Battle Against Monsters

Chapter 19: Battle Against Monsters

NT: I only pass it here from another page pieces of shi* so stop fucking if you want to read it in full go and look for the author and leave her name in the synopsis and the name is the same

AN: First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all are having a good one and are staying warm, well… warmer than the negative 21 degrees celcius here in Edmonton…

…

Anyways! Thank you all for reading Ninja Gamer, and any other fics that I write, I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that I made a Pa/treon page (Why do you block that word, FFN?) to help supplement my… non existent paycheque… ain't it great to be unemployed?

Anyways, I'm not expecting a massive amount, and I don't really have many rewards I can give, but there are some things, so please… at least check it out and thank you in advance for any donations.

pa/treon dot c/o/m / DragonKnightRyu

I let out a small sigh as I pulled off the covering I had over my hair and freed it from its bun, allowing my hair to fall free. In the operating room behind me, several nurses applied the final touches to the man who had one of his lungs collapse from a kunai strike.

"Yuriko-sama!" A messenger shouted as I began pulling off my surgical clothing. "Mei-sama is requesting your presence at the war tent as soon as you are free."

"I'll be there as soon as I clean up," I assured as I began to splash some water on my sweaty face to clean it up, while the surgery was fairly clean - for a surgery - I was very sweaty from the level of concentration I needed for my healing ninjutsu while also managing the doctors and nurses assisting me.

I didn't take too long, however, as I simply freshened myself up enough to be presentable and made my way to the war tent in the center of the camp.

The war tent itself wasn't anything special as it was basically a large tent with a massive table map of Kirigakure that were marked with troop positions. "Apologies if I kept you waiting," I said as I walked in, my eyes darting around the tent to see Terumi-san, Ao-san, Han-san and an assortment of rebel jonin.

"It is alright," Terumi-san assured with a smile. "I understand that you are often busy directing the surgeries and teaching our healers."

I nodded in confirmation as I stepped up to the table and took a look down at it. It wasn't all that pretty of a picture to be honest, the rebels only had a grand total of three strongholds, including the main base, while the Loyalists had control of most of the country.

How the hell had the Kiri Rebels turned such a hopeless situation around in the original timeline? Not much information had been given about the end of the Bloodline Civil War in the anime, aside from the fact that Yagura had been killed at the end of it. Outnumbered, undersupplied, with dispirite and ill-functioning soldiers, against the fanatics of the Anti-Bloodline Loyalist Faction under Yagura Karatachi, the Hero of the Kaguya Revolt and the Jinchuuriki of Isobu, the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle.

Talk about a forlorn hope.

I listened to Terumi-san outline the operation they wanted to undergo to capture a stronghold closer to the border with the mainland to make the arrival of the reinforcements from Iwa and Konoha easier and without as much conflict to allow for safer landing on the island nation.

The plan itself was a fairly simple one, with the weather shifting in Mizu no Kuni, there will be a larger influx of mist allowing us to get closer to the base without being detected with us suppressing our chakra so that their sensors couldn't find us in the mist.

On paper the plan was simple and straightforward.

But… well… we all knew plans never survived contact with the enemy. Especially in this world.

So for backups, Han will be waiting separately from the main group with a small group of elites in case heavy firepower was needed, plus it was harder for him to keep his chakra suppressed due to his nature as a jinchuuriki, not that our allies were aware of it just yet. I wasn't sure how they'd react to a Jinchuuriki when they were fighting an 'insane' one, so Han-san was keeping Kokuo-san under wraps for the moment.

I was joining the infiltration force, which I suppose made sense, my own level of chakra control, bring a medic, was very high meaning I could almost make myself invisible to chakra sensors, although it was rather… uncomfortable to do so. Suppressing chakra was like… removing your third arm… or your fourth eye, very hard to describe.

Still, the plan was solid and we had a good idea on the troops deployed at the base, so after an hour of gathering supplies and equipment a sizable detachment left alongside the 'command' group, making our way to the base.

The plan was going well… a bit too well in my honest opinion. Honestly, the last time an operation started off this well, I ended up having to fight five A-ranked jonins while Roshi was hip deep in a large number of chunin ranked enemies.

Yeah… something was going to happen.

I was next to Terumi-san and Ao-san, leading a small group of Jonin as we approached the walls of the stronghold, Ao-san and myself on the lookout for anything trying to sneak up on us.

All seemed to be going well… right up until a massive surge of chakra washed over us, causing the knees of a couple of the more inexperienced members to buckle.

"Oh shit, KISAME!" Ao-san shouted out seconds before the blue skinned future member of the Akatsuki came charging out of the mist with Samehada in hand and a wild grin on his face.

"Go!" I shouted to the other members of the team as I charged back at him, blocking the sharkskin sword with my kodachi, straining to match the man's monstrous strength with my own, and losing. "I'll deal with him!"

Kisame-san chuckled in amusement as he broke away and rested the covered Samehada on his shoulder. "Oh? Konoha's Bloody Scalpel will deal with me?" he asked in amusement. "Sure it's not going to be the other way around?"

QUEST UPDATE!

Defeat Kisame Hoshigaki!

OBJECTIVE

Repel Kisame Hoshigaki and prevent him from attacking members of the Kirigakure Rebellion

Reward

+20,000 EXP, 25,000 Ryo, +5,000 Reputation with Kirigakure Rebels, +1,000 Reputation with Kisame Hoshigaki

BONUS OBJECTIVE

Kill Kisame Hoshigaki

Reward

+30,000 EXP, +1,250,000 Ryo, +5,000 Reputation with Kirigakure Rebels

I gave him a simple smile in response as my sharingan morphed into its evolved form, making Kisame-san blink in surprise as it changed. "Who know, but, where are my manners, it is a pleasure to meet you, Kisame Hoshigaki-san, Monster of the Bloody Mist," I greeted him politely, getting another surprised look from him. "I am Yuriko Uchiha, the Sword-Scalpel of Konoha, I much prefer that title to my other one."

Kisame-san chuckled across from me, an amused grin on his face as his muscles began to tense up. "Well now, isn't that interesting?" he questioned, his grin widening in anticipation. "A polite ninja, and with no smack talk with about how I look? So refreshing."

I chuckled lowly in agreement as I tensed myself for combat. "Well, it would be rather hypocritical of me to make fun of you appearance, not to mention being very unladylike," I replied, sensing the last of the infiltration team managing to get out of the area. "What with my mutated eyes and all that."

I was rather surprised by the honest laughter that came out of Kisame-san's mouth at my proclamation. "And a humble Uchiha to boot!" He crowed cheerfully. "Today is just full of surprises!"

"Well, I suppose I must thank you for allowing me to wait for my allies to leave the area before we began trying to kill each other," I commented with a small, playful, sigh. "That was rather polite of you."

"With those scary eyes of yours watching my every move?" Kisame countered, his grin widening and an aura of bloodlust beginning to fill the area. "More like I was acting out of self preservation because of that scary aura you are putting out."

A smile graced my lips as I countered his bloodlust with my own. "Still, it is only the polite thing to do," I said in response. "But, I suppose we must do our best to try and kill each other now, prepare yourself, Kisame-san, I will be doing my best to remove your head from your body in the most painless way possible."

"I look forward to seeing you try," Kisame-san replied as I got into a stance, Samehada held at the ready.

Not even a heartbeat passed before violence erupted in the clearing as I charged at Kisame-san with my [Inaba Flicker] technique to vanish from his eyesight only for him to prove his S-ranking threat as he managed to get Samehada in place to prevent my kodachi from reaching his neck.

I didn't bother to engage in a contest of strength with Kisame-san as I leapt away from him, he's already proven to be stronger than me physically, so to try and turn this into a contest of pure strength would be the height of stupidity.

Although Kisame-san didn't seem to want to make my job very easy as he charged after me, while not as fast as myself, he definitely proved he was still agile by keep pace with my unenhanced speed enough to swing his sentient sword at me with enough force that even with me blocking, I was still sent flying back into a tree, my kodachi spiralling away from me to impact into another tree.

I didn't pause to recover the breath that was forced out of me as I forced my body to move out of the way of Samehada as Kisame-san swung for my head. Gritting my teeth, I closed in with Kisame till there were scant inches between us before slamming my fist into his sternum and began executing a basic combo against him.

While I was not even the best Uchiha at Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu having always taken priority for me, that didn't mean I wasn't able to hold my own. I proved that to Kisame-san as I drove my elbow into his solar plexus, forcing him to bend over before driving my hand into his temple, only for the man to vanish in a puff of smoke and my hand to shatter a log instead.

Reacting purely on instinct I threw myself forward, feeling the scales of Samehada pull at the ends of my hair as I rolled away, right next to my kodachi that I quickly pulled free from the tree, watching Kisame-san carefully as he rubbed at his stomach.

"That's gonna bruise in the morning," he grunted with a cheeky grin, showing off the row of sharpened teeth.

"Well, that is the point of fighting I suppose, to leave an impact on one another," I commented with a small giggle, getting a chuckle from the 'Tailless Bijuu'.

"True enough, ready for the next level?" he asked me.

"Oh, I believe I am, the question is, are you?" I countered cheerfully, unable to help myself with enjoying the true test of my hard earned skills and experience.

Kisame-san's response was simple, a single handseal before I found a shark made of water erupting from the mist surrounding us and trying to literally bite my head off.

In response to the new threat, I activated [Chakra Flow: Chakra Scalpel] along the blade of [Tsuki no Usagi] and used it to bisect the chakra construct before forming a single seal and spitting out a [Great Fireball] at Kisame-san.

Samehada was swung up in response, mimicking my action as he bisected the fireball, Samehada absorbing the chakra allowing him to disperse the chakra flames without harming him. But, it did have the effect of momentarily blocking his vision.

A heartbeat and nothing more, and for normal people, a heartbeat would not be enough time to take action.

I was not a normal person, not anymore.

A heartbeat was all I needed to partially manifest my [Susano'o]'s rib cage and arms, yes, it was a risky prospect using a chakra construct against Samehada, but, I couldn't afford to hold back against Kisame-san, and that meant I needed to break out Amenonuhoko.

Kisame-san's eyes widened in surprise as he witnessed my chakra construct before grinning widely as Samehada vibrated in his grasp. "Yeah… that thing is making Samehada hungry," he proclaimed eagerly as more of the wrappings fell away.

I smiled a bit at him as my eyes began to throb from the strain of [Susano'o]. "Perhaps," I commented gently. "If you can reach me, that is."

Kisame tilted his head a bit in confusion before the earth changed.

I dropped the earth from underneath him, creating a chasm for him to fall down.

The handle of Samehada extended as he embed it into the wall of the chasm and flipped himself out of it before they closed in on him with a teeth rattling crash.

I didn't let him recover or question how such a thing was possible as I shifted the earth under him into a set of spikes that rose up to meet him as I began forming a set of seals, splitting my attention between the seals and the powers of Amenonuhoko.

"[Fire Release: Heaven Quenching Flame]!" I announced as my chakra surged before the world around me erupted into flame. The jutsu used my chakra as a medium to start the fire, after that, it only used a minimum to control the fire, masters of this could set fire to a square mile of land.

I may not be able to claim masterty of this jutsu… but I can cheat.

Walls erupted around us, trapping the flames in the immediate area as I rose myself above them, channeling chakra to my lungs to filter the ash and smoke from the flames as my Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan eyes spun.

"[Fire Release: Heaven Quenching Flame]!" my voice echoed seven times as [Kamiyonanayo] activated several times, [Ame-no Ukihashi] concentrating the flames around Kisame-san who was looking rather slack jawed.

I was forced to close my eyes as the result flame was too bright to look at and the heat forced me to enclose myself in an orb of earth lest I burn myself.

Panting, I folded the earth walls on top of the flames, burying them to quench the flames. Once they were gone I dropped the earthen orb that was protecting me, sweat dripping from my body as the lingering heat evaporated the mist that had been gathering, up above storm clouds had formed from the sudden increase of hot air and water in the atmosphere, my eyes darting around as I searched for any sign of Kisame-san.

The only warning I had of his survival was the whistling of the wind seconds before Samehada slammed into my spine after tearing through my chakra construct, [Susano'o] being disrupted by Samehada's absorbing qualities and the sheer strength behind it made short work of the protective construct, the impact of Samehada against my spine popped one of my vertebrae out of alignment as the scales of the sword tore away at my flesh.

Yes, it was just as painful as it sounded, even more so actually since the force of the blow sent me spiralling to the ground from my elevated position. My return to ground level was a quick one, and the pain of having my one of my vertebrae forced out of alignment distracted me enough that I couldn't even try and use a jutsu to soften my incredibly hard landed on the altered landscape.

I bit my cheek to prevent me from screaming in pain as my landing broke my left arm, all the same I pushed myself using my right arm, to roll onto my side, my legs flopping uselessly as they were no longer getting a signal from my brain due to my broken spine.

"By the kami… you are one scary woman," Kisame-san said as he landed within my line of sight, his stumbling showing off just how much I had hurt him, Samehada looked like it was whimpering a bit in pain as several scorch marks covered the both of them, Kisame-san's uniform mostly burned away at this point. "The first one alone was enough to make me panic, but seven more!? Kami…" he took his eyes away from me to scan the destroyed wasteland that was now shifted earth, ash, smoke and utterly destroyed trees. "You wrecked this landscape."

Taking advantage of his distracted state I brought my right hand around to my back with healing chakra covering my hand and placed it where my displaced vertebrae was and began resetting it, gritting my teeth tightly as I tried to keep myself from screaming in pain.

"I mean… aren't you supposed to be a medic?" Kisame-san questioned, still looking like he was in shock. "Seriously, I thought you Konoha medics were rear liners."

"I'm not a support medic," I grunted out, forcing a grin onto my face as my spine snapped back into place with an audible popping sounds as feeling rushed back into my legs as I reconnected the nerve endings, it wasn't perfect, but it would be enough for now. "I'm a battle medic."

His eyes widened in surprise as I suddenly stood up in front of him, staggering a bit as I stood up. "Holy… fuck," he breathed out. "You are the first person I've ever seen stand back up after having their spine broken."

I let out a small laugh. "Always nice to be remarkable," I said in amusement as I gripped my kodachi. "I have to say, I didn't think it was even possible to survive eight S-ranked fire ninjutsu at once."

"Well now, that… that was only because of Samehada," Kisame-san admitted with a weak chuckle. "Quite honestly, I would have died to that without it."

"I guess we're both remarkable then," I commented with a smile, healing my broken arm.

"Heh, yeah, I suppose we are," Kisame-san remarked with a grin of his own as he got into another stance. "Ready to finish this little scuffle?"

I let out a small snort in response as my eyes darted around the clearing. "Some scuffle," I muttered as I saw the devastation I caused. "But yes, I do think it's time we wrapped this up."

There was no warning from either of us as we suddenly charged at one another, no cleaver plans, no overpowered ninjutsu, just simply trying to cut one another, our bodies too battered to be able to do much else. Even with Samehada, it seemed that Kisame-san had a limit to the regeneration he had, much like I was limited how much I could heal myself in the middle of pitched combat.

Still, I didn't make it easy for Samehada to absorb my chakra as I didn't manifest any of my [Chakra Scalpel] variants, trusting my kodachi to at least be able to deflect the weapon from me.

Kisame-san grunted in pain as my foot slammed into the side of his head as I used the momentum from a missed sword swing to spin my body into the air. His free hand wrapped around the ankle of the foot that hit him before using his monstrous strength to toss me aside before trying to drop Samehada onto my head.

I was able to get [Tsuki no Usagi] up in time and braced my free hand on the back of the kodachi to stop the descent of Samehada. But, while the scaled sword was halted momentarily, the sound of metal cracking filled my ears as my kodachi began to break.

The sadistic grin on Kisame-san's face told me he heard it as well as he began to press down against me, [Tsuki no Usagi] breaking further, second before the blade shattered, I managed to force Kisame-san off of me with a low blow.

Literally, I kicked him in the balls.

Don't look at me like that! I'm a goddamn shinobi, I'm supposed to do shit like that!

The action was enough to get Kisame-san off of me as his eagerness for my blood seemed to have dropped his guard enough for my foot to reach between his legs.

The pain of the action was enough of a distraction to throw him off of me, the rough jostling of pushing against Samehada being the final straw that shattered [Tsuki no Usagi]. Fragments of the metal littered the ground as I reluctantly tossed the handle of the now useless kodachi away as I got to my feet and made some distance between myself and Kisame-san.

"Ow," Kisame-san gasped as he recovered himself and glared at me angrily. "Dammit woman. I hate it when you Kunoichi do that!"

"Well what do you expect us to do when you're towering over us!" I shouted back as I panted for breath, trying to figure out a way out of this mess, taking Kisame-san on unarmed was not on my list of 'things I want to do'.

Fortunately it seemed like Kisame-san was just wary about engaging me as I was him as we circled the destroyed clearing, the sounds of combat inside of the stronghold were beginning to die down, the question was… who was winning?

Kisame-san seemed to be wondering the same thing sending a small frown towards the stronghold while his eyes darted around, trying to see if there was anybody approaching our battlezone.

And someone was. "Yuriko-san!" Han-san shouted as he landed next to me, expelling some steam from the vents on his armor. "You alright?"

I gave him a relieved grin as he appeared. "Now that you're here, definitely," I confirmed, a few chuckles escaping my lips as I turned to Kisame-san with a wry grin on my face. "How about you, Kisame-san, how are you now that Han-san is here."

Kisame-san grunted as he exchanged looks between the two of us with narrowed eyes. "Yeah… I know when I need to leave," he said with a resigned sigh. "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day and all that jazz, later!"

Before the two of us could even react Kisame-san released a surge of chakra that summoned up a wave of mist, blocking our sight of him as he no doubt beat a hasty retreat from the two of us.

The two of us remained silent for several moments as the mist began to recede quickly, no doubt from the lack of chakra that had fueled it initially. Once the mist was gone and we were certain Kisame-san had left I let out a shuddering sigh of relief before dropping to my knees, my body shaking in pain and exhaustion. "My god… if I have to fight him again… it'll be too soon!"

"What happened?" Han-san questioned in concern as he knelt down to help support me, looking over my bloody and beaten body carefully.

"The asshole broke my spine!" I shouted in response, getting a confused look from Han-san. "I got better…" I offered with a weak smile as he stared at me.

"In the middle of a fight? With the Monster of the Blood Mist?" he questioned with a small amount of disbelief. "I think that's one for the record books, resetting your own spine in pitched battle to fight against Kisame Hoshigaki."

I groaned a bit as I leaned against him. "Whatever, we've secured the stronghold right?" I asked, getting a nod from confirmation from him. "Good, get me inside because I didn't finish setting it properly and now my back hurts so much."

Han-san chuckled a bit in response. "Can't say I know the feeling too be honest, but I'll take your word for it," he assured as he picked me up and support me as I regained my feet under me. "Come on, let's get you into shelter, looks like rain."

I decided not to say anything about how that might be my fault.

It was strange, operating on myself, with an audience no less, working on finishing my spinal reset, while healing the damage my quite honestly stupid decision caused me, the only other medic ninja we had brought with us assisting me as best as he could with his own limited abilities, granted… that was mostly setting up a set of mirrors so that I could see my own back and ensuring that I didn't lose too much blood.

All the while Terumi-san and Ao-san were staring at me with shocked faces as they listened to my report on the battle - leaving out how I managed to alter the battlefield so heavily in such a short time.

Apparently surviving and driving off Kisame-san was quite a feat to them, although considering his reputation… I don't blame them for that thought. Speaking of…

QUEST UPDATE!

You have defeated Kisame Hoshigaki!

OBJECTIVE

Repel Kisame Hoshigaki and prevent him from attacking members of the Kirigakure Rebellion. - Completed!

Reward

+20,000 EXP, 25,000 Ryo, +5,000 Reputation with Kirigakure Rebels, +1,000 Reputation with Kisame Hoshigaki

BONUS OBJECTIVE

Kill Kisame Hoshigaki - Incomplete

Reward

+30,000 EXP, +1,250,000 Ryo, +5,000 Reputation with Kirigakure Rebels

Huh… well, shame I didn't end the threat he represented here and now, but there wasn't anything I could do about it now. "So, what are our losses like?" I questioned, looking up at Terumi-san with a raised eyebrow before turning back to the mirrors that showed my spine, yikes, better fix the crack on the displaced vertebrae.

Terumi-san stared at me for several moments as she watched me operate on myself. "Uh… not as bad as they could have been with Kisame present," she said finally, snapping out of her funk. "With you keeping Kisame off of our backs, we only lost a handful of people."

I nodded in response to the information, relief filling my mind as I finished repairing the damage to my spine. "Alright… Aru-san, can you double check my work?" I questioned the medic who blinked.

"Ah, yes, of course, Yuriko-sama!" he replied quickly, moving in to look over my spine, there was a reason I selected Aru-san to join the mission, he wasn't a yes man who instantly agreed with everything I said, and he asked questions almost constantly when I didn't need absolute concentration, trying to learn as much as he could from me.

As he was looking over my work I turned back to Terumi-san. "And the ports? How are they, can we use them to land our reinforcements?" I asked her earnestly.

"Yes, the ports will work for the landing operations, I've already sent a messenger to get some more of our troops from the main base to help secure the area for the landing tonight," Terumi-san assured me.

I nodded a bit as I sighed, feeling Aru-san's healing chakra enter me and make several minor corrections before closing the opening that I needed to operate. "All good, Yuriko-sama," he announced as he began closing me up. "And I just want to say, that was stupid of you to not only reset your spine in such a manner, but to operate on yourself."

I winced a bit at his harsh words, but didn't refute them. "Unfortunately considering who I was fighting, I didn't really have a choice," I replied, reasoning out my choice. "And no offense to your growing skills, Aru-san, but you are not ready for a full spinal operation."

The man sighed in response as he shook his head in exasperation. "Are all Konoha ninja insane?" he questioned to no one in particular.

"Yes."

"Possibly."

I looked over to Han-san who rose an eyebrow at me. "Try and refute me," he told me in defense of his definitive answer.

I grumbled in response, looking away as he smirked under his mask in victory. "So, Yuriko-sama, you are not to move from this bed until tomorrow evening," Aru-san announced in a firm voice, making me look over my shoulder at him with a raised eyebrow and a hard look. "I don't care if you think you're the Sage of Six Paths himself and you regenerated, you are not leaving this bed for 24 hours. Han-san, can you make sure that happens?"

The jinchuriki nodded in agreement as he gave me a firm look that I knew he copied from me when Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun got into something particularly stupid. "Fine," I grumped as I pouted at Han-san. "You can't stop me from reading my scrolls though!"

Han-san chuckled in amusement as he patted my head like I was a child. "Enjoy them," he told me teasingly, getting a twitch of my eye.

"Dick," I grumbled as I did just that and pulled a scroll Tsunade had written about several possible Iryojutsu ideas and started reading, allowing my body to relax as I trained my mind, next to me Han-san settled down and probably started speaking with Kokuo-san if I was reading the subtle twitches from his body right.

Just another day in the life of being a shinobi.

From the limited reports I got while I was on bed arrest, the landing operation of the reinforcements sent from Iwa and Konoha had went off mostly well, the only hiccup being a squad of Loyalist Kiri ANBU that attacked the vessels while out at sea, causing us to lose a handful of shinobi, before they were successfully repelled.

Once that was done, though, the rest of the landing went off without a hitch and allowed the fresh troops onto the island nation and set up defenses for our new stronghold. I was able to grab a replacement for [Tsuki no Usagi] from the supplies that were brought in with the reinforcements, but it was just an ordinary kodachi. No way could it stand up to Samehada or any of the other Seven Blades of the Mist for more than one strike.

Note to self: get better sword.

I spent a moment fantasizing about somehow finding Excalibur in this world before dismissing the thought, while it would be cool, it would be impossible to happen… unless Zelretch decided to fuck with me… and that was something I didn't want.

"Yuriko-sama!" a voice shouted, drawing my attention over to them, turning I spotted Aru-san running over to me. "Terumi-san needs you at the command tent as soon as possible!"

I blinked at the hurriedness of his tone. "Very well, I shall make my way over there," I assured him with a smile. "Take a breath and calm down, Aru-san, it won't do to send yourself into a panic."

Aru-san followed my order and took in a calming breath before calming the tension in his body. "A medic cannot be in a panic in the middle of the main camp," I instructed him as I began walking towards the main camp. "If people see the medics running around like a bunch of headless chickens, then we have failed in reassuring them that we will take care of them."

"Right… of course," Aru-san breathed out, nodding in understanding as he straightened his posture and matched my stride, it was rather amusing, having a man at least five years my senior mimicking and learning from me.

"How are the injured doing?" I questioned as we walked towards the command tent.

"Mostly healed at this point," Aru-san reported calmly. "There are a few lingering ones, but nothing that requires your attention."

"Very well then," I replied, smirking a bit at his strange sense of pride.

The new command tent was much like the old one, actually… I think it might be the same one, huh, but I was greeted with a much larger command staff with two more from both Konoha and Iwagakure, and I actually recognized the two from Konoha.

"YOUTHFUL GREETINGS TO YOU, YURIKO-SAN!"

Kinda hard not to recognize one of them at any rate.

"Hello to you, Gai-san, might I ask you to tone your voice down while we are in such close quarters?" I requested the very vocal jonin who blinked before chuckling a bit in embarrassment.

"Of course, my apologies, in my excitement I seemed to have forgotten where we are," the taijutsu master replied in a more normal tone of voice.

"So that's how you do it… huh," Hatake-san commented in surprise, looking up from his book in surprise.

"Hello to you as well, Hatake-san," I greeted the silver haired jonin who nodded to me in response, I was rather surprised that two high level jonin were participating in the Kirigakure campaign. "How have you been lately."

Hatake-san shrugged a bit as an answer as he turned back to his book.

A small cough from Terumi-san brought our attention away from each other and to where she stood before the war map. "IF everyone would mind stepping forward please?" Terumi-san requested politely. "I would like to begin discussing our next offensive."

We all exchanged solemn looks before approaching the map and waiting for her to begin her briefing.

"First, let me once again thank our allies from Iwagakure and Konohagakure for assisting us in our fight," the red-headed rebel announced, looking at the six of us: myself, Gai-san, Hatake-san, Han-san and two others I didn't recognize from Iwa. "Now… onto our plan, I wish to start making inroads to Kirigakure and force Yagura to come out and face us personally."

There was silence in the tent for several moments before a blond haired man from Iwa spoke up. "You want to start so soon?" he questioned for confirmation, sounding surprised. "We had only just arrived here in Kiri…"

Terumi-san nodded in understanding. "I know, but this is a chance we may never get again," she announced with a firm voice. "The more we delay, the more forces we lose, and if we can pick the battleground, we could negate one of Yagura's greatest strengths, the Sanbi."

I could see where she was going with this. Isobu granted his Jinchuuriki exceptional control over Water Release, and that advantage was compounded if the battlefield was as full of water as most of Mizu no Kuni was. If the Rebels were able to draw Yagura into an area that didn't give him that home-field advantage, it would still be a hard fight, but it would be far easier than what would otherwise be possible.

At times, I really wish that Hashirama-sama had not chosen Bijuu that completely suited the counties to which they were to be sold to.

Han-san's eyes looked distant and the slight twitches he was making showed that Kokuo-san was talking to him. Hopefully to give him advice on how to fight a turtle the size of an island.

The rest of the session mostly consisted of finalizing our plans for the various attacks, team compositions, combat roles, basic outlines of plans. I was assigned to capture a base alongside Han-san and a mixed group of Jonin and chunin of all three groups present.

It was strange for me, being given command of a combat operation like this, I had been a jonin for years now, but for the most part I was either the youngest jonin in the squad or operating solo. This time people were deferring to me, and not from a medical standpoint like Aru-san.

But I had been leading my clan until this point, I was ready for this. "Let's go get the squad then," I said with a small sigh to Han-san who nodded in assent, falling into step beside me.

We had a job to do after all.

END CHAPTER!

Yuriko's Stats

Name: Yuriko

Level: 75

EXP: 27,547/37,500

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Title: Uchiha Clan head (+50% to all reputation gains, command of the Uchiha Clan)

Secondary Title: Equal to the Clan Killer (+50% to all stats, +200 HP & CP per level, Reputation with Konohagakure and Uchiha Clan is set to [Exalted])

STATS - Current - Former

HP - 9,125 -

CP - 37,900 -

STR - 95 (166) -

INT - 140 (210) -

DEX - 160 (280) -

VIT - 90 (135) -

WIS -135 (202) -

LUK - 41 (61) -

Ryo - 36,615,254 -