Red Riot - Chapter 50 - Red first blood (Patreon)

“I thought I taught you better,” declared Gengetsu the instant I entered his office. He was radiating a smugness that cats wished they could achieve.

Instead of answering him or growing curious about what he meant, I made myself comfortable by unsealing a cushion and adjusting the chair so it wasn’t digging into me. 

Typical Gengetsu and his mind games.

“Hmm? Sorry, what did you say?” I asked, enjoying the way his eyes darkened, and he attempted to stab a genjutsu into me, only for it to be repelled with ease.

Judging by the way he’d twisted his chakra… “Was that the illusion of me being torn open?” I asked mildly.

“Yes,” he growled as he laced his fingers only to exhale in a long, dramatic fashion. He glanced out a nearby window at the Village that was, to our senses, merely a light mist.

The chunin exams were still going forward with the various Kage arriving from their villages.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

Gengetsu shook his head. “Oh, now you want to talk? Matsu, Matsu Matsu, you fail to understand so much.” he locked eyes with me, and something dark shifted in them.

I stared blandly back but eventually decided to bite the hook he was dangling in front of me. “You think I erred with Tsunade?”

Gengetsu nodded. “It’s obvious enough that you tried to… talk sense into her Kage and his little band of councillors.”

“The longer we evade a war, the more we seal our ascension as the strongest Shinobi Village.”

“The Kage was never going to be the issue,” Gengetsu cut in, only to shake his head. “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I suppose I have been lacking in this regard when it comes to educating you.”

I raised a singularly unimpressed eyebrow that Gengetsu paid no attention to.

“You see Matsu, it’s not just the Kage you need to be mindful of. Hiruzen is quite the pacifist with his desire to sit and allow the village to grow steadily, but he answers to a client who can control most of Konoha’s missions. In particular, the missions that are the most lucrative or steady. Things that the Village depends on.” 

“The Fire Daimyo, you’re talking about him,” I said, understanding what he was saying.

Gengetsu made a circling gesture, continuing on like I hadn’t spoken. “We’re much the same despite our unique position, allowing us to profit off the eastern continent.”

Gengetsu tapped the table. “However, Matsu, you need the Daimyo, as while they can be an annoyance, they also contribute to our Village by locking much of the nobility into funding missions to us. They wield an influence that most nobles and merchants would never allow a Shinobi. The same is true for all the big nations with their shinobi villages.”

“You’re saying that the Daimyo want us to go to war?” I prompted. That had to be what he was alluding to. I considered the situation only to scowl. “That’s why you wanted both Daimyo to tour the hospitals. It wasn’t just to show it off but to cause friction.”

“Precisely!” Gengetsu grinned. “You see Matsu, a nobleman like that isn’t going to allow his rivals to have something nicer than him. With all the extra missions you’ve been bringing in, this was inevitable! Nobles love to gossip and shame others! It’s practically their reason for living!”

“Was it inevitable?” I demanded, eyeing Gengetsu and his far too smug grin. “Or was it merely you preying on people’s egos at the wrong time?”

When Gengetsu merely continued to look like a shark that had raided a fishing net and gotten away with the best of the catch, while the fisherman was to go hungry.

Drumming my fingers on the armrest, I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’ve been doing nothing but telling us that tensions were rising across the Elemental Nations, but what of efforts to calm things down? Are we running any joint missions?”

“Oh Matsu, you're such an idealist.” Gengetsu tittered at me, and for a moment, I felt like stabbing him just to remind him that I could with impunity.

My restraint was noted as Gengetsu’s smile grew. “Hmmm, still building upon that little house of cards no? You’ve got shinobi ready to step forward should any of the Swordsmen fall, along with at least three that are positively inclined towards you. You have a strong backing with the civilian-born shinobi that all know that they have you to thank for their rise to being an actual faction within Kiri.”

He stared right at me. “You have clan shinobi that favour you, and you have ANBU preparing themselves to take on leadership roles. And still, with a word, I could see this paper house you’ve built torn down. You don’t have the clans, you don’t have the hunter nin. You don’t have the Village!” he practically hissed.

I sat back and offered my own smile, ensuring that none of the inner turmoil his words had caused. 

Fucking Gengetsu and his mind games. 

He was right, but only to a degree.

There were points he didn’t know about. He didn’t know about Rei or the Uzumaki in the Land of Vegetables. He didn’t know the true extent to which the hospital and the medics would make a difference in the coming war and in day-to-day life.

I’d made sure to be secretive about my summons. They had to know I had them now, or at least suspect, but they wouldn’t know what it was until I used it with witnesses.

Shoto wouldn’t say a word about them, and I’d been very careful to track every chakra signature I could within my sensory range.

Which, sadly, still meant that beings like Zetsu might share things around, but considering they’d survived for centuries by this point, I suspected that I’d need to become one of the greatest sensors in the world to detect them.

That, or I needed a new way to spot them.

My silence and smile in response to Gengetsu’s made his decrease marginally.

Most silences with Gengetsu were eerie things, but you grew inured to them after enough encounters. 

It unsettled Gengetsu when you acted comfortable around him.

Before he could speak, I voiced my thoughts. “You underestimate what I’ve built. It’s not a paper tiger, but something that will flourish as an ideal. It’s already taken root within Kiri and is producing results.” I pointed a finger right at his heart. “Results that you’ve been enjoying.”

“As I should,” he replied without a hint of shame. “I am the Mizukage.”

I almost replied that it should be the people enjoying the results, but in truth, they were already doing just that, so arguing was pointless. Instead, I shook my head, amused that he had to tell me. 

“Any way we can divert the noble’s attentions?” I asked.

Gengetsu sat back and observed me. “You do realise that a war would be the perfect place to solidify your position as the next Mizukage, no? Win a few battles, slaughter our enemies…” Gengetsu tilted his head. “Why are you stepping back from it?”

“Perhaps I have another way?” I suggested, amused that it was such an alien concept for him.

Gengetsu continued to consider me like a strange bird that had just landed in front of him.

“You might just be the greatest fool I’ve ever known,” he remarked. “Regardless, we need to deal with certain incursions that have started up. Konoha, Kumo, Suna, and even Iwa have begun attempting to steal back missions from the east. They’ve begun establishing hidden bases, which serve as a kunai at our backs for the war and for the economic pinch they’re attempting.”

A snort erupted from me. “With the new style of missions we have? Good luck trying to close that purse.”

Gengetsu nodded. “Indeed, but I do not wish to have their shinobi behind us when war—”

“If a war,—” I attempted to adjust his wording only for him to continue speaking.

“—When the war breaks out!” he declared firmly. “We must not be dealing with assaults from our rear. I want those bases destroyed.”

It was annoying that, strategically, his point was extremely valid. Napoleon and Hitler both were crushed when they found themselves fighting on two fronts. Some of the metaphor didn’t really work with shinobi, but then again, comparing Gengetsu to Hitler might be insulting one of them.

“And in doing so, we spark the very conflict we were trying to avoid,” I pointed out.

“Do it quickly, then. Make them second-guess themselves and introduce doubt Matsu. But regardless of any spark, we cannot allow those bases to exist!”

“Ah, the Gengetsu special?” 

“Precisely,” he grinned at me like a shark that had scented blood in the water.

I chewed my lip. It wasn’t the worst suggestion. And it did have more than a few merits. I didn’t want to slip into Gengetsu’s mindset, but the war… it was looming.

Was I being an idiot in expecting I could avert it?

Right now, perhaps I was. I needed… more… Everything.

More personal power, more influence, both within Kiri, and outside it. I needed to know the Daimyo along with their courts, something I’d barely touched on.

Which… was something I could start to change.

Rather than catching a single fish, I could pull in a whole school if I played my cards right.

Sighing like I’d accepted the inevitable, I nodded. “You're right. We need to deal with them. Right now, I can’t do more than slow the war down, but I can make our position stronger.”

“Oh, it’s not we that will be dealing with them, but you, Matsu. Time to start building your Legend as it were, no?”

Ah, he was playing a longer game here, wasn’t he? Was it just going to be foreign shinobi that I was going to encounter, or was Gengetsu going to leak my mission to other interested parties within Kiri?

That… might actually suit my purposes.

“It makes sense,” I replied with a toothless smile as I stared into Gengetsu’s shadowy eyes. “Those who hurt us, or our friends, need to be handled, no?” 

Gengetsu nodded slowly, understanding the implied message. “Make sure the response is decisive,” he said calmly, rather than denying what was going to happen.

I rose, knowing that when I next came back to Kirigakure, there was going to be a shake-up. How big that shake-up would depend on what happened in the east.

______________

I told those close to me of my mission in the east. Most of them were annoyed at my being sent solo, while others considered me carefully.

Shoto had listened quietly and nodded. “See you around,” he drawled casually, all but stating that he’d meet me in the Land of Vegetables via reverse summoning.

Having Rei sign on with the Chameleons had certainly made travel for him easy. I couldn’t wait to blow people’s minds by having her reverse summon herself into the Village itself.

Sayuki hadn’t even blinked, instead pulling out a scroll and reviewing the list of missions that were currently on offer that we’d pulled from the missions records room, where at least one or two civilian nin manned each day.

“I can have three teams working with you in the Land of Wolf while having—”

A grin had stolen over my face at her reaction to the situation, which caused Sayuki to scowl at me. “This isn’t a laughing matter Matsu! Assigning you alone to attack an unknown number of shinobi bases is madness! That or Gengetsu is hoping you kill yourself.”

“Hmmmm, possibly, but when he gives me so much rope, I can’t help but yank on it, you know?”

Sayuki sighed but nodded. “We’ll need to have you jumping around. There are some nations we don’t have missions in right now.”

“Those will be the places foreign nin are setting up,” I remarked. “Where are they?”

She blinked at me for a moment, only to stiffen when she understood what I was implying. “They’re not sending us missions because their needs are already being catered to.”

Scratching my chin, I nodded. “Yeah, the places we need to be more careful about are where our mission failure rate has slowly picked up, or where we’ve only seen a steady decline. That indicates that they’ve got a strategist at work in their base.”

“Like a Nara,” Sayuki muttered with a scowl. “Aren’t you worried they will have anticipated that as well?”

“Hmmmm, nah. I’m honestly going to treat every situation like it's dangerous.”

“Good,” replied Sayuki, her shoulders visibly relaxing. “Don’t get complacent. We need you Matsu.”

“Hmmm, I think you underestimate yourself, Sayuki. Be brave, alright? And if you can get me that report by tomorrow!” I smiled cheerfully.

“Eh? The hell Matsu! That will take a team a week!”

“I know you can do it!” I continued with an upbeat tone, ignoring her defeatist words. “Remember, tomorrow!” 

“Fuck you, Matsu! I’m going to be doing an all-nighter because of you!” She cursed as I shunshinned away. 

I landed in front of the hospital with a cheeky grin. “Ah, that might have been a bit mean of me,” I chuckled as I sauntered into my office. I made sure to walk a circuitous route. Passing small messages to the various Department heads as I went along. 

When I reached my office, I hopped into the tank of water and let myself float. With no Orca in the water, it was completely calm and pleasantly cool.

I began cycling my chakra, exciting it just enough while breaking it down into its various components.

Yin and yang, earth, fire, wind, water, and lightning.

One day I’d add Nature chakra, but for now I could only do this much.

My… well, after almost years of cycling my chakra, I had decided to just bite the kunai and call it for what it was. 

Cultivation. 

The cultivation of my chakra had slowed significantly, with no new developments. I suspected it had impacted parts of my growth as well, with my body slowing down my growth as I grew stronger and more resilient. 

The effects of chakra cultivation would probably continue if I were to acquire Nature chakra as well.

In my mind, it was the only way I could see to ‘break through’ to the next level.

Well, perhaps not the only way.

Within the Elemental Nations, most people only knew of the seven types of chakra that, with enough effort, most skilled users of chakra could access.

Nature chakra was restricted to Sages, but there were also other forms that chakra could come in.

The Chakra of the Bijuu for instance.

There was also other, more risky sources of chakra that could be drawn on.

I’d somewhat confirmed this with intel that Hoshigakure, or the Village Hidden among the Stars was a thing.

Sadly, getting any missions that led to the Land of Bears was a tall ask, considering we were on the other side of the Elemental Nations. 

There were bloodlines with unique chakras, such as the priestesses within the Land of Demons.  Or others with elemental kekkei genkai. 

There might be others out there with such unique chakra but I had no access to heirs of Hagoromo that wielded the Sage’s chakra as overtly as Naruto and Sasuke would perhaps in the future.

I’d tried to experiment with pseudo dual cultivation with others, such as going back to back and cycling our chakra through each other, only for it to be too fragile and dispersive rather than harmonious. 

I’d only tried it with Sayuki, Kuroiwa, and once with Shoto as the people who were closest to me.

It hadn’t worked with them, but perhaps with others? 

Or did I need to do the more… in-depth method? I couldn’t see how it would work any better than what I’d tried, so I dismissed it as a fantasy.

If I wanted to break through, I needed that final push over the edge. I needed something that I could continually draw upon.

Senjutsu was the next big step for me. Canonically, I knew Naruto took a huge leap forward in strength from becoming a Sage.

Becoming a Sage boosted every part of their being.

I wanted that, and then I wanted to take it a step further.

A temporary boost wasn’t enough for me.

I wanted something that stayed with me permanently. That would be how I ‘broke’ through to the next level of combat prowess.

The only issue was that I would need training…which would also require several failsafes.

That, and a method to handle the whole ‘stillness’, as the only method of taking in Nature chakra. 

Which, admittedly, was a bit of a sticking point for my plan, but it was something I’d work out eventually.

I’d have to, because if a war was coming, then I was going to have to be ready to face the likes of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Minato Namikaze.

Speaking of which. I stood upon the water and created a cadre of shadow clones.

They nodded and set themselves in defensive positions even after activating the security seals to lock down the room.

Gengetsu’s training jutsu was useful in that he was able to put me in situations that I could train myself in. Becoming dependent on Gengetsu was a quick method to finding myself dead, so I’d learned the jutsu and taken it a step further.

I formed an illusion about myself and began to train myself from attacks that came from everywhere and nowhere.

It didn’t feel like it was enough for what I knew Minato would be capable of with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.

I had the durability, but speed would be vital in the days to come.

Speed, speed would be everything, and while I couldn’t train myself in seals right now, I could up my own physical ability for all that it was worth.

_______________________

It was an extremely grumpy Sayuki that stormed into my office the next morning. 

“Soooo what did you find?” I asked, holding out a hand, into which she slapped a scroll.

“The Land of Demons and Marsh are suspect. They have been slowing down with the missions, while others like Wood have had outright stoppages in shinobi missions coming our way. There is also a minor decrease from the Land of Key, but that is attributed to the Hidden Lock Village.”

“Only three nations?” I mused.

“Sky and Claw are where Kumo stakes most of its claim. We get into brawls with them all the time, but those are currently being de-escalated. I think Gengetsu is trying to get us into bed with them,” Sayuki said, only to yawn. “We have Wolf, Honey, Valley, and Vegetable pretty well constantly sending us missions.”

Hmm, I hadn’t thought to track mission numbers and reports for how Gengetsu was shaping the future conflict. That was a blind spot I’d have to rectify. “Excellent work as always, I can work with this, and it’s also highlighted some potential going forward. We might need to get two or three people on this full-time,” I stated, only for her to toss me another scroll. “What’s this?”

“I drew up profiles on who we have in each nation. Some are only there temporarily, while others are there long term.”

“Hmmm, I think I will start with the Land of Marsh before moving on to Demons, but I will base myself out of Vegetable long term, just to play it safe,” I murmured, giving Sayuki some of the information she’d need to coordinate any support she might be sending my way.

“Check for missions close to the border, got it,” she yawned. “Now go catch a boat,” she said, waving me out.

I didn’t correct her. With this being a solo ‘mission’ I didn’t really need to be slowed down by taking a ship.

Instead, I walked straight into the ocean and swam a good kilometre out before summoning a very specific orca.

Hayai, the Orca appeared with a cap on his head and googles that were sized for him. The Clan still hadn’t revealed where they got their actual items of clothing from, but I suspected they traded with other summons clans. That, or they hunted humans.

Which… might be more plausible considering our first interaction.

“Need to go somewhere fast?” Hayai greeted me, clicking and inspecting his surroundings.

“East. We’ll take a southerly route if that’s alright with you?” I suggested.

He merely nodded and turned with a sweep of his tail as I latched onto him behind his dorsal fin.

I made doubly sure I was stuck to him before he took another mighty sweep of his tail and accelerated.

And then continued to accelerate at a truly ridiculous speed.

“Coming up on the current! We’ll ride that and get there faster!” he called to me.

Replying wasn’t something I could do, as even echolocation clicks were left behind in the turbulent wash of the ocean as Hayai continued to power on.

When he hit the current, the only difference I felt was the warmth of the water. Perhaps it was marginally easier for him, but I didn’t notice him speeding up all that much.

Was it the easiest method of travel?

Definitely not.

But it was easily the fastest mode of transport I had access to. 

After a few minutes, I could also sort of zone out on Hayai and simply cycle my chakra, make plans, and sharpen my mind with yin chakra.

It took us two hours to exit the Land of Water’s territory, a trip that usually took a boat at least a day with good winds. 

By the time the sun was high in the sky, I trudged onto a beach close to the capital of the Land of Marsh.

With a flex of my chakra, my clothing and body went from sodden to dry. 

Thankfully, over the last few years, I’d worked out how to protect even my hair from the effects of extended saltwater exposure, so within a minute, I was strolling towards the gates of the city looking like I hadn’t just gotten dragged across half the Kaiju ocean.

After all, it was always important to look your best when you ruined someone else's day. 

And the first way to find who was stealing jobs from us was to do as Chris Tucker would do in a Rush Hour movie.

It was time to follow the rich white man.

Now, to do that, I needed to create chaos and see who kept their calm.

With a flex of my coils, ten clones formed up around me before they shifted into Henges of various disguises. I gave them all a casual glance over, only to stare at the one clone that had literally henged to look like James Tucker.

Hmmm, maybe spending so many hours channeling yin chakra wasn’t the best idea?

Eh, it wasn’t like it was going to be my issue soon enough.

____________________

I sat in a tea house, ignoring much of the noise occurring out on the street.

“So do you come here often?” asked the waitress nervously as she fiddled with her hair and eyed me up. She, too, was doing an admirable job of ignoring the noise.

“DEATH TO THE DAIMYO!”

“THE MERCHANTS ARE ROBBING US!”

“THERE’S A SWAMP MONSTER ON THE HIGHWAY!”

I smiled at her winningly. “Oh, not too much. It seems I’ve come at a rather troubled time for the Land of Marsh.”

“Oh,” her eyes flicked to the street, and she sighed. “Don’t worry about it. The Seneschal will see to that long before the Daimyo or his Samurai have to lift a finger.”

“Oh? Sounds like a story?” I prompted, squeezing her for intel that I already knew from a brief review of the records department I’d had a clone perform.

Sadly, I couldn’t keep a handful of clones in the department to pop themselves at will when I needed a refresher or an update on a new variable or location.

Memory transfer, as well as the chakra returning to the user, was sadly affected by the distance between the clone and the shinobi. 

This tracked with Naruto having to summon his meditating clones to his position when he fought Pein.

I suspected there were ways to overcome this issue of distance, with the first being having the power of a Bijuu backing you up. After all, while Naruto needed to summon his clones, they’d still popped when the Nine tails chakra started coursing through Naruto’s body.

By the time I was done with the waitress, she’d given me a decent layman’s rundown of the local power structure. Said information was then compared against a few other sources as my clones continued to stir up trouble while others tracked the persons of interest that I’d already identified as worth watching.

The only addition to this list had been a young go-getter Samurai captain who was on the pay roll to the Seneschal as well as the seemingly indolent young Lord.

Hmmm, it seemed the political scene was somewhat murky in the Land of Marsh.

That being said, for my mission, I was able to monitor the various big names while also spotting several interesting chakra signatures that didn’t seem to fit in with the city around them.

Only a few of said chakra signatures belonged to informants and long-term mission shinobi from Kiri that fed the Village intel. Before approaching any of them, I made sure to observe them for at least a week to make sure they hadn’t become like Hoshigaki, and were trading intel with any and all.

Invariably, I did find one such shinobi.

If he’d been clever and reported said dealings and played the other buyers, he might have been tolerated, but sadly, he was just dumb and greedy, which in the absence of power meant his condition was terminal.

While he ‘disappeared’ to the civilian crowd, I made sure the other shinobi from Kiri knew that he’d been disappeared.

The only tough part of the mission so far had been waiting for a Hunter Nin team to take said double agent away.

One thing that had stood out to me was that the Hunter nin team had been far too interested in my purpose for being in the Land of Marsh.

If I were anyone else, I’d have shrugged it off as Hunter's paranoia. They were all suspicious bastards; it was what made them useful in their role of enforcing compliance with previous generations.

It would come as no shock to anyone that Gengetsu and the former Mizukages were big on the stick approach to guaranteeing Shinobi loyalty.

No, the interest they’d shown in me was going to be something else, I had no doubt.

Other than handling the traitor, my first week in Marsh was rather tame observation work as I documented the various parties involved with running missions in the Capital of Marsh.

It turned out shinobi weren’t the only competitors we had in the area, as not only had Konoha slipped a few teams into Marsh, but so had Iwa, and a mercenary group that appeared to be all Samurai.

Samurai who had to report that they had nothing to do with the rumours of banditry and assure their sponsor, who, weirdly enough, turned out to be the Daimyo.

Weirdly enough, the Geisha of the city also had their own protective element in the form of several gangs that paid tribute to them. Said Geisha also held influence with the courts as several of the lead women were highly sought after, with a night with one of them costing as much as an A-rank mission.

The longer I dug into the Land of Marsh, the more I was left scratching my head.

Thankfully, it wasn’t my circus or my monkeys to worry about.

I had shinobi to track down and bases to destroy.

At first, it had appeared like there were only Iwa nin running about, but then I spotted more subtle players at work collecting intel from dead drops and flitting about quietly despite all the chaos.

Hmmm, it would seem Konoha was also here.

I’d considered going for the Iwa bases as my first targets, but considering that Konoha had the stronger nin to call upon if they backed me into a corner, I quickly swapped my target, knowing that this would probably be one of the first true acts of the war to come.

Goodbye, my halcyon days, I thought to myself as I approached the first site that acted as a resupply base for the Konoha team.

I had to give them points for creativity.

A simple farming compound was the perfect cover. I knocked on the door of the house and smiled winningly at the elderly farmer.

I gave him a look up and down before sighing. “You’re not going to leave if I ask nicely, are you?”

He, in turn, stared at my headband.

“Heh, knew I’d have problems with letting them hang about, but to be fair, I needed the money to keep the family home.”

I nodded and twisted slightly as he attempted to hack my head off with a cleaver he’d held loosely behind his back. 

“Fair,” I replied as I tapped him in the neck once and sent him off to dreamland. “But I don’t have to ask,” I commented as I lowered him to the ground, only to stalk into the house and repeat the action with his wife and kids.

A clone then carried them well out of range of what would be happening next.

The farmhouse had a bunker underneath it. 

A neat little trick that ANBU, or its edgier sister organisation, ROOT, loved to employ.

They had reinforced the walls through a method of fuinjutsu, I suspected, to make it harder to detect through seismic activity as well as most chakra sensors.

Most sensors, being the optimal word here.

With the years of effort I’d put into training the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura, I was a damn good sensor. My range was up to ten kilometres when I stood and focused on it. With five kilometres being a constant for me now, without having to worry about getting overwhelmed.

I knew there was a team of shinobi down there waiting for me to attempt to breach their defences.

I could have deployed a variant of the Rasengan that I’d developed, the Rasengura, or Rasengan that quaked, to destroy their little base.

That would have left a mark, however, and they’d know something big had hit the base.

There was also the slight chance that a certain plant-based stalker might be observing me.

I wanted to keep the Rasengan variants up my sleeve. I’d trained them up as much as I could in secret, but I knew the more I used them, the more likely it would be for word to get around that the Rasengan was a mere stepping stone to stronger jutsu.

Jutsu like the Rasenshuriken, Chidori, Raikiri, or Rasentorpedo, just to name a few.

They’d have their moments in the sun; I had no doubts. Today, however, was a time for dark deeds.

So instead of using a jutsu, I merely plucked a scroll from my vest, formed a tube of wind and launched the scroll into the opening that served as one of the entrances to the base. A touch from a chakra string as it sailed away activated the seedling script to set the gas within spilling out.

I shunshined to the next entrance and repeated the action.

The action repeated itself one more time before I shunshined to a distant hill overlooking the farm.

The Konoha team died quickly, at first peacefully, only for the later shinobi to stumble and begin to panic.

They tried using wind jutsu to clear a path out, but I’d been clinical in my selection of which poison I used. By the time they started falling. It was already too late for them. I hadn’t really used a poison so much as sucked up the oxygen from the area while flooding it with carbon monoxide.

Rather than rush down and claim the spoils of whatever was left over,

I remained where I was for another hour. Letting the scrolls run through everything they had contained and allowing the carbon monoxide to slowly dissipate before I sent in ten clones to check things over.

Sadly, I still ended up losing eight of the ten clones to traps that had been built into the base's structure. I took it as a learning experience from my place atop the hill, documenting how blades, and explosives could be hidden in certain locations and what the Konoha team deployed.

Chances were I’d killed their trap specialist, but there was always some overlap with a village’s trap philosophy. 

Iwa, for example, enjoyed layering their traps to a ridiculous extent, while Kumo were all about big bangs that made you think twice about further probing.

Konoha’s traps were typically clever in their distribution and carefully thoughtful. 

Like the person who had set them up had sat down and considered how best to kill someone over a pot of tea.

I had yet to sample a Suna trap specialist’s work, and considering their speciality with puppets and poisons, I had high expectations.

Kiri’s ambushes…

Well… there was a theme.

Mist began to roll across the hills around me, shaped like skulls and reaching hands. Credit where it was due, it wasn’t an illusion. This was pure ninjutsu with the shaping demonstrating an admirable degree of water control.

I remained where I was, completely unbothered by the rolling mist that began to circle me, leaving a patch of space roughly five metres around me.

Shapes began to move silently around me, some large, some small. Some lingered, and for half a second, I got the impression of a white mask staring at me in judgment. 

If I weren’t able to track them via their chakra signatures, I might have worried.

I might have had to use another method to survive this ambush.

“Thought you’d continue to get away with it, didn’t you?” whispered one of the nin behind me.

I turned my head slightly, like I was tracking them carefully, only for one of the nin on the opposite side to speak up with the exact same cadence.

Hmmm, neat trick, I thought, ignoring their taunts and studying the way they were linked together with a very light genjutsu that allowed them to harmonise with their voice and their little nightmare act.

Probing the link, I sent forth a wind, fire, and even a water-aligned chakra kunai into the link. Oh, it reestablished itself.

“Neat jutsu,” I murmured, annoyed that there seemed to be more than mere chakra control going into it. “Is it something in the masks or do you have fuinjutsu tattoos that let you use the same voice?” I asked.

There was a momentary shift in the air as numerous people paused in their games to stare at me.

Which was as good as a confession that I was on the right track.

“Well, that’s neat!” I then gripped the water around me and wrenched it out of the Hunter Nin’s control.

Eight shinobi went from circling me like a pack of sharks to suddenly bound in prisons of water under the light of day.

I cast a slow look over each of them, then I clenched my hand and twisted, causing the hillside to crack with the sounds of bones breaking. 

They slumped lifelessly into puddles of water as the prison was released from my grip.

I hummed. “Well, I guess Konoha’s supplies aren’t the only spoils I’m going to get today.”

Somehow, it made perfect sense to me that my part in the prelude to true war was to kill five Konoha nin and eight Kiri nin.

I had to wonder if this was the best the Arbiter, aka The Hunter Nin’s leader, could muster against me. If so, I felt like I was bullying the guy. My clones returned to me with our haul of kunai, medical supplies, rations and the sealed bodies of the Konoha ANBU team.

I’d hand them off to the morgue I had established and very pointedly not informed the visiting Daimyo about. 

It wouldn’t do to advertise how we dug into the dead and learned secrets from our fallen, after all.

Dusting my hands off and summoning a small gale to clear out the lingering poison from the farm, I dusted my hands off.

One base down, and who knows how many more to find.

Hopefully, when I reached the Land of Vegetables, Rei would enjoy the gift of the Hunter nin masks.

______________________

Konoha was sadly rather competent when it came to security protocols.

The second they got wind of bases going dark with the Land of Marsh, they went to ground, burning their contacts and causing more than a few missions to go uncompleted. 

Whenever I encountered teams of Kiri nin that could be tasked with the fallen missions, I made sure to direct them to said nobles, making it a double win for us by besmirching Konoha’s good name while re-establishing ourselves within the region.

Sadly, for my true mission, it made things much harder. 

Fucking Konoha ANBU! Why couldn’t you be the red shirt equivalents you were shown to be in the manga!

Instead, they had taken to roaming around the Land of Marsh in tightly controlled patrol circuits that must have overlapped each other as whenever I probed one patrol group, within minutes, other groups began to swarm the area.

I suspected they were changing up who was moving at any time, along with which bases they operated out of, but with them casting a wide protective net, I couldn’t get close enough to confirm where the bases were.

There was obviously an able tactician at work here. I doubted they were a Nara as instead of attempting to ensnare me through some plot, they merely stuck to their plan and evaded me whenever I tried to force them to fight.

No fancy tricks, just a simple, effective counter to my mission.

Even clones weren’t able to slip in and give me more than a ‘go that way and die’ response with how tight the net became.

So I needed to play other options, seeing as I was potentially facing upwards of twenty ANBU. The last thing I needed was for them to catch on to my true position and attempt to hunt me down.

Although that did offer some possibilities, I thought to myself as I slipped into a town where I planned to enjoy a warm meal and make use of the local kiri informant to get an idea of any teams that might be nearby. 

Getting some support for the coming fight seemed like the best option to me.

Said support…. Hmmm, there were some idling shinobi in town. It felt slightly familiar, like their signatures were muted to make them harder to detect.

Urgh.

I strode up to the pizza shop, thoroughly amused at how popular it was and how delicacies that I’d introduced were being spread by Kiri to keep our ears to the ground.

“I’ll have the fish special, a slice of the meat special, along with some table water,” I informed the waitress when I sat.

They nodded, not thinking anything odd about the order, instead taking it back to the kitchen, which caused the informant to signal it was time for their break. They slid out the back pretending to have a smoke, and I moved as if to do the same.

We stood in the alleyway on opposite sides.

“Got a light?” he asked despite his already lit cigarette.

“Always for someone caught out in the cold,” I replied, making no move to approach him and instead forming a hidden sign to indicate I was a friend.

The man nodded. “What do you need?” he asked gruffily.

“I need support for a mission. Heavy hitters only, no one saddled with Genin,” I stated firmly.

A snort and a smirk let me know that I had gotten lucky in some manner. “So you’re the one who has been stirring up trouble, then?”

I raised an eyebrow at that, pointedly not commenting on his attempt at digging for intel.

He raised a hand. “Sorry, sorry, curious by nature. It’s what makes me good, but Gengetsu sent a team around that are a bit odd. It’s had the intel gathering network scratching their head for those in the know.”

“Who’d he send?” I asked, thinking about which of the Seven Swordsmen might be free along with other Jonin. Hmmm, perhaps I might be seeing Akiko? I hadn’t been able to run a mission with my former sensei for years now.

“Fumikage Hozuki has been deployed with a support team,” the man said with a knowing tilt of his head.

That made me stop and blink. 

Holy shit, Gengetsu wasn’t fucking around if he’d deployed him.

For most people, Fumikage was a mere Chunin. But for those who kept an ear to the ground and a finger to the pulse of Kirigakure, he was much more than that.

Gengetsu had sent the Three Tails Jinchuriki.

“Good to know,” I replied. “Where can I meet up with them?” I asked, and my informant smirked as he listed off the details of the meeting point.

Huh, it seems Gengetsu really was supporting me with the—

The group of Kiri nin that had been lurking nearby suddenly accelerated, going from idling to attacking.

Kunai fell through the alleyway, and the informant only had time to gape in shock before being knocked off his feet as I raised an earthen wall to protect us.

I felt the wall shudder as a veritable rain of metal slammed into the wall as one of the Hunter Nin unleashed a scroll that disgorged what felt like a small armoury at me.

I sighed from behind my wall as the informant scuttled back to the wall and stared around with wide eyes. Hmmm, I suppose I shouldn’t expect more from a lifelong Genin, but still.

“What the? There aren’t any enemy nin in town!” he gasped, causing me to give him a flat look. He obviously wasn’t in on the attempt, but he should know better than to judge enemy nin as merely that of foreign Villages.

Rather than use clones or counterattack with some ninjutsu, I twisted my chakra into a nightmarish illusion that caught the weapon-using kunoichi and her team.

“Kai! Kai!” she screamed in shock as the illusion failed to break.

I lowered the wall and gave her companions a flat, unimpressed look.

In response, they stood still while in an illusory world, they fought desperately to take me down. 

Instead of dealing with them, I checked over the informant. “You alright?”

“Y-yeah?” he muttered. “Are you a traitor?” he gasped as he spotted the downed Hunter kunoichi.

To give him credit, he raised a kunai with shaky hands, and I snorted in amusement. “Nah, I just pissed off the Arbiter of the Hunter Nin, so he’s trying to take me out. Must have known I’d come around asking about support, so that team was waiting for me.”

“O-oh…” he muttered, still in shock.

I patted him on the shoulder and subtly calmed his racing heart while fixing up some old injuries that had sidelined him. “How about you leave this to me and you go back into the restaurant?” I suggested, annoyed that with this I wasn’t going to be able to sit down and enjoy a warm meal.

No, instead I needed to clean up this mess.

He nodded and raced off, slamming the door behind him. A moment later, the bolt slid shut, and I snickered, knowing that such a feeble security would do nothing to stop a determined shinobi.

Turning my attention back to the illusion, I was amused to see that the Hunter Team were still fighting my weakened version of myself.

When they finally cut ‘me’ down, I clapped and let the world peel back to another world, where their teammate collapsed onto her side. “Torn apart… they were tearing me apart,” she whimpered.

“Well, that was inspiring work,” I said mockingly, drawing upon Gengetsu to intimidate these idiots. “I give it a thumbs up for effort!” I declared as I mockingly raised a thumb to them.

They tried to stab me, only for the attempt to tear through me like I was made of mist.

“Oh, no such luck,” I mocked as the entire team attempted to break the illusion by disrupting their chakra. 

Joke was on them, however, as powerful genjutsu like this were able to adapt better to fluctuations, and if there was one thing I’d studied thoroughly with having to deal with Gengetsu regularly, it was illusions.

“Right, you’re all a little surprised, I take it? Thing is, you really didn’t have a snowball's chance in hell of killing me. Now, your boss’s attempts to deal with me were cute to start with, but now they are trying my patience. So, who wants to deliver a message for me?”

None of them moved, and I nodded. The kunoichi who’d launched the kunai at me twitched once and perished as I finished her off in the real world.

“No takers?” I asked again, glancing around. I sighed and picked one that looked the most shaken by the revelation that he couldn’t escape my illusion.

Around him, his teammates dropped like puppets with their strings cut. I had clones rifle through their things before I sealed them up into corpse scrolls, which I then dropped into the final Hunter nin’s hands.

“If he tries a third time, I will make sure he joins the list of KIA shinobi,” I declared.

“...what if he can’t call back the other teams?” the man asked.

“That sounds like a problem for him to deal with. We need all the nin we can in the coming days, and his attempts are wasteful in the extreme,” I remarked only to make a shooing gesture.

The hunter nin blurred away, and I worked my jaw a little. 

Hmmm, that had been a little bit too fun.

I really was picking up far too many of Gengetsu’s mannerisms. Next, I’d start monologuing while my foe wasn’t dead.

A shiver ran through me. 

Right, time to deal with the rest of the Konoha and Iwa bases within Marsh and then I was going to do some rest and relaxation in Vegetable for a while.

That sounded perfect.

_________________

The three-tails Jinchuruki was a young man with a haunted look about him. When I entered the room containing him and his support ‘team’, he tracked me like I was a wolf and he a beaten dog.

Ever with the stick to force loyalty… Oh, Gengetsu, you truly were a product of a fading era of shinobi.

“Are you mission-ready?” I asked calmly, looking right at Fumikage. 

Rather than look me in the eye, he kept his eyes down as he nodded sullenly. “If you require us, we are ready,” Fumikage replied.

Holding back a sigh, I turned my attention to the team that ‘supported’ Fumikage. 

Which was a fancy way of saying they were his minders and jailers. If he attempted to run, they would detain him. If he called upon the power of the Three tails at a time that wasn’t useful for Kiri, they would restrain him.

Which made them sealing experts or people with specific bloodlines, or abilities that weren’t typically employed in standard shinobi missions.

All of them were, of course, Hozuki clansmen.

“We’ve got Konoha nin that have been fading on me rather than putting up a fight. Need them to stand their ground,” I prompted.

“Hmmm, should be doable. The Three tails can handle a lot of attention before having to back out of a fight,” remarked the eldest shinobi, a wisened grey-haired man who could have been of an age with Gengetsu.

Gambasa Hozuki rubbed at his beard as I inspected the various indications that he was a sealing expert.

“Don’t suppose you have any tricks to use with seals? Trap a section of Marsh and make them move through it?” I asked.

“You obviously have no idea how sealing works!” he snapped back at me. “I specialise in containment, not traps!” he retorted, only to smirk as his eyes drifted to my vibrant red hair. “Amusing, considering your lineage.”

“Hmmm, a shame, about your deficiencies,” I remarked, giving him the same courtesy he gave me. “What of the rest of you?”

“Ninjutsu specialist. I’ve perfected a variant of the Water Prison Jutsu that can contain any being within for at least a minute,” declared the kunoichi.

“Truly?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied, offering no further justification.

I turned to the final member of the four-man squad. They raised what appeared to be large nails that had fuinjutsu script up the sides.

The fact that they were stained red told me all I needed to know about how they were used.

I gave Gambasa another look, understanding that he would be vital for containing Fumikage should things go too far.

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I considered what I had. 

A reluctant Jinchuriki who would perhaps know a few water ninjutsu but otherwise be restricted in what he could learn. Three containment specialists and I.

Fumikage…he really was the equivalent of a large hammer.

I’d have preferred something a bit more subtle than treating the Iwa and Konoha forces as nails, but… Well, it fit with Gengetsu’s objectives of getting the war started.

If I wanted to, I could step back and send the team away. But that would be suspicious, as well as forcing things to take longer than they already had. 

I wanted to get to Vegetable, damn it!

And Gengetsu obviously wanted to loudly throw down the gauntlet and see who would pick it up.

“What is the strongest jutsu you have?” I asked Fumikage as I sighed in defeat. I was probably going to have to push Fumikage further than was reasonable, but I could at least be polite about it.

Something approaching interest entered his eyes at that question, and I nodded encouragingly.

“I have the water slicer, the Water Wave Jutsu, and a Coral Creation Jutsu.”

“Hmmm, good, good. Those can be boosted if you draw upon the three tails, I take it?” 

“For a few moments… I typically lose control of myself when I do so,” he admitted.

“Ah, is that so?” That was news to me, but then again, any intel around the Jinchuriki was considered S rank and need-to-know only. 

Fumikage nodded, and I rubbed my chin as I considered the map.

The region that I suspected Konoha had fled to was a muddy bog with nothing else really there. It was isolated, which would make it perfect for a resupply base that no one would know about. It was also extremely wet, which would play to our strengths.

Iwa, on the other hand, had claimed what they could of the scant mountains that were scattered around the Land of Marsh. They’d be more annoying to deal with, but again, with fewer restrictions, I envisaged things progressing well enough.

“Alright, guess it’s time to go for an enthusiastic walk,” I remarked with a faint smirk.

The other four merely looked at me blankly, obviously not understanding the reference. I waved it off and instead laid out a map and began detailing how we were going to clean up Marsh of foreign shinobi outposts and supply bases.

________________

ANBU ‘Owl’ chewed his lip from behind his mask. “Matsu has thrown off his restraint,” he remarked to his captain as he observed the shifting markers on the map that were quickly approaching their location.

ANBU Bug nodded thoughtfully. “We will seal many of the bases and retreat. Why? Establishing the bases is more important than fighting for them. Matsu’s sensory range will need to be updated, as he has been pushing our patrols with his clones. We’ve also started to encounter issues with our dojutsu-gifted agents.”

Ignoring Bug’s verbal tic, which identified him as an Aburame, Owl glanced towards ANBU Falcon, who he knew to be a Hyuga. The man nodded. 

“He’s been staying at extreme range, but our efforts to stay on the move kept him honest. The overlap with us being able to observe two patrols at least has also worked well,” Falcon conceded, nodding to Owl for suggesting the change to their patrol routes.

Owl allowed himself a small degree of pride for a well-executed plan before shifting and pressing for a further advantage. “We should have counterattacked.”

“No, we always only tangled with clones and not the real Matsu. His utilisation of Shadow Clones is troubling and something we will have to plan for going forward,” remarked Bug.

“Going to be a tough ask if he can sit back on us,” remarked Boar, who Owl knew to be an Akimichi from his body type alone. “Especially if he’s properly guarded in the coming conflict.”

Owl nodded, knowing that he’d need to develop methods of dealing with Matsu in the future. He had a few viable options, but he’d need to make sure it was a polished, sure thing before deploying the Hiraishin. The reveal of one of the Second Hokage’s signature jutsu needed to have the maximum effect instead of being used arbitrarily.

He currently had a rough idea of the theory, but he’d need to push it more, as it needed to be better than what the Second Hokage had used in the past.

It, after all, hadn’t been enough to save him.

If he was right in the jutsu’s true capacity, however… well, he’d be able to fight on multiple fronts and save hundreds of Konoha nin from being overwhelmed.

It would be just what he needed to solidify his chances at putting forth his name.

Right now, everyone was looking to Sakumo Hatatake and Orochimaru as the two most likely to take over as Hokage.

But if he—

“Contact! Clones are swarming a patrol group! They’re signalling trouble with more shinobi being present! Matsu has reinforcements! We need to bail out now!” barked Falcon.

Bug nodded, and from around him, kikaichu swarmed into the man. “Very well. Owl, seal the base. We will depart over rough ground.”

Boar twitched. “Captain?” 

Bug nodded. “It is best we make Kiri and Iwa fight. We will stir the nest with our passage and leave Iwa to deal with Kiri,” stated Bug firmly. “Why? I do not believe Matsu to have carelessly left openings for us to the south, east, or north, so we will go west!” declared Bug as his kikaichu backed up his words with a static buzzing.

Owl and Falcon nodded at this, knowing it would be a risky gambit, but it was best to follow a plan decisively rather than question it. Momentum was key.

The team quickly sealed the base and hid it in the swamp. If you didn’t know it was there and how to access it, you would have no indication of its presence.

This made it perfect for future operations.

The team began to rush west with other ANBU teams joining up their flight. They’d done enough for now, and while Owl itched at the chance to take out Matsu, he suspected Bug was correct and that he wouldn’t be getting close. 

They rushed up the mountain and, in doing so, shifted the battlefield from closed-in swamps that offered some protection in the form of mists, bogs, and the occasional tree to bare land that angled sharply upwards.

Owl charged forward with Boar, who began to grow larger. 

“Wake up, rock munchers!” shouted Boar as he slammed a fist into the side of the mountain where they suspected Iwa to have built their own bases.

Owl drew out several kunai, and with unerring speed, he began to flick kunai into any Iwa nin that poked their heads out of their tunnel system.

They left a trail of corpses before they reached the summit, where they were granted a moment’s reprieve to look back and watch Kiri and Iwa nin beginning to fight.

Much of the fighting was taken up by Matsu’s clones, with him fielding a veritable army that were annoyingly tough to handle despite being mere shadow clones.

Boar squatted on his haunches, eyeing the fight far below. “Yeah… he’s gotten stronger,” he remarked. “Reckon there’s at least fifty clones down there… that’s the most I’ve ever seen.” 

A quake running through the mountain made everyone straighten up. Large chunks of the mountain beneath them began to crumble and fall away, only to smash into parts of the slope where Matsu’s clones were. 

Falcon whistled. “Well… bringing down a mountain is certainly one way to deal with an army of clones,” he remarked.

The shift caused something else to change, however and without even identifying it, Owl leaned forward and inspected the battlefield closely. 

Another shinobi rushed out, only to take multiple hits from jutsu, kunai, and even a boulder.

It didn’t stop them, and for a moment Owl wondered if perhaps this was the real Matsu.

Only for a shroud of red chakra to form around the shinobi.

“They’ve deployed their Jinchuriki!” gasped Falcon.

Boar swore, “Fuck! I think Kiri really wants us gone from their backyard!”

Bug merely nodded. “Continue intel gathering. Why? This may prove critical in the times ahead.”

Everyone grunted their acknowledgment, and Owl made sure to watch closely. Hairs all over his body stood on end as a shiver ran down his spine.

Was he afraid?

If this was the power of one tail being released… what would… he licked his lips only to frown. “It’s turning darker red?” he pointed out.

“His body cannot handle the power of the Bijuu that is coursing through him,” remarked Falcon bluntly. “His blood is mixing with the chakra, making it a darker shade.”

Owl shuddered at that. 

When more Iwa nin poured out of the mountain to deal with the newly arrived Jinchuriki, Owl began to wonder if perhaps he wasn’t about to see the death of a Jinchuriki.

Only for the beast to sit back on its haunches and begin channelling something in front of its maw.

Dark chakra bubbled and popped before swirling into a powerful maelstrom that reminded Owl of…

Oh, that’s where Matsu got the inspiration from.

The dark orb hung for a moment in front of the beast, only for it to swallow it.

A moment later, the belly of the beast bulged, and its head tilted upwards.

“We should run,” Boar suggested.

Everyone sprinted off the summit, and a moment later, that was shown to be wisdom as the mountain imploded as a beam of chakra tore through it.

Owl cast a final look over his shoulder while drawing upon his own potent chakra sensory abilities.

That had been powerful, far more powerful than any Rasengan Matsu or his students had ever utilised.

Were they holding back?

A memory of a toad bugling only to collapse as its life faded from it came to the fore… that… that was rather worrying.

Owl licked his lips but otherwise hardened his heart. He had an idea of the jutsu now.

Time to see how Kiri, or rather Matsu, enjoyed having his own jutsu used against him!

When they reached the boats that would return them to the Land of Fire, Owl took off his mask and returned to being Minato Namikaze, student of Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and if he had his way, future Hokage.

__________________

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons.

There are more fights to come with various forces still within the Eastern continent, and soon enough… the war will begin!I didn’t include the character list this time, as I felt like there weren’t that many people being interacted with that readers wouldn’t be able to remember. Does this need to change?

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!