Fumio was woken by someone ringing his tent bell, he had added it as a standard feature after the second time someone had been foolish enough to just barge into his tent without permission.
It saved him time, he didn't have to reset his Seals, and he didn't have to clean blood of his tent flaps.
The Seal-Master let out an annoyed grunt as he sat up from his cot.
His expression was dour as he reached for the glasses sitting on a makeshift nightstand.
The bell was rung again, annoying him further, just for that alone, the person disturbing his sleep would be assigned to the most dangerous area in the front lines.
"What?" He asked sharply, pushing aside the cloth, making sure to still be inside his seals.
"Ah, Fumio-sama." A young voice spoke nervously. "There has been a mass desertion!"
Fumio's eyes sharpened as he turned his glare towards the boy.
"A mass what now?" He said dangerously.
The boy shrank back under the gaze, but steeled himself and continued reporting.
"It seems like almost a third of the army has deserted us! They left their gear and everything behind, but they're gone!" The boy reported hurriedly. "We are not sure what is going on!"
Fumio didn't say anything as he slowly walked out of his tent, grabbing his robes and quickly putting them on before stepping outside.
He took a quick look at the sky, the sun had just finished rising, meaning that this was discovered once the shift change happened, that meant whoever did this planned it in advance.
"What a bunch of ungrateful dogs..." He cursed angrily, ignoring the messenger entirely. "Don't suppose you know if Mei was part of this little rebellion?"
The messenger hesitated, before quickly answering.
"We don't have much information yet, we are still figuring out who abandoned us."
Ah, well, he already knew the answer to his question.
Fumio glared at the kid for a moment before dismissing him with a wave of his hand.
A third of the army, huh?
That was almost 300 people, such a large-scale desertion was unheard of, but he knew exactly where it came from, Mei and her group of sympathizers.
Yagura should have ordered their execution years ago.
Sometimes Fumio really didn't understand Yagura, what was the point in keeping around someone who clearly disliked you and wanted you gone.
Still, that left him with around 600 people, and most of the Jōnin would have stayed behind, it seemed the younger you were then the more likely you were to think foolish thoughts.
With that in mind, his army was only reduced in strength by about a fourth.
First, to kill whoever was responsible for the assignments, either they helped the traitors or they did not catch them, neither option was good for them.
Second, revise the plans. Kiri would have to be warned, he remembered one of the rising stars had a Swordfish Summon, that should be able to get them a message quickly enough.
This was a small setback, but he could take Wave with a quarter of the planned forces, especially after Wave's forces were split all across the nation due to his, quite frankly, brilliant plan of sending dozens of teams to sow chaos in their lands.
Shame that none of the teams had reported back yet, that would have been an unexpected boon, but they were never meant to.
Their lives only existed to further his plans.
***
1 DAY LATER
Zabuza was standing on top of a hill, staring at the sea in front of him.
On the beach below him, Haku was crafting a massive serpent, it and its siblings had a simple job, to keep the ships as far away from the shore as possible.
Behind him, were the gathered ranks of The Order's army, ranging from fresh Initiates to hardened Acolytes, all the Templars were at the other front.
He saw the serpent stir, it was uglier than Haku's usual creations, but considering he had to make about twenty of them, compromises had to be made.
With a loud rumble, the giant serpent slid into the ocean, disappearing under the water.
And soon after, Zabuza sensed Haku coming up behind him.
"Zabuza-sama." Haku greeted softly. "Everything is prepared."
Zabuza glanced at the boy and grunted in annoyance.
"Of course everything is prepared, I can see that." He replied sharply. "Go rest, I can see you're dead on your feet."
Haku pouted, actually pouted, at him, the audacity.
Zabuza raised an eyebrow and stared Haku down.
With a sigh, Haku conceded and walked off, heading to one of the nearby campsites.
Now to wait for the Crow to come back.
***
ABOVE THE SEA
Yomi was flying above the sea, eyes focused ahead.
Below him were several warships, ready to invade Wave.
He diligently memorized their number and composition, noting the number of Shinobi that were making themselves obvious on the decks.
But from one of the clouds above him, a slender leg emerged, attempting to eviscerate him as it did so.
But Yomi was no fool, he immediately dodged to the side, letting out a loud caw as he did so.
The leg withdrew just as quickly as it appeared.
But Yomi knew where his attacker was now, and that was all he needed.
With practiced ease, he flapped his wing once, sending a wave of air pressure at the cloud, revealing his attacker.
Yomi was stunned, the pinkish white coloring, the graceful posture even as the enemy tried to shield themselves from his attack, the beautiful plumage on the head.
It was a... Crane? Or perhaps an Ibis?
This was horrible, what cruel twist of fate would have him fight against such a beauty?
"How cruel the world is, to force me into such a dark role, fighting against you, the manifestation of grace." He bemoaned sadly. "I apologize for this grave sin, but I cannot allow you to interfere with my divine mission."
The Crane looked at him in pure disgust.
"I thought Crows were supposed to be extinct?" She said disdainfully. "And what are you on about?"
Yomi closed his eyes sadly, turning his head away from her.
"Ah, you are trying to lure me into conversation, such a fiendish plot, truly I am-"
"If you don't shut up, I'm going to kill you."
He didn't.
"-cursed by fate, doomed to be alone in darkness, forever separated from those who shine in the light." He continued on, entirely ignoring the threat. "For I am Yomi, The Night Raven!"
There was a long silence, before the Crane let out a sigh of frustration.
"...Whatever." She said flatly. "I don't care, you are a clown."
Yomi paused and slowly turned back to face her.
Were was the grand declaration? That beautiful moment when she introduced herself to him?
Was he... being rejected?
Shame filled him, his song was too plain for such a graceful bird.
Truly, this was proof that he was destined to be the evil stalking the night, he should not try to reach for what could never be.
"Ah... so cruel yet so accurate..." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes again. "Very well! I accept this reality! Let us battle!"
Yomi felt a spike of Chakra coming towards, so he opened his eyes and dodged to the side again.
A bolt of lightning shot past him, barely missing.
"Oh? An attack hidden by the clouds?" Yomi observed calmly. "Such trickery may work on the average crow, but it will not work on me!"
It was clear that the clouds surrounding her were not normal, if she could hide such a potent attack in them, then he had to assume everything around her was potentially dangerous.
He must strike with speed and precision.
He flapped his wings, the air behind him booming as he launched forward, crashing into the Crane before she could react.
But instead of feeling the soft feathers and flesh of the enemy under him, he simply passed through her body.
"Ah, a Genjutsu?" He mused quietly as he simply dove, trying to see through the Genjutsu was a wasted effort, better to get out of the clouds.
Unfortunately, this seemed to be the wrong idea, because he immediately got kicked in the chest.
He quickly spun around, gathering Chakra into his wings to create a tornado of razor sharp air.
This forced the Crane back, Yomi ignored the pain in his chest, he could feel small rivulets of blood flowing down his feathers, but it was nothing serious.
The Crane herself was uninjured, apparently having dodged his counterattack perfectly.
Truly, such an incredible creature deserved the utmost respect from him.
"Most impressive." He praised. "Your ability to use the environment to your advantage is truly spectacular."
The Crane's glare only intensified, she opened her beak, and then closed it again.
Ah, she was stunned by his praise, that must be it.
"It was basic battle tactics." She finally forced out. "You moron."
Yomi felt a spark of hope in his chest, surely her false humbleness meant that she was charmed by him!
If she was truly as brilliant as she appeared, then he would have no choice but to go all out, just this once.
He gathered his Chakra, just like Sage Mukuro taught him so long ago.
"Mimicry: Wind!"
Immediately, a dull, well, dull to him, boom echoed out, a massive wall of wind erupted from him and began tearing apart the cloud cover in front of him, the Crane tried to dodge again, but it was pointless.
She was crushed under the force of the technique, and he heard the sound of a bone breaking.
He felt the sting of Chakra Exhaustion creeping up on him, he should refrain from using his Cursed Jutsu for now, even though he was sure the Crane would have appreciated such a beautiful show.
"You bastard!" The Crane said furiously as she stood upon a pair of clouds. "What the hell was that?"
"Ah... Such strength, even after being hit with Sage Mukuro's Mimicry, you can stand strong." He praised once more.
The Crane's expression turned from angry to shocked.
"...Mukuro?" She whispered quietly. "That monster taught you?"
Yomi smugly raised his head.
"Indeed, I have survived his grueling training, and forged this body into the ultimate weapon." He boasted proudly.
The Crane looked at him in disbelief for a long moment before speaking again.
"...If he is still alive, then... Goodbye."
She disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Yomi felt disappointment well up inside him, surely they could have conversed more, but perhaps the Crane was just too shy to truly confront him.
Well, back to counting enemy Shinobi it is, then!
He turned to look at the ships, but almost got impaled by an iron nail the length of a normal human.
Ah, It seems that his battle with the Graceful Godess had alerted the foolish barbarians on the ships.
He dodged quickly and turned around, gathering Chakra in his wings to propel himself forward faster.
Well, reporting his exploits to Zabuza-sama it is then!