It has been three months since the battle of Nagori Isles and since then, Kumo sent multiple squads to look through them with a fine comb. But despite their backbreaking effort... they found nothing.
The Kiri troops hidden in the new secret underground hideout received a simple order. Stay hidden. For three months, they did so while Rei and Konan were focusing on enlarging the underground base to house thousands of ninja. And slowly but surely, more and more Kiri ninja were arriving by ships. Not in large quantities, rather the Mizukage chose subtlety so it took three entire months for the Nagori Base to house five thousand men. Rei knew the war would start in earnest for Kiri in a short few weeks and marveled at how the Mizukage handled the shitstorm he delivered to him.
Simply said, when Kumo didn't find even a single trace of Kiri ninja and heard there were some skirmishes at the southern shores of the Land of Fire, they were led to believe Kiri didn't intend to attack them. The Mizukage even leaked some 'intel' of his war plans through a few spies of Kumo in his ranks he knew about so it was 'obvious' that Nagori Isles was just a distraction for a full-out assault on the southern coasts of the Land of Fire.
This had a double effect.
Firstly, Konoha started reinforcing this part of the country, wasting their war potential on fighting what was, in reality, poorly managed and very random, which made it frustrating to deal with attacks of various pirate crews the Mizukage hired. These men should not pose a problem to ninjas but their raids were so spread out and random that Konoha had no other way to counter them than to keep their ninjas stationed in the coastal cities. The villages however were left to their own devices... Most of them were already razed to the ground, women raped and enslaved, and men, elderly, and children used for amusement as the pirates stole and plundered to their hearts' contents. Simply put, the Konoha forces abandoned them to protect rich merchants in the cities. For now, Kiri was winning this faux invasion while its forces were secretly amassing themselves at Nagori Base. And yet... not one Kiri shinobi set even one foot on the Land of Fire territory during this invasion. It was all the job of hired scum who couldn't even use chakra. Rei really had to applaud the Mizukage for this as the man was single-handedly screwing with two nations of the Great Five by just spending some pocket money on expendable pirates simply by using the situation he found himself in.
And secondly, after hearing of these events, Kumo finally deemed Kiri wholly focused on Konoha and stopped searching through the Nagori Isles about three weeks ago. Kumo was now regrouped and their ninjas well-rested and better equipped while Konoha forces were spread thin. There could be only one conclusion if one considered the hatred Kumo had for Konoha. The Kumo front opened again. It didn't take even a week after the searches were called out for some really bloody battles to commence as Kumo forces started pounding on the borders of the Land of Fire like a sledgehammer.
In the end, Konoha was spread as thin as possible while Kumo completely disregarded any threat Kiri's previous presence so near their borders signified. Rei could only applaud the Mizukage for the job well done at organizing his troops as the man showed he really deserved his S-rank earned by numerous assassinations. He made it damn near impossible to spot where Kiri was going to hit next.
The second Ringo awakened after the beating she received from A, she asked, no, begged Rei to help her with Lightning Release. He could only delay it so much and told her he would help when she is fully recuperated. It took her an additional month for that to happen but in the end, Rei could only helplessly shrug and pretend the vexed and peeved look Konan directed at him every single evening as they were falling asleep didn't exist. At least, for the next two weeks, angry sex and the pointed glare was the norm. Tsunade certainly had a lot of fun watching their antics.
After these two weeks, Konan had had enough. And that was when the hell for Ringo started. Konan took it upon herself to 'help' the young woman train in Lightning Release with the only method a non-Lightning release user could. By combat. Since then, Ringo started going to bed badly bruised or cut up while Konan was again as meek and snugly as a kitten in the bed. Rei had to admit he didn't stop Konan because he knew these 'training' sessions were more of a frustration relief for her and he liked silently bashful tender Konan more than silently seething angry Konan. As a man, he wholeheartedly believed he should avoid jumping into this matter as it was between two women, and decided to let Konan bea-, uh, get her frustration out of herself with Ringo's help...
Mei also had very productive months. She didn't expect that during the war there would be a three months break. The war's duration was reaching almost three-quarters of a year and yet, for Mei, there was only one battle so far. She however understood her weaknesses during it and bugged Tsunade until the woman caved and started to bug Rei who then bugged Konan who after that dragged Ringo into it... All four were giving Mei some lessons in their free time.
Rei, Konan, and Tsunade also started doing 'practices' in Rei's personal dimension, creating an army of tough earth clones for Mei to go one versus army. Whoever said Tsunade was a gentle teacher was an idiot. The woman was doing her very best to stop one blow short of killing Mei. If Tsunade wasn't such a good medic who could use nature energy to heal while being fully supported by the over-abundance of the said energy in Rei's dimension, Mei would be crippled for life only after five minutes of these new exercises. And yet... she was getting stronger at a rate most would call insane. The only thing Rei could do when he saw Mei's progress was to dryly think... 'The plot armor is strong with this one.'
But like all good things, the peaceful period was on the verge of the end. The Mizukage now had all troops where he wanted them. He also had all the countries where he wanted them. Moreover, he had Konoha where he wanted it and it was time to start offensive...
Fuguki Suikazan, Kushimaru Kuriarare, and Ringo Ameyuri... these three, the Mizukage decided, would lead the Kumo front while the other five members of the Seven Swordsmen were preparing to lead an offensive against Konoha. These three were chosen especially because of how fierce they were since that was something that would save them in this vastly outnumbered gamble. They weren't given all that much resources or troops. Their whole deployment was simply a necessary 'evil' as the clan heads pushed for an attack on the Land of Lightning in some inane vision of 'glory'.
Sometimes Rei wondered if stupidity was a necessary trait to become a clan head or being a councilman. If Kiri set all its might onto Konoha, the village would fall as quickly as Uzushio did in the second war and yet, it was Kiri council that prevented this from happening.
Nevertheless, Rei was really curious about how Ringo would handle this when the odds were stacked so much against her. After all, he did spend most of his training time with her by giving her various strategies and teaching them how to devise her own unique strategies. He doubted she would again get cocky or suicidal enough to face A alone, not after the verbal spanking he gave her, the physical trashing Konan gave her, and most importantly, the sullen angry pout Mei gave her.
Sadly, he wouldn't be there to witness or help her as Team Downpour received new orders... onwards to Suna.
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Author Note:
Yeah, I know... summary chapter :D. Alas, it's a necessary evil for a time-skip-kun.