(Imperial Capital)
Mangetsu watched the heavily fortified and completely sealed off Imperial Capital in front of his eyes. His plan to draw the enemy outside of his fortress had quite frankly failed miserably.
The enemy General had not fallen for his trick, granted he had tried to send a thousand men from the Imperial Guard to save the besieged port of Ming where the Daimyo's favorite consort's family resided, and one which was currently surrounded by Ameyuro's two thousand strong force. The reinforcement in the form of one thousand Imperial Guards however fell into Mangetsu's trap and Jinpachi's warriors decimated them all losing 300 of their own in the process.
What drew his attention in this brief victory was the enemy troops loyalty and courage towards each other and their cause as not a single one of those thousand Imperial Guard surrendered even when they were completely surrounded by an enemy army. They fought till the bitter end taking as many of Mangetsu's men with them to the afterlife.
They didn't even try to flee back towards the Capital which could force their General to either drop the sealing jutsu protecting the city in order to save them and risk the enemy breaching the impregnable fortress, or make the rest of his men inside the walls watch miserably as their comrades were slaughtered right before their eyes.
"It's just like you said, Commander Saji. The Imperial Guard is something else" he couldn't help but praise despite the fact that these very men were holding his father hostage in that city.
The leader of the Kumaon Brigade had a somber look on his face as he watched the sea of funeral pyres in the field leading towards the sealed capital. Each one bearing a fallen Imperial Guard member.
He watched Mangetsu give a signal making his men light the pyres at once giving the fallen enemy warriors an honorable farewell while also sending a startling message to their surviving comrades inside the sealed city of what was to become of them should they continue to resist.
"Mangetsu, while we have the city surrounded. Our lines are stretched thin, the Imperial Guard will wait for us to weaken or slack off or wait for reinforcements from the hinterland. Once they have a decisive edge, they will punch through our lines to annihilate us. This will only make them even more motivated to kill us" warned Saji, as he pointed at the thousand funeral pyres.
"Then should we break the siege of Ming and call Ameyuri and your man Arashi back with 2,000 of our men. It will bolster our numbers and strengthen our defenses" suggested Jinpachi,
"And leave our rear completely open? It's too risky!" objected Haku,
"There is nothing in our arsenal that can break that barrier. It's just too strong, I've already lost five scouting teams and our lone frontal attack was repulsed with heavy casualties" reminded Saji, making the two swordsmen grimace.
The Imperial Guard inside the city were most probably 15,000 strong and added with the Daimyo's personal force the numbers could be increased to 16,000 fighting men. Well fed, trained and highly motivated to slaughter the enemy.
While Mangetsu had a much smaller force of 9,500 men- less than half of them shinobi.
2,000 of them were already deployed in a siege of Ming port led by Ameyuri.
Discounting the 100-200 he had lost probing the capital's defenses and the 300 lost in the first ambush with the Imperial Guard burning before him, he barely had 7,000 men surrounding the capital not including the 501st aerial force.
His position was weak and the enemy knew it.
"We should consider using the 501st, they may have sealed off the skies above the city but we can still try to find a weak spot in the barrier" suggested Haku, drawing a sharp glare from her childhood friend.
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The Seventh Swordsman
Fanfiction"My sword is yours in victory and defeat", Naruto remembered pledging those words to the Second Mizukage as he became one of the feared Seven. He swore to defend Kiri, to protect its people and serve its Kage until his dying breath. But he also made...
