one particularly ready for it as things stand now.Next five up on patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.