Ch164. The battle for the Land of Snow 3

The main defensive force assigned to the protection of the capital of the Land of Snow was the Uzumaki clan. The second the Yukikage walked into the Daimyo's palace, ten members of the Uzumaki special division, the Sealing Monks, activated massive seals on ten various spots around the capital city, enveloping it in a massive complex sealing barrier called Homeland Protection of the Ten, which would prevent anyone living in the city for more than five years from getting hurt for the next ten hours.

As for why five years... it was a necessity. The ninjas of the Yukigakure are expected to live in the village. It is a rule there, meaning this way no ninja of the Yukigakure would be affected and protected by the barrier. Even the infiltrators spend at most a year away from the village.

And while this meant that not all of the citizens of the capital would be protected, the bigger chunk of them had their safety guaranteed even if an explosion tag went off on their position so the Uzushio forces could fight freely without worrying much about the original inhabitants.

The members of the Sealing Monks were all Grandmasters in the Sealing Arts. That was one of the entry requirements. They were also all Uzumaki clan members so that meant they had to be Grandmasters by the Uzumaki standards. In recent years many of the Uzumaki reached this stage thanks to personal tutoring from Rei's clones, which only earned him even more respect among the Uzumaki clan.

Honestly, Rei thought it would be a damn shame if he disregarded this aspect of the Uzumaki clan. They simply could not stop themselves from studying sealing. Even someone who never ever saw a seal was drawn to it and naturally curious about its working. Even if an Uzumaki was lazy, dumb, or hyperactive, they would still dutifully study sealing for hours on end. Rei just used this trait of their clan to make sure his future village had an ample number of Sealing Grandmasters and many more who strived to reach that stage. For now, there were only thirty-four of them but even that number was ridiculous considering other villages would be happy to have even one in their employ.

As for the cringe-worthy name of the division... Mei thought it would fit but her suggestion was quickly rejected by almost all Uzumaki. In the end, Mei sullenly rejected any other name, making the name-choosing process to be delayed. At this time, Mei persuaded most of the Uzumaki kids that were around ten that the name Sealing Monks was incredible.

It wasn't even that hard. Some sweets and a few books on elementary sealing and voila, the kids were bothering their parents to no end, trying to push for the name Sealing Monks. The frustrated parents tried to push for the name also if only to stop their children from constantly annoying them which created pressure on the leaders of the Uzumaki clan, and in the end, Kaya Uzumaki, the newest leader of the Uzumaki clan, was forced to name the division the Sealing Monks, giving the smug Mei a glare with a sour expression.

...

Pakura, who was crouching on a rooftop of a building next to Ringo, raised her eyes towards the shimmering sky with a bit of an excited grin, ignoring the numerous explosions going off in the close vicinity.

"Okay, guys! The Yukigakure started their attack, our Sealing Monks have done their part in making sure not one of them can get away or injure anyone of importance, and the Stealth Corps cut off enemy communication! It's time for us to join the fray!" Pakura ordered, making the air turn serious around her entire force of a hundred jonin-ranked ninjas who started running towards their first target.

This was the Strike Force composed of a hundred jonins formerly from Kiri that fought under Rei's command on the Nagori Isles. The ones that were sent there to be sacrificed. When the war ended, not even a hundred and fifty were left of the original two hundred.

So when the time came and Rei found himself in need of some high-level ninjas, he quickly remembered those outcasts that didn't quite fit in the political climate of Kirigakure. Needless to say, it didn't take much enticement for more than one hundred and thirty of those still alive to join him. All it took was to promise them to take in their families as well and Kirigakure gained over a hundred new rogue ninjas overnight.

And what shitstorm that was!

Pakura was a bit nervous. She was supposed to be the future jonin commander and that was why she was leading this mission while Ringo was here only to make sure not one of her ninjas lost their life during the mission. Something every single member of the Strike Force was grateful for.

Normally, having to face over a thousand Yuki ninjas, who were around chunin rank with some jonins mixed in, with a force of only a hundred jonin would be called a suicide but with communications disabled, and the Yuki ninjas currently split up into multiple groups of twenty all over the capital city... Pakura's job was to simply go from group to group, annihilating them in an orderly manner while they could not relay any messages. This was not a 'thousand-plus versus a hundred' kind of battle. This was over fifty times a hundred versus twenty.

Shortly, the Strike force reached its first target, twenty Yuki ninjas clad in the cheaper, older type of chakra armor. Before the distressed Yuki ninjas even spotted something was wrong, a hail of kunai descended on their position, making five of them into a pincushion while the other fifteen were skilled enough to mostly dodge the initial shot.

"Who are you!?" One of them shouted but received only silence in return as the hundred jonin of the Strike Force jumped towards them. The battle itself was a quick affair. Yuki ninjas were chunin-level and vastly outnumbered by the excited Strike Force.

Simply, it was a slaughter for the Yuki ninjas. The ninjas of the Strike Force were war veterans used to fight together, used to face much stronger people, and used to use tactics to overcome greater odds. In comparison, this was not hard. The more the Strike Force fought, the more its members realized...

'There is no excitement in this! This was supposed to be my first mission in almost a year but... why is it so boring!?' They internally screamed as they ganged up on the poor Yuki ninjas who wanted to do nothing more than to scream at these cheaters.

"Okay. Let's move on." Pakura said as she finished off the last of the group while wryly sighing. She was a bit peeved she could not use her scorch release and show her real might but her kunai would have to do for now. Really, this was supposed to be the very first mission for these ninjas and Pakura was sure all of them wanted to show off. They just had no idea Konan's plan would make it so easy but tedious for them. "We still have a few tens of these groups left until the work is done!"

The entire group could think only one thing.

'Why the hell did I volunteer for this? Oh, yes, I wanted a bit of excitement, dammit!'

...

At the end of the day, what was supposed to be a civil war, ended in overwhelming favor of the Daimyo of the Land of Snow and Rei. Only a very few of the Yukigakure ninjas survived, and even then, they were all captured.

Now... It was time to march into the Yukigakure itself.