Chapter 91: Searching and Scrambling
Loose dirt kicked up behind him as he backtracked the distance he'd covered after he left the confines of the Hidden Sound Village. There was a lot of ground to cover, a lot of ground to make up after his brief delay after the genjutsu leveled on his mind was broken, and Sasuke wasn't keen on letting any more distance be gained between himself and Itachi. Despite not actually standing in front of the man that his ambitions revolved around, despite the battle he fought that was confined only to his mind, Sasuke knew his brother had been near to him when it happened. Something within him knew with full certainty that Itachi was still within reach. Any fatigue he could have felt, should have felt given the exertions of the last day, was wholly ignored and long buried in the back of his mind.
The Mangekyo Sharingan that awakened in him after realizing his long awaited success was nothing but a fantasy was a small consolation for the opportunity that slipped through his fingers. Danzo Shimura, too, didn't quite stand up to the itch that still nagged the inside of the young Uchiha's skull. Maybe Danzo made the plans, more than once, to massacre his clan. Maybe it was he, and even the Third Hokage, that voiced the order to slaughter the Uchiha that wished to front a coup within the Leaf Village. Still, bringing an end to one of the masterminds of such a foul plot didn't blossom warmth within his chest. The ambition that he's been chasing for almost a decade was yet to be met with the triumph of victory. Itachi was Sasuke's prize. He cared not for whatever reasons his brother wished to give, he cared even less about the extraneous details that Danzo provided within their bout, and he didn't wish to entertain the mere thought of joining sides with the man he craved to kill with his own hands.
The pooling waters of the Land of Sound's rice fields glimmered and flashed in Sasuke's periphery under the evening Sun that only grew warmer the closer to the horizon it became. There wasn't any lingering around Danzo's body after Sasuke put an end to their briefly lived struggle. Once the man died, all that was needed was for the removal of the arm that still held the eyes of his dead clansmen, along with the transplanted eye that belonged to the cousin Sasuke could hardly remember. A single fire Fire Release ninjutsu saw to it that the body wouldn't be recognized and the horrific contents that the body once held was reduced to char and soot that blew away in the wind. If Sasuke focused on the lands around him, if he had the care to stop and put thought into his surroundings, he could have been able to acknowledge exactly where he sat in Orochimaru's country. Had he the wish, Sasuke could probably determine which farm he flew across and which compound that land hid beneath its inconspicuous surface.
No matter how swiftly Sasuke intended to pass through the land, it seemed Sasuke couldn't escape the grips of the Sound Village that was so thoroughly entwined within the roots of the former Land of Rice Fields. While the Uchiha could ignore the glimmering of the pooling farmland, he couldn't ignore the purple fatigues that stood within his path, nor could he turn his attention away from the glinting round lenses that were coyly pushed up the bridge of the nose they sat atop. The smirk that was poorly hidden by the pushing hand was an irritation that Sasuke couldn't escape, reminding him of the many times he had to hear grating words fall from that very same smirk. "I've always been confused what made Uchiha such physical specimen," he would say in a tone so utterly different from the day they met, "perhaps if there were more of your kind left, I would have found out already. A shame, I'll just have to wait until your suicidal mission reaches its end."
Kabuto always had something to say about what he would do when Sasuke came back and he had the opportunity to inspect it. The man never faltered when healing Sasuke's aches and pains after his training with Kimimaro, the others in the Sound Five, or when it was Orochimaru himself that stood across from him. Kabuto Yakushi was smart to always listen when the Lord of the Sound Village had an order to pass, but that never kept him away from sharing the dark and twisted thoughts that swam underneath his gray ponytail. When he met the boy with Team 7 in the Chunin Exams, his help was looked at with distrust, admittedly, but it was never because of blatant wrong doing. He and Naruto were naturally averse to new people, naturally distrustful, and that extended to the man that stood directly in front of Sasuke now.
If only that distrust hung around just a little longer.
The Uchiha slowed his quickly padding pace, despite his better thoughts of simply avoiding the twisted medic-nin altogether. Kabuto remained unmoved, even though Sasuke was coming in quicker than any would be comfortable receiving when standing unmoving upon the soft soil filled with wet grass that extended as the loose border of each ricefield. Heels dug deeper and deeper into the soft soil as the Uchiha slowed, painting the lower portion of his calves a dark brown as he stopped a few feet short of Kabuto. Sasuke leveled an intense glare onto the man before him, that glare hardening as he saw Kabuto's smirk grow more and more.
"Empty handed are we, Sasuke?" A quiet chuckle rolled through the man's throat for a moment, putting a pause to his words, but he quickly continued his japes without allowing so much as a word to come from the Uchiha. "Another day of the Uchiha clan remaining unavenged. How dour."
Sasuke's face snarled at Kabuto's voice, even more so at the words the sickly sweet voice sputtered out. The sword that remained strapped to Sasuke's back was quickly unsheathed, letting the blade gleam in the evening light as the water around them did as it came to rest next to Sasuke's leg. Occasional arcs of Lightning Release were reflexive, not done consciously but still properly reflecting the Uchiha's intentions if Kabuto wanted to taunt him any further. The man went untouched as Sasuke tutored under Orochimaru, the Snake wouldn't accommodate the murder of his most promising medical shinobi, but now Sasuke had no cares for how Orochimaru would feel if his pet's body drifted in the water at their sides.
"Testy today. Fine. Lord Orochimaru sent me to share a warm message with his precious student before you drift too far from our immediate communication." Kabuto's sickly voice dropped in an instant into a flat tone that slowly grew in its condescension. Much like Orochimaru, Kabuto was hard to understand if one was to merely listen to their voice. It was never clear how they really felt or what they were truly thinking. Tones and attitudes could switch so quickly on any whim and shift the mood of the conversation in an instant. Where Orochimaru did it to throw off anybody from his intentions for the sake of secrecy, it was easier to assume that Kabuto was merely a talented medical shinobi that was entirely unhinged.
"Lord Orochimaru sends his apologies that you were unable to apprehend your brother, but he offers a place at his side on the battlefield should you wish revenge on the village that put your clan to the knife." Kabuto closed his eyes as he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose again, another smirk spreading across his face. "Unless, of course, you wish to chase around your brother further. You've had such grand results, I'm sure you're just itching to get back to it."
The grip on his sword handle tightened as the plume of irritation erupted in his mind. His familiar friend of anger was rearing its head but Sasuke needed to focus on the words spoken. When sharing pertinent information, Kabuto always shared it in nuggets that kept him asking questions and goading the man for more information. Sasuke knew that Orochimaru was going to war but he was intentionally left out of any discussions when the topic came about. Orochimaru wanted to keep Sasuke focused on training and the Uchiha didn't care to fight against it as it was what he wanted, too. He could guess that the Sannin was turning his gaze on the Land of Fire, as he's always wanted, but that didn't change the fact that the Leaf Village could rebuff the Sound if push came to shove. Orochimaru was strong, Sasuke knew that intimately, but that didn't mean he could overtake an entire Great Shinobi Village. And who's to know how strong they've gotten over the years.
"There won't be a place at his side much longer if all you plan to do is march south and break through the wall. Is that all, Yakushi?" He knew it wasn't, it never was. He also knew that Orochimaru knew the truth of Sasuke's words long before Sasuke shared them with his pet, so there was something he was missing.
"Maybe if it was the whole of the Leaf that we fought, you would be right, Uchiha. With armies from the west and the north calling for the Leaf's destruction, it is more a race to see who takes the honor of reducing the Leaf to ashes more than anything." How much had he missed? Over three years, he knew that much, but he didn't realize how much the world had shifted in that time. Years of peace within the Elemental Nations, a generation being born and growing up, made it hard for Sasuke to expect the world to throw itself into a war. However, it seemed that the world was intent on throwing itself at his old village all at once. "Lord Orochimaru wanted to make it clear that it was up to you. You can continue on to the Rain Village for Itachi or you can come south. I remind you, however, that it is Orochimaru's body that you gamble with."
His eyes narrowed at the man again, not appreciating the silent laughter that Kabuto basked in at his own comment. Perhaps, technically, it was agreed that Sasuke was to give up his body for Orochimaru once his business with Itachi was settled. He knew that the seal that marred the skin on his neck was what Orochimaru would utilize to ensure the agreement was made, no matter how hard he fought against it, but it was always a problem that Sasuke had to push away for another time. It was hardly useful worrying about a problem that would only occur after another was settled and Itachi was too big of a problem to look past.
"Bold words to come from a pet such as you. I'd remind you to speak with respect in front of your bette , but I fear that my words would be wasted on a dead man." Sasuke's eyebrows rose in surprise just as Kabuto's did. The deep, powerful voice that interrupted the less than pleasant conversation wasn't once that the Uchiha was familiar with. Sasuke didn't search his surroundings for the owner of the voice, his ears properly heard where it emanated from, but that realization only brought more confusion to him. The voice came from the same direction that Kabuto stood in relation to Sasuke; directly in front of him. Yet, it was a moment later when Sasuke saw the dark outline of a man behind Kabuto.
Kabuto was quick to react, despite being a medic-nin he wasn't a push over when it came to combat. Still, it was little help being only competent when someone had already taken you by surprise from your back. Kabuto tried to spin on his foot to face the voice's owner as he leapt away, Sasuke could see the sinking of the man's body as he prepared to explode on the spinning ball of his foot, but the movements weren't quick enough. Before a quarter of a turn could be accomplished by Kabuto the pointed end of a kunai was poking out of the soft flesh of his throat, a pointed end that allowed rivers of crimson to pour down his neck and be soaked up by darkening purple. Not even a second later, Kabuto's body was lazily shoved into the previously untouched water to Sasuke's right. The chirping sound of arcing lightning that danced up and down Sasuke's blade was joined by the mighty splash Kabuto's body made as the Uchiha was given a clear view of the newcomer.
It wasn't the orange mask that spiraled a singular, lonesome eyehole, nor was it the painfully familiar black and red of the cloak that matched his brother's own that caught Sasuke's attention. The gleam of red that glowed through the shadow casted by the orange mask, however, was something that the young Uchiha couldn't have prepared for. His brother, himself, and the eye that was constantly hidden under the headband of his former teacher were what Sasuke believed to be the only Sharingan left. He had been wrong when he saw the grotesque limb that Danzo Shimura fashioned with the remains of his slaughtered clansmen, and he was wrong once again as he met the fully matured Sharingan of the man that removed the annoyance of Kabuto once and for all.
"Come now, Sasuke. Do you really intend to fight with your family after we just met?" The man spread his arms wide to display himself to Sasuke, the deep voice of his rumbling in a humorless chuckle. Sasuke kept his blade crackling in front of him with his spinning eyes trained on the man, but there was no move to draw closer to Sasuke. They stood at a stalemate for several moments until Sasuke finally spoke up over the loud crackling of his own weapon.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your kin, Sasuke. The same blood that flows through your veins does so within mine. Madara is the name that many have come to know me by." The crackling of the lightning that danced along Sasuke's blade ended abruptly, the hum of energy dampening with the shock of hearing Madara's name. "Oh, so you've heard of me?"
There was a tickle within Sasuke's mind, one that allowed him to ignore the second thrum of empty amusement from the man across from him. He'd heard Itachi's words when he faced the genjutsu creation in his mind. The reality of the world Itachi sent him to was false, but the words that were spoken were truly shared. It wasn't only him that Itachi was asking Sasuke to join. He wanted Sasuke to join his kin to complete what their clan was destined to accomplish. It was safe to say that this was what he meant, that this Madara was who Itachi had allied himself with to follow whatever path he seemed to think was meant for them.
"You're helping Itachi." He said simply, easily keeping the aggression within his voice.
"No, I would say it is much the opposite. Itachi is aiding me in my plans to finally set these lands to rights." Despite Madara's deep timber, there hadn't been much substance to the man's tone outside of idle playfulness at Sasuke's expense. Now, however, that same voice was hardened with well-forged steel. A red eye narrowed within the chasm of the mask and the leisurely posture that the man took quickly turned rigid. "I would also say that I'm here as a courtesy of that relationship and a courtesy of our shared blood.
"Itachi informs me that you would be amenable in joining our cause, that he could persuade you to what we are trying to do, but I don't believe him. I can practically taste the bloodlust you have for him." Madara started taking steps forward. His back still stood rigid, his eye unmoving from Sasuke's own, and his steps were without care for the blade that stood strong between them. He continued walking forward until the blade went clean through his chest and out the otherside, but not a single gasp of pain or drop of blood came from the man. "I don't care if you wish to kill Itachi, he's an ally and an integral part of my plans. If you intend to disrupt those plans then I will be sure to correct you."
Sasuke and Madara were halted in a silent staredown that went unmoving for several moments. He looked at the point where the man before him seemed to melt atop his blade, allowing to go unharmed by the lethal sharp edge, but when he looked back up it was another matter entirely that met his gaze. That matter took the form of a three bladed pinwheel that swirled within Madara's Sharingan eye; the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke's own eyes were built up with the pressure of his own chakra until his own Mangekyo met Madara's unflinchingly.
"How cute. Itachi has gifted you a great prize and you still wish to strike him down for it. Perhaps when you grow up and realize that we have the opportunity to do more than anyone else can, more than any other family could dream of, then you'll be able to put away your squabbles until it's done." Around the single eye before him, Sasuke watched as chakra was ejected from Madara's eye and began to swirl until the air around it built up a current strong enough to emanate through the otherwise stagnant air. "Journey south, not west. Join us in our fight for peace and join your kin or stay out of our way. If you don't, I'll have no qualms removing the nuisance of your obsession. Uchiha or not."
Just like that, Madara melted into the hole that appeared where his eye was, evaporating the man for existence. Sasuke's jaw tightened, just as the grip on his sword did, and without warning there was a brilliant discharge that erupted from the blade in his hand. A bursting chain of lightning grew and branched several yards above his head, sharing the charge of his Lightning Release with the air around him before the blade was sheathed behind his back. Dark eyes flitted over the lands around him, ponderings dancing between west and south for several delicate moments. As his brain settled on the path forward, Sasuke allowed himself to bask in the sight of the dead body that lay unmoving in the tainted water to his right. If it wasn't done today, Sasuke was sure he would have done it a following day.
The Uchiha turned his body south and continued the trekking that he was pulled from by his two visitors. He could have continued west hoping that Itachi's words were true, or he could turn south where he seemed to be shoved by two separate sides. He could go south and join the warring that seemed to mount before his old home, and it was there that he could finally get the revenge he's been desperately itching at for so long.
Sasuke Uchiha was going to avenge his clan one way or another, Madara be damned.
The days had been past grueling. Over a week of fighting a slow, drawn out battle wasn't something that one with a firm head on his shoulders could ask of lightly. Kakashi knew he asked for much and more, he knew that it wasn't sustainable for much longer, but it had to be done. Meeting the denser, fresher men of the Cloud Village every day took its toll, running auxiliary forces every minute of every day, and abiding by strict rotations weren't things Kakashi would ask for under any other circumstances. As it was, however, his hands were tied. They had to be proactive in their movements, not reactive. Had he been reactive, only moving his troops as he needed to, Ai would have broken them the second day of fighting. The Raikage had the means to spread out his forces as he wished if Kakashi chose to be as passive as he wished to be against an attacking force in their lands. Hyuuga needed to be on constant patrol of their flanks and far further outward, the Inuzuka that remains were to patrol the closer movements for the subtle maneuverings within the field, and the Aburame were to pester and agitate the Cloud shinobi that were sitting relief behind the moving lines of battle. The general forces, the forces without direct strategic clan specialties, were only given relief every fourth rotation of men. When they were finally relieved, it was only a few short hours that were spared to soothe the manageable ailments and scrounge up whatever sleep was available before returning to defending their village and country.
Kakashi himself was running in less than ideal conditions, despite having not yet stepped on the frontlines he constantly ghosted behind. His blade had been wet, the occasional leakage of their opponents creeping through and meeting a fate that had been so narrowly avoided to get there, but there had yet to be any kind of ninjutsu thrown. Still, the war was weighing heavily on his shoulders. Sleep was rarer for him than it had been for his frontline soldiers. Thoughts spun on a flying wheel that never once stopped since steel clashed against steel. There was always a group to relocate, a movement that needed to be accounted for, a rotation that needed to be managed, adjustments and losses to be noted, and the ever-present worry of what happened in the world around him. How had the other lines held? How were they fairing? Had they fallen already and was he merely unaware? It was constant, as was the battle, to keep his mind right as he led the men and women that looked to him to see them through this war.
The clashing of steel echoed through the trees they fought within, the fighting audibly and visually clear to Kakashi as he viewed it from a relatively removed distance. Shades and shadows of speeding bodies clashing from tree to tree, foot to foot, and foot to tree. The Occasional flash of lightning would cut through the Kage's view, more often than not felling a tree or one of its limbs, but as the fighting continued the use of ninjutsu was very limited. NInjutsu was good for explosive, quickly ending battles that held limited numbers. Here, most ninjutsu served to be a waste of energy that came at a premium the longer they dragged it out. The flashes of lightning also served to hold Kakashi register Ai's patience. There have been many times, when he was able to manage the war to almost a complete halt, when Ai would utilize the bulk of his Storm Release forces to level a portion of the forest to spur the momentum of the battling forward again. Here and now, they had found a balance that kept such drastic measures under control while not sacrificing too much ground.
"How long are we going to do this for, Lord Fifth?" The rasping voice of Shikaku tiredly called out from Kakashi's left, breathes coming with some labor despite the low activity that was present this far away from the thick of the fighting. His advisors that he planned much of the war with hadn't left him for long through these hard fought days. Just as Shikaku mounted in a branch to his left, Inoichi was close by in a similar state of fatigue. To the right, Raido silently awaited for any further instructions, but where there should be two more bodies around him, there were none. Choza was sent west with Asuma to handle the brutes that Orochimaru would be sending their way and it was safe to say that Tenzo would not be returning to them.
That was something that would have to be dealt with once all was said and done, but not here and not now.
"Shikaku is right, Lord Fifth. We're a half day short of our forces you sent west if we continue as is, but if retreat now it wouldn't even be a few hours." Inoichi joined Shikaku in calling them westward, something that has been fairly consistent the last few hours, but he couldn't let up. They've lost much to get as far as they have. They've worked damn hard to keep the Cloud in line to herd themselves and their attackers to a point where they could join the many fractured sections of their forces within the country. Turning such a strong defense into a drastic retreat could help in returning in time, but nothing was a sure thing. Did they have the energy to turn from a backward walk into a full sprint? Did they have the space to turn close combat into a chase? How could he ensure that they made it to their destination without being cut down by the more numerous, and fresher by proxy, army at their backs? Shikaku would say that those deaths would have been inevitable or they were worth the price, Inoichi would suggest a hard and fast strike to induce enough space for the retreat. Neither would say anything that sat right with the Kage.
Kakashi didn't answer immediately. His eye stayed focused on the movement that raged before them as the lines steadily crept their way toward the idled group. Kakashi watched as shinobi returned with heavy limbs, heavy eyes, and heaving breaths. Just as the labored and exhausted men and women drew back, a group of matching quantities was leaping forward to replace the bodies of those lost. It was a damning sight for the Kage, watching the shinobi who had just been lifted from their rest look only marginally more rested than the bodies that they replaced. The same bags under the eyes could be seen, as were the hunched shoulders, but they rejoined their comrades in the battling all the same. It couldn't be said that Kakashi didn't understand what Shikaku and Inoichi were telling him. He was aware how reasonable their counsel was, and when that counsel was joined with the faces of his ragged shinobi, it was hard to argue against. When both Tsume Inuzuka and Anko Mitarshi, two of the most lively and energetic ninja in the Leaf, returned to the steadily retreating backline of Kakashi's forces looking as if they were on their way to early graves, it seemed almost impossible to justify holding for another half day to join with their comrades on their back. Those comrades would be facing their own armies, their own struggles, and an army of walking corpses could only sentence their countrymen to a worse fate.
It would take one order. A single word and Kakashi could pull his shinobi from the hell that this battle had become. That word settled at the edge of Kakashi's tongue, pushed mightily against his masked lips, but it never came out. Just as he was about to call it, just as the retreat would sound out and they would be pushed into a mass evasion tactic, Kakashi was interrupted by an intruding body that moved like a shadow across the branches to his right. The Kage's right eyes cut to the movement, the subtle but familiar cadence of the operatives he's been without for some time. It was easy to tell that only one of the shinobi that stood with them, the only man amongst them other than Kakashi that has been within the Leaf's black ops organizations, but their attention wasn't needed to be drawn. It was hard for Kakashi to tell where the operative came from, given that it seemed as if they came from nowhere in particular. When they finally stopped, coming to a halt on the side of the trunk that Kakashi's perch of a branch was connected to in a gravity defying kneel, they said nothing.
"Report, Bear. We hardly have the time for courtesies." Kakashi's voice seemed to have drawn the attention of Shikaku and Inoichi to the operative that Kakashi and Raido had already turned to. He could tell that they weren't thrilled about the interruption, that they were rightfully more focused on the battle happening before them, but Kakashi knew that this wouldn't be a menial interruption. How could it? The vast majority of both black ops organizations had been in the Land of Water for an extended period of time. Bear's being here meant that Danzo had constructed some kind of plan that he wasn't privy to.
"Mei Terumi and her forces are in position, Lord Fifth, just as we are. Mist shinobi await your approval of the agreement and we stand at the ready for your orders." There was surprise, a hefty sum of it, but it wasn't shown out right. Even with a majority of his face being covered by his mask and headband, Kakashi found it hard to not allow his remaining eyebrow to shoot up in its shock. He was aware of Mei's elevation to the Mizukage, one that would be controversial within her lands had they not been pressured by the Cloud Village, but he still lacked the context of why they stood at the ready in his own lands.
Kakashi quickly took the scroll presented by the awkwardly perched operative, his hands opening the already broken seal that belonged to his seat. The words that he read were Danzo's, as seen by the signature that lay on the bottom of the scroll, but it wasn't spoken in any voice that he was known to carry. Humility was lain thick, as were the courtesies, while the demands were thin and almost nonexistent. It was clear, however, that the man Kakashi had left in place of himself to run the Leaf knew of their plight without being among those on the battlefield. Generous offers of compensation should the war turn in their favor was a show of compromise unseen from Danzo in the years that Kakashi has known him, but there was always a price to pay. When Kakashi finished the message left for the Mizukage by the elder, his eye caught a different message that lay underneath, a message that was honored with the blue seal of the Mizukage at its tail.
The man that has been left in your place offers a fine price for revenge on those that tried to settle and further blood my lands. Do these words match your own, or have my men made unneeded passage through our waters to see your grave?
The Fifth Mizukage,
Mei Terumi
The message was short but it told all that it needed to. The Lady Mizukage understood the precariousness of taking the word of an acting Kage without the word of the ruling leader. It would be easy to deny a deal that he was ignorant of, to enjoy the spoils of the Mist's aid without paying the offered toll. Less than a second after he finished reading the words, though, Kakashi already had a brush fully inked and haphazardly signing across the scroll's face. He hadn't the need or luxury to argue trading particulars or hypothetical lands gifting when he had the need of aid immediately. When he handed the scroll back to his operative, unable to seal it closed at the moment, there was a sense of clarity that settled into his mind. There was no relief, that could come when the fighting was over and the treaties of peace were signed by the Five Great Shinobi Nations that found themselves within the Land of Fire, but he did have directions and a sense of surety in what to do.
"Return this to the Lady Mizukage, tell her to attack the southern flank of the Cloud at the peak of midday. When they do, you and your sister operatives will cover our retreat as best as you can." Kakashi turned to the men he had around him, his advisors in an ill-positioned war, and he saw the unhidden surprise in their gazes. How could they not be surprised? This could very well mean their survival. "When the Mist forces come from the south we will fall into a full retreat. We continue west and should be joining the rears of the other two fronts that we are fighting this war on."
It had been subtle, not something that Kakashi was keen on displaying until it had already been done, but the days of their battling had come and gone with the lines of fighting shinobi slowly turning their shoulders more and more. When their fighting began, the Sun above would rise on their right and set on their left. Now, as the morning grew further and further, the light was rising through the trees in a way that put a shroud of light on the faces of the Leaf shinobi and the backs of the Cloud forces. If their eastern shore was now accompanied by the thin but relatively fresh Mist Village, then they now had the advantage of positioning. All that was left was timing.
It had been tense. For whatever reason, Kakashi found himself more discomforted and anxious waiting for the bright light in the sky to hang brilliantly at its highest point than he had been watching his men and women fight for their country. Maybe it was the anticipation of being free of the deadlock he had created, maybe it was relief that his shinobi would be granted space to finally breathe again. Or maybe he simply didn't trust the agreement he had so swiftly signed off on. That mistrust didn't directly come from who he had made the agreement with, or even the details of that agreement. What Kakashi found himself having a hard time trusting was the dependence of another army to relieve his own. The Sand and Leaf had developed their relationship for years before it came time for Rasa to send his shinobi to them. The Mist, on the other hand, was merely a relationship based out of necessity. Kakashi needed to send operatives to prevent the Cloud from gaining more access to the Land of Fire. Danzo likely felt that he needed to reach out to secure another mass of bodies that can help overcome the mass disparity between each side of the battlefield. The Mist had no obligation to aid them, no promise of holding their bargain outside of favorable outcomes should they win and a grudge against who they fought.
Fickle strings for such a mighty weight.
Still, no matter the tenseness that weighed on the Kage's mind, there was no stopping the arcing path of the Sun that hung above them. Soon enough, the peak of its travel was upon them as the heat of the day began to set in and the secrets of the shadows underneath the trees were fully revealed. Just a little longer. He needed to be sure that their pursuers would be distracted before they caught up to their retreat. Inoichi saw to it that the upcoming retreat was relayed to their shinobi, that their men wouldn't be caught in a mad scramble that would get them killed, but that didn't mean that their significantly fatigued army could outrun their pursuers with a few shallow steps of advantage. Any moment. Kakashi leapt back a few trees, establishing himself further away as he closed his sole visible eye. Chakra flowed into his eardrums, amplifying what it was that he heard and furthering his awareness of his wooded surroundings. With that amplified hearing, the battling in front of him only got louder, but it wasn't the clashing of steel or roars of death defying exertion that caught his attention. He was focused on the subtle, almost unheard thuds of soles upon the trees to his right. They were light but forceful, dampened but urgent, and just enough for Kakashi to gain what he needed. When those steps were heard, the chakra that he was funneling to his ears was rerouted into his vocal chords, strengthening them for the grand announcement.
"FALL BACK! FULL RETREAT! FALL BACK AND DEFEND THE VILLAGE!" Three separate announcements that all said the same thing: they have ceded this battle. The long, bloody, and grueling hell that stretched across the countryside from their northeastern border was lost and they were surrendering their ground to the Cloud. Three announcements and yet not a single one was needed. Inoichi could have facilitated an unheard and unseen array of orders that could have told them the same thing.
What good would that do them?
Kakashi watched as the bodies that he's watched from the rear for over a week immediately turned to run. The shinobi under his command danced up and down, left and right, and various intricate dances between the two as they showed their backs to their opponents. A certain level of desperate energy granted his tired shinobi to burst out of their battles to rush toward him and long passed him. While he watched this sea of bodies turn toward him like a tidal wave, the Kage didn't move. He waited as he watched the Cloud shinobi give chase immediately. It wasn't as nimble, they did not have the practice amongst the leaves as they had to navigate them properly, but the hunger to chase down those that caused them so much grief was strong. Still, as a rush of white and gray followed the green and blue, Kakashi stood strong. The Kage didn't join the battlefield until there was no other choice, and the way he saw it, he had no choice but to protect the lives of his people lest they be chased down from the back.
The chase, however, was short lived. Just as it had been planned over the course of a few seconds, shadowed bodies began leaping in, cutting down, and leaping out of the way of their pursuers. Swift, unseen, operatives with masks decorated in the designs of the Hokage's Anbu and the blank faces of Danzo's ROOT both danced to cut down the closest bodies to their men. Moments later, the clutter and chaos of battle erupted once again a close distance away to pull the Cloud's attention from one direction to another. As the seconds elapsed, Kakashi could triumph in short spurts as his people looked to be getting closer and closer to being free.
When the land space around him thinned, when he was no longer in the thick of moving bodies, Kakashi caught sight of something that violently tore him from whatever victory he felt. The snarling, growling, shaking form of Lord Ai, the Fourth Raikage, stood out amongst the crowd just as Kakashi did. The man stood with his robe barely clinging to his broad, bare upper body as he stood level with the Hokage. The pair of Kage stood undisturbed for several long seconds, seconds that Kakashi used to arm himself with a kunai that was pulled from his weapons pouch. Kakashi wasn't keen to disturb the silence between them, nor was he excited to learn of the Raikage's anger that was so great that his mighty hands shook inexplicably.
"Where is my brother, Kakashi Hatake? Tell me now and I won't prolong this any more than it has to be."
It was clear that Ai didn't care what Kakashi was or wasn't keen on.
Can you feel it? I sure as hell can. The board has been filled and yet there are still more pieces to add to it. Sasuke is finally being brought up to speed, the armies are drawing closer together, and Kage are entering the fields. Next time we may be getting insight into what got Ai in a tizzy and what other happens are going on behind the scenes. Who knows.