WHIRLPOOL COUNTRY| UZUSHIOGAKURE

"This is excellent! Very excellent. We went in undetected and struck them hard. Leaving a gaping wound they would not soon heal from." spoke Hiro Fuma to the few other men that were seated around him.

"It is just not good enough in my opinion. Shuji-sensei you say it was a confirmed near two thousand-five hundred dead?" asked Arata staring hard in to a white folder.

"So far yes, that is what reports are saying from our channels and the release we were able to get a hold of from the Lightning Daimyo sent from Cloud. Though of course now they are doing the two hardest things now. One; trying to put on a tough act to sway any would be attackers. Two; trying to figure out who the hell attacked them"

"I don't see why you are complaining? With a CONFIRMED twenty five hundred of their ninja dead not even counting their civilian population. That village or what is left of it has been dealt a decisive blow. From the beginning they had on record what? seven thousand ninja give or take. With this attack they have been almost obliterated. I say they could only scrounge up a defense of three thousand ninja. An that is including many of their returning ninja. Of course they are attending to their wounded and trying to return them to the field but the point is, this village is weak. Very weak." surmised Hiro with a finality in his voice.

Shuji and Arata both looked at Hiro and wondered why the man was so set on just believing that Kumogakure was out of the pending power struggle that was now definitely going to strike all.

"Is there something you see that we don't Hiro-san? Because as I and General-sama see it, this village has plenty of thousands of ninja left and is only weakened not in the grave. The ones we could not get to are surely their best if they dodged the attacks. With the dead ones being what could be cannon fodder or what is the new ranking system calling it. . . Ah yes, chunin and genin." stated Shuji with apathy

Hiro rolled his eyes in annoyance "Even if they are not 'in the grave' as you put it. They are in fact now in lower standing then us and are just a few hundred ninja a cut above being a minor-ninja village. If and only if the surviving ninja that are left are jounin and maybe chunin. . . they are still weakened. An a foot from death. Let's move on to a bigger picture"

"Ah I see you want to move on to a new campaign. Yet you don't see we are not done with our old one. Kumogakure will not find out it was us who attacked them but they will grow fearful of our looming force that is neatly close to their border." explained the red headed man calmly.

Hiro ignored the explanation as he looked over to Arata who was still nose deep in flipping threw a collective of information on paper.

"Arata. . . You ain't thinking like Shuji are you? Come one man you killed the Shodaime Raikage! That guy was said to be untouchable, almost as bad ass as the 1st Hokage, yet he was taken down by you! Of course we are moving on to bigger things right?" he questioned a bit rudely.

The addressed man looked up at the Fuma man and thought on the matter for a few seconds.

"Truthfully. I realize something that you guys don't and that is Uzushiogakure and it's ninja are going to have to learn to fight against more then one opponent and not just one at a time. This isn't any regular war we are going in to, this is a world war. One in which like our excellent informant has pointed out. The villages are quick adapting and opportunistic. Empowered with responsibility almost and in some cases, with as much power as a daimyo. The Kage and village heads have been entrusted to prove the country's dominance in a very simple way. . . military action."

"A history lesson-" began Hiro but was silenced as he saw a deadly glint shine in Shuji's eyes from across the table.

Arata kept speaking as if he was not interrupted "We can easily take advantage of this foolishness in so many believing they are better then others by. . . . and follow me on this men. We are going to do nothing. Just sit back and patrol our borders. Waiting for our next prey so, until then keep training our forces as best we can and bolster the ranks."

Hiro was about to speak but didn't as he saw Arata and Shuji rise from the table then disappear in vortexes of swirling water.

"Just wait and see. . . that's bullshit" Hiro thought aloud completely upset. He knew of the power Arata alone possessed.

Being one of the few to know such intricate details about the General was a rare thing but he was also of the rare ones that knew about the zanpakuto of the young leader and it's incredible power thanks to seeing the man's secret training.

Sighing the man rose from his chair thinking 'To be able to kill people threw attacking their shadows and images of them threw water from that sword. Gosh what I wouldn't give to have that ability. . . no wonder Kumo ninja and their attacks that cause bright light, only helps Arata. Yet why won't he just destroy everything in our way. . . . . stupid kid'

Walking out of the room Hiro couldn't help but be angry at Shuji and Arata but mostly the General.

Somehow he knew Arata would need his eyes opened to how Uzushiogakure would need to be more dominant.

"Uzushiogakure should be at the top. . . everyone else should be at the bottom" he whispered to himself