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A/N - Thank you, Dylan Phillips for becoming Azure Awakening Patreón!
<<<>>>
Thanks to the premium soldier pill still in effect, Kaoru wasn't unconscious for long. However, it was enough time for the Terumi squad to bring him back to the main camp. When he opened his eyes, his vision was still blurry and his head throbbed painfully.
'Did I lose consciousness again?' Kaoru thought, embarrassed. It had become a habit for him to pass out after achieving something noteworthy. But not like he could change anything - Suijingan was simply that difficult to use. The backlash from the Water God's Eyes was always severe.
'I've got no time to waste,' he reminded himself, as the haze covering his mind settled he remembered that Takimura was still in the middle of a war. Who knew what had happened while he was out cold?
He checked his condition and looked around as he stood up. He was clearly in his own tent and his body was in much better shape than he had expected. Other than the headache, he felt fine and his chakra reserves weren't as depleted as he had feared.
'I must have been unconscious for a few hours,' Kaoru realized, even with the premium soldier pill still in effect his chakra reserves could not have recovered to this extent otherwise.
He slowly exited the tent, squinting as the sunlight hit his eyes. He raised a hand to shield them, and when his vision adjusted, his face drained of color. The camp was filled with corpses. Some were incomplete, just parts of bodies.
He recognized a few faces immediately. Gumi, who had just become a jonin - Kaoru still remembered how happy he had been. Next, he saw Siba, his neighbor. Remi, one of the best medic-nins in the village. And then… he saw Sugeru.
Sugeru's pale, cold body lay on the ground in a line with the others. His face was still uncovered. Kaoru's heart skipped a beat. Sugeru was one of his closest friends. He did not even have time to process Sugeru's death when his expression got darker as he noticed Akito's body next to Sugeru's. Unlike Sugeru, part of Akito's face was missing.
Kaoru turned away, unable to bear the sight. He needed time to process what he had just seen, but time was a luxury he would not get as his eyes fell on Maki, sitting on a log with an unfocused gaze.
He immediately understood what had happened and ran toward her.
"Maki, Grandma… is she… is she alright?" Kaoru asked, his voice breaking. Even without Maki's answer, he already knew the truth.
"She sacrificed her life to save us, Ru," Maki whispered as she raised her head to look at Kaoru, her voice barely audible. She opened her arms, pulling her sibling into a tight hug.
Both of them cried, their tears flowing freely.
No words were needed, they had nothing to say but mourn the maternal figure who had basically raised them both.
"Where is she, Maki? I want to see her," Kaoru said, his voice trembling.
He had loved Suiren like a mother rather than a grandmother. He had never known his mother, but Suiren had always been there for him, pouring unconditional love into his life. He needed to say goodbye, he needed to tell her the words he hesitated to voice the last time they spoke - that he loved her.
<<<>>>
The atmosphere in the camp was suffocatingly heavy. Everyone had lost at least one friend, and some families had lost every member who had participated in the war. Despite technically winning the battle, no one celebrated. There were no smiles, no cheers - only grief and exhaustion.
"What's the summary of our casualties and enemy losses?" asked the Noda clan head. Though his clan wasn't the strongest or the largest, they had contributed far more than anyone expected, significantly improving their influence and standing within Takimura.
Akura looked down at the piece of paper in front of him, his expression getting darker as he read the report aloud.
"We've lost nearly half of our forces. Many of the survivors are injured, and our fighting force is down to a hundred at best. We've killed around a thousand Kiri shinobi - most of them fell during Maki's fight against Fuguki and when Lady Suiren joined the battle. As for the rest of Kiri's army… we have no idea where they are."
By the time the members of the Takimura council joined the fight, it was practically over. Only a handful of Kiri shinobi remained. They had waited for a while, expecting the next wave to arrive. Kiri should have had at least three thousand battle-ready shinobi, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Akura had already dispatched a few Oinin to scout their location and status. Unless Yagura had miraculously decided to end the war, the Kiri forces would eventually return and it was better to be prepared than to sit and wait.
"Do you think Kiri's absence is because of Kumo?" asked Beno Takime, but Tereno quickly shook his head.
"No, that envoy told us Yagura knew about Kumo's invasion before his fight against Suiren. If he had planned to focus on Kumo, he would have done so before wasting his strength on us."
Meruem nodded in agreement. "We need to make a decision about Kumo as well. I know Ao, he's a trustworthy person. If he claims his forces are now rebels, we can take his word for it."
"I don't doubt Ao," Akura interjected with a heavy expression. "But what can we do? We're down to a mere hundred shinobi who can fight. Even with Maki now being an S-rank, Kumo has no shortage of S-rank shinobi themselves." The Takimura council had initially been relieved when Kumo moved their armies to the border, thinking it was a show of force to pressure Kiri. But the Raikage's decision to invade the Land of Water had changed everything.
"Both Kiri and we are weakened. Is there even any way we can defend ourselves?" Beno Takime asked, his voice tinged with despair. Even if Kiri decided to offer peace and focus on Kumo, Takimura lacked the strength to fight either.
"If we were facing all of Kumogakure's forces, I'd say no," Tereno replied, his tone surprisingly optimistic. "But if Ao's intel is correct, Kumo's invading army is smaller than our combined forces. Plus, we'll be fighting on the sea, boosting our strength and weakening Kumo at the same time."
"Let's not forget that Kumo has at least one perfect Jinchuriki, and the Raikage is a monster in his own right," Meruem countered, his face darkening as he voiced the gravity of their situation. "If what Maki said is true and Yagura can't fight at full strength, we're left with only Maki. There are no other S-rank shinobi in the Land of Water now."
"The Hozuki clan head is extremely strong and I'm sure Kiri has a few others on the same level," Mei argued, her pride stung by the realization that Maki was now Takimura's sole hope.
"Besides, even if we're not on the same level as Maki or Yagura, we're not weak either." She was right. Takimura still had several strong shinobi at the master jonin level, and Kiri likely had a few as well. The clan heads from Kirigakure, other than Hakare Hozuki, hadn't even entered the fight yet.
"What if we evacuate to a safe place?" Beno suggested, his voice hesitant. "We've proven our strength by defending against Kiri, but Kumo is too much…"
Tereno Takime cut him off, visibly angry. "We haven't defended against Kiri yet, they still have three thousand shinobi left. And evacuate where? If we were planning to run, we should have done so before sacrificing so many lives, including our clan head." For a brief moment, the council members actually thought that he'd slap Beno.
"None of our injured shinobi would survive the move, they'd die for sure. And most importantly, our situation isn't as dire as it seems at first glance." He took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing.
"Yagura can't make a move, which means there's no one who can stop Maki. Numbers aren't a problem for her. Yagura knows that too. He won't send his forces to certain death, especially not with Kumo knocking on his door." Tereno paused, a smirk forming on his face. It was clear the Takimura council was shaken and not thinking clearly if they could not see such an obvious thing.
"There's one more force you've all forgotten," Tereno added, his voice growing more confident. "Zabuza has a rebel army, and they might be attacking Yagura's camp right now. Who knows? Maybe that's why Kiri hasn't made another move." He didn't know himself, but Tereno was right - as they spoke, Kiri's forces and Zabuza's rebels were locked in a deadly fight.
"And also," Tereno continued his smirk widening, "you seem to have forgotten that the Land of Water has a second Jinchuriki. While he told us he wouldn't pick sides, there's no side to pick when an enemy country is invading your homeland." Tereno leaned back, clearly pleased with himself. When it came to scheming, there was no one better in Takimura.
"Tenma, could you send someone to contact the Six-Tails Jinchuriki?" Tereno asked. Tenma glanced at Akura, seeking approval. After all, Akura was the one making the decisions.
"I'll go myself," Tenma said after receiving a nod from Akura. "It shouldn't take me more than a day to return and I'm in much better shape than any Oinin." Without another word, he flickered away, disappearing in an instant.
<<<>>>
Kaoru wandered through the camp, his steps slow and absentminded. His eyes were unfocused, his mind weighed down by grief. Many people had died in this war. People he knew, people he cared about. But the deaths of Suiren, Sugeru, and Akito hit him the hardest.
'Until now, I didn't realize how much this war would take from me,' he thought, his heart heavy. It was one thing to understand the concept of war and its inevitable toll, but experiencing it firsthand was something else entirely. Kaoru was beginning to grasp the true meaning of the cycle of hatred.
'Will I ever be able to live peacefully alongside Kiri shinobi who fought in this war? Will I ever stop hating Yagura?' Kaoru thought clenching his fists. He was consumed by anger and sorrow, but even more pressing was his confusion. He was lost in his own mind, unable to find an answer to the question that haunted him: Should he avenge them?
He felt a burning desire to kill every Kiri nin he would cross paths with, but he knew that would create a cycle of hatred. Besides, it wouldn't bring back his fallen friends and family or do any good to anyone. As he wrestled with these thoughts, he noticed Mizuki walking toward the infirmary, dragging a charred body behind her.
'She's experienced loss, hatred, and the thirst for revenge before,' Kaoru realized. Now he understood why Mizuki had been so brutal in battle, especially against those she saw as murderers. Over the past few months, however, she had become calmer and more collected.
'She must have found an answer,' Kaoru thought.
Soon, his attention shifted to the body Mizuki was dragging - a Kiri shinobi, judging by the symbol on the protector tied around his arm. The man was badly charred in several places and missing an arm.
"Let me help you," Kaoru said, grabbing the other end of the Kiri ninja's body and lifting him. Mizuki nodded silently, her eyes sparkling briefly when she saw him alive and well.
"Did you defeat him?" Kaoru asked the obvious question but it was meant to start a conversation with Mizuki, who rarely spoke unless she had something important to say.
…
They were in the infirmary when the camp suddenly erupted into noise. People were rushing toward the entrance, their voices loud and urgent.
"I'll go take a look," Kaoru said, flickering away before Mizuki could respond.
By the time he arrived, nearly everyone who could still move had gathered at the entrance. But the first thing that caught Kaoru's eye was a white flag held by a familiar face.
**
A/N -
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