The Beginning Part 2

I did not enjoy being around Ishida much less have to work with him in preparing battle plans. Apparently the Kage was not aware of this as he had sent me to the Southern Empire to help Ishida with the preparations for the upcoming Campaigns. Since the South was the only part of the Empire that touched the rest of the ninja world, it would be the South that would be leading the attacks. The rest of the Empire would follow their lead.

I'm sure the Kage thought he was being smart in sending me to help, two Generals had to be better than one after all, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to work with Ishida.

"What do you think, Ai?" Ishida asked me. He was looking over at me from across the table, coffee and cake laid out for us. My two assistants, Privates Kamata Haruka and Hanari Eiko, stood behind me. Eiko was starting to shake from having to stand there for so long. I was sure she was begging for me to finally touch my coffee.

"I am afraid you are going to have to be more specific, Ishida," I replied. "Are you talking about our war plans or the food? We have talked more about cuisine than we have about war."

"Ah, but we will have plenty time for that," Ishida promised. "You are a guest of mine, Ai. Enjoy yourself. You've never been to the Southern Isles, have you? It's a wonderful place. I suggest going there at least once before you die."

"Maybe I will." I finally took a sip of my coffee. Both he and I knew that that was a lie. I would never get a break from my duties long enough to do something like that. "But now is not the time to be planning a vacation."

"Yes, yes, I know what you are going to say." Ishida sighed and set his empty dishes aside as he laid a map out onto the table. "We're planning a war, not a holiday. You really are a workaholic, Ai. How are you ever going to find a man willing to marry you if work is the only thing you can talk about?"

"I have no intentions of marrying, Ishida, and quite frankly that is none of your business." I set my untouched cake and cup of coffee aside as I stood to look over the map. I pointed to the border between the Empire and the Land of Earth.

"I would suggest with focusing our manpower here, don't you agree? As you can see, the Land of Earth is the only continuous mass of land that the Empire is connected to, other than the Land of Lightning of course, but the Land of Earth also shares borders with all these other countries, see?" I traced the Land of Earth's southern and eastern border. "If we were to take the Land of Earth then also these other, smaller countries, then we would have a gateway to the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. After taking those three major countries, that would just leave the Land of Lightning to the northeast and the Land of Water to the southeast."

Ishida was quiet as he thought over my proposal. His finger tapped his chin, then he pointed to the Land of Lightning. "Wouldn't it be better to go after the Land of Lightening and the Land of Earth at the same time? That way we would have two battlefronts and once those countries fall we can go after the Land of Fire from either side. That country is the strongest in terms of military strength." He looked up at me, grinning. "We have more than enough men in the Imperial Army to take on two battlefronts. And it also weeds out the possibility of the Land of Lightning coming to the Land of Earth's aid."

"They haven't done that in the past, so why would they do that now?"

Ishida chuckled and poked my nose. I moved away, giving him an annoyed look. "Always expect the improbable my dear."

"Alright then, what about the Land of Wind? They could attack our army from the back while they were helping in attacking the Land of Fire. What do we do about that then?"

"The idea I came up with was that we could send in a third set of men through the conquered Land of Earth to attack the Land of Wind, then have them go and support those in the Land of Fire if they were to succeed before them. If not, those in the Land of Fire could go to help those in the Land of Wind once the Land of Fire falls." He looked up at me. "What do you think, Ai?"

I had to admit, it was a foolproof plan. "I like it." I nodded. "We will go with your plan."

Ishida smiled. "That just leaves the Land of Water then."

I dove right into the problem. "The issue with the Land of Water is that it's so isolated. Its main island is surrounded by a bunch of other, smaller islands. And by the time that we're ready to go after it the country should have knowledge of what's going on and will have prepared accordingly. My best guess is that they'll use the surrounding islands to fortify the main island, protecting their hidden village from any direct attacks. On top of that, our military is strong in land invasions but not naval invasions so we're at a disadvantage."

"But remember that we definitely outmatch the Land of Water in terms of manpower," Ishida told me. "The Empire's population is more than five times greater than that of the Land of Water. In the end, I think what will help us is our resilience."

"Do you really want to put your faith into that alone, Ishida? A good number of men could die if they were to sink one of our ships."

"We will worry about the specifics of the attack when we get there. We haven't even conquered one country. The Land of Water is still a ways away."

I looked at him then nodded in agreement. He had me there as annoying as it was. "Let's talk about the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth then."

"General, I've brought you your dinner." I waved Eiko over to me, gesturing for her to set it down on the table beside me. I was going over the rough battle plans Ishida and I had come up with this afternoon, totally immersed in my work.

It had been easier than I thought to work with him. All of his proposals made were sound and he took the time to explain all of his ideas to make sure that I understood why he was doing something. Sure, it was irritating that his ideas were always better than mine were, but it would be selfish to force the entire army to go with the worse plan due to the sake of my pride. Ishida never actually made fun of me for it anyway. All he would said is, "That's a good idea, but don't you think this way would be better?" I was starting to understand why he had been chosen to be Askikaga's replacement.

"G-General?" Eiko murmured.

"Hm?" I grunted in reply, not looking up from the papers in my hands.

"General Ishida informed me that this dish is a specialty from his hometown, chicken in a red chile sauce." I looked up from the papers to look at the food in front of me. "Y-You haven't eaten a-anything all day, General...I-I know that I'm stepping out of my rights, b-but i-isn't planning a war hard to d-do if you don't eat?"

The girl was right. "I will eat in just a minute, Eiko. Thank you for your concern..." My voice drifted off when I looked over at the girl in question. Her pink hair was out of its bun and the top few buttons of her uniform were undone. My expression went cold. "Why are you out of uniform, Private?"

The girl jumped at my tone. "M-My apologies, G-General! I-I just thought t-that...w-well..."

"Whatever you thought you thought wrong." I stood up, setting the battle plans aside, and gripped her by her arm. "Come with me."

"Oh my, what did you do to that poor girl, Ai?" Ishida said with a grin on his face. He bit into some pastry that was only available in the Southern Empire, the powdered sugar sticking to the corners of his mouth. "You have a temper. She and her friend look absolutely terrified of you."

I didn't reply to him, instead choosing to continue putting the final touches of our battle plans so that we could send them to the Kage and other Generals. Eiko's hands shook as she set a cup of tea down for me, bandages covering the large bruise on her arm. I waved her away.

"When are we planning the first assault again?" I asked Ishida.

"In two weeks time. My men are already preparing for it." He tilted his head. "Will you be joining us in the first assault or will you be heading back to the Capital?"

"Kage-sama has given me orders to remain here with you." I couldn't imagine why as this wasn't my job, but I did have to follow his orders. "Is that fine with you?"

"Anything Kage-sama desires is my own desire," Ishida replied with an odd grin. For some reason my stomach went cold. "I look forward to having you on the battlefield with me."