Relocating to another front was not as simple as the words sounded to be. A full month passed since I received the message requesting our transfer to the Kumo frontline, and the long march was one of the coldest and most unforgiving walks across the world that I could have hoped for.
Sure, I had pondered about going someplace like Yuki no Kuni anytime soon, but it was only a joking thought about it. There was no way I was going to check the place just yet. I needed to first get strong enough to know about possible assassins plotting against me and my family. This occurrence, the one that saw my platoon moving through these neutral lands, was only possible because a diplomatic exchange was brokered by Uzushiogakure.
In exchange for fishing rights in some good sea zones that were usually controlled by Uzushio, these small 'villages' were to allow the contingent, which my team and the four more same-sized ones made most of it, to reach Kumogakure's territory through their land border. It was a little sketchy on the diplomatic level since a mistake in our plans would have easily taken these weak forces into a war against our enemies, and we couldn't spare men just yet to assist those villages if our foes decided to invade them.
The march through the cold tundra of Yuki no Kuni reminded me why I loved mild Winters to Siberian ones. Even with a lot of clothes on, some warming seals, and a couple of pauses in warm shelters, I still learned to despise the climate and wonder if we were eventually going to be blessed with an improved love for our country by the time we were back in warmer plots of land.
Still, the reason why we were meant to cross the border by land was something that had me slightly irked. For dumb reasons. Tobirama Senju was in charge of this big front. Until a few weeks earlier, his efforts were mostly secondary to Kirigakure's attempts to secure a beachhead with their modest transport fleet. It was successful at first, with a couple of strategic points being captured. Sadly, any defense proved to be in vain as Kumo-nin proved to be better prepared in land-based fighting compared to sea-faring ones.
New efforts tried this again, but none managed to actually breach the reinforced defenses deployed by the Cloud. Almost two months of weak attempts to beat the first invasion's successes, and still there wasn't much of a hope to break through. So, Tobirama, in a moment of utter wisdom, decided that instead of allowing Kirigakure to kill his own men and women by throwing them in waves at their well-defended enemies, the best way to win this stalemate, was to shatter the hostile lines from another side.
Which is why we had been relocated in this part of the world, tasked with the plan of breaching the enemy's defenses on the sides, and allow a couple of beachheads to form and consolidate. What really pissed me of this plan was that I wasn't going to have the chance to educate my platoon about becoming raiders and marines, but about infiltrating places like… the airborne.
It was still nice, but I had this pseudo-powerpoint explanation for turning my cute soldiers into marines and now that speech was gone and forever forgotten. The tragedy, the despicable nature of everything!
Nonetheless, the fun planned for this endeavor was undeniably good enough to keep my rage under control since I was still going to do something funny. Who wouldn't be happy busting bunkers from their blind spots?
I really need to ask two weeks of rest after we are done with Kumo. I'm so close to just snap in full warhawk mode if I don't get the chance of being at peace with myself. Either by resuming gardening duty or even training in complete silence and on my own.
"Listen up, this is going to be a jolly ride with a couple of bumps across the road," I started to say, drawing my platoon's attention on me. We were resting inside a modest-sized tent that was meant to be our temporary hq while we were away from the other members of our contingent. "Two hours from now, Tobirama-san's forces, combined with Kiri's finest, will storm the beaches and, definitely, we will get some results done with that objective. Our task is to go along the beach line, destroy any fortification or combatants along the way while also aiding any of the invasion forces that require assistance."
"What kind of assistance?" One of the kunoichis I just started to know about asked. I believe her name is… Hiroko?
Considering that they were lasting a fair lot under my command and had yet to beg to be reassigned elsewhere, I was growing fond of my fodders- I mean loyal men. I totally meant loyal men. Still, I knew Hiroko, red eyes and blue-hair, and Wakiko, blue eyes and green-hair. Then there were the four guys that were Utamara, green eyes and dark-hair, Masahide, brown eyes and gray-hair, Seitaro, brown eyes and dark-hair, and Tessai, blue eyes and blue-hair.
A rainbow of minions that were eagerly giving me their loyalty to me. And in exchange, I gave them the best orders to see the next day. I really was slowly getting annoyed by the war-centered mind-set I was developing. I wasn't scared or anything, I really needed to be given the chance to sit, yawn, and then nap. It's been a while since I was given the opportunity to enjoy a power-nap, with the only resting being during nighttime.
"We will be flanked with engineers, with our main priority being medical issues. We find wounded, and we deal with them. Understood?"
They all nodded, with Kagami taking a while to do so. "What about the 'after' we are done with this? Do we have a specific retreat order or do we have to assist in keeping up with the pressure?"
Fair enough, we had been forced to give pursuit during our times in Iwa when it came to post-important operations. We were hounds meant to give extra pain for each retreat of the enemy's army. But now, we weren't in the conditions to do so. Not with the current circumstances, that it.
"We shall retreat to Tobirama-san's position, then debrief about the situation at the front."
"Why can't we just keep up the pressure?"
"Logistics, Hirotada-kun," I replied calmly to the Hyuuga's surprise. "Our main force is the invading army, and even if they manage to flawlessly land, they would still need to set up temporary docks to allow more manpower in and fill up the army properly. That's why our objective is to see for the beachheads to form and consolidate."
…
"I understand," The boy quietly answered and I nodded before resuming my own explanation.
"The main goal is to destroy any defenses we find. We have been spared more high-tier explosive tags than usual, so be careful when you use your normal tags around because you might mistakenly use a boosted one," I prepared to conclude that briefing. "Finally, we will have friendlies around to join our very mission. If you spot someone and you are uncertain of their allegiances because of a different uniform or because you can't spot the forehead protector, then ask for permission to take the hit. Understood?"
"Yes, Danzou-san," They all replied at once and I smiled.
"Good, then… I believe we can start right now," I hummed happily, giving another nod and setting up the formation to begin the big operation. With me as the head of the group, I was flanked by Hirotada and Kagami, with Reira standing directly behind me. The rest of the platoon was disposed of in a copy of this lesser formation, creating a diamond-like pattern that easily offered us a small, but compacted attack formation.
We were the second group to begin with our respective tasks, spotting quite easily another platoon as big as mine making its ways to further back defenses while we took care of the closest ones to the beach. The first bunker we spotted was actually a small structure made of wood that had been done in haste and with a couple of foundations' flaws. Placing just two explosives, we didn't even need to fight the dangerous squad housed inside of it.
The tags detonated, shredding through the wood, sending splinters everywhere, and setting fire on the parts that weren't devastated completely by the explosion. Screams filled my ears as I sternly ignored the noises coming from fire we had created, already shifting my focus on the next defensive position.
This one was a little more tougher since there were a couple of guards keeping patrol around the perimeter surrounding the better-built bunker. Taking them out without alerting the garrison was a little bit tough, but with the numbers at our disposal, we ended up getting through after just twenty minutes. Kumo-nin seemed to be less… aware of their surroundings. They were keen to not remain in a single spot for long in complete contrast with Iwa-nin, which highlighted how weak their defensive capacity was, with their strength being attacks.
The pattern was the same for six of those small positions, with none seeming to be genuinely more fortified than the others. But as the first hour started to come to an end, a troublesome element appeared before our very eyes.
"Are those… our boats?" Reira asked slowly, her eyes unable to identify if those were indeed ours.
I swiftly turned to stare at the direction she was looking at, and I felt my jaws dropping and my disbelief doubling the moment I realized how bad the situation really was. For some unknown reason, the invasion had begun way too early and… and we had to speed up our current pace if we wanted to lessen the horrible toll this was going to take. I doubted this was Tobirama's idea, but I was pissed that he still went through with this despite how stupid it was.
I took a moment to produce a shadow clone and send it to quickly alert the rest of the contingent. I was quite sure that we weren't the only ones knowing of this and it was only for the best that we didn't remain the only ones to know this issue. I quickly ordered to increase the pace, already feeling that this wasn't going to be easy.
"Aren't they invading too early?" Kagami asked with frustration dripping from his voice.
"Yep," I muttered annoyed. "Change of Plans! We now have the task of aiding any struggling force we found by the shore. Courtesy of some high-up moron that decided to start the attack too early."
"They didn't contact us?" Hirotada asked. "W-Why would they miss this?"
"Perhaps this was decided when we were already in action. The timing is fairly unpleasant."
And it wasn't just the timing that was grating at my nerves. It was just a couple moments after that conversation that we had to stop and spread out as one of the bunkers had gone fully active and was starting to pin down some of the attackers. Lighting-based techniques were quickly thrown at our allies, the men leaving the boats getting slaughtered because there was no genuine cover for them to take to avoid the brutal massacre. We quickly moved in to place various explosives at the edge of the fortification, once again allowing for the bunker to collapse, this time the entire structure coming down the moment the bombs came off.
The carnage was brought to an end, but the results were still fairly grim. Two entire boats had been decimated by a small squad defending the area. It was surreal how much blood was spilled with such ease, but the worst had yet to come. As soon as the vicious counter-attack was suppressed with accurate violence, I personally took Wakiko and Masahide with me to check for any survivors by the shore. Lots of guts, lots of blood, but a single shivering form that seemed to be mostly fine.
Curled in a fetal position by one of the small holes created on the wet sand, a young boy was suffering from an acute form of shell shock. I was the closest and thus I moved in to treat the large wood splinter embedded on his right leg.
"You will be fine, I will soothe the pain and-"
"I- I killed them."
… "What?"
"I-I couldn't do anything. I just- I just stared and… and they died. They died so suddenly and… and I killed them."
I could only flinch as I realized that the child was suffering a clear dangerous form of survivor's guilt. I hadn't studied much on the matter back in my previous life, but I knew how lesser forms than the one I was looking at could easily turn suicidal without proper care from others. Without wasting time, I delivered a sudden but decisive punch. It wasn't meant to damage, but to put him to sleep as I handled his wound and prepared him to be checked on by specialized experts once we were done here in the field and the full-coastal beachhead was secured.
The rest of the operation took a grittier turn of events as we found similar-looking situations on a frequent basis the more we rushed to get all defenses destroyed. The number of losses was absurd, and I really thought that the sea was going to genuinely turn red with how many dead people we ended up finding along the way.
A good two third of the entire invasion force still managed to get through, and the assault was regarded as a costly but complete victory for once. Despite the good news, none of those that had survived the onslaught that was invading with a good part of the bunkers still operative seemed to be happy with the loss count. It was something that had me fairly furious and in need of proper retaliation once I was done with this.
And I had many things to ask now that I was supposed to give the debriefing to Tobirama himself.
"The enemy force has yet to organize a counter-attack," Tobirama announced with a serious tone. "I believe they are trying to build up an engineer corps to quickly reach the destroyed fortifications and rebuild them."
I was sitting with the other officials while the man was going through with the debriefing. We were all modestly pissed and ready to offer a serious rant on the matter. It was sheer respect for the military mind within Tobirama's brain that we weren't throwing shouts already.
The first bit of the meeting continued smoothly and ended with a pleasant explanation that there was enough material to be able to make some serious pushes the moment the rest of the army had been deployed. He barely mentioned those that were responsible for the assaults all over Kumo's first lines of defense, but I knew he was planning to speak more about it once he was done addressing the officers behind the invasion.
Just as expected, he finally took his attention to us and our reaction.
"I would also like to bring up the valor displayed by the group of saboteurs that have been dispatched to make sure that our landing was the safest possible," The white-haired man commented. "Their participation in this operation was essential and… awe-inspiring."
There was a round of applause at that, but it wasn't a long one as Tobirama kept on speaking.
"Still, I believe there are a couple of legitimate grievances regarding the sudden and reckless beginning of the operation. Some officers from Kiri had managed to convince their high command to begin the mission much earlier, coming close to jeopardizing the entire plan with their behavior," The strict man commented. "The Mizukage was alerted of the matter, and there is a serious investigation being resolved as we are speaking. It will take a while, but I've received confirmation that new officers have already been enlisted to deal with these crucial duties while their predecessors are being checked on for any dangerous elements."
Well, that solves a big part of my anger at that matter. Still, I was irked by the fact that we were dragged to suffer losses because of some morons from Kiri. The toll couldn't just be ignored that easily, and I was worried that this change of the guard was hardly going to cut off any impatient bastard trying to rush things up on this front.
After the meeting was over, Tobirama pulled me aside and handed me a scroll. He had an annoyed expression plastered on his face as he did so.
"You did well during your first mission on this front, Shimura-kun," He let out a flat praise. "Your sensei sent a letter aimed at you. I didn't see any reason to see what content was inside, but I suspect it's quite important, which is why I saw it fit to set up a tent for you to use to check on the message."
I offered a slow nod, surprised that the man was actually this calm about the matter. I definitely needed to write to Hiruzen after I was done with this. Last message I received was just three days ago, but he mentioned that he was being placed on guard duty by the rear guard since most of the main force was knocking at Iwa's door by now. He was certainly able to receive a letter since he was in such a tame stage of his duty on that frontline.
After being granted permission to leave, I quickly walked around to try and find where the tent that was assigned was really located. I wandered for some time, but I ended up finding out the precise spot where it was. I entered inside and...
The small tent that I was offered was decisively one of the smallest I had to be inside, but I didn't mind the size as my attention was on the bed in there. The mattress was a little rough to my back, but it was quite far from the worst place I've been laying myself on.
I was finally alone with my thoughts and… the message from Sensei. I sighed calmly as I quietly pondered about what kind of things the man might have written on that letter. I stared at the scroll in complete silence, but my impatience had it better as I decided to quickly remove the ribbon keeping it in such neat form and unravel the paper for me to read the content held inside.
To the Rikugun-Shoi(1) Shimura Danzo,
I write this letter to address a couple of matters that I believe you will be most interested about. Starting from the fact that the conflict with Iwa is coming to an end. I believe that in a month or two from when I sent you this letter, Iwagakure will face internal collapse as the officers are keeping on fighting despite their Kage now seeking to bring a conclusion to this fight.
I'm not sure how exactly long it will take for drastic attempts for peace to come, but Hashirama has already been alerted and he is working to prepare a proper peace deal with our enemies so we can all focus on Kumo and his last ninjas.
I will take a little longer to finally leave that side of the world. Hashirama requested for me to serve as his guard during the diplomatic meeting between and the Tsuchikage to conclude a proper finale to this last part of the conflict.
It's certain that I will be able to take part in the next front with a substantial control of the main force. I hope you understand that, due to my duties as your sensei, I shall stake claims to have you under my command.
Alas, I suppose you have received letters from Konoha. Your mother is as worried as usual, Hanzo-kun was properly treated by Mito and he is currently living in your household as a ward of the Shimura Clan, and… Yoshiko-san is going to take the graduation test to be then enlisted in a couple of months from now. From what Mito told me, she is ready to succeed in this endeavor.
Finally, I hope your first mission is going fine. I expect a lot, but I know you will manage to exceed any expectations I build around you.
Until next time,
Madara Uchiha
...How am I supposed to reply to this message?
Sure, I could have just replied with a simple 'I will win the war before either you or Yoshiko are brought in this final stage of the conflict' or something even dumber than that. I really didn't want to go through any informal stuff since I really, really needed to get something to cheer me up and bring me out of my current state of irritation, annoyance and… tiredness.
The mattress felt surprisingly comfy now that I was sleepy, but I didn't plan to catch some rest until I knew the rest of the team was capable of doing so themselves. I was really pushing to get this genuine idea that I wasn't a selfish prick that had privileges over my own subordinates- not just because of the rep. But also because I really didn't need to feel someone legitimately having a reason to call me a self-centered brat.
Still, I needed a proper way to address Madara's letter and… a devious idea came up to my mind. It was so devious, that for a moment I was frightened by myself for feeling so ballsy- so daring. It all came to the fact that I knew how to tease the man without getting punished by it. In fact, if I had predicted his behavior as well as I hoped to, then I knew what was going to get him antsy and interested at the same time.
So I started to write a proper letter, but purposely leaving a small space between 'to my' and 'Madara Uchiha'. I went on about the fact that I was surely going to win the war before he had the chance of leaving his guarding duty. That and Yoshiko entering active duty. I now had the chance of trying to make this work, even though I doubted logistics favored me in this very circumstance.
Finally, the cherry atop the fun cake- I deliberately started to write 'Father', only to stop halfway to cross it out, leaving just Sensei as the only way to address the Clan Leader. He was going to notice, he was going to consider all eventualities, and, in the end, that mere possibility will keep on hunting him for the rest of his life… until I would say to him 'it is just a prank, sensei'.
Then again, maybe not this bluntly and not without a couple layers of protection. Maybe I could ask Hashirama or Mito to assist me in this. I didn't trust myself in not gloating and bragging around the man, so I needed some protection to not face the ultimate punishment.
After I was done writing a response to the letter and having it handled by the ninja assigned to this very task, I proceeded to make my way to where my platoon had been resting and waiting for me to come back. But as I began talking with Reira about the current situation, I couldn't help but stare at the sleeping form that was the boy we had recovered from the beach.
Familiar, unconscious and… afflicted by numerous mental problems caused by the horrors he had to witness. This was hardly going to end well for all of us… yet I was sure of one thing.
This sure is a helluva of a beach episode.