Chapter 22: Cognomen

That afternoon, I watched as the Hokage gave a masterful performance, layering his Presence through his speech, building the forces up and improving their morale. Then, it was my turn. I stepped out, used a voice-amplification jutsu, and unleashed the full might of my chakra.

An eight year old was not that impressive, even if they were dressed in an impeccable robe. An eight year old with the chakra of a Kage? That was different. Kages weren't really human. I wasn't a kid, not that day. I was minor god of destruction that looked like one. And a visceral level, they knew it.

I didn't have the subtlety of the Hokage. Uzushiogakure didn't have the subtlety of Konohagakure, to be honest. So I showed them what we did have. Raw, naked, beautiful power.

“People of Konohagakure, I am Uzumaki Daichi, Consul to your great city. I look out on this mighty force assembled, and I feel shame and jealousy.” I projected those emotions, and bowed my head a bit, waiting until they just started to become uncomfortable.

“I am shamed that I cannot join you,” I continued, “and jealous that you will get to face the curs that call themselves Kiri, Kumo, Iwa.” Now I was projecting disgust and contempt towards those peoples who would face us.

I let that sink in for a short moment before continuing.

“Kiri, Kumo and Iwa,” I intoned again, raising the level of contempt. “They are not like us. They are not like the prosperous sailors of Wave and Uzushiogakure. They are not like the noble, hardworking citizens of this beautiful Village in the Leaves, burning bright with the Will of Fire. They do not have any great friendship, like that between our great peoples.” As I spoke I was projecting pride and love for home.

“And these dogs are jealous. We all know this, that they are jealous. It is easy to understand; they have much to be jealous of, do they not?” I waited for the crowd to roar assent. “But rather than be noble and improve themselves, as we have worked so hard to do, they act like pigs that wish the whole world were filth.” I layer in yet more contempt for the enemy.

“And so they try and attack Uzushiogakure, for being what they are not - for being friends with Konohagakure!” I allowed the crowd to erupt into boos. “And in time, if ever they are able, they will attack Konohagakure, and bring war and ruin to you and your families.” My voice was softer now, drawing them in. Then, quickly, I ramped up the emotions again, filling the crowd with rage, the urge to destroy these vermin, to wipe them from the earth and salt the land they once had, mixed with that patriotic love for the home and family and country.

“But, my friends! You will not allow this, will you!” A roar of 'NO!'.

“You will not allow these dogs any victory.” I whipped the crowd with energy, action, exultation, feeding the emotions I was feeling back to them.

“And together, Whirlpool and the Leaf are INVINCIBLE. We will meet them. And. They. Will. BE. DESTROYED!” Full of the sensation of inevitable victory, the crowd was in a frenzy, and so I motioned for them to quiet for a moment, using my Presence to enforce it.

“So, Sons and Daughters of Konohagakure, go with my thanks, my adulation, and yes, even my jealousy,” I said as I filled them with the pride I had in Uzushiogakure's military, my father, keeping my family and people safe.

“Go, Sons and Daughters of Konohagakure, and EXULT! FOR YOU WILL HAVE A GLORIOUS KILLING! FOR THE HOKAGE! FOR KONOHAGAKURE! FOR THE ALLIANCE!”

Having filled them with a sense of victory and my own satisfaction at a well given speech, I bowed low, like I might to my lord, and held it for almost a minute as their commanders gave orders to get the ninja marching while the rest of the crowd went nuts chanting “The Alliance! The Alliance!” Then I straightened and turned to the Hokage who had partially blocked the noise using a wind jutsu.

“That was the first speech you've ever given, wasn't it,” he half asked, half commented.

“Was it that apparent, Hokage-sama?” I asked, worried that I might have fucked it up. He chuckled and shook his head.

“No, not at all. You know, one day, you'll do something ridiculous like this, and I'll be so used to it I won't even be surprised.”

I grinned cheekily. “I hope not, Hokage-sama. If I became predictable, I wouldn't be nearly so interesting. And what is life without some interesting people in it? Boring. I would never wish such a thing on you, Hokage-sama.” He laughed a bit at that.

“I could do with a bit of boredom, occasionally, but perhaps you are right. You know, Daichi, it is a shame you were not born a citizen of Konohagakure. Had you been, I think I would be able to rest easy in the selection of my successor.”

“You flatter me too much, Hokage-sama.”

“No, I don't think I do,” he mused. “But, now to business. I need to continue to organize the rest of the troops, and begin sending them out in companies,” he spoke as a gaggle of upper ranked figures arrived.

“Ah, I will leave you to it, Hokage-sama, with my thanks for your efforts. Goodnight, sir.” I bowed, received his nod, and left, deciding to check in with Sachiko before heading back to the Consulate.

“Ah, Sachiko! How are things going?” I asked when I found her at the edge of a room with a number of busy chunin and jonin.

“Very well, Daichi-sama. Daichi-sama, may I ask you a question?” she asked with face that was equal parts serious and worried-puppy.

“You just did, Sachiko, but yes, you know I've told you to ask me and to tell me whatever you want to.” I was very interested; this was unusual behavior for the normally quite proper (at least as far as you could tell) Sachiko.

“Daichi-sama, are you actually human? You're not a god, right?” I burst into laughter. She asked so seriously, so I decided to answer.

“No, I am a human, Sachiko. At least as far as I am aware, I am simply a person who loves life more than most, and so life loves me more than most. Or perhaps it is the other way around, or a circle that reinforces itself, neh?” I replied with a smile to her faint confusion as she parsed my statement.

I patted her on the back, too short to easily reach her shoulder. “Anyways, Sachiko, don't work too hard! I need to go back and consult with Hikaru jii-san about my Pelican and preparations for the counter-attack. I trust you'll come back and get some food and sleep, ok? There was a great King who once said that Hunger and Exhaustion were the Enemy. I expect you to defeat them properly,” I ordered mock seriously.

“Understood, Daichi-sama,” she replied, eyes searching my face for some hidden secret. I just smiled warmly, innocently at her in return. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Sachiko.” With that, I left for the Consulate and more preparations.

========================================

The day of the attack dawned bright and clear, with a light wind. Perfect for Pelicans. As it reached around ten am, my Pelican was in position at the holding station about fifty kilometers away from the target. I was part of the Custom Pelican Wing. Off to the side, I had a video-seal that I was using to look at a surveillance feed from an oversight recon Pelican. I could see both the enemy and allied ships, and another feed of the map showed color-coded markers for all the ships and Pelican Wings in the area.

Sachiko stood behind me, watching; she still hadn't qualified on a Pelican, and I told her to remind me about getting that done soon. Ichirou wasn't even qualified to be present. I had sent one of the servants as a messenger to the Hokage's officers, and would be sending other reports as updates came in.

The time felt like it was dragging out forever, and I had the thought that this, today, would likely be the day that I killed my first man. I had tried with Hammer of God, but failed. This time, there would be no failure. I checked the Pelican's chakra levels again, then used a transmission seal to top it off. It was inefficient, sure, but it at least gave me something to do, and it couldn't hurt. Right as I finished, I heard a message from Kazuo-sama on the communicator.

“This is Uzumaki Kazuo, Lord of Whirlpool and Uzushiogakure. Today, we face enemies that would destroy us. Today, we will send them to the hells where they belong, and ensure our safety for generations. Launch the operation, and may the Gods look on with favor.” Maybe not that epic, but true words nonetheless.

A different voice, Hikaru jii-san's, reminded the Wing not to launch a strike before ordered. He had ended up in command of our Custom Pelican Wing based partially on his victory in the Pelican Tournament (using my air-to-air rounds), his own seniority within the Sealing Department (said department being responsible for all the Custom Pelicans in the wing, and whose members either piloted them themselves or had their retinue members do so), and partially because he had been the original advocate for aerial combat and drones.

I watched on the tactical map as the four strike Wings of the first wave approached the enemy fleet, then watched on the surveillance feed as the Pelicans opened fire.

It was amazing.

It was like watching a computer game, or the destruction of a petulant child's toys. The ships may as well have been sitting still as dozens of Pelicans strafed them, firing bullets and cannon rounds as they closed. I saw Pelicans dropping the underwater hunter-seekers while sails caught fire, masts collapsed, and people were cut down like wheat before an automatic harvester. I couldn't even imagine the carnage of what was effectively heavy machine-gun fire on a crowded warship, let alone the transports. It must have been hell though.

For the most part, the Pelicans were using the standard bullets mixed with elementally infused rounds, and heavy-explosive and cannister shells from the cannon-seals. All of these chewed through the ships' hulls like paper and inflicted horrendous casualties. But every now and then a pilot would be using something a bit more special.

One of the most visually stunning was a pilot who must have spent a fantastic amount of chakra on Star-burst seals. Somewhat similar to the Dragon's Breath seals I had made for my first fireworks show, the Star-burst fired off six Dragon's Breath with 90 degrees between each plume of brutally hot flame, shaped like an octahedron. Not content with that though, the Star-burst seal spun, filling a space forty feet wide with a whirling dervish of fiery destruction. A brutal weapon, but one that was quite beautiful to watch, it was designed to immolate ships and proved its worth.

Although not having as many cannon rounds equipped as other pilots, the Star-burst Pelican's pilot managed to catch a group of half a dozen transports and in a display of aerial efficiency, hit each as he passed. I doubt there were any survivors. This was just a small part of the pattern of destruction that enveloped the hundred-odd enemy ships.

This aerial attack, something that did so much damage, lasted less than a minute. It was surreal. As the Pelicans withdrew, some headed for base due to having expended all their ammunition already, I could see the people like ants running about on the ships, trying to put out fires and cut off wreckage to make the ships sea-worthy again. And then a minute later, while all that confusion had just gotten properly underway, I heard the report that the Pelicans were outside of the firing zone. Our Naval Fleet opened fire, and twenty seconds later the rounds began to impact.

If the Pelicans were destruction on quick wings, the Fleet was a remote rain of death, a miniature Armageddon. Each ship dropped thousands of rounds on the enemy every minute, chewing through hulls and the panicked shield jutsu that most ships presented. And unlike the Pelicans, this fire just did not let up.

As thirty seconds turned into a minute turned into three and then five, there were only a few ships remaining that weren't totally destroyed or burning to the waterline. Some few ninja attempted to escape overboard; we could not see the bodies of those underwater, but the ones running would only get a few dozen steps before a hunter-seeker caught them if the storm of bullets failes. The near-total destruction made sense; I estimated that the Fleet had dropped over a million .50 caliber bullets, a fifth of them infused with an element, and at least seventy-five thousand seals of variable payload from the cannon-seals.

But some very few ships did manage to survive. Here, there was one from Kumo surrounded by a miniature storm strong enough to blow away the testing bursts that kept up the pressure. There, one from Kirigakure surrounded by a massive shield of water. A ship from Iwa was guarded by a phalanx of earthen shields. Another, I think from some vassal-village, had mercifully escaped being targeted as they had cunningly fashioned a smoke-screen with the fumes of its burning brethren. But this, survivors, was not our goal no matter how worthy they had proved themselves in this holocaust. We wanted total destruction, as warning and propaganda.

And so we loosed our mightiest weapon; the Custom Pelican Wing that had been lavished with attention from our Seal-masters.

Five Pelicans were assigned to each of the surviving ships. My own group targeted the ship protected by the storm. If there was anything more impressive than the unleashed destruction of an expert Sealer, it was the unleashed destruction of five, all at the same time.

I'm not sure if it was the combination of awesome firepower, or some sort of seals interaction. I know that I had launched rounds that should have made a vicious firestorm large enough to cover a football field. And that was not what happened. As we five unloaded at that one ship, I noticed flashes from within the storm, and a moment later, a column of water a hundred feet tall exploded out of the sea. What was strangest though, was that it was glowing pink. I asked over the communicators if anyone was taking credit, but no one did, and we chalked it up to mystery.

As I leveled my Pelican out after the attack run, I glanced over at the surveillance feed to see how the others were faring. Another two targets had already been taken out, and as I watched, the fourth of the remaining ships, protected by the phalanx of Earth-Shields, was hit by a single seal of Hikaru jii-san's. A weapon he called it the gravity-shear field.

Basically, it worked by reorganizing the gravity in an area so that all of the gravity would be concentrated into one twentieth the volume as a set of narrow, expanding concentric rings. This meant that the pressure over one area would suddenly spike, pulping internal organs and destroying structures. The stripe-pattern over the water was very distinctive as the ship fell apart and the controlled shields collapsed as the users died.

The fifth ship though was where things got potentially hairy. The attack seemed easy at first; the lead Pelican launched a spread of shells that actually sealed away large holes out of the watery shield, and then followed it up with a pair of explosives that were strong to launch the water away in a massive shock-wave. What was revealed, though, was not just the expected destruction, but the formation of the Sanbi Jinchuriki's tailed beast mode, the Three-Tailed Turtle Biju.

As our Pelicans concentrated fire on it, keeping the Jinchuriki distracted and pained, a trio of Custom Pelicans that would normally be part of the reserve came out. This was a special unit even within the Custom Pelican Wing, designed for anti-Biju and Jinchuriki operations. As they approached, they each launched a projectile that formed a massive system of restraints.

Then one aimed carefully at the back and launched a seal-breaking seal to remove the Biju from the Jinchuriki's control. The Jinchuriki fell into the water, and the true Tailed Beast replaced the Tailed Beast Cloak. The Pelicans withdrew a bit while one equipped with communications seals and loud-speakers went forward.

After a few minutes of negotiation, the Sanbi consented to being sealed with the package of Biju Protective Seals in return for not attacking Uzushio or Whirlpool ships or coastal settlements. Apparently, it really just wanted to hang about on the bottom of the sea and relax for a century or two, so it wasn't a difficult deal to make.

With the battle done and history forever changed, our Pelicans, apart from the patrol for survivors, returned to base. After I activated my Pelican's reverse-summon array, I sat back and stretched, then turned to Sachiko and grinned.

“That's just the type of battle I like Uzushiogakure to be involved in. Total destruction of the enemy, and only some lost equipment on our side. Awesome, wasn't it?”

“It was.” She still seemed a bit stunned, so I decided to ask what she was thinking.

“Neh, Sachiko-chan, this is a great thing! A great achievement for Uzushiogakure. An enemy has just tried to attack us, and suffered ruin at next to no cost. What are you thinking that has you so contemplative?” She seemed to wake up a bit at that, and gave a light shake to her body before grinning faintly.

“Ah, I was just thinking, master, about what kind of name you'd like for yourself.” My only excuse for not understanding what she was getting at is that I was still a bit caught up in our victory, and the idea of what that meant for warfare in this benighted world.

“What do you mean? I already have a perfectly good name, Uzumaki Daichi.” She smiled a bit wider, and even laughed a touch.

“I meant, Daichi-sama, that you'll doubtless get some sort of cognomen out of this. After all, you were instrumental in inventing the Cyclone seals and the Pelican, weren't you? What do you think it will be? The Pelican of Uzushiogakure, maybe?” I blanched. Fuck if I would get such a lame name. The Pelican of Uzushiogakure indeed.

“No way! I refuse. I'll just say it was all Hikaru jii-san and Kazuo-sama,” I pouted. She laughed aloud, a rare thing for her, clear and pretty, and I just looked at her.

“I'm sorry master, *hahaha*, it's just, here you are, having just caused what I suspect was the single most unbalanced battle in history, and you're pouting. It's just too funny!” I had to laugh a bit at that too.

“That's alright, Sachiko-chan. And don't apologize for laughing; you have a very nice laugh. You should always feel free to laugh around me, especially when we're in private, ok? Especially if I get a lame name like the Pelican. That way at least one of us can enjoy it, and I can at least enjoy your laugh.”

“Yes, Daichi-sama,” she dead-panned, holding in her amusement again.

“Gah. Impossible. I think this is what Hikaru jii-san was telling me about, how women are impossible.” Her mask cracked.

Victory was truly mine that day.