The Harsh Truth

Chapter 24

The sea glittered under the light of the sun, as white clouds lazily flew in the air. Seagulls' screams pierced the air of the beautiful morning, in New Kirigakure's harbor, and yet, everyone was preparing for war. Ships were filled with supplies, armaments, and shinobis. People were waving goodbye to their loved ones, from the docks, as the battleships began their motions, helped by their steam engines and the wide and lengthy white sails.

Mei Terumi, looking over the scene from her Kage's office, at the top of the Mizukage's tower, kept a frown on her beautiful face, her eyes darting to the side, where Chojuro stood, seemingly fidgety.

"Chojuro," she muttered, "spill it."

"Mizukage-sama," Chojuro exclaimed, jumping literally to attention, "It's nothing."

"I told you to call me Mei-san, and it's not nothing: you're fidgety."

"Is this the right thing to do?" the swordsman of the mist asked, his eyes not leaving the scene.

"It is. We cannot provide help to the real Amegakure, until we take care of Kumogakure."

The blue haired man stood quiet, once more, his eyes nervously casting themselves everywhere, but on the woman's face.

"Chojuro, you know why we have to attack Kumo…I told you once already," the woman replied, pushing away from her face a strand of her hazel hair.

"Hai, Miz…"

"I'll kill you if you say it again," Mei replied, snappishly.

"Hai, Mei-san," Chojuro answered quickly, only for Mei's only visible eye, since the other was hidden by the fringe, to still keep on staring at the man in question.

"And why is it that we attack Kumo?" she asked him, displaying a terribly sweet smile.

"Because they're one of the villages who still has a Jinchuuriki, and could potentially be our downfall?" Chojuro queried.

"No," Mei retorted, sighing, "Listen, I'll say it just once more…" the Mizukage stood up, pointing at the map of the elemental countries with her fingers, letting them slide along the coast of Kumogakure, then that of Shimogakure and that of Yugakure.

"The northern islands of the land of Water have been subjected, since times past, to raids from 'brigands' who called themselves 'corsairs'," Mei spoke, "they held their bases close to Kumogakure, and, by giving off a profit to the Raikage, managed to avoid the shinobi interference on their jobs…"

Chojuro nodded, recalling that part with ease. The Kiri battleships couldn't be everywhere at the same time, and the corsairs seemed to always know where those ships went, thus making it incredibly difficult to come up with a patrol route. Many times, ships pursuing had to turn around, because the corsairs had entered the land of Lightning waters.

"The way we fixed the problem was to hire mercenaries from the land of the moon, who would, with their insignia, be granted travelling rights within Kumogakure," Mei added, "however, since a couple of years ago, that has stopped. We're sure it had Konoha's hand in it, but we couldn't quite…prove it, so we were forced to chew on it…that was probably payback for demanding reparation money after the stunt their fourth Hokage pulled on the lot of you," she muttered, grabbing a kunai and slamming it straight ahead in the middle between Kumo and Kiri.

"Here we have placed, a couple of months ago, since the blood bath of Iwagakure, an advanced contingent of troops, in wait. Now, we're going to send in those battleships, on a corsair run…but with the order to keep going until they reach Kumogakure. Five days later, and the advanced contingent will start a blitzkrieg all the way to Kumogakure…passing by the land of Yugakure, and by then, the army of Kumo at the front," pointing at the line that stood traced with the tip of her finger, "Will be attacked from the flank, and destroyed."