Chapter 23: Merits of Victory

A few minutes later, and I was back in communication with the Whirlpool Council. This time there were many more who were teleconferencing in, mostly because they were in the field or at sea with their men.

“Excellent job, all of you,” Kazuo-sama began the meeting. “This was a historic moment, one where our skills with seals allowed us to defeat a force that might have otherwise destroyed us, and all without a single life lost. Truly, congratulations are in order.” He started clapping, immediately followed by everyone else, and continued for about fifteen seconds before stopping.

“But even out of those that have earned honors from this action, there are some actions that deserve special recognition. The Pelican pilot who used the Star-burst seals to such great effect, and his friend, a genin who faithfully sank a fifth of his chakra into batteries every day for months so that the pilot might power such a weapon for a single battle. The Sealing Department Members who supplied not just the general designs for the seals we used, but also the Custom Pelicans that were capable of defeating those that had held strong through the storm of our fury, and even vanquish a Jinchuriki in full Bijuu mode. The groups within the Sealing Department that developed first the Cyclone prototypes and then the Pelican prototypes. But even of these that deserve special recognition, there is one who stands out. Uzumaki Daichi, please stand.” Oh fuck. No! Why. I hated that sort of shit, everyone was looking at me. Look at me when I'm, I don't know, fifteen and not a fucking midget child anymore, ok? Too much to ask? Apparently.

I stood, as EVERYONE looked at my screen.

“I present Uzumaki Daichi the Seal-Hawk, who came up with the original idea for both the Cyclone seals and the Pelican. He is currently serving as the Consul to Konohagakure, and has just succeeded in getting their Hokage to commit two thousand eight hundred ninja to the counter-attack. A fine young man who exemplifies the qualities that we value in Whirlpool, and who would likely beg off of all this attention if he could. But, just as it is a citizen and vassal's duty to do their utmost for their home, it is a leader and lord's duty to reward those who are most effective. Uzumaki Daichi Fuutaka, Junior Baron Courtier of the Fifth Rank, is hereby promoted to Baron of the Fourth Rank and given Right-of-Access, with suitable income for his position from our treasury and a priority choice of the lands to be assigned after the war for his fief.”

Fuck… well. It looked like the girls at the academy would be chasing me even harder. At least my name wasn't fucking Pelican. Fuutaka, literally “Seal-Hawk”, wasn't bad. And a priority choice of lands could be pretty damned valuable, especially if I made a little cabal with Tou-san and a few of his friends who were also likely to earn smaller fiefs of their own. I understood why Kazuo-sama did it, of course; it wasn’t exactly single-handed, but I was a significant part of our victory. Getting a thousand more ninja from Konoha than even the more optimistic estimates would massively reduce Uzushio’s casualties and increase our gains. And I was quite in favor with the Uzumaki leadership, especially within Kazuo-sama’s faction and the sealers.

It made sense that I would be heaped with riches and honors. That said, it also meant I had to get a load more retainers and some subordinate samurai from somewhere, and find someone to manage my interests since I'd be in Konoha for the foreseeable future. Maybe Tou-san wouldn't mind being my new second in command? Oh god, Ojii-sama was likely to gift me more retainers, especially now that I was a full-on Baron, rather than a Courtier.

The Right of Access part was pretty cool. It basically meant I had the right to decide that whatever it was that I wanted to talk about was important enough that Kazuo-sama would have to hear me, right then. If I thought it necessary, I could interrupt him when he was mid sleep, or even not sleeping with his wife or mistresses. Oh, I surely wouldn't for anything less than an apocalypse, but still, it was pretty a pretty cool right to be assigned, and a massive indication of honor. There were much higher lords without that right; it wasn't something that could be inherited, but had to be earned, so it was always a mark of high favor.

Other than that, Kazuo-sama started getting everyone organized to receive Konohagakure and Land of Fire troops, began the round-up of the ships that were normally merchantmen to transport our invasion, organized who would be in charge of making sure there was sufficient surveillance, and made sure that everyone was giving chakra to the village stores to increase ammunition supplies along with all the other details of a successful invasion. Mercifully, I didn't have to deal with that bureaucracy, as I was instructed to take a series of images from the battle spaced one minute apart, and report our victory to the Hokage.

I was authorized for the most basic level of information release on the Cyclone and Pelican systems, to wit that they existed, Cyclones had a range of at least twenty kilometers, and Pelicans were a flying weapon system; this was considered terrifying enough, even though it only described a fraction of our weapons’ true capabilities. Honestly, Konoha’s leadership wasn’t really equipped to even comprehend how game-changing our new capabilities were, and if they had might have been driven to panic. Just what we had already demonstrated was enough to change the balance of power between our nations; Uzushio was certainly no longer the junior partner in our alliance.

I was already in my regalia, so it wasn't that hard to get ready; I just had to change out my device so that the new border would indicate my improved rank, and I was off with Sachiko at my should and the official scroll in hand. When I arrived at the Hokage's Tower and was directed to him, I came into a beehive. Mobilizing twenty-eight hundred ninja for a forced march to defend against an imminent invasion took a lot of organization; who would have guessed?

I got directions to the Hokage, and decided to go with the super-formal route of having Sachiko announce me.

“I present Whirlpool's Consul to Konohagakure, Baron of the Fourth Rank, Uzumaki Daichi Fuutaka!” Saichiko said in a firm and loud voice, then took one step to the side and bowed. Heads were turning our way, and I noticed we had the Hokage's attention.

“Hokage-sama, I bear tidings of the battle of West Kaizoku Sea as instructed by my Lord, Uzumaki Kazuo-dono!” For the sake of the moment's drama, I ceremoniously unrolled the scroll, even though I had written it and memorized the contents.

“Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama, greetings and salutations. This messenger bears glad tidings of victory. At Four Hours Past Dawn this day, Whirlpool forces engaged the forces of Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure and associated vassals in the region of the Kaizoku sea two hundred miles East-North-East of Wave.

“At half past the Fourth Hour, the battle was concluded. Enemy losses were total, and include a final count of one hundred and eight ships, with a final estimate of ten thousand ninja and four thousand assorted sailors and crew. Kirigakure's Jinchuriki, the holder of the Sanbi, fell in battle. There were no found or suspected survivors, and patrols remain in the area to ensure that any remaining enemy are destroyed. Allied casualties include two injuries taken in regular operation of our Naval vessels en route to where the battle occurred. There were no allied deaths during this operation.

“Included in this missive are images of the battle taken every minute, and Uzumaki Daichi Fuutaka, my Consul and vassal-Baron of the Fourth Rank, has been instructed to give a basic briefing of how this was accomplished.

“I give my best wishes for your continued health and prosperity, and look forward to the fruits of our alliance. We shall be in contact. Signed by the hand of the Daimyo of Whirlpool, Lord of Uzushiogakure, Clan Head of the Uzumaki, Uzumaki Kazuo.”

There was a deafening silence as I handed the scroll and images to the Hokage. Soon enough a grizzled Jonin Captain broke it.

“Is this some sort of joke? How the hell do you kill ten thousand men without any losses?” The Hokage replied before I could demonstrate any ruffled feathers; the guy wasn't Danzo though, so I'd have given him the benefit of the doubt.

“Ah, I've found that it's typically best to be believe what Daichi-san tells you, and just be surprised at the reality. And may I congratulate you on your elevation.” A nice little sop to my pride; it was nice to know he cared!

“Thank you, Hokage-sama. As to how we achieved this, the enemy never actually saw a single one of our troops. We used two new weapons created using seals. The first, the Cyclone Seals, are capable of delivering projectiles, including weaponized seals, at high speed and rate of fire over a long distance, at least twenty kilometers. The second, the Pelican, is a flying puppet remotely controlled through seals. It too mounts Cyclone Seals. We used real-time surveillance seals and our weapons to destroy the enemy from a range of twenty kilometers, and continued bombardment until all enemy assets were destroyed. The images show the progression of the battle.”

The room erupted into whispers and discussion as to what this meant, both for warfare as a whole and for the conflict with Iwa, Kumo and Kiri. The Hokage motioned me closer, so we could speak a bit more privately, though with ninja everyone would be listening anyways.

“I assume you will want them to answer for this situation?”

“I cannot claim to speak for Kazuo-dono, as I have no orders in this situation, but my belief is that we will force Lightning and Earth to pull back their ninja and pay reparations under threat of naval action and aerial raids respectively. As for Mist and Water Country, I believe that Kazuo-dono will wish to make an example of them. The Fire Daimyo has generously made available three legions, and enough auxiliaries and lesser sized units to make up a fourth, as well as some naval forces primarily focused in transports.

“With his twenty thousand men, the twenty-eight hundred from Konohagakure, three legions from Whirlpool, our naval and aerial support and whatever mercenaries and opportunists we can scrape together, we have a force of about forty thousand soldiers and five thousand ninja. Mist can at its maximum marshal twelve thousand ninja, many not capable of combat at the level needed, and a hundred thousand soldiers, half of whom will be militia; these men must be split between the various islands. With our ability to conduct long range naval bombardment, and use aerial reconnaissance and strikes, as well as Water's inability to reinforce their islands when our ships are present, I believe we can conquer them without too many difficulties. The fact that Water and Mist have always treated their citizens poorly will make them less resistant to conversion, and reduce the time before the territories are productive and integrated into Whirlpool.”

“An astute analysis. It matches with what I understand from the situation. And what if Lightning or Earth are unreasonable?”

“A demonstration that we can attack their palaces. And if that fails, their factories, barracks, and other military targets may be attacked from impunity by air. If they really want to push matters, well, we'll see. They should hope it does not come to that. We Uzumaki take attempts to destroy our home very personally, and there are many things that the sealing department considers too horrific for normal situations that might be used.”

“Quite. Please relay my thanks to Kazuo-dono for the information. We will remain in contact with your commanders, and our troops will continue to arrive over the next two weeks. Now, you should go celebrate your new station,” he said with a kind smile, then paused a moment as I grimaced at the reminder.

“Not that happy?”

“It's not that. It is a great honor. It's just, this will only mean more work. And Ojii-sama is sure to give me more retainers,” I grouched. He laughed at my reply, shaking his head.

“I'm not sure whether I should be relieved or afraid that you aren't interested in rule.”

“Hmmm… Both? That's normally my answer to either/or questions like that.”

“I will take that under advisement. Have a good day.”

“You too, Hokage-sama.”

I bowed and left.