An Odd Beginning: Training for the End

I walked into Loki's Delight, the local bar and most busy bar in the entire Land of Snakes. They served the best mead in the known world, is what I hear anyway. I was wearing my suit, with my deep black wings furled on either side of my body as I walked. It was in this quaint little bar that the training of my promised pupil would begin. I had arranged a meeting with an oracle from my home, Morigakure. Her psychic tools would help me to delve into my trainee's mind, to unfold his hidden potential, and his untapped ability.

Walking into the bar, with my student in tow, I made my way to the bartender at the back of the lodge, catching strange looks from the patrons. I paid close attention to the company that the bar attracted. This was not exactly the ideal place for this training, but it was the least conspicuous, and I had to remain in the village to aid my brother Kage in the recent crisis. The men here were burly, sweaty men that had appeared to come here after a long week of strenuous work. The women were whores, dressed with gowns that folded down to reveal obvious cleavage lines, and dresses that were torn off near where the ass ends. Men and women alike, they boistered and sang, they hollered and they drank. This was their domain, and little care here was reserved for the worries of the outside world, which had become an entirely different entity amongst the booze and forgotten strain.

When I reached the bartender, I looked into her blue eyes and asked for the code that I had set up on a previous occasion. "I seem to be lost. Can you help me find the local gristmill, milady?" She nodded and replied, "I can't lead you there, but we have maps back in the room to my left," before leaning in to whisper into my ear, "I'll lock the door behind you. Knock three times when you're done, love." I smiled and bowed my head, before looking behind me to see if my apprentice was still following.

I entered the door behind my kage and sensei, into what seemed to be the absolute bottom of culinary establishments. The smell of burnt meat, terrible seasoning combinations, and most importantly, passion. I could tell just from being in this place that the chefs here were the type to just do this to scrape by in their pathetic lives, no love for the art, and no intent to give the people the best they could supply just the bare minimum.

Now, I knew I couldn't come anywhere near respecting the chefs of this establishment, but the women, they were a sight to see. Just a sight and nothing more because even I knew if I tried to do anything with these women I would contract so many illnesses that my blood would turn acidic, and not from the boil release chakra running through me. I followed my kage through the sea of failure and shame until we hit the attractive bartender, Skar spoke with her and then looked back at me and I said "We getting out of here? The scent of this place is making even ME lose faith in the culinary art." I laughed half-heartedly and waited for him to respond, or continue on in which I would follow.

I chuckled at my student's humor. At least he could find laughter in this vile place. I turned to walk into the room I was pointed to. I opened the heavy, wooden door, and closed it behind Zenshi. I heard a latch click from behind the door. I turned into the room that lay before me, and walked to the small table, lit by a single candle. An old, weathered woman sat behind it in a moldy chair. Her wrinkled face bemused me; it was filled with agony, wisdom, and some twisted purpose for which I knew not. This was the oracle of Morigakure.

Standing on a 5-foot tall, intricate pedestal placed to the right of the crooked woman, was a bowl of water. I knew the purpose of this, and I knew my student would be asking himself as to what exactly it was. What he was about to go through was so momentous, so life-shaking, that I needed to do it with him to keep him safe. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that only royal guardians of Morigakure could add a spiritual aspect to their training. I began the conversation, "Shall we begin?"

"To begin? Nay, not to begin. To begin is to start the young, naive life of a virgin. To begin is to witness the transformation of the smallish worm into the butterfly. To begin... nay, not to begin. To unlock," she said in an uncertain voice. She reached out for Zenshi's hand. "You will unlock the journey of.. discovery. You must break past the barriers in your mind. Discover who you are. Who you were. Who you weren't you were. Who you weren't. You must unlock what has been left behind for you to grow. Dip your head into the bowl. Lower your eyes into the abyss. See what must be seen." She beckoned to the bowl on her left, and awaited the response from my pupil. I took my position near the same water bowl, ready to begin the journey with my student. "Come."

As we entered a very creepy feeling room I jumped as the door was slammed behind me. I looked forward to see what looked like an old leather purse given life and moving around as though it were a woman...wait, It was a woman?! She began to speak in riddles that hurt my head, something about me not begin who I thought and being who I didn't think I was...I think. I only caught the part about lowering into the abyss and I knew that to mean dunk my head in a bowl of water, this training seemed easy enough. I walked over to Skar and looked at him with a smile before taking an obnoxiously deep breath and slamming my head into the water, keeping my eyes open.

As my student dunked his head into the water, I placed my palm on the back of his head in order to share his experiences. I closed my eyes, and immediately an entire plain of vision opened up before me. The world was white and blank. I stood, in this vision, aside Zenshi. He appeared impatient, wondering what would come next.

"Wait for it.." I told him kindly. As if on queue, huge black clouds began to fall from the sky and land at our feet. Every time one landed, an object appeared in its place. A tree, a man, the grass at our feet, one by one until the entire forest was before us. I around me to see where we had appeared in history. Huge buildings constructed by brick and steel towered overhead. They were surrounded by deep forests, forests the untrained eye could not comprehend. Forests that I knew.

"Welcome to Morigakure," I said with a sarcastic chuckle to Zenshi, "Before you get too confused, we're here before the Great Destruction." The Great Destruction was the event in which Morigakure was wiped out before I had rebuilt it so many years ago. There were no records of what the village looked like prior to that event, because, well, they were destroyed too. In any other village, there were no records of what happened to this village. All we know is that when I found it, it was a crater in the ground, and a village was there beforehand. I looked around. It appeared this village wouldn't be here for long, however. The buildings were set ablaze. Some were toppled over completely. The sky was blotted out with an ominous cloud of smoke, and the forests smoldered around us. There was no one here. It appeared that we were sent back almost right before the village was wiped out.

If this was set up like it was for me when I trained, we needed to find one of Zenshi's ancestors, and we obviously weren't going to find him here. "Follow me, Zenshi. We have searching to do. Use your tracking skills that I taught you in our first mission to discover clues as to where any hint of civilization might be. I will fly over head to see for myself."

I unfolded my huge, black wings, and leaped into the air at an unbelievable speed. I soared high into the smoke before stopping and looking to the ground. After searching far enough, I saw an encampment in a clearing to the west. The flag of Morigakure waved high overhead of the camp. It was.. a military camp. The village was at war. This interested me deeply, because there has never been war in the history of this village. I've only known the village to be one of peace. Either way, I flew back to Zenshi to see if he had uncovered the same thing I had. I landed down where I had taken off, and called his name.

I felt like I was on some really weird drug kick, clouds started falling from the sky and forming objects and soon there was a large burning city in front of me. I was curious as to what it was but just before I could ask Skar answered my question by saying that this was before the Great Destruction, and event I had only heard of from my teachers back when I was in the academy at the village. To think I was actually here, at an event that nobody knows anything about and being completely involved with it, it was a humbling experience. Before he flew off Skar told me to hunt down signs of an ancestor of mine, and at this point it would just be any civilization in general. I headed down into the burnt remains of the village and stepping over rubble and burning plants I eventually came to the western gate of the village and found multiple sets of footprints heading into the forest, This was for sure sign of an attack battalion retreating into the forest. I followed the footprints deep into the forest until eventually I hit a small camp with a bunch of armored men in it and above it flying the flag of Morigakure. I entered as slowly and cautiously as I could, trying not to spark panic or mistrust.

On my way back to the village, I noticed Zenshi far below already heading towards the village. "Good, he already found it," I said. I glided down behind him as I saw him enter the camp. I entered the camp behind him. He appeared to be cautious, as he should have been. These were most likely battle-hardened soldiers, which would obviously put my Genin student out of place. I, however, walked in much less cautiously, dawning my Morigakure headband, hoping the soldiers would realize me as their ally. If not, then too bad. That would be their mistake.

The soldiers were bustling around the camp, sprinting in and out of tents, winding through field formations and siege battalions. Drill commanders barked orders at their lessers, and drummer boys pounded unending rhythms into their instruments, trying to keep an order amongst the busy troops. Some were covered in blood, some could barely stand while others were being carried on stretchers. A battle had taken place not long ago; the injuries were still fresh. When I quickly caught up to Zenshi, I gave him a reassuring nod and said, "Well if you're that eager, maybe I should just let you take the lead, eh?" referring to his bellowing into the camp. Shortly after, a short man adorned with many medals and a katana at his waist approached us. "Where's your battalion s-" he was cut off by his own amazement. His eyes widened as he stared at me. He looked at each wing to my sides, and then into my goldenm dragon eyes. "F-forgive me, sir! Would you like me to mind you to your tent, sir? I can.. who's he?" he asked as he nodded towards Zenshi. Caught off guard by being treated to oddly well, I finally figured out to say, "He's with me. Er.. servant boy," I said with a grin that I tried to make look natural. "Well.. your company then. He comes too. Come, to the Dragon's Tent!" A dragon tent? What the bloody hell was that? I was as confused as I'm sure Zenshi was as well. Well, I went to follow the small man, beckoning for Zenshi to follow.

I was surprised by the appearing of my kage and simply shrugged off his mentioning of the eagerness I had to get into the camp, I mean anyone would be, this is essentially a chance to talk to people that have been dead for hundreds of years including one of my ancestors, OF COURSE I was anxious. I sat back and watched as Skar conversed with the solider and had to nerve to call me his servant boy, if I'm such a servant boy I guess I could cook like one too when he asks for dinner. I continued with them as they headed towards the dragon tent and I whispered to Skar in a southern accent "Maista who are all these people? I's not used to the big scary world outside the plantation." I laughed at my own joke and continued to follow the two of them

Giving Zenshi a dirty look so as to make sure he knew not to blow our cover, I followed the little man the rest of the way to the tent. It was a huge, decorative tent, with a huge dragon on the spine. Its head hung off the front of the tent, so as to greet visitors with its gnarled teeth. We walked into the massive tent, and my breath stopped for a split second when I was caught off guard. The entire tent was filled with Dovahkiin. Everywhere I looked, I saw scales, dragon eyes, a few pairs of wings.. these were my people. Why were they here? I decided to do some observing to figure it out. Well the huge tent, and the table covered with maps that the Dovahkiin bustled around, their intricate robes.. they were definitely higher-ranking officers in this encampment. I wondered if the same went for the entire war in general, whatever war this might be. I walked up to the table covered in markers and maps, outlaying the battlefield. I looked at it closer... and closer... wait.. what? We were at war with Arashigakure?! "Well, that's ironic," I mumbled under my breath. "What?" a large, scaley man to my left asked. "Oh, nothing." The other Dovahkiin paid no attention to me or Zenshi, as they all looked like me and had page-boys of their own.

Still no sign of Zenshi's ancestor, and I doubted we'd find him in a tent full of Dovahkiin, so we were about to leave. But, because I'm an extremely lucky man, a stranger brst through the tent entrance, and immediately began barking orders. "You there! Take your battalion around to the southern flank! We're under attack! You, grab the western flank and pull them back to defend the camp. And y-" he paused when he saw Zenshi. I was praying with all of my dragonheart that he wouldn't say anything stupid. "Do I know you?" he asked as he leaned in closer, but before Zenshi had a chance to answer, a huge explosion came from right outside the tent. "Nevermind! You come with me!" he grabbed Zenshi and ran out the tent. "Catapults! Take cover!" As he said that, a tent to his right exploded into a pile of flaming wood-splinters. "Dovahkiin, take the front, push them back!" All the Dovahkiin in my tent neatly and rhythmically lined up outside of the tent, and with poise began marching towards where the firepower was coming from. I joined them, monitoring their movements with my battle-hardened perception, and copying their movements so that I was one of them.

(As I will be leaving Zenshi's side for now, I will post what happens around him in separate paragraphs than in my own.)

---

The man that had grabbed Zenshi was about 6-foot-7, with a broad, lean build. He had buzzed golden hair, and a small brown patch of hair on his chin. On his back, he wielded one of the largest weapons I had ever seen. It was a monstrous sword, nearly a foot wide, and 3 inches thick, with a length of 5 feet in the blade alone, the hilt being another foot and a half. It was taped around the base, and scratched badly along the top, obviously appearing to had been used in battle on numerous occasions. The blood on the sharp end stained the sword with every enemy it had cut clean through. The man wore a tight, black T-shirt that showed every single muscle in his upper body, and he wore green Shinobi cargo pants equipped with several dozen kunai, shuriken, and ninja wire. His huge boots made it look like he had been built to walk for hundreds of miles without stopping, no doubt leading troops behind him. His hands were taped, most likely to keep them from breaking when using his massive sword. He had deep, blue eyes identical to Zenshi's. I believe we had found his ancestor. He pulled Zenshi out to the southern exit of the camp, where they were being attacked from. Behind he and Zenshi, was about 50 soldiers lined up and ready for combat. He and Zenshi were roughly 20 yards ahead of them. They all came to a halt when the enemy force did in front of them. The distance between Zenshi, the man, and the enemies, was about a quarter of a mile. "We'll talk later. I hope you can fight," the man said with a wink to Zenshi before turning to his men. "Men of the forest, hear my roar! Here we are at the crossroads of death yet again, but we will never stop! For the rebellion! AHHHHH!!!" he shouted with such ferocity before turning, gripping his blade, and charging into battle. The troops behind him readied their weapons, and ran as fast as they could to defend their camp. But it was much more than that. They defended their freedom. They defended their families. They defended their cause. And hopefully, Zenshi felt the same way, or he was about to get trampled by about 50 rushing soldiers.

---

I turned with the company of Dovahkiin I was with. We were marching out of the northern entrance to the camp, and there we met about 200 enemy soldiers, lined up opposite of us. I didn't know how strong they were, but there were about 12 of us. Time to see how strong the Dovahkiin really were, eh?

I was surprised by a large man coming at me from the entrance of the tent who was yelling that there was an assault and if he knew me. I was going to give him a ridiculous name and a random numbered battalion but before I could respond he yelled nevermind and grabbed me, dragging me out of the tent. The man looked a lot like me surprisingly, maybe he was my ancestor? Nah, no way, I come from a family of chefs there was no way this guy is even close to related to me, regardless to how much we looked alike. Eventually we hit a small group of men and the look alike of myself got up and gave a speech that should've been in a movie or something. He asked me If I could fight, it was a questionable topic, but lack of confidence would get me no where, but this did represent a good opportunity to try out an amazing concept I came up with on the trip to the bar so I began charging chakra into my mouth and knuckles of my hand and drew Slicer and Dicer and dove into combat with the rest of the men.

As I began to charge at the mass of 200 soldiers before me with the other Dovahkiin, I began to charge my vocal cords full of chakra. I could feel it in my Voice, emanating power with every word I spoke. It was time to fight, to use my Shout. "It was been awhile, my old friend," I thought to myself in my head, directed at my Thu'um. The raw power began to engulf my mind through my throat and into my head. My eyes flashed with the soul of a dragon, and I looked at the oncoming soldiers with a menace that was feared and respected throughout the known world. It was time to fight. I took to the air with a mighty beat of my wings, and other Dovahkiin with wings followed me. My black wings blotted out the sun, drafting a shadow over-top of the enemy. I smiled a devilish grin, ready to kill. I folded my wings to release the sunlight once more, blinding the men below. I fell at free-fall, angling in on the man in the front of the entire pack. I landed with my hands around his neck, pinning him to the ground. After a slice through his neck with my black claws, I sprung up onto my feet. I folded my wings up so that they wouldn't get hurt, and lept at another man. He brought a katana down to my head, but I easily parried it with the bracer on my right arm, spun around, and ripped his heart out of his chest using my left hand's claws. Blood covered both of my arms, disheartening me, because the concept of death was still troubling, but still not to be pondered over. I swung around with a roundhouse kick to the man next to me, knocking him back. I followed up with a right hook to the gut, piercing through his skin with my claws and killing him. My sheer strength alone was unmatched, as I showed the next man. He tried to hit me with an uppercut, but I sidestepped and simply grabbed his wrist with all the force I could muster, snapping it. I then punched him in the chin, breaking his jaw and killing him. After a few more bloody kills, I turned across the battlefield to see how the other troops were doing.

---

As the troops charged at the enemy force, the commander took the lead. He met his first match head-on, using his huge blade to lop off both of the man's legs. Then the rest of the rebellion met the force in a huge collision. Talent and training were equally matched on both sides of the fight, the commander knew that it would end up counting on one spectacular individual to win the fight. He was used to this, and assumed the role with honor. He brandished his blade once more to cut a man clean through at the waist, then spun around to behead another. He then quickly placed the blade onto his back, performed a few quick handseals, leaned back, and let loose a huge stream of boiling water from his mouth. It covered the entire area in front of him, cooking about 8 men alive to the bone, leaving them nothing but skeletons. He then brought his hands into the air on either side of his body, and the water that he had shot out rose with them. He began moving his hands in a circular motion, and the boiling water began to cyclone round his body. Huge jets of the water would fire off of the main cyclone, killing men instantly. Within seconds the man had killed 6 more. The battle was going very well.

Holy shit, that was the only phrase going through my head at this point. This guy with a massive ass sword just whipped the biggest and baddest futton jutsu I had ever seen in my life. My ability to use boil release was exclusive to me, or so I thought, either this guy had somehow gotten lucky enough to get the same ability as me without being related to me or this guy was in fact the ancestor that Skar was speaking of.

I was almost distracted so much that I didn't see the fist of one of the men coming towards my face. I ducked under it and shoved dicer, in my right hand, right into his gut causing him to yell out before falling to the ground dead and cold. Another one charged at me with a katana and swung down at my head. I blocked the blade with slicer and slashed across his abdomen with dicer causing him to clutch his stomach, this would be his final mistake. I would then take dicer and stab right into the crown of his head causing him to die instantly. I continued charging chakra into my knuckles as the battle raged on around me, I guess this combat think wasn't too bad, it was just about as hectic as the restaurant got during rush hour.

The battle was going in the Dovahkiin's favor. We had lost one soldier, but the enemy force was reduced to 20. We had slain 180 of them, with only losing one man. The thrill of battle raged through my very soul, exhilarating my every movement. As I turned to greet a group of attackers behind me, I released the built-up chakra in my throat into one of my favorite shouts. "Fuus Ro Da!" I shouted at them. A huge ball of wind formed and flew at them, sending about 4 of them careening backwards by about 30 feet and causing deep lacerations in all of them. This battle was over. The other Dovahkiin finished off the last couple soldiers, and we went over to assist with the other battle. I wondered is Zenshi had figured out who this man really was yet.

---

The blonde-haired man was taking amusement out of the battle before him, effortlessly slaying multiple enemies with each stroke of his blade. The battle was drawing to a close. There were roughly twenty soldiers left on each team now, and Zenshi still stood alive. The Dovahkiin would almost be here and ready to clean up the remaining forces so the rebels wouldn't lose anymore soldiers.

Spoiler:

290/320

I continued fighting and after dispatching two more soldiers simultaneously with a knife to each of their throats I spun them around in my hand and cracked my knuckles and grinned mischievously before yelling out to my comrades in war "Everyone on my side get at least 30 feet away from me or risk dying very painfully!" Immediately after saying this I punched an on coming soldier and while he was on my fist ran him into the remaining soldiers. Once in the center I slammed him into the ground causing a crater to form, with his body in the center and the rest of the troops tumbling in. I lept out of the crater and felt the chakra build up in my throat and mouth and then I began shooting boiling water out of my mouth into the pool. As the water made contact I could hear them screaming, that was until the water covered their heads then it went silent. I continued spraying until the pool was full and there were nothing but bodies remaining, charred from the water. I coughed slightly as this was the first time I ever tried this move, but it obviously worked.

Spoiler:

120/160

The Dovahkiin just reached the blonde man and his rebel forces just as we saw the final attack that won the battle. My apprentice, Zenshi Kenko, created a crater in the ground with a punch. He then filled the hole with scorching-hot water, and caused many of the enemies to fall in, instantly being cooked alive. We had one this fight, and I was now curious to see how things would unfold.

The blonde haired man approached Zenshi, "Name's Shogun Kenko. Have we met before, kid?" He appeared deeply confused at the display before him, as though he had not seen another man use boil-release before other than himself. "What's your name?" As he asked this question, I pleaded to Zenshi in my mind, "Don't. Blow. Our. Cover."

I was surprised by the random interrogation of the commander that was also my ancestor and I looked to him and almost told him my actual name, that would've blew me and Skars cover, I had to come up with something, anything else. I began to speak while saluting him jokingly "Zenshi Dickerhoof sir!" I kept the most serious of all faces I've ever done but on the inside was dying about to the name I just created for myself, I waited to see if he would buy it.

As Zenshi replied to Shogun's question, I felt the palm of my right hand smack into my forehead, as I looked down to the ground at my feet in embarrassment of my student. "Dicker..hoof?" I thought to myself, "Out of all the names.." My thoughts regarding Zenshi were interrupted by this man addressing me next. "And you, I don't think I've ever seen you before. Are you a new commander sent from the Oasis, my friend? Ah, of course you are. But hell, you performed your duties to the letter. I'm glad you understand who you take your orders from. Usually the new Dovahkiin commanders are a tad headstrong when they first get here. And.. why did you just hit yourself in the head? You ok, scout?" he looked troubled by my most recent action in response to me pupil. "I'm fine, there was a bug. I missed it though unfortunately," I decided to go along with the roll I had apparently walked into as a commander or some kind of elite soldier, "And how goes the battle here, sir? I had just come through the village itself but hours before the battle occurred, and it was ablaze. In ruins." He looked down, troubled. "Aye, that was the result of their first raid. The rest of my men are in camps like this surrounding the city to drive the enemy back before they can cause any more damage to the village itself, to ease the repairing process. The war shall soon be over though, my friend, so rejoice. For tomorrow we make our final assault on the Arashi forces!" he said with a shout of triumph, boosting the morale of the men around him, easing their beaten-down grimaces of pain. The final battle.. that could only mean one thing. I hoped Zenshi would begin to figure out this man soon, because I feared out time here was drawing to a close.

I chuckled as my sensei facepalmed my name choice, he never specified what it had to be just something other than my real one. I then listened to my ancestor give his speech about the upcoming final battle, and if I had learned anything from Morigakure history in the academy it was that when the final battle between the two village occurred the village ceased to exist. I had yet to learn what I needed from my ancestor and obviously my time to figure it out was running short. What the hell was he supposed to be teaching me?!

I frowned as the man spoke of the final assault. If the war was about to be decided, then I knew what would come next. This war never had an end, if I remembered correctly from my childhood, because I remember seeing coverage on it in the news when I was very small. Perhaps it was even around the time that I had entered the Chuunin Exams. But soon after, the greatest mystery of Morigakure was going to occur. The village itself would cease to exist, and I had a feeling Zenshi and I were about to find out why. We would be the only two people in this world to know exactly what happened to the village, the village I had rebuilt from mere seeds.

I looked to Zenshi and said condescendingly, "Perhaps it's best we retire to our tent, paigeboy? We need rest for the upcoming struggle." Shogun seemed to nod in agreement with me, as he then turned to his men and shouted, "Everyone, drinks on me tonight!" All the men cheered with enthusiasm. This guy knew the way to win a friend over. "And of course you'll both be coming too? Our assault with occur a few days from now, sleep can be done after celebration!" I nodded and nudged Zenshi with my fist. "Aye, we shall," I said with a grin. It had been awhile since I had had a good drink, this would be much needed.

A celebration you say? Now that's my kind of post battle activity! I'm sure there wouldn't be many woman but there's nothing wrong with a good ole drinking sesh with your bros. I punched the kage back jokingly, hurting my fists in the process, this man was strong as hell if that's all it took to hurt my hand. I followed the people into the tent and there was nothing but the smell of cheap grade military food and mead, an odd combo indeed. I think these troops deserve a good meal so before I start drinking I think I'm gonna whip up something that'll help them in the upcoming battle. Something high in carbs and of course it would taste much better than the seasoned shit they've been eating the entire war. I tapped Skar on the shoulder and said to him "I'm heading to the kitchen, save some mead for me buddy." I then waded through the sea of drunk soliders and eventually made it to the kitchen. Even an ancient one felt like a save haven to me.

I nodded and laughed as Zenshi told me what he was about to do, "Of course! I can't make any promises though, kid." I left my student's side to head for the mess hall tent. I didn't really feel like drinking anything tonight with the men, as I had been sober for quite some time, but perhaps a little relaxing would do me well? I was interested to see my pupil drunk however, I had a feeling it would keep me entertained for quite awhile. He was pretty stupid outside being drunk, so it should come out to be an interesting experience. Stupid, but he had spirit. It had been a good experience teaching this boy so far, and it made me think of Ai. Ai had been in Morigakure for some time, fighting in the Chuunin Exams, which I would be returning to right after this event with Zenshi. I wished she was doing well, for I had no idea how she was doing in the competition while I was in this state. I would be leaving here soon with the Hebikage, the Shadow of Snakes, to view the final match of the Exams, for his own son had made it into the finals. I could only hope for the same with Ai. After the Exams, she would be on the same par as Zenshi, even if she didn't win, she would still have more fighting experience. And finally after that, we could begin her training as well.

Escaping in my own thoughts, I reached the mess hall more quickly than I expected. The men were already drinking, eating fancy dishes. Dishes oddly intricate.. food no common soldier should be eating. Wait.. oh, right. Zenshi had gone to the kitchen, this had to be because of him. Grinning, I sat down at a table, and immediately was given a drink by a comrade. Shogun was already drinking as well, at a much larger table than most, sitting in an elevated chair most likely to remind his subordinates of his superiority. "A toast! To freedom!" He held his glass up into the air, and the rest of the men cheered. Tonight would be one to remember.

I looked around the kitchen and was given odd glares by all the soldiers I simply put on my meanest war face and yelled to them "You're all dismissed! The kitchen is my jurisdiction now and there's nothing you can do to keep me out of it!" The cooks looked around and simply shrugged, they obviously didn't care that someone else would take their duty from them. They left the kitchen leaving it all to me, perfect, time to give these soldiers a meal they would never forget, they deserve the best for their last meal.

I started by getting a small pot of rubbing alcohol and dropped slicer and dicer in it to disinfect them from the battle earlier. While they sat in it I prepared my garb, I put on an apron and a small chefs hat. Then I drew my blades from the pot and dried them off before beginning my meal. I needed something heavy in carbs and starches so the obvious choices were potatoes and pasta, that would have to do. I got enough pasta and potatoes for the entire troop in the mess hall tent and began working. I performed a single handseal and shot enough boiling water from my mouth to fill an industrial sized pot and dropped the pasta in and stirred it while throwing in salt and other basic spices to the noodles. As I waited for those to cook I began cutting up every potato with slicer and dicer. My speed with the knives were blinding and I was able to get every one cut into small chunks. It seemed there was no way to cook all of them in one load in the small military oven so I would have to improvise with chakra.

I seasoned the potatoes with salt, pepper, and a variety of other herbs including the crushed wolf tooth from the mission Skar, Ai, and I went on, might as well test it now. I took the potatoes out back and improvised a small stand made out sticks along with a pit below it surrounded by rocks. I preformed handseals and blew out a small tuft of fire on the collection of sticks below the tray and it eventually spread to a roaring fire. I periodically would flip the potatoes until they were browned perfectly, who needs fancy ovens when you have creativity and chakra.

I took the potatoes inside and set them down and began to prepared the sauce for the pasta. I put in tomato paste, cut up tomatoes, oregano, garlice, and some more of the wolf tooth seasoning. I then whipped out a vial of the Kenko family special sauce and kissed the vial before dumping a small amount of it into the sauce, but that's all it would take. The meal was finished, I told the actual kitchen crew to prepare plates for the me and bring them to the dining hall. I cleaned off my knives and sheathed them as well as removed the hat and apron and began to head back to the mess hall tent. I entered and my food had already arrived and everyone seemed to be enjoying it, I would test it for myself.

I sat down next to Skar and greeted him with a pat on the shoulder before I began eating my own meal, I never cease to impress myself, It was delicious. I then got my first glass of mead and took a few drinks from it. I hadn't had a drink in forever, it was good to have one again. I continued to eat and drink with the men as the night continued, it was sure to be a good time.

Pounding, pounding... each beat sent a shrill of pain down my spine, causing me to grimace in pain. Each beat was so loud, I thought my ears would trickle blood. I opened my eyes, and the world seemed blurry. I sat up and clutched my head with my hand, hoping the pressure would ease the pain. I had a terrible, throbbing headache. What happened last night? I couldn't recall anything from the night before past when Zenshi had sat down beside me. I went to hoist myself out of my cot with my right hand, but my hand hit something. What was that? Was there something in the bed with me? I looked to either side of me to see two women. One was blonde and fairly young, and the other had black hair. "That's why I stopped drinking.." I thought to myself. I carefully snuck out of the tent, throwing a silk shirt and pants on with a belt, and sliding out of the entrance to not wake up the women. I stumbled through the camp, running into several page-boys running to and fro their masters. I found the water trough, and dunked my head into it. I splashed water up onto my face, waking myself up and clearing my eyes. The cool water eased the pain of the headache. I looked up to see Zenshi on the other side of the water trough, doing the same. "Rough night."

My vision slowly returned to me and when it finally did I was laying on something...something soft. I touched the ground and realized it was the grass, so I was outside was I? Damn that was a crazy night, I couldn't remember anything from it at all. I touched my head as a pounding pain formed, fucking hangovers. I then got a cold chill throughout my body and when I looked down....would you look at that, I was in my underwear. I sat up and could hear the roaring of a river nearby and just thinking about the cold water on my face made me feel better so I decided to get up and go make it a reality. As I stood up I looked around me and saw the sleeping half naked bodies of about 6 different woman. I smiled to myself and thought "You still got it Kenko." I walked a short distance to the river and began splashing the water on my face and out of no where I heard the voice of Skar come from across the river. I looked up at him and grinned before saying to him sarcastically "Nah just had a night in with the kids and the wife, watched some riveting television programs. You wouldn't believe the exciting part, a light bulb blew out in the family room! We all jumped and had a good laugh, it was enthusing!" I laughed at my own joke before continuing to splash my face, keeping my ears open to the kages response.

I laughed softly to myself as Zenshi made his sarcastic remark. The stupidity of the joke did well to ease the pain of the throbbing headache for a few brief moments at least. After turning to retrieve my weapons from my tent, I noticed that the ladies had woken up and left. What were their names, I wonder? Oh well, no use troubling myself over women who would die soon anyway. Speaking of dying, today would be the day. The final assault on the enemy forces. I needed to speak to Shogun right away, there was something I had seen on the map in the Dovahkiin tent the day before that had spiked my curiosity, and had even made me worry.

As I got to the general's tent, it was surrounded by guards. As soon as they noticed my wings, they stepped aside. Apparently being a Dovahkiin granted me special clearance around here. I walked in, still hoping Zenshi was right behind me. Shogun was hunched over a table, with a map laid out over it. Kunai and shuriken were pinned into the map, markind friendly and enemy forces and encampments. "Ah! Good to see you, friends! I trust your night was well enough?" he asked with a grin, "Have you come to check in on the battle strategy for this evening? The attack will be commenced at dusk, so be prepared."

I simply nodded as he spoke, not interested in conversation at the moment. That was not what i was here for. I was here for answers. I leaned in closer to the map, and all of my fears were realized. I looked closely, and my breath escaped me as I choked on a knot in my throat. There were kunai, marking friendly units, littering the area around Harikengakure. I questioned the man, "Sir, remind me, why did we launch an assault on Harikengakure as well?" He looked at me with a surprised expression, obviously taken back by the question. "Well, son. The world we live in is a funny place, full of unforgiving people. If you don't kill them first, they will kill you. There was recently a new Shiokage put in place in the Hurricane as the result of the former passing on, and I tend on taking advantage of this new weakness, and taking the village for myself," he answered confidently. By the gods above.. the man was a sociopath. So, by his excellence in the field of leading, the man was addicted to warfare, obviously not caring about the lives of others by sending them into pointless combat, disrupting peace. I wanted to hit him, but I didn't want to blow our cover. I looked to Zenshi, anger filling my eyes, hoping and praying that he would mind his anger as well.