Shigeo watched the siege begin with a hollow satisfaction.
They had each shown up without a coordinated plan. They worked independently. Still, they had found gaps and started to press the attack. That alone was encouraging. It would not last.
The defenders were complete. The Fagui warriors came in huge numbers. The demon-masked fighters used ninjutsu. They were a serious problem.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages there was no real information-sharing. Each village relied on its own Anbu to investigate. There was no communication. Even when each team found its own attack position they acted alone. There was no joint, all-around assault plan.
"What do we do? If this keeps up our losses will just grow."
On the Sunagakure side the problem had been clear for a while. Joint operations were not something a single dispatched ninja could decide. Six were sent. One had infiltrated Wuwang Castle. Of the remaining five, three were wounded. They were gritting their teeth and holding on.
If this dragged out they would be routed.
"Why don't we join with the other villages and discuss a plan?" someone suggested. Everyone knew that was the right move. No one wanted to take the first step.
"No. The other side hasn't even spoken. How can we be the first to ask? That would look like Sunagakure can't hold. Besides, without approval from our superiors we can't unite with other villages."
After the Third Great War the villages practiced a cold peace. Nobody mingled. Nobody respected anyone else. Things only shifted when Naruto and Gaara were eight or nine. Even then the detente was limited to competitive events like the Chūnin Exams.
Joint battles only reappeared after Naruto turned thirteen and even then mostly between Konoha and Sunagakure. The other villages held back. Only by the Fourth Great War did the whole shinobi world set aside grudges when facing a real threat.
The same reluctance showed among the other village squads. Wounded. Fallen. Each team refused to bow first and ask for help.
Dawn was approaching. The fighters had been fighting for seven or eight hours. Wuwang Castle still held like iron. Frustration built.
A new problem arrived with daylight. The sky-ninja inside Wuwang Castle's cliff fortress launched another wave of attacks.
"Launch! Launch!" the sky-ninja cried.
Wuyouhua stood atop the castle walls laughing. Soon the world would be hers. She would let everyone see the Fagui clan's power. She'd make them bow. She would show who dared call the Fagui fiends or forbidden arts.
"Bring people. Pull out the last one hundred Fagui warriors from the underground chamber. Counterattack in full. Leave a rear guard. Bring every corpse back from the battlefield. Strip them on the spot. I need more bodies."
With corpses and hair she could keep producing Fagui warriors.
Outside the tall castle bell tower Shigeo yawned on the window ledge. He glanced at the city below. "The Five Great Ninja Villages still haven't won? Are they really this weak?"
In his memory of the original events, a handful of Konoha ninja could have wiped out these sky-ninja. Why, with all five villages attacking through the night, had they failed to finish the job? Then he remembered. In his past life the enemy line had only one major villain. This time the sorceress Wuyouhua was a real headache.
Shigeo cracked his neck, stretched, checked the time, and then leapt from the tower into the sky.
A black shadow shot from the castle and landed on the coast. A few ninja appeared and leveled kunai at him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Shigeo. I can kill that witch. But first we talk terms." Shigeo spoke casually.
"What terms?"
The Sunagakure leader asked, eyes clouded with doubt. A child could not possibly have a method to destroy the Fagui warriors. They had fought the whole night with no solution. Could he really succeed?
"I have one condition," Shigeo said, "I want the Five Great Ninja Villages to answer together. I won't have one agree now and another renege later. No dragging feet."
Shigeo smiled, a curve at the corner of his mouth.
Then, in the next second, he charged the Sunagakure team leader.
Everyone gasped and rushed to intercept. Before they could close the distance a kunai was already at the Sunagakure captain's throat.
This kid's speed was terrifying. It reminded them of the yellow lightning from the Third War. Lightning showed. This boy's movement was almost invisible. Had the wind not moved his clothes they would never have believed he covered that distance.
"What are you doing?" the Sunagakure man asked, panic on his face.
"Doing nothing much. I'm too lazy to explain everything one by one. So I kidnapped the team leaders of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Let's sit and talk."
He glanced toward a nearby reef.
Three clones appeared there. Each clone held a leader from one of the villages. Konoha's Kakashi had come at Shigeo's invitation.
The Sunagakure team stared. Shigeo was the kid who had shone during the alliance contest. Was he already this strong? Last year the contest had been among lower-ranked genin. These leaders were jōnin level.
For a moment they suspected Kakashi helped arrange this.
The other three captured leaders were brought forward and placed beside the Sunagakure captain. The clones and Shigeo released their prisoners.
"Sit down. We'll discuss business," Shigeo said.
"I have nothing to discuss with Konoha!" a man from Kumogakure snapped.
"No nonsense. You want to waste time arguing?" Shigeo cut him off. "Tell me, after Wuwang Castle bombs your village seven or eight times how much strength will you have left? Seven of you came. Why didn't your Raikage send more? You know that answer. What did you think would happen when the Five Great Ninja Villages attacked these sky-ninja? It's been one night. Can't you see what's going on?"
Shigeo snorted coldly. "Enough small talk. I have a way to destroy those Fagui warriors. But I have terms."
(End of Chapter)
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