Chapter 25: Interlude 3: The Barracuda

I had a fearsome reputation, one earned with pain and blood and corpses. “The Barracuda,” they called me, for my size and viciousness and my summoning animal. I may not have been one of the Seven Swordsmen, mostly because of my focus on jutsu, but as a veteran and Jonin Captain I was just as feared.

But while my size, and power, and viciousness may have made me famous, it was my intelligence that brought me victory. I would use my barracudas to scout enemy ships, plan meticulously and use every advantage I could.

Of all things, I most hated going into a situation without knowledge. I'd rather incompetent subordinates, untrustworthy allies and bad weather at sea than to be entering into a situation I knew nothing about. And right then, as I led the Kirigakure Sixth Assault Company in an invasion of Uzushiogakure from the deck of my ship, the Red Maw, I was full of hatred.

Two years ago, we knew what was happening with Uzushio, knew the strength of their men and navy. But then more and more of our raids didn't come back. After a few months, there was a survivor, a chunin who reported, injured, to the Mizukage about weapons “tearing apart our men with the same ease they tore apart the air, accompanied by the sound of thunder.”

The Mizukage had him executed for cowardice, but the tale spread. One year ago, I heard whispers that we tried some asinine plan to spread a plague. Uzushio and Wave went into quarantine for a while, and we received reports that Senju Tsunade was spotted traveling there, but we didn't even hear rumors of the mass casualties you'd expect from those Plaguebearer bastards.

And now that fucking bastard the Mizukage decided it was the “best possible time to attack”. That we would “destroy those Uzumaki shits once and for all!” Gods, how I wished we didn't decide everything based on strength in this fucking world. Maybe then, my ass-hat of a brother wouldn't have become Mizukage.

But that is not the case in this bloody, stinking, introduction-to-hell that we call life. And so there we were. Part of the greatest invasion fleet ever, certainly the largest fleet of ninja. All Seven of the Seven Swordsmen, and a hundred other names that evoked fear and terror. And all I could do was worry, worry about what we didn't know. Because if there's one thing I learned, what you don't know does kill you.

Just as I was about to order the sails taken in a bit, I started hearing a thunderous ripping sound and explosions and screams behind us on the starboard side. Looking back, I saw destruction raining down, approaching over the water like the leading edge of raindrops in a storm. Masts falling, sails afire, ships floundering. The screams of men started to reach me, and I screamed out too.

“All water jutsu users, on my mark, shield. Ready! MARK!” I cast out my strongest shield too, and screamed at a nearby genin to go get that bastard Jinchuriki. Maybe I'd be thanking my brother for saddling me with the little psycho after all. Moments later, they returned at a run.

“Get a shield up. Strong as you can or we're fucked!” I shouted while seeing the armada, the largest gathering of warships I'd ever seen, just sodding collapse through the gaps in our shield techniques.

Thankfully that prick of a Jinchuriki obeyed without his usual whining or lip, and in an unbelievably potent flare of chakra our ship was encased in a sea-blue dome. I could still see the impact as whatever the hell those Uzushio whore-sons were using impacted, but at least it wasn’t hitting me or my men. Every now and then the shield buckled in with the echo of an explosion, and the Jinchuriki's face wass growing more and more strained with the weight of the shield jutsu.

Minutes that felt like an eternity passed, and eventually the rain ended. Just as I began to relax, massive holes appeared in the shield, and I had a moment for my last thought: 'I hope my brother's fucking happy now, that idiot.'