Chapter 42.1- One Thousand Hands

It took weeks for word to return from Konoha. That was, in reality, not a long time. Messenger hawks flew slowly and we had sent this one weighed down with three bodies- Omoikane, Inukuro, and Choni, and with news of our victory and the losses we had incurred in claiming such victory. Izuku’s body remained in Uzume’s possession. She refused to hand it over, and none of us had been willing to force it from her. Even with her eyes covered by a thick layer of bandages and gauze, she had one hell of a glare.

But when the word did come, it was far from what we wanted to hear. “Congratulations. Your victory is acknowledged. Maintain position and await reinforcements. Do not push further into Suna. Inform command if anything changes” That was it. That was the whole message. I had no idea what game Hiruzen was playing here, but it was doing little to endear him to me. We had the chance now. Suna was bloodied. We could march in. Take a border town or two. Create an outpost for future Konoha forces while heading East towards the capital and crippling their economic base for this war. We did not want to be done.

“What do we do?” Kizuru turned to me and asked. I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to damn the orders and make Suna pay. But no matter how badly I wanted to, all I could think of was Izuku’s blank smile as I carved his eyes out of his eyelids and put them in Uzume’s head. He was dead. So was Choni. So was Omoikane,

“We obey the orders we’ve been given. We stay put, and we scout. We keep an eye on what Suna does next. If another force enters the Land of Rivers, we have to be the first to know” I said, and I ignored the way Shika let out a relieved sigh. She knew me well. She knew what I had been tempted to do just now, and it did bring some joy knowing that even if she wasn’t in support, she would have backed me regardless- such was the loyalty of a Nara.

“Yes Captain” Kizuru said with a salute, heading back towards the rooms. Mud release had also come with other benefits. The ability to turn the ground into mud and then shift it according to my will meant that the hole in the ground that we’d been forced to call home had now grown enough space to be considered a proper underground bunker in every sense of the word. I even had managed to save a room for myself to use as medbay/ lab.

That was where I headed immediately as we dispersed into our various groups.

“What did the hawk say?” She asked.

“Nothing unexpected. Just to maintain position and make sure we report if Suna gets on the move again.” He told me her as he moved to her seated form and began to inspect the bandages.