III

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Arc III Chapter 6

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Masked ANBU marched through the field camp. Asami led the group clad in her notorious black kimono.

Wounded shinobi filled the camp. They missed hands, arms, feet. The stench of blood and decay lingered in the air. Corpses littered the ground. Death claimed its toll.

Shinobi parted, making way for the arriving ANBU. Common sense told them not to block their way. ANBU were busy people, but they were also the biggest assholes under the sun. No need to annoy them.

A handful of shinobi recognised Asami and her infamous kimono. The Black Princess, a girl only a few steps away from entering the pantheon of legendary Konoha ninja, from being mentioned in the same breath with the Sannin, the White Fang, the Yellow Flash.

Asami searched for the command post amid a sea of green tents and the remnants of a decimated battalion. Asami hoped to find the commanding officer the rest of his incompetent staff.

Colonel Naritomo and his friends owed her an explanation. These idiots lost three entire companies in a matter of weeks. The casualty rates were appalling.

His battalion took quite a beating in recent weeks. Their attempts to retake Shimabara failed spectacularly. Their assaults proved disastrous and casualties rose. Things needed to change, and they needed to change drastically.

The entire operation was a catastrophe from the very beginning, a veritable meat grinder. Losses piled up, but the fighting still dragged on with no end in sight. Konoha sacrificed three full companies. Nevertheless, they failed to recapture Shimabara. The rebels still held the city. Their resistance proved stubborn.

The majority of losses consisted of useless genin cannon fodder. They died like flies, Genin were cheap, easy to train, their numbers plenty, which was the main reason the village council didn’t intervene sooner despite Naritomo's disastrous performance. Genin were expendable, experienced jonin and chunin weren't.

Konoha besieged Shimbara for weeks with meagre results. They were unable to gain even a foothold despite several assaults.

The Fire Daimyo grew concerned, unsettled by Konoha's inability to suppress a simple peasant revolt. He even contemplated requesting the assistance of another more competent hidden village.

The Fire Daimyo feared that the rebellion might spread further across the Land of Fire. His counsellors demanded a show of force to quell any existing discontent in the area. The region suffered from a poor harvest and heavy taxation.

Despite the poor crop yield, the Fire Daimyo didn't decrease the tax burden, which caused the peasants to revolt, but such was nothing extraordinary. The Fire nobility thirsted for money and revolts were common.

The village council dispatched her. They dispatched Asami, renowned for her efficiency even among the ANBU. She was not sent to suppress, but to eradicate. She would do as ordered.

They deployed her to finally break the stalemate and crush the rebellion no matter the cost.

The orders of the village council were rather explicit, Shimabara had to be taken and it was up to her whether it would end up as a lifeless ruin or not.

A serious conversation awaited Naritomo. They needed to talk. Asami demanded answers, and she would get her answers, one way or another.

Asami reached a large tent guarded by two chunin, a girl and a boy. They were young, barely seventeen. They gulped, intimidated by her approaching figure.

Asami entered the tent. Curious stares greeted Asami. Naritomo and his staff leaned over a tactical map of Shimabara, but her arrival alerted them. They eyed her with suspicion.

Asami narrowed her eyes. ”Ladies and gentlemen, I am searching for a certain Colonel Naritomo. I received orders to relieve him of his command due to blatant incompetence. I am in charge now.”

Her words didn’t earn her any friends, but Asami didn’t care. She wasn't here to make friends.

Asami had her orders, retake Shimabara.

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Takeru frowned. The chunin glared. “And who the fuck are you? Who do you think you are to stroll in here and give us orders?”

Asami tilted her head, amused. “Who I am? You ask who I am?”

Takeru staggered backwards. Despite her mask, her eyes bored into his soul. Her cold gaze petrified him.

“Lynx, can you do me a favour and help this poor boy? Illuminate him.” Asami turned to her subordinate.

Fu answered her rhetorical question. ”Codename Tiger, ANBU, Ninja registration number 011567, full name …”

“That's enough, Lynx.” Asami dismissed Fu before he spilled delicate information.

Fu's answer was dry as usual, but Asami didn't expect otherwise from a former indoctrinated Root member. They possessed no sense of humour. They were boring as hell, always far too serious.

Asami sighed. “Let’s get down to business. As you might know, Konoha sent me to clean up your mess.”

Asami produced a scroll from her pouch. The scroll bore the seal of the Hokage.

“The Hokage himself granted me the authority to take command of this operation and all forces involved.”

Asami took a chair and put her legs onto the table. ”I demand an explanation how a full battalion of trained shinobi failed to contain a simple rebellion? I am genuinely curious how you failed so spectacularly against a headless. Konoha even considered to court-martial all of you.”

Asami's gaze swept across the room. Her eyes set on a man in his mid-twenties, a jonin. He reciprocated her stare with fierce determination. He didn't flinch. He was the man he searched for. He was Naritomo.

Naritomo might be young, naive, still green behind the ears, but the man had steel. He didn't look the most incompetent commander to have ever served.

Asami had seen worse. She expected to meet a bootlicker who gained his position only through connections and favouritism like so many other clan sycophants, but Naritomo wasn't such a case.

So why did Konoha suffer three crushing defeats? Things didn’t add up.

Morale was still high, leadership didn't appear to be entirely inept, the troop quality was adequate.

The majority of his forces consisted of freshly conscripted genin, but a battalion was still a force to be reckoned with, sufficient to deal with a few unruly rebels.

Naritomo gritted his teeth.”Because this isn’t a simple rebellion. The situation is far more complicated.”

Asami raised her eyebrow. She got closer to the truth. “I am listening, Naritomo. Tell me, what's the problem?”

“The problem is we don't fight a headless mob. We fight a well-organised rebellion.”

Asami pinched the bridge of her nose. ”So you are telling me we got our asses handed by a bunch of rice farmers?”

Naritomo scratched his head. “Well, not directly.“

“The rebels are aided by a significant number of rogue shinobi and mercenaries. They are also supported logistically and militarily by an unidentified third party.”

Asami grew interested. His words elicited her attention. “Tell me more.”

“The rebels are in possession of considerable supplies of explosives and weapons, of quantities that are only available to hidden villages. We suspect they are supplied and supported from an outside party. They turned Shimabara into a veritable fortress. They fortified every street, every house, every corner.”

“Hostile ANBU operate in the area. They harass us at every opportunity. Their allegiance is currently unknown, but we suspect them to be Kumo-nin.”

Asami tilted her head. “Kurmo-nin, you say? How do you know? And why didn’t you mention it in your field reports. Konoha should be informed that we fight a proxy war against Kumogakure.”

Narimoto scowled. ”We had no idea. We only found out about Kumo's involvement recently. A few squads disappeared here and there, but we didn't think much. Casualties were expected. We didn’t have any clue until yesterday.”

“Hidetsugu's squad made contact with them. He recognised their kenjutsu and identified them as Kumo ANBU.”

“Their kenjutsu?”

Naritomo nodded. “Hidetsugu was stationed at the northern border during the war. He fought Kumo-nin before. He said the attackers used a clear Kumogakure sword style, a sword style typical for their ANBU.”

Asami rose from her chair. Her hand glid over the map of Shimabara. ”It seems I owe you and your men an apology. Your are neither incompetent nor inept. I can't fault you.“

“Minor mistakes were made, but such is natural.”

Asami set her eyes on Shimabara. ”Naritomo, didn’t you say they turned Shimabara into a fortress?”

Naritomo stood straight. “I did.The rebels prepared several strong points across the city. They control all major junctions. The urban terrain renders every advance difficult.”

“I see.” Asami studied the map. The tactical situation was definitely improvable.

Shimabara turned into a stalemate and her resources limited, her forces depleted. She lacked 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 face Kumo and their allies in urban combat.

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