Arc III Chapter 6
<strong><b>III</b></strong>
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<strong><b>Arc III Chapter 6
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A squad of masked ANBU marchedthrough thefield camp.The group was led by a single girl, by a girl din her notorious ck kimono, by a girl freshly promoted to the rank of Captain on merit of her past aplishments. Her performance and dedication to the cause had impressed the elders despite her age.
Wounded ninja filled the camp. They were missing hands, arms, feet. The stench of blood and decay lingered in the air. Corpses littered the ground. Death imed its toll, and the toll was high among the ninja of Konoha.
Crowds of ninja parted, allowing her squad and her to pass. Common sense told them to not block their waybecause they were busy people, busy people with a mission. A handful of ninja even recognised the girl and her infamous kimono. It was thegrim reaper herself, the ck Princessof Konoha, akunoichiof rising acim and fame. Few doubted that the girl would one day enterthe pantheon of legendary Konohaninja,only tomentioned in the same breathtogether with the legendary Sannin, the White Fang, the Yellow sh, Hatake Kakashi. But not yet. The day hadn''te yet.
Asami strolled through the camp, searching for themand post amidst a sea of green tents and the decimated remnants of an entire battalion, 800 ninja. She wished to speak with themanding officer and the rest of his ipetent staff. Because Naritomo and his friends owed her an exnation. She and Konoha demanded answers, and she would get her answers, one way or another.
His battalion took quite a beating. They somehow managedto losethreeentirepanies in a matter of weeks. The casualty rates were appalling.His attempts to retake Shimabara failed spectacrly. Hisassaults proved disastrous and casualties rose.
The entire operation was nothing short of acatastrophe, a veritable meat grinder. Losses piledup, but the fighting still dragged on with no end in sight. Konoha sacrificedthree fullpanies. Nevertheless, they failedto capture Shimabara. The rebels were still holdingthe city. Their resistance proved stubborn.
The majority of lossesconsisted of useless genincannon fodder. They died like flies. Fortunately, geninwerecheapand easy to train,their numbers plenty, which was the main reason why the vige council didn’t intervene sooner despite Naritomo''s disastrous performance. Ultimately, geninwere expendable. Experienced jonin andchunin, however,weren''t.
Konoha besieged Shimbara for a month already, with meagre results, unable to gain even a foothold inside the city.As a result, the Fire Daimyo grewconcerned, unsettled by Konoha''s inability to suppress a simple peasant revolt. The region suffered from a poor harvest and the burden of heavy taxation.And yet the nobility refused to lower taxes despite poor crop yield. The impoverished peasants were thus left with no other choice than to revolt.
The Fire Daimyo and his court feared that the rebellion might spread further across the Land of Fire. His councillors demanded a show of force to quell any existing discontent in the region. The court even contemted requesting the assistance of another morepetent hidden vige, considering Konoha''scklustre performance. That was thest straw. Things needed to change, and they needed to change drastically.
That was why the vige council dispatched her, a kunoichi renowned for her methods even among the ANBU. She was not merely sent to suppress, but to eradicateShimabara and set an example for all other cities.She would do as ordered.They deployed herto finally break the stalemate and crush the rebellion no matter the cost, no matter the price. The ordersof the vige council were clear, Shimabara had to be taken.
Asami reachedargetent guarded by twochunin, agirl and a boy. They were young, barely seventeen. They gulped, intimidated by her approaching figure.
Her steps led her past the guard, inside the tent. Curious staresgreeted her. Naritomo and his staffwere leaningover atactical map of Shimabara, discussing their next assault, but her arrival alerted them. Theyeyed herwith suspicion.
Asami narrowed her eyes. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am searching fora certain Colonel Naritomo. I receivedorderstoofficially relieve him of hismand.I am nowin charge here.”
Her words didn’t earn her any friends, but Asami didn’tcare. Shewasn''t here to make friends.She had her orders, retakeShimabara.
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A chunin frowned, ring. “And who the fuck are you? Who do you think you are to stroll in here and give us ordersjust like that?”
Asami tilted her head, amused.“Who I am? Youaskwho I am?”Her repetrified the poor boy.
“Lynx,do me a favour.Enlightenthe poor boy.” Asami turned to Fu, her subordinate.
Fu answered her rhetorical question. “ANBU, codename Red Panda, ninja registration number 011567, full name ...”
“Stop ... Stop ... That''senough, Lynx.Thank you.” Asamidismissed Fubeforehe was able to spinydelicate information.His reply was dry as usual, but she was at fault her. She shouldn''t have expectedotherwise from a former indoctrinated Root member. They possessed no sense of humour. They werealways far too serious.
Asami sighed. “Anyway, let’s get down to business. As you might know, Konoha dispatched me to clean up your mess.”Her handsproduceda scroll from her pouch. The scroll borethe seal of the Hokage.“Thevige council itself grantedme the authority to takemand of this operation and all forces involved.”
Asami took a chair and put her legsonto the table.“So first things first, I demand an exnationas tohow a full battalion of trained ninja fail tocontain a simplerebellionto the point that Konoha considers court martial all of you? I amgenuinelycurious.”
Her gaze swept across the room. Her eyes set on a man in histe twenties, a jonin. He reciprocated her stare with fierce determination. He didn''t flinch. He was the man he was searching for. He was Colonel Naritomo, a member of the Sarutobi n. He might be young, naive, still green behind the ears, but the man had steel. He didn''t look like the most ipetentmander to have ever served.
She had seen worse. Shehad expectedto meet the usualbootlicker who gainedhis position merelythrough nepotism and favouritism like so many other n sycophants, but Naritomo wasn''t such a case.So why did Konoha sufferso many inexplicable defeats? Things didn’t add up.Morale was high. Theleadership didn''t appear to beentirely inept. Thetroopquality was adequate.The majority of his forces consisted of freshlyconscripted genin, but a battalion was still a force to be reckoned with,sufficientto deal with a few unruly rebels.
Naritomo grittedhis teeth.“Because this isn’t a simple rebellion. The situation is far moreplicated.”
Asami raised aneyebrow, slowly gettingcloser to the truth. “I am listening,Naritomo. Tell me, what''s the problem?”
“The problem is wedon''t fight a headless mob. Wefight a wellorganised rebellion.”
Asami pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated.“Soyou aretellingme we got our arses handed by a bunch of rice farmers?”
Naritomo scratched his head.“Well, not directly.The rebels bolster their forces witha significant number ofrogue ninjaand mercenaries. Furthermore, theyaresupported logistically, financially, and militarily by another vige.”
“Another vige?”Asami grewinterested.His words elicited her attention. “Tell me more, Naritomo.”
He did so. “The rebels are in a possession of considerable supplyof explosives and weapons, of quantities that are only usually avableto hidden viges. We suspect they are supplied and supported by another vige. The rebelsturned Shimabara into a veritable fortress. They fight for every street, every house, every corner.Not to emntion, we detected enemy ANBU operatingin the area.They harassus at every opportunity. Their allegiance iscurrently unknown, but we suspect them tobe Kumo-nin.”
Asamilistened, processing his information.“Kumo-nin,you say? How do you know? And why didn’t you mention so earlierin yourfield reports. Konoha should be informed thatweare fightinghere a proxy war against Kumogakure.”
Narimoto scowled. “We had no idea. We only found out recently. A few squads disappeared here and there, but we didn''t think much. Casualties are to beexpected. We didn’t have any clue until yesterday.Hidetsugu''s squad made contactwith them.He recognised their kenjutsuand identified them as Kumo ANBU.”
“Their kenjutsu?”Asami sounded surprised.
Naritomo nodded. “Hidetsugu was stationedat the northern borderduring the war. He fought Kumo-nin before. He said theyused a Kumogakure sword style, a sword style typical oftheir ANBU.”
Asami rose from her chair, her hand gliding over the map of Shimabara. “It seems that I owe you and your men an apology. You are neither ipetent, nor inept. I can''t fault you. Minor mistakes were made, but such is natural.”
Asami set her eyes on Shimabara, a n forming in her mind.“Naritomo, didn’t you saythattherebels hadturned Shimabara into a fortress?”
Naritomo stood straight. “I did. The rebels hold several strong points throughout the city. They still control all major junctions. The urban terrain renders every advance difficult.”
“I see.”Asami studied the map. Theirtacticalsituationwas definitely improvable.
Shimabara was a veritablestalemate,and her resources limited, her forces depleted. Shecked the numbers to take the city in a frontal assault, but she also wanted to avoid protracted house to house fighting.She didn''t want to fightKumo and their allies in urbanbat.Fortunately, she had an idea.
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