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Rise of Kumogakure
~~
At last they reached the outskirts of Sound's Kumo base. No grand fortress, only rough encampments reinforced over a year of occupation. One thousand Kumo shinobi held it, veterans hardened from fighting Konoha alike.
Han gave no speech. Roshi gave no quarter.
The earth split in molten rivers as Roshi unleashed the Four-Tails' lava release, turning walls and barracks to slag. Han released jets of searing steam, boiling men alive inside armor. Ten thousand Iwa shinobi surged, burying the defenders under waves of earth jutsu and steel.
It was slaughter.
Kumo shinobi fought like wolves to the last man, but not one escaped. The base fell silent under smoking ruin.
Iwa looted every tool, every blade, every scroll. They found caches of chakra-conducting weapons, forged from Kumo's chakra ore mine. Roshi laughed as he melted them down to test their purity. Han, always silent, gathered crates for redistribution.
For Iwa's army, victory was intoxicating. For Onoki, far away, it was confirmation of his strategy.
--
But beneath the cheering, the cracks widened.
Ten thousand shinobi are a nightmare to maintain. Each day stretched supply lines thinner. Messengers rode constantly back to Iwa for reinforcements, but caravans couldn't keep pace. Soldiers went hungry. Medic teams rationed herbs. Morale, instead of soaring, began to rot in idleness.
Han warned: "Ten thousand is too many to move without a target. They'll turn restless."Roshi spat back: "They're tools. Tools don't complain."
But both jinchuriki felt it: Onoki's gamble was costing them more than it gave.
--
The Third Raikage read the reports from Takigakure. His thick brows drew together as he muttered, "That Onoki brat. I gave him courtesy once, and now he dares point his army at me."
The letter trembled slightly in his scarred hands: Ten thousand Iwa shinobi advancing east. This was sent one week ago. Sound base should have fallen by now. One thousand dead. But the Raikage wasn't shouting, wasn't pounding the table. His silence was heavier than rage.
Kaien, sitting cross-legged with a pacifier between his teeth, was uncharacteristically quiet. He finally pulled it free, voice low.
"Losing a thousand… it leaves a bitter taste, doesn't it, grandfather?"
Aya, his mother, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't dwell. Even with numbers, they cannot hold what they've taken. Victory without balance becomes rot."
Renga, ever the pragmatist, leaned forward. "Raikage-sama, we must investigate Sound's state. And also we need time to gather such large force to counter."
The Raikage grunted. "Time is a weapon too."
Kaien's lips curved. "Let them rot where they stand. Two things will happen: one, without an enemy, ten thousand men will eat themselves alive. Two, That old man Onoki would never prepared supplies for that many survivors. He counted on full blown out, on bodies falling early. Now he has to feed every one of them. And hungry men are easier to kill than armed ones."
What kaien could never expect is that how brutal iwa could be to themself.
Raikage added, "Send five thousand to reinforce Second Base. Slow, deliberate. Let Iwa wait. Let their morale drip away like water in sand."
The Raikage's grin was feral. "Yes. We'll bleed them without lifting a blade. And when their stomachs grow hollow, we'll strike."
--
Back in Sound, discipline faltered. The loot of Kumo's base was rich, but food was scarce. Soldiers complained of ration-water that barely filled their stomachs. Han kept silent but glared at commanders who failed to control their squads. Roshi grew impatient, scorching deserters alive to set examples.
The tools they seized were powerful—chakra-conducting blades, sealed scrolls of lightning-based traps, armor woven with resistant metals—but tools don't fill bellies.
Kumo has not counterattacked. No resistance. Only silence. And silence eats men faster than war.
Whispers spread: Why hasn't Raikage struck? Why do we sit here, waiting to starve?
--
Han sat by the smoldering remains of the Sound base, steam hissing from the cracks of his armor. His expression never changed, but his thoughts ran cold.
Ten thousand shinobi were too many. Onoki had never marched such a force this far before. The land could not sustain them, the supplies never enough. So Han did something unthinkable—he used his soldiers like fuel.
"Scouting," he called it. But everyone who heard the order knew better. One thousand shinobi, sent northeast and east to comb fifty kilometers. No sensors among them, deliberately excluded. Han knew how difficult it is lose a sensor now so he did not send them just yet.
"Check the terrain. Note the traps. Report or don't report—it makes no difference." His voice was as hollow as his mask.
Two days later, his grim plan bore fruit. The group sent northeast returned intact, dusty and hungry, their reports empty of enemy presence. The east scouts, however, did not return at all. Good thing.
Han's eyes narrowed. That silence was an answer. "There they are," he muttered as he looked at north east. [A/N: Han did 2 things...one... now that east scouts didn't... they were killed by 2nd base kumo shinobi. Now he knew where the kumo shinobi were. Two... now he had some food for remaining shinobi]
--
Han doubled the risk. This time, he sent two thousand shinobi east ward, the direction of Kumo's hidden Second Base. He knew the risk, but risk was preferable than to rot in one place.
They marched into a minefield of traps. Lightning tags, collapsing earthworks, camouflaged kunai launchers. Kumo had turned the valleys into killing grounds.
The cost was brutal: seven hundred Iwa shinobi dead before the first Kumo soldier was even cut down. But sheer numbers forced a breakthrough. Traps exhausted, defenders overrun.
Yet the report that followed chilled even him:
"East. Forty-five kilometers. Near the Hidden Frost border. Three thousand Kumo shinobi stationed."
Han summoned Roshi.
--
The two jinchūriki could not have been more different. Han, cold and calculating, said little. Roshi, all fire and arrogance, cracked his knuckles and laughed when he heard the numbers.
"Three thousand? Ha! Against us? Old man Onoki should've sent only the two of us."
Han ignored him. He gathered 7,000 shinobi from the remaining host. The march towards east was relentless. Forests burned down for firewood. Streams turned foul with discarded rations. Every step left scars on the land.
The 2nd base Kumo defenders at Hidden frost received word only a few hours before the Iwa juggernaut's approach. Outnumbered three to one, they knew retreat was impossible. Messages for reinforcements flew like desperate prayers, but time was too short.
When the Iwa army arrived, they faced a tired but determined 2,500 Kumo shinobi, staring down annihilation. [A/N: 2000 Iwa shinobi all died before killing only 500 kumo shinobi]
--
A/N: So, The 1st Kumo's defeat... for Redemption to be fruitful. It is needed. and Kumo doesn't know about Iwa's jinchuriki's as Kumo spies could not identify them.
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