Chapter 71: War's End

                                    

                                          

Tezuka Yotsuki knew the end was upon Kumo. The last hope of the village had been for Kirigakure to ally with them against Konoha. Even that may not have been enough, but it would have given them some hope. Terumi had not only shattered their hope by refusing to agree to an alliance, she had buried the shards of it underneath the cruel waves of Kiri. They had allied with Konoha.
                          
They had been quick to prove their allegiance. By sea the fresh Kiri nin came and conquered. The Raikage had ordered his shinobi to retreat into Kumogakure leaving Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning) to fend for itself. Armed soldiers, typically peasants with spears and bows could not withstand shinobi. After the first few massacres all resistance ended.
                          
He was not a man to accept defeat gracefully. He knew there was no hope but he would not surrender even should they offer terms. He would rather die on the battlefield. Tezuka had so few jōnin left that all that remained were his guards and one or two clan leaders, but he would not roll over for Konoha and Kiri.
                          
And so he gathered his shinobi, the thousands of genin and chūnin ready to die in the face of an unstoppable foe. He still outnumbered the Kiri invasion force by a sizeable margin, at least in numbers if not in quality. Mei had come herself but she did not seem interested in taking Kumo with just her forces.
                          
Konoha was on the march.
                          
'The final insult from Jiraiya. Only one hundred shinobi; and with that he wants to eradicate my village.'
                          
That many shinobi would not be a threat if it wasn't for the fact that it fielded the Konoha monsters. Team Seven; Namikaze, Haruno and Uchiha. It was not just them either; the Hokage would spit on Kumogakure's grave personally. As would the Hyūga clan head, Hinata, the would-be kidnap victim from fourteen years ago. It was another deliberate and added slight. Yotsuki took those personally.
                          
His plan had been to make them come to him, to fight street by street and house by house in order to inflict as many casualties as possible. Plans changed. He didn't care about bleeding Konoha, he cared about killing the Hokage. He would lead the assault himself; he would take all of his thousands of weak and half trained shinobi and strike out at Jiraiya's hundred before they could rendezvous with the Kiri shinobi.
                          
'My village is doomed, but I'll take you down with me Hokage.'
                          
***BREAK***
                          
Shinobi moved quickly and the pace the Konoha forces kept was substantial, but for the likes of Team Seven and the Hokage it did not even cause a quickening of their breath.
                          
"I don't understand why you are willing to give them such generous terms Hokage-sama." Sasuke respectfully commented.
                          
"If we create onerous terms we will alienate the land for generations. Requiring that they give up their kinjutsu secrets, changing a few lines on the border and having the Raikage step down will cause anger but not long-term frustration." Jiraiya retorted.
                          
"We will allow them to grow strong again. They are weak because they lack elites, not because they lack shinobi. If we give them even 10 years they will be a threat again."
                          
"You underestimate just how strong you three are." Jiraiya shook his head.
                          
"It is still a risk. Do you think they would hold back if they had succeeded in their invasion of our village?"
                          
"I don't and that is why we have war after war after war. It is time to do something different." Jiraiya replied, his tone firm.
                          
"As the head of the Uchiha Clan I strongly urge you to confer with the clan leaders here before offering terms. What makes Kumo anymore deserving of mercy compared to Moyagakure (Village Hidden in the Haze)?"