Pre-Chapter A/N: More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Experimenting with two chapters a week, we'll see how long I can keep this up for.
XXXXXX - CEE
"Form up!" he roared at the top of his voice. To their credit, the maggots were at attention in a matter of seconds. Good. Almost good enough. He looked at them. There were close to forty of them arranged in a straight line in front of spaced-out targets. Another month, another set of maggots to take through the basics. He almost wondered what the Raikage had done to convince the Lightning Lord to give them such free rein to recruit, but it was not his place to question. Only to obey.
"Show me Thunderbolt!" he barked, and they began weaving seals. He watched them, eyes scanning from left to right, from person to person. Snake to rabbit to monkey to tiger to ox, they wove the seals in unison and then roared as one. Not a single person was out of step as they pointed their hands outward. Each one of them hit the target placed in front of them. Good, he thought, before changing his mind as he looked closer.
"You there!" he said, pointing at the erring maggot.
"Sir!" The maggot was at attention.
"What did I say about uncontrolled discharge?" he asked, feeling his fury boil even higher as he got close enough to see the level of the damage.
"Not to, sir."
"So tell me why the grass around the target is scorched so badly."
"Poor aim, sir." He thought he was smart, did he? None of his fellows were stupid enough to chuckle, at least. Wise.
He turned to the side, looking away for a second before he swung, turning his waist into the blow to give it more force. The maggot never even saw the punch coming. He instantly went to the floor, nearly knocked out.
"Like I have said a million times, any bolt of lightning that does not hit your target is wasted chakra. You cannot afford to waste chakra in war, maggots," he said, and they all began nodding. Even the one that he had hit. And it was only then that he took a step back.
"Again!" he barked.
"Cee-sensei," he heard a voice call and turned to look at one of the chunin running in his direction. One of B's, he noticed. Masaki? Masashi? Hisashi? One of them.
"What do you want, boy?" he barked before internally cringing at the way the boy flinched. Keep the sergeant voice for the maggots, he reminded himself.
"Raikage-sama sent me to get you, sir. Emergency meeting," he said, and that set all sorts of warning bells ringing in Cee's mind. What was going on? And why was it so urgent that it could not wait for their regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow?
"It's just your luck, maggots. You get a break," he said, scoffing internally as he saw some of them even begin to relax.
"NOT!" he screamed, and they were up again.
"While I am gone, you will practice all five of the jutsu I have taught you until you drop from exhaustion. If any of you decide to slack off, just know that I will know and you will suffer for it," he warned.
He entered the war tent and found it almost bursting at the seams. Everyone had been called in, it seemed. He was one of the last, from what he could tell looking about the room as he moved to take the seat at his Kage's right-hand side. Killua gave him a smirk as he sat next to him while Yui, opposite him, seemed to not even have noticed that he was here.
"Silence!" the Raikage commanded, and the whole room snapped to attention. Well, the whole room except for those two idiots. The Gold and Silver brothers were still whispering to each other.
"Another word from either of you and I will rip your tongues from your head," Ay-sama growled. Even the stubborn brothers knew better than to court the wrath of their Kage, and so they went silent as well.
"Iwa has lost," he said.
What? Cee asked mentally. How had they lost? He hadn't even known that they were engaged in combat.
"Our spies report that Onoki of the Two Scales abandoned his nickname and launched a risky gambit on Konoha with a thousand of his best jounin and chunin. So far, less than a hundred chunin have returned from the front. The story is the same. Onoki perished in single combat against Shorirama Senju, and then the boy went ahead to single-handedly slaughter whatever remained of his forces."
Killua whistled, and Cee found himself sharing the sentiment. Shorirama Senju. He knew the name. Everyone with two brain cells to rub together knew the name of the man who was credited with killing their former Kage. He had been a boy at the time. Now he had another Kage kill under his belt.
"So what do we do now?" Yui asked, seeming to come out of her internal world for a few moments to ask the question before she returned there almost immediately. And it was a good question. Konoha had been all but destroyed by their loss in Frost. Their Kage was dead—Ay-sama saw no way he could survive those wounds, and neither did Cee. The bulk of their forces had died in Rain. That Hanzo character worried Cee as well, but it would not be their problem for a long time, so he kicked it down the road. Iwa was supposed to be the only other remaining threat, and so they waited.
They waited either for Iwa to attack Konoha first and then be weakened by their victory before falling upon them, or for their recruits to get to the point where they had enough bodies to take Konoha first and then be strong enough to rebuff Iwa when they inevitably fell upon their backs.
"It is simple enough. We take Iwa," Killua said. Ay-sama just grunted. They had discussed this, Cee realised. Killua had spoken to the Raikage before him. The ambitious bastard. Not even war would temper his lust for advancement, it seemed.
"Iwa? Is Konoha not the enemy here? Was it not Konoha who killed the Second Raikage and stole his body, denying us a proper burial? Was it not Konoha who stole the eight-tails from us? What is our business with Iwa when the true target sits there unmolested?" Cee instantly opposed the idea. Even if Killua had been somehow able to sway the Raikage to this foolish line of thinking, he was confident that logic would prevail. Most looked at the Raikage's form and assumed him a brute with little more about him of note. It was something they had used to their advantage in negotiations with the Lightning Lord. However, there were few things farther from the truth. Ay had a keen mind, even keener than his father's, and a love for rationality and reason that went far beyond the pale.
"The enemy is whoever the Raikage says it is," Killua spoke, spitting the words back.
"I agree with Yatsuki-san. If the question becomes a matter of which target to go for, then it only makes sense to go for the weaker one first. Iwa will also not be expecting us to attack them, so we will have the benefit of surprise on our side," Sora spoke then, seeming for all the world like he was just adding his opinion to the fray, but Cee could see the way both men met eyes. He could see there was meaning there. Strategy.
"It's not like Konoha is going anywhere, are they?" Kinkaku asked rhetorically, and that was when they overplayed their hands. The Gold and Silver brothers never supported anyone out of the blue. Cee would know this. He had courted their support on more than one occasion and he knew just how difficult it was to secure. They definitely would not just give it in the middle of an argument. Killua had gotten to them as well. Yui did not seem to be paying any attention to what was going on, just as she usually did, but the fact that she had been the one to ask the question of what they did next was beginning to gnaw at him. She usually zoned out for these things. The only reason she would be attentive enough to ask the question or even care was if she expected something to come of it: this meeting.
It could just be her curiosity being piqued on account of the meeting's nature, but Cee doubted that. His instincts told him there was an arrangement and Yui was just as much a part of it as the others. He looked around him, taking note of everything he could even as he bowed out of the debate with an inclined head. There was no victory to be found here. Not when so many opponents were arrayed against him and they had managed to get to Ay-sama first. Cee would just have to do what he always did. Refocus, restrategise, and try again later.
"It is settled then. Prepare the troops. We march for Iwa at dawn," Ay-sama said.
"All of us?" Cee found himself asking.
The Raikage never even replied, and if there was any sign that things were getting out of hand, that was it.
XXXXXXX - KOSUKE THE DESERT BLAZE
He watched his friend and partner as he polished the blades that gave him his epithet. Each one of Hayate's six swords was a masterpiece unto itself. Most assumed mastering six swords meant he was not that dangerous with each one, but this was a man who had travelled the world in his younger years, seeking out samurai, kenjutsu practitioners, even monks who wielded blades, and besting them all until he became a master of six different sword styles and had carved a blade specially designed to be used with each style and ensure each one was brought out to its full potential.
"Are you ready?" Kosuke asked, trying to form some small talk. Hayate just looked at him.
"I never can get the tremor out of my fingers," he murmured to himself instead, looking down at them. He had risen to the heights of the ninja world. Journeyed to the precipice and beyond. He had become S-rank. And still, it wasn't enough to get the tremor out of his fingers before battle. Now he knew that once the battle began, his body would submit itself to him, under the rulership of his ever-sharp chakra, but it was one thing to know it logically and another to banish the fear that whispered in his ears—what if they don't stop this time? How would he weave seals, use jutsu with shaking hands?
"Fear is the mind-killer," Hayate finally said. He gave Kosuke a single look before returning to polishing his blade—the third one. So, he could reply. That was all Kosuke needed as a sign to keep going.
"Do you ever just sit and think about Piandao?" he asked. Hayate grunted but did not reply. Well enough, Kosuke would continue on regardless.
"He was strong, you know. Maybe not as strong as you. Definitely not as strong as me. I never got to fight him, but watching him fight drove that point home well enough. He was stronger than most, and he has died. Now even the Tsuchikage is dead. I don't think I am stronger than the Tsuchikage was. Do you?"
"What exactly are you driving at, Kosuke?" Hayate seemed to give up on pretending to ignore him, pinning the full weight of his attention on his fellow Suna shinobi.
"When I was younger, I was always afraid. Heights, darkness, small spaces, scorpions, spiders, whatever danger existed in the world, I was aware of it, and I feared it to my bones. But then I joined the academy. Do you know what the first lesson I learned there was? It wasn't anything overt. It came from watching the chunin instructor negligently drive a shuriken into a scorpion, killing it without even trying. If you're strong enough, you have nothing to fear, and so I did that. I became so strong that men shiver when they hear my name."
"Is there a point here?" Hayate asked, never good with patience, that one.
"The point is that I am still afraid. I am one of the strongest things in the world, and I am still just as afraid as I used to be. When will that stop?"
"The day you die," Hayate replied coldly. Kosuke looked over at him.
"That is the truth. Fear reminds you that you are alive—that you are human. Anyone who feels no fear is inhuman. Enjoy the fear. Allow it to remind you that you are alive. And when the time comes, ignore it and do your duty," Hayate said, stabbing the sword he was polishing straight into the ground.
Kosuke did not know if he was willing to accept that. Hayate did not understand what he was talking about. Probably because he didn't live with fear in the same way Kosuke did. Fear was a bad word for it. Bone-chilling terror was a better way to put it.
"Now stop your sulking. It's time," Hayate said, looking into the sky. Kosuke looked up as well and he could see it. A knife attached to some sort of kite flying through the air. Chiyo and her damn eccentricities. There had to be a better way of sending the message than that one. Still, he rose. He straightened his back and then looked at the men around him. Jounin, one and all. Twenty-two, then adding Hayate and himself to make twenty-four. Two dozen. On the other end of the mountains, there was a similar force led by Chiyo and Riku. The plan, the Kazekage's brainchild, was a long shot, but with the news coming out of Iwa, it was beginning to look almost possible.
"This might be the hardest thing any of us has ever done. If you find yourself stranded behind enemy lines or certain of your demise, do not hesitate to trigger the failsafes. It would not do for any traces of us to be left behind. We do this for Suna. Move out!" he said, and body-flickered forward into the mountains, scaling the first hill in a matter of seconds. Kosuke found himself not too far behind him as their squad began the push into the Land of Stone.
As their scouts had predicted, it only took five minutes for them to meet opposition. It was a single patrol group. One jounin, five chunin. Hayate struck first. Kosuke did not even see him unsheathe his blade as two heads fell in his wake. Kosuke moved behind him, hand outstretched. The jounin tried to ensnare them in a genjutsu, using a clone to come straight at them while the original came in from the left, kunai heading for Hayate's head.
Kosuke tore the genjutsu apart, not even watching the clone disappear in mist as he splayed his fingers and commanded his chakra to ignite. The man made it within two feet of them and Kosuke's chakra did what it did best: it burned. The man fell to the floor, ashes where skin had once been. The other chunin fell to kunai in the dark.
"Continue!" Hayate barked after looking about to confirm their kills. Kosuke followed, moving as fast as he could sustain to keep up with them. The plan was simple. A straight line into the weakened Iwa: sabotage key infrastructure, steal as many village secrets as possible, kill or capture the Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails.
XXXXX - SHORIRAMA SENJU
I watched Kagame as she compiled the report with unmatched efficiency. It was impressive how she took things Tsunade had written and reworded them for maximum effect. Tsunade herself was sulking over by her desk, seeming to have decided that giving us the silent treatment was preferable to doing anything else.
When Kagame had completed the work, I whistled as I read it over her shoulder. It was objective—or phrased objectively, rather. It referred to him as "the Patient" in every instance and made no judgements as to his suitability for the position. That would have been too on the nose. I hadn't even had to tell her to refrain. Instead, it listed the damage he had undergone. The scarred muscles in his legs from attempting to keep up with the Raikage's speed that would never heal fully—another legacy of the healing coma. The missing lung, the strain on the second one. The fact that half his stomach and digestive tract had been deleted and he would have to rely on a liquid-only diet for the foreseeable future.
Final recommendation? Patient can live a fulfilling life but is incapable of returning to active shinobi duty, must avoid combat of all forms, and must avoid stressful activity. Good. Perfect.
Kagame signed it, and Tsunade did not hesitate to slam the door behind us as we left.
"Now to the patient," Kagame said.
"What? What was the point of that if we need to see him?"
"I can't present a report without doing at least some examination of my own. Now, I trust Tsunade-chan, so I had no issue copying her work. Still need to verify it, you see?" she said. I nodded. At least that did make sense.
"Plus, I want to see Tobirama's favourite student laid low. He kept brushing me off to train those little rats. Future of the village my old wrinkled arse." I found myself giving the woman a wide berth as we walked. She couldn't be sane. She just could not be sane.
Perhaps it was for the best that Hiruzen was asleep when we walked into the room. It also said something about just how bad his wounds were that he did not instantly wake at our entrance. The Anbu stirred to activity though. Watching, waiting. They did nothing as Kagame walked forward. When she lifted her hands to use her diagnostic jutsu, however, one of them moved.
I covered my hand in two layers of chakra before catching the blade right between my fingers.
"Stand down, Tiger. This is a sanctioned examination from the Head of the Hospital," I ordered in a cool tone. His blade still strained against my fingers.
"Back off and I will forget this incident ever happened. Do not, and I will execute you for treason here and now," I stared him down. He did the wise thing in the end.
A/N: So we do some POV jumping this chapter. Suna had to get back into things some way didn't they? And as for Iwa, well, it's never good to be an easy looking target. Taking out Iwa's Kage made Konoha more of a threat and Iwa less of one at the same time. 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.