Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Kaen sat before the boy who acted as the leader of Takigakure. He was only a couple of years younger than Kaen, but he still looked like a teenager. The others in the room were tense as they looked between Kaen and Shibuki. Even Fuu, the rascal and reckless girl, stayed silent. It was no surprise, though, as it wasn't any day a Hokage would visit their village and bring news of war.

"As we sit here, the Iwa and Kuma are surrounding your village and preparing to launch an attack," Kaen said. "You won't receive any help. They won't show you or your village any mercy. I am your only chance of survival. There is nothing to think about."

"You want to take a member of my village away," Shibuki replied. "I will be damn if I don't think about it for more than ten seconds you gave me. I will not jeopardize the lives of my people and certainly won't sacrifice anyone for the survival of others. My first duty is to protect this village. And Fuu is part of it."

"Does everyone agree with that statement?" Kaen asked as the others in the room were more than eager to throw Fuu out for their benefit. "My conditions are more than fair and reasonable. You know that you have no choice but to accept them. The longer you think about them, the more you will doubt yourself. Fuu will be treated like any other shinobi in my village. She will receive the best training she could hope for."

It was impressive that Shibuki could hold his eye contact with Kaen's cold black eyes. Shibuki's eyes are worlds apart from Kaen's. Even though they were dark as ink, they held immersive warmth in them. And that is why Kaen was impressed. That warmth didn't disappear and only got stronger the longer Kaen looked at him. Any other shinobi would have already buckled upon Kaen's gaze.

"It's alright, Shibuki," Fuu said from the sideline. "I am fine. I will be fine. This village is too weak to hold on to itself, and Konoha will be a safer place for me than anywhere else."

"Shibuki-sama!" Before the leader of Takigakure could say anything, a shinobi barged into the room. "They started advancing. The village will be surrounded in a couple of hours."

"Tick. Tock. Shibuki."

Kaen drummed his fingers on the table, but even that didn't elicit much reaction from him. Shibuki still maintained his calm demeanor and didn't rush to make a decision. But he knew, as well as Kaen did, that he had no other choice. So, with one last defiant sigh, he looked at Kaen. He tried to find something within Kaen's eyes but only found ruthless coldness.

"If I find out that Fuu is treated poorly in your village, I will come after you."

It was an empty threat. Shibuki knew he wouldn't be able to do anything, but he still meant his words. Kaen could see that Shibuki was serious. Even if he couldn't do anything, he would still try. Kaen found this endearing. If Shibuki were a bit more powerful shinobi, he might be a threat to him. But Kaen was satisfied to have him as an ally, even if he was on the weaker side.

…

Darui, as a Jonin of Kumo and commander of this attack, was concerned about what he found. He couldn't tell who or what did this to these unfortunate Iwa shinobi. It was a physical attack; at least, that's what Darui gathered. But what kind of an attack would blow such gigantic holes in people? And Iwa shinobi were famed for their tough bodies.

Was Takigakure hiding such an impressive shinobi in their ranks? Maybe it was their leader, Shibuki. There wasn't much information about him, only that he was timid but respected by his village. It wouldn't be the first time a small village like Takigakure made a monster of one of their shinobi. Kakuzu is still considered one of the most experienced shinobi right now, and he also came from Takigakure.

"What do you think, C?" Darui asked his partner and fellow Jonin.

"They were ambushed and didn't even have a chance to fight back," C replied. "Maybe it was the work of that Jinchuriki? It was said that she was running this way."

"She wasn't reported to be that dangerous," Darui didn't like it at all. "How troublesome."

Information was most valuable in times of war, and not having it irked him in all the wrong ways. The Fourth Raikage had put him in this position to lead hundreds of Kumo shinobi and Iwa's shinobi. Failure would not be tolerated. After hearing that their plan to kill the Fifth Hokage and capture the Konoha clan heirs had failed, Darui was put under a lot of pressure to succeed.

"How are the preparations going?" Darui asked.

"All the paths to and out of the village are blocked," C answered. "In a couple of hours, we will be at Takigakure's doorstep. They either surrender or will be disposed of according to the orders."

If only it were that simple. Darui was young but not a fool. Even a small village such as Takigakure had their pride. They won't stand down so easily. Still, Darui had twice as many forces and more powerful shinobi than Takigakure. Even if they were hiding a monster with them, it wouldn't hinder their attack too much, even if it was Kakuzu.

"Let's get this over with," Darui said. "Try to hasten the preparations. I'd rather have an answer from them sooner than later and prepare for an attack."

The sooner they are done with their village, the sooner they can move on with the war. Darui didn't like it much, but Fourth Raikage was right. The village has grown too big and strong. Even Darui was struggling to get a mission to sustain his lifestyle. There simply were too few people offering missions and too many shinobi in the village.

In times of peace, shinobi were useless for their country. And that is how Kumogakure has been feeling lately. Even with all its strength and power, it was useless and worthless. If that kind of mindset persisted, it would only be a question of time until the village dissolved. It was already extremely hard to keep all the shinobi inside the village and prevent them from abandoning it and looking for a better life elsewhere.

…

If nothing else, Takigakure was a beautiful village. Seeing the waterfall off the giant tree's branches and the lake below was quite a sight. In a way, Darui felt bad for what he was about to do. But since the leader refused to come out and surrender, he had no other choice. The village was completely surrounded, and with his order, they would attack it from every direction.

"I don't want anything funny," Darui said as he turned to the second command, the old man Rashii. He was the most experienced and oldest member of the Kumo forces. He even fought in warring states during the period before the villages were established. Serving all Raikage from the first to now fourth, he was a reliable shinobi, and Darui was relieved to have him by his side. "I want to know if any side struggles or are pushed back. I want to be updated constantly."

"The communications between every captain has been est-" Rashii didn't finish speaking as his head exploded into blood and flesh before Darui's eyes.

"Get down!" C yelled out as he pushed shocked Darui to the ground. A moment later, C's arm was blown off.

Darui saw it. As time itself had stopped, he saw an arrow hitting the arm C pushed him away with. The moment it touched the arm, it exploded, and the impact completely blew C's arm. An arrow. There was only one shinobi he knew who used a bow and arrows as his weapon. Darui couldn't accept that the Fifth Hokage was here.

"C!" Darui took the now injured partner out of sight as he watched for another arrow, but it didn't come. "We need to retreat and inform Raikage of this. The operation is compromised."

"Above," C groaned in pain as a shadow fell upon them and everyone in the area.

"No, it can't be. Run! Everyone run!"

The sun was completely blocked out by countless arrows raining down—so many that they filled the sky. Darui knew a second later that there was no running from them. All Darui could do was draw his sword, deflect the arrows falling on them, and protect C. The arrows hit fast and hard, but since they were falling from the sky, Darui was able to deflect them by the time the rain was over.

The attack was devastating. Many managed to protect themselves, but many more were injured or killed. And it was just the beginning as Takigakure's shinobi rushed out of their village and started attacking them before they could regroup. With the second in command dead and C injured, only Darui was left to lead the shinobi.

"Retreat!" There was no way to take back control of the battle right now; the most sensible thing he could do was to take as many injured as they could and get out of there.

This time Darui heard the whistling of the arrow and managed to deflect the arrow aimed at his head. The force from that arrow was enormous, and he felt his hand go numb from deflecting it with his sword. Darui knew he stood no chance against someone who fought Raikage and Tshuchikage and managed to escape. He was a monster on a different level.

…

"I misjudged them," Kaen mumbled as he observed the fight below him.

He was sure that the old man was the commander, so he killed him first. But he might have been wrong about that, as the young man he wanted to kill next took quick control of the situation and ordered a retreat. He expected that to cause more panic in them, and only when Takigakure forces launched a full attack on them would they realize their only choice was to retreat.

Dismissing his shadow clones, which he spread in every direction to observe the Iwa and Kumo forces, Kaen quickly got the full picture of what was happening on every side. Takigakure shinobi might be a bit weaker than shinobi from a big village. Still, using the disorganization and surprise to their advantage, they were able to overwhelm Kumo and Iwa shinobi.

Climbing down, Kaen walked to the battlefield outside the village. A third of Kumo and Iwa forces were dead or severely injured. Kaen hoped to get at least half of them, but he guessed he should be satisfied with what he got. And that was too bad as he put a lot of chakra into creating that many shadow clones and shooting that many arrows into the sky before multiplying them by using cloning jutsu.

It wouldn't have worked as well if he didn't have the giant tree to watch the area and be unseen while hiding between the branches. If only he had more arrows and explosive tags prepared, he would have done more damage. And now they also knew that Kaen was here. That fool will report to their superiors quickly, and Raikage with Tsuchikage will use Kaen's absence from Konoha to attack it.

They had probably already begun invading the Land of Fire. Hopefully, the shinobi outside the village managed to escape and return home before it was too late. But Kaen couldn't imagine most of them being able to do that. As much as Kaen fucked them over, they still had the advantage of a surprise and, by now, done as much, if not more, damage to Konoha forces as Kaen did to them.

But all that was just a distraction. The surest way for Kumo and Iwa to win was to isolate Konoha and destroy Suna and Kiri first. If Konoha were left alone to fight, it wouldn't have much chance of winning against Kumo and Iwa at the same time. Still, Kaen had already foiled a few of their plans by now, and yet it was just the beginning.

Kaen knew he couldn't fight a war of attrition either. As much as he disliked it, he had to accept that Iwa and Kumo had more shinobi than Konoha, Suna, and Kiri combined. The peace times weren't kind to them, and Kumo and Iwa used it to get even stronger. And they already have combined their forces. Kaen was behind the game.

"I have sent all of my shinobi to hunt them," Shibuki said as he approached Kaen. "Will you join them?"

"You sent everyone?" Kaen asked, surprised at such reckless action.

"It was no point in keeping even half of them if the enemy forces managed to regroup," Shibuki replied. "It is safer to use everything we got to disperse and drive them away from my country. But I gave strict orders not to chase them away any further than the borders."

"I will join them then," Kaen liked Shibuki a bit more now. "I will try to kill as many of their higher-rank shinobi as possible by tonight. But I will take Fuu and will leave for Konoha as soon as the sun sets."

"Then I will prepare our defenses and wait for reinforcements from Konoha," Shibuki said.

With Hiruzen and Tsunade in Konoha, Kaen wasn't too worried about them. Hiruzen still could hold the Raikage and Tsuchikage on his own. But the enemy forces would still overwhelm Konoha. Kaen needed to return and call Rasa and Mei for a meeting. They only stood a chance to win if they could unite and fight together.