After sending his wife away, Masahi began to drown himself in work, seldom leaving his office. Reports upon reports came about conflicts becoming more dangerous between Konoha and Iwa. As such, Masahi sharpened his blade for the fight. It was only a matter of time before Konoha asked something from his village, whether it was sacrifice or a military camp, only time would tell.
The wheel of time spun in such a manner, and three months passed. Mitsuri finally came back from Konoha and devoted herself to being a pillar her husband could lean on.
Small fights broke out almost daily at the border, with reports of Kumo ninja being spotted pouring in. Masahi was in contact with a Konoha jonin who was stationed in the village. With him were a bunch of chunin, and that was all the ninjas that were present. Of course, that was a front for a small army that was hidden, of which Masahi was sure, even if he was not informed of the presence of any army.
A year later, the war officially began.
In a room with multiple chairs and an oval table in between, Masahi and the village advisors sat silently, staring at a man dressed in ninja attire.
"Konoha cannot spare any more shinobi here, Lord Hokage asks for your understanding, Lord Masahi," the shinobi with the Konoha headband spoke in a neutral tone.
"We understand. You can go," Masahi ordered while closing his eyes.
"Sigh, this is already the second time our request has been denied. Does Konoha really wants to sacrifice us?" an advisor spoke with a sigh.
"Kumogakure is acting very provocatively...They no longer attack in the dark. I heard from somewhere that the situation of the village north of us is even worse," another man spoke with dread in his voice.
Masahi, who listened to all the advisors expressing their concern, finally spoke. "Whatever Konoha has planned for us, we need not worry about it, for it will come to pass regardless of our actions. If it were peaceful times, we could pressure Konoha while leveraging my own wife's close relationship with the daimyo, but in wartime, such a thing is not possible."
Hearing him speak, the mood of the advisors worsened. Masahi continued, "Yasuragi village is an important location in defending from Kumo; hence, it is impossible for Konoha to completely ignore us. While I would not tell you to put your faith blindly in Konoha, it would be best if you do not lose all hope."
All the advisors nodded to his statement. Seeing this, Masahi delivered his final statement. "Whatever happens in the future, I will stand with you here in this village. Even if that future demands my blood, I will give it without question. You can rest assured of that."
With his assurance, the advisors all became slightly happier. Unlike noble lords who leave at the first sign of trouble, Masahi promised to fight to the death alongside them. These village advisors could not actually leave the village, and their families were all present there, so this promise meant a lot to them.
After a few hours all the elders left the room, leaving only Masahi and Shugoju.
"What will you do, Shugoju?" Masahi asked his trusted ally as he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
"What is to be done, of course. Kumo's nin are growing impatient, warmongers, the bunch of them. We will increase security at the periphery of the village and make it mandatory for able-bodied men to train in kenjutsu and taijutsu. Even if four or five of them can hold a chunin at bay for a few minutes, it will be massively helpful," the old man shared his plan while chiding Kumo's guerrilla tactics.
"You know I didn't ask that," Masahi spoke with the same tone.
Looking deeply at the young man whom he had come to admire, Watanabe stood up from his chair and bowed deeply in Masahi's direction. Despite his apparent old age, there was no hesitation in his action, and he spoke in a calm yet determined voice, "I was a ronin before meeting you on that fateful day, even less than a ronin. I didn't have a shred of honor left in me; I fought with anger and bloodlust, killing without remorse. Fighting alongside you gave me the opportunity to somewhat redeem myself. Now, I've regained some of my honor. I humbly request you not to banish me in the time of battle, my lord. Even if I were to fall someday, I wish to fall by your side, and if I were to claim victory, I wish to claim it by your side. Please do not take away from me this chance to express my loyalty."
Hearing Shugoju's words, Masahi was stunned. Then he smiled at such gratitude. Getting up from his chair, he first helped Shugoju stand up straight and spoke with a dignified voice, "Promises are greater than diamonds, my friend. So let me promise that I'll try my best not to send you away from the eventual battle. But you should not speak such words in front of your wife; she will think I stole her husband or something." Speaking the last sentence, Masahi couldn't help but make a unique face.
"Hahahaha, she will surely think that, no doubt about it." Hearing that Masahi would not force him away brought great relief to Shugoju.
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A year, again, passed in this manner, in which Mitsuri was not able to go to visit Enji even once for it was extremely unsafe at the moment.
Another news came from Mitsuri herself as she revealed that she had became pregnant again. Nornally this would call for celebration but that was not possible at current times. Masahi, while happy at the news was also stressed, giving birth while in middle of a war could be considered reckless and careless, while they had been careful with the nightly activities it seemed that this was inevitable.
Nine months later Mitsuri gave birth to a very healthy baby girl who had deep black hair with purple ends and equally beautiful blue eyes. When Masahi saw these features he was shocked because those were his mothers features. While he had not inherited them he could recognize it from a mile away as his little sister also had the same hair with blue eyes.
Taking care of her newborn Mitsuri became busy while Masahi again contemplated whether to send her away or not, eventually deciding not to due to Mitsuri pleading him against it.
All this time Masahi himself didn't once step into battle but Shugoju's blade had already tasted blood many times, everybody in the village military was aware of the fearsome general and Shugoju's name begun to spread around more, even to other villages.
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On the training ground in the village where children used to play, a makeshift military camp had been established to train young men, there Masahi was checking the quality of soldiers and the limit of their combat ability. The equipment they had was not of high quality, those they provided new recruits were made by blacksmiths of Yasuragi village and leatherworkers who were mostly women who worked with threads and needles.
While looking around his eyes fell upon a familiar face. It was kotaro, Masahi had heard about his feats on the battleground from Shugoju himself. The grumpy old man rarely praised anyone so this was a surprise and a welcome one.
While Masahi occasionally sparred with some soldiers, kotaro the most frequent visitor, determined to improve himself.
'He is like a bull, he only knows to charge forward.'
Chuckling at his thoughts Masahi approached kotaro who had been promoted to a captain of a small squad due to his merits.
Kotaro unaware of Masahi's presence, continued to guide younger boys barely 16 on how to wield a katana and the proper form.
"I have been advised upon by both Lord Kurogane and General Shugoju themselves on the art of wielding the katana. save for some advanced techniques and maneuvers I'll share with you people, all that I have learnt. first; you will learn how to stand still while holding a weapon, in this case a katana. While in combat, standing without tremors in the face of a stronger enemy can be considered a feat deserving praise. Second; you will learn how to not cut yourself while holding the said weapon. it's a shameful action and can earn you a slap on the face. Then finally you will learn how to defend and parry attacks. It will will save your life on many occasions, so lets begin." Kotaro who was barely at genin level at 18 year old when Enji was born, could now be considered a proper chunin level threat, even his chakra had grown considerably.
Masahi continued to watch Kotaro instruct the children while he internally cursed the Five nations for robbing innocents of their life. 'The Kage announce each war as if, not fought would spell end of the world, delusional bastards'
When he saw that Kotaro was free, Masahi approached him, and asked "Kotaro!, doing well I hope?"
"Masahi-sama! of course I am dong very well." Kotaro bowed and responded respectfully.
"I heard about your battle exploits from Shugoju, you have made us extremely proud keep it up." Masahi praised, while Kotaro must've been receiving praise from many others, Masahi knew the importance of being praised by the leader himself.
"How are the kids coming along?" Masahi asked while looking at the kids attempting to stand still without making any movement.
"They are doing well considering the circumstance, but they can at best, hold enemies down and not actually match them."
"They are not being trained to match anyone, they just need to buy time till a shinnobi or a more experienced ally arrives." while Masahi's statement could be considered cold and cruel there was not much that could be done about it. Training capable soldiers took time and resources and they were lacking in both, they just had to play with the hand they were dealt.
While many villages and camps fell each day, theirs was standing even when attacked by a small army of 4 jonins and 15 chunins was proof enough of their preparation.
"Following the training you have already planned for them, teach them the 'Ishigatana' technique." Ishigatana was a defense focused Kenjutsu technique, it required bursts of small amounts of chakra and was quite easy to learn, but was very sturdy when applied. Masahi gave permission to teach normal civilians this technique, which would help them on the battlefield. This was normally frowned upon, any samurai would condemn Masahi for such action. But after thinking long and hard this was the answer he had come to, holding back techniques that were basic would be stupid. If come tomorrow they survive, he will considered it payment enough.
Even though Masahi wanted to teach everyone some earth style ninjutsu to counter Kumo's lightning style, the Konoha shinobi would not let him do so, as having a private army capable of ninjutsu would be taken badly by the Hokage who held autonomous military might in the land of fire. Hell it may be seen as planning a coup.
'They even forced one of their own s-rank shinobi to commit suicide. God knows what they'll do to us once the War blows over, asking them for resources is hard enough as it is, it'll be absolute torture once accused of such thing.' mused Masahi.
While in season of war no merchant would be thoughtless enough to trade anywhere, hence all villages received their resources from konoha directly as opposed to the normal times when they came from the capital city.
The political structure of Yasuragi village had also changed since Mitsuri who was busy with her child decided to engage in it, Masahi also encouraged her as he sometimes followed her instructions when dealing with konoha. Unlike Masahi or Shugoju who were not very adept at such backstabbing and hidden word plays, she was right in her element. The very first meeting she joined, Yasuragi village gained more resources as Konoha was forced to accept their terms.
Masahi couldn't help but fall in love with her more as he saw her fighting for his interest. He just hoped this war would end soon and his family become whole again.
God maybe listened to his request as Konoha had finally made a attempt to end things on Kumo's side, but if informed of the result that would follow, Masahi would surely barge in Hokage's office and talk a thing or two over tea and some snacks.
One day news came that Konoha's yellow flash had defeated over thousand ninjas of Iwa and forced the war to a temporarily stop. The villagers were very happy as this meant the third war was close to completion and they had survived.
Sure there were deaths and families that were destroyed but they had won, and that was the important thing, anything else could be forgotten and looked over as necessary casualties. Seeing the villagers hailing Minato Namikaze, Orochimaru as heroes and praising them to high heavens, Masahi was again reminded of the truth of his world.
'Those who stay behind and watch the mist think of it as thing of beauty or dread, but only those who step into the fog actually know the vicious poison that corrupts it.'
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At a secret camp in the land of fire:
This camp was located near Yasuragi village and hosted many Kunoha shinobi, war ready. They were stationed here as backup by the Hokage to act only in desperate situations.
Now they had a new mission, to force all Kumo ninjas out of their border. A last mission...