Naruto: Tango with Death

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Looking at the two disarmed swordsmen, as well as Hideto who stood a few meters behind, I said, "That will be enough for today. Go help count our men."

They all nodded, and the crowd around us dispersed, meaning my goals were achieved. I wasn't just training myself, I could have done that anywhere, but doing it here, in front of everyone, helped set my superiority over the rest of the troops.

Men wouldn't follow a weak leader, and so the fastest way to earn the majority's support was to show my power.

After that, I returned to my tent, where I sat down to relax. A couple hours later, after night had fallen, everyone came back to give me their reports, following which I dismissed them, and teleported to Yami Mountain, leaving a single clone behind in case of an attack.

And while in Yami Mountain, I decided to slightly change the tasks of my clones. Instead of putting them all on researching Tenketsu, I spared two of them to train in Kenjutsu together, and another two in Taijutsu, putting an emphasis on controlling their blows so they wouldn't dispel one another.

So as of now, I had four clones working on my techniques, four clones to research my Tenketsu, and a final one in the human world, meditating and taking care of normal matters, and there to alarm me of any potentially dangerous threats.

The night passed, and early in the morning, all of my officers entered my tent.

"Commander!"

I looked at the tired Tekuno, and asked, "Anything to report?"

Tekuno replied, "I fear the Land of water is about to attack. We have sighted a host of four hundred attacking east, six hundred attacking west, and a larger host of a thousand men coming for the camp. The situation… doesn't look very good, commander."

The officers looked concerned, but I calmly asked, "What about that three tailed brat?"

Tekuno stuttered, "T-the Mizukage? He wasn't seen anywhere."

I nodded, it would seem Yagura, the Mizukage and the Three Tails' Jinchuriki was not too keen on leading his troops personally. Probably sent the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist… although I guess it should be six, considering Kisame still had Samehada.

"Commander, I don't mean to give orders, but maybe we should make a strategic retreat."

I looked at Kunugi, the healer, who had just spoken, and asked, "And what would happen then? We are already too close to the heart of the country to my taste."

He continued, "But we can't face them! Even if we kept all of our troops in the camp, I'm not sure we could stop the one thousand attackers, if the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist are leading."

His words got a few nods, making me snicker, "If you think like that, then of course you aren't going to go very far. But if you follow my instructions, then pushing them back isn't impossible. But to make one thing clear, I would rather have one less man, than one more pussy. So if you are scared and aren't ready to give your life, I'm giving you one chance to piss off without facing martial court."

My words heavily fell on their ears, and I could see all of them thinking. But a second later, the honourable Samurai exclaimed, "This may not be my land, I have sworn an oath, and a real man never goes back on his words."

With him starting, the others quickly followed, and lastly, even Kunugi sighed, "I didn't mean to desert… What should we do?"

I nodded, and quickly said, "I will be holding the fort against the large part of their troops, while you will be splitting to get the two sides. I am leaving the making of those teams to you."

Hideto questioned, "Is that it?"

I replied, "Of course not. But first, I want to know the teams. You have a minute."

They all looked at each other, and as they were adults, in under a minute, the two teams were made.

One team had Rira, Kiko, Yada, Shun and Kunugi, while the other had Izumo, Tekuno, Hayama, Jotaro and Hideto.

Analysing the two teams, I quickly came up with a plan of actions, and said, "Team one, Rira and Kiko will use their bending and half the benders to stop the troops east. Shun, you will snipe them from behind. You three will hold them for a couple of minutes. This is the hard part. You must do your best to hold on, even if many of your men die."

"When they get confident and throw themselves in, Yada will charge in with the rest of the benders, and surround their men. If they have withheld any troops from the first assault, they will take you in a pincer attack, and that's where Kunugi comes with the last of the troops, the Shinobis. If they try to pincer our second attack, you pincer them. If they already threw all their forces, you assassinate the leaders."

I turned to the other team, and continued, "Team two, you will feign heading for the host east, but will turn around midway, and come back to the camp to fuck their main army from behind."

Hideto asked, "What about the eastern army? And why not just stay here?"

I replied, "You won't stay here because they have spies watching. I will send a clone to help clear the spies around you and make them believe you will really attack east. Then, when they send their full force at the weakened camp, we will deal a pincer attack. As for the host east, not only is it the weakest, they also are taking a much longer route. If you don't fuck things up, then we will attack them in time."

Tekuno asked, "How many troops will be assigned to each group then?"

Crossing my arms, I replied, "Six hundred go with Team 1, four hundred with Team 2."

Tekuno scratched his head and said, "You intend to make a pincer attack… with only you on one side?"

I nodded and explained, "Kiri knows of my age, approximately anyway, and the natural assumption to make about me is that I will grow arrogant because of my power, and think I can resist their 1000 men strong army by myself. I will let their spies report that I am alone in the camp, while making sure my clan isn't seen with your group. They will easily believe this, leading them to attack me faster, to get rid of me, and that will allow you to stab them in the ass."

Shisui had told me to start relying more on others, but it didn't mean I had to hand out everything to my subordinates. I was still a strategic level Shinobi, I couldn't just sit back because of personal problems.

And so, now that everyone had their orders, they all hurried to execute them, deciding to put their trust in me.