Moving Forward

""Mizukage-sama!"" Mangetsu and Zabuza hollered out at me as Unaimaru slinked through the water at an easy pace. The destruction of the last five warships was quick and easy, almost too easy as according to Unaimaru I'd condemned only two-hundred and eighty-six lungs to the sea.

I smiled and waved at my apprentice and subordinate, swallowing the bitter bile that rose up my gullet at the thought of just how many more lives I'd taken indirectly. There hadn't been this much death at my command since the Kaguya incident and with the Daimyo's war I was far from the front, behind my desk, nose stuck in Fuuinjutsu textbooks and mind delved in seeking the connection to Yin and Yang Chakra Isobu promised.

Up until now I'd been spared the sight of corpses piled at my orders and though I shuddered at the thought, I found I didn't regret any one bit of it. I'd order Kirigakure to war and Zabuza to slaughter the entire crew of a warship all over again if I were in a loop.

"These are yours?" Unaimaru hissed out the question with an unmistakable hunger staining his voice as he sauntered a beat faster towards them.

"Yes, they are mine to protect and by extension yours." The edge in my voice had Unaimaru snap his salivating jowls shut albeit with some disdain. After feasting on the many drowned he'd restrained his passive aggression but I knew he'd be hungry and near defiant again.

While I was new to being a summoner, Unaimaru was just the same. The large summon contract scroll that Mangetsu carried didn't have many names on the list before I scribbled mine in. And though there weren't any date stamps, I could do simple arithmetic to know Unaimaru likely wasn't alive by the time the last Sea Serpent summoner perished.

He's got as many mistakes to make as I do. I hopped off his neck, landing with only a small ripple as Mangetsu and Zabuza made their way to me. Their eyes were saucers and caution radiated off their bodies as they approached.

"This is Unaimaru, he doesn't eat Kirigakure shinobi." Unaimaru circled around me, the tufts of his wet mane tickled my nose as he slithered through the water, most of his length still under.

"For now."

Both boys visibly shuddered at Unaimaru's words. I rolled my eyes and patted him, "As if I'd ever let you. You can go now. I'll summon you again when I've got the rest of my offering."

He grumbled, his slit iris glanced greedily at the fires rolling off of Umehebi— the Daimyo's Samurai had made landfall without a single casualty and were tearing through the brittle resistance left on the island. Baron Tetsuya had play far too many of his cards on defending the island at sea and now, with the Daimyo's Samurai cutting down his men and the Swordsmen going after Baron Watanabe at Tsurugashima, the war was all but over.

I could allow Unaimaru attend the last battle but I specifically wanted as few as possible shinobi involved in it for the sake of the Daimyo's pride. My presence here with a summon was already stretching how involved I wanted to be.

"Don't take long." Was all the sea serpent said before vanishing in a poof of quickly dispersed smoke.

With Unaimaru gone the boys took a braver step forward and I smiled pleasantly at them, "Sorry, I couldn't reappear where I asked you to wait, but you found me anyway, good."

Both moved to speak but Mangetsu got out the words first even as Zabuza produced a scroll from his pouch, "ANBU Kiba came looking for you, Master. He looked injured, said to let you know the target had been captured with some resistance but no casualties."

Zabuza handed me the scroll and added, "He wrote up some other details in there." He looked sheepish as I unfurled it and quickly added, "I didn't read it."

I paused, raised a brow at that and glanced at Mangetsu who gave a short, barely imperceptible nod confirming that the Demon of the Mist didn't let his curiosity get the better of him.

But it wasn't like it mattered if he did or not, ANBU emergency communique to the Mizukage were written in an entirely different cypher than any other communication. Only the ANBU and I knew how to decrypt the cypher and again, it was for emergency communiques like this one.

I read the message Raiga left for me and bit the inside of my cheek. So Kumogakure is still running around…

The target they'd captured was none other than Baron Tetsuya himself, the man whose island was overrun by the Daimyo's Samurai. They would strike down every last one of the traitors loyal to Tetsuya but wouldn't find Tetsuya himself. This was merely the reaping of the measures I'd put in place long before I'd even deployed shinobi to liberate the islands under siege.

The ANBU had been working behind the scenes, keeping an eye on each and every primary target since I recognized Kirigakure's involvement in the war would be needed. I wanted Baron Tetsuya and Watanabe kidnapped or assassinated earlier in the war but as it turned out, they were smart enough to keep their heads ducked and hidden, at least until the war came to their doorstep.

Raiga's message notified me that Tetsuya had a squad of Kumo shinobi protecting him, they'd killed three and captured one alive, a Jounin for that matter. I wonder if they ever saw it coming. Likely not, Raiga's Fang Squad was efficient at their jobs and the results spoke for themselves.

I was happy for that at least. Between the shinobi Junko Hoshigaki captured at Koorijima and this one Jounin, there was more than enough for me to send Kumo a message they shouldn't forget anytime soon. I clenched the scroll in my fist, eyes glazed over as I thought to the shinobi they sent to Midoriwara to steal Land of Water bloodline clans, fury rising at the thought.

Kumogakure had always lusted for power of bloodlines, even before Jason's premonitions became a part of me I knew this. To experience it in my reign though was another matter.

I let out a heavy sigh, letting the rage boiling in me dissipate as the sea winds blew past. I wanted to turn a blind eye to what Kumogakure had done so I could save diplomatic face but now that Baron Tetsuya was in ANBU custody and the war at an end, I wondered if I had enough leverage to silence all that could decry my mistakes and oversight.

"Thank you, Zabuza, Mangetsu. Let's head back now." We were in open sea, Umehebi smoking behind me. I had a lot on my plate and not a lot of time until I was asked to stop devouring. Senjutsu, Obito, Tea Country, Kumogakure.

I'd sort the order I addressed the most pressing matters later but for now, now I just wanted to see this whole civil war at an end.