Chapter 15
….
Rikuto Pulled away, his Rasengan disappearing before landing on the ground safely. He glanced at Yosuke before looking at the men he hadn't managed to take out. 'Eiji…' He thought sadly. In the midst of battle, he had felt his friend's chakra vanish.
"Rikuto-Sama!"
A sigh escaped the shinobi's lips. There would be time to grieve later, they were in the middle of a war and while he had taken out a great chunk of the enemy forces it was clear Kumo was far from done. He glanced at the fallen shinobi that was sprawled all across the battlefield with various wounds all over they're corpses, it was so much blood. Rikuto had never seen so much blood.
"Rikuto-Sama?"
A determined look crossed his face as two ice kunai materialized in his hands however before he could charge towards the enemy, he heard multiple loud battle cries. Rikuto and Yosuke watched as Chojuro and about 500 men charged onto the battlefield and took out many Kumo shinobi effortlessly. It was clear with a little bit more effort the enemy would be pushed back.
Rikuto grinned before doing a hand seal.
"Lightning Release; Lightning Clone Jutsu!" hundreds of Rikuto's martialized, joining Chojuro and the rest of their comrades in battle. Gripping the weapons in his hands he charged alongside his clones as he gave out a shout. Eventually they pushed the enemy back forcing them to retreat.
Chojuro walked toward Rikuto taking notice of all of the men and women who had died today. All of this blood and gore reminded him of the Fourth great Ninja war. He was thankful that this wasn't a world war. Even so, this was pretty bad.
"I take it you felt it, Eiji..."
Rikuto clenched his fists tightly before looking at the Kage.
"As much as I want to grieve for my friend, I'm not allowed the luxury of doing so."
Chojuro hated to admit it, but the kid was right.
"We have to take this time to round up the men and form them into multiple divisions."
Rikuto stared at the man as he waited for him to continue. "I'll be the commander for this war. I'm leader of Division 1. I want you and your team in my division." He began. "I have to appoint leaders to the other divisions as well as have divisions for intelligence and we also need a ready team of medical Ninja."
Rikuto knew it was all necessary and he figured the Intelligence Division would help them locate his grandmother. "I understand. I'm yours to command."
Chojuro nods. "Since we're done here, we should see how Ruka is doing on her side."
"Yes sir."
Rikuto dispelled his clones before running towards the Ruka's location with Chojuro and what looked like to be half of Kiri's forces.
....
Ruka jumped back and got down onto one knee as she held her shoulder in pain. There was a wound there that indicated she had been stabbed. Looking at her enemy she glared at him. He wasn't unscathed. He had multiple cuts all over his body. Slowly she rose from the ground and watched as he stabbed his blade into the ground. She wondered what he was doing before he went through multiple hand seals however before he could finish, he was interrupted by the shout of "Retreat!"
The man looked annoyed. He really wanted to finish this battle.
"Arashi!"
The shinobi known as Arashi frowned before retrieving his sword and sheathing it behind his back. He looked at Ruka and smile. "This dance is over with. We shall continue this on another date."
She watched as he ran towards the other kumo shinobi and retreated to who knows where. Before long Rikuto, Yosuke and Chojuro arrived at the scene.
Rikuto glanced at the retreating visage of the kumo Shinobi before looking at all the death around him. Beheaded. Scorched. Throat Slashed. Body Cut in half. He frowned. 'So... this is war?' He thought to himself sadly.
"Ruka..."
The brunette stared into Rikuto's eyes. "Where's Eiji?"
Rikuto closed his eyes. "You know as well as I. Eiji is no longer-"
"Don't you say it."
"Ruka." He said with more than a little surprised, she had fought in the fourth great ninja war. She knew what was at stake and yet she refused to accept reality. "I'm disappointed in you. We do not have time for this. pull yourself together. This is war."
"And what do you know of war boy?" She asked with a bitter tone in her voice. "You've been in this war for all but five minutes?"
Rikuto's face revealed nothing as he opened his mouth to speak. "Eiji is dead." He said coldly.
"How dare-"She was interrupted as he walked up to her and slapped her across the face surprising her.
Chojuro looked at the scene with surprise. 'His personality did a complete 360. The old Rikuto would have never slapped her like that. I suppose I understand where he's coming from though.' He Thought
"Eiji is dead. As much as you want to grieve you aren't allowed that Luxury. We're at war, you idiot." Rikuto said clenching his fists.
Ruka glared at him before she began to heal her injury with the mystical palm technique.
Chojuro ordered them all to get healed and receive rest because it wasn't something they'd get to do often and overnight Chojuro began to set up the Divisions he was talking about. It would be essential for the war going forward.
Rikuto laid in the bed of his lodgings staring at the ceiling as he remembered the conversation he had before coming here.
…..
"What did you want to talk about Chojuro-Sama?"
"I've sent moles of my own to gather intel on Mei-Sama's whereabouts." Chojuro said.
Rikuto widened his eyes. "That's..."
Chojuro smiled. "If things go well, it won't be long until we locate her. You just have to have a little Faith."
'Baa-chan... just a little longer.' He thought.
...
to be continued