The war was raging on… sort of.
What had begun with the expectation of waging full scale war across the many different nations and their different provinces, had turned into something that resembled what a group of civilians might do in a war more than anything else. As in… they… did nothing.
It was so very strange for the shinobi but that was the consequences that had come from the Raisu when they had offered for each different Hidden Village a squadron of ninjas of their own to serve as auxiliaries in the little war.
The fact that they had offered each and every nation their own ninja served to not alienate anyone, but instead tell them that they were involving themselves in the war, but in a way that would not be ruffling any individual feathers. That they were assisting all sides equally, that they were demonstrating their strength as a hidden village and a nation in doing so. Offering the use of more than 200 Ninja in total while also having enough to defend their own nation? That was something that was absurd when they thought of the numbers required for that. Regardless it was an offer that would allow for a great deal more strength to be brought to the field for all factions regardless of their size.
An offer that had therefore been readily accepted, the Mitsugo bloodlines having become well known enough that they knew just how valuable these ninjas were. Being able to communicate instantly across a battlefield was simply something that was very much in high demand from all levels of command, from the lowliest squad to the strategic level.
That was the most obvious reason use of the Mitsugo, rapid communications and the like across the battlefield and down to the rear lines.
What had actually happened had confused everyone from the command staff and down. The Mitsugo after all, had not demonstrated very competent skills as shinobi, their Arcane chakra forcing them to rely on trial and error when attempting to develop Jutsu, not like the regular shinobi that all shared a common base that widened their Jutsu repertoires significantly. Instead, the Mitsugo relied on their superior numbers and coordination to win their battles, sustaining losses that would cripple less prolific clans on a regular basis.
It was an insane way of waging war that could only work if your last name was Mitsugo and you were also rather insane.
The Mitsugo however, had very clearly been practicing because they were demonstrating Jutsu on a level that many had never seen before from the Raisu shinobi. In particular, they were demonstrating abilities that were based around elemental powers, but in such a way that they were all… very different.
As if it were a "release" kind of Jutsu as opposed to the regular.
In their own words it was rather limited at the moment, they were still working on their Jutsu, but the ones that they currently did have were more than useful.
The shinobi on the frontline did things that forced the battle to crawl to a dead halt when it came down to it.
Using earth release abilities they created what was essentially massive walls that were thick enough to sustain all but the most deadly of attacks. The front of which was covered in spikes and hooks to prevent those that would try and scale it, forcing attacks to slow down and give advantages to the defender as they cut down the slow moving attackers.
That was not all, however, the Mitsugo were calling forth vast chasms in the ground through a variety of different methods. These methods ranged from impregnating the soil with vast amounts of water then washing it all away with another torrent of water, using the earth inside of it to make the walls that had been previously mentioned, to simply compressing it into the side of the chasm to create chasm walls as hard as kunai, and more.
Each of these chasms were lined with massive numbers of spikes, each one so slippery that to lose your footing on one was to doom yourself to die a very painful death as you fell and were sliced to little ribbons by the razor sharp earth, or to be spiked and bleed out very slowly.
These defensive fortifications courtesy of the Mitsugo shinobi had turned what would have likely been a battle of fast moving fronts that changed back and forth with the changing minute hand of the clock into something very different.
They were forced by necessity to simply wait in a single place. To defend their sides of the wall, walls that were actually just increasing in size as the Mitsugo built them up again. The teams working along the entire border until what was a series of little walls built in the face of an incursion linked up to form an enormous one that only the greatest shinobi could scale confidently.
Where there was one wall facing on way, there would be another facing in the opposite direction, the shinobi of each opposing faction sending across probes to try and break through the enemy front line and secure a crossing behind the wall, or in other cases trying to destroy the walls themselves with a variety of different Jutsu.
It was very possible, but in doing so they alerted everyone on the opposing side as to just where they were planning to attack, and if there was a Mitsugo on hand, then they would be able to simply rebuild it again.
Likely taller as a provocation.
Also with a smiley face on it since they had demonstrated that they were very good at controlling the Earth in whatever way they wanted it. Even to the point of making the Iwa jealous.
As such, the Mitsugo were forcing the conflict to revolve around the walls and the chasms… or trenches as they were known. Forcing enemy ninja to plan their entire strategies around them, forcing people to think about nothing but the Mitsugo, thus cementing in the minds of those around them just how imposing the Mitsugo were.
In terms of military, in terms of diplomacy, economics, infrastructure and more, the Mitsugo were dominant and the Shinobi War only emphasized that fact.
The battle over the trenches was one that advanced by inches, pushing one way here, giving a little ground there in response to the enemy pressure only to be met by secondary trenches, being pushed back… trying to retake the ground.
It was in essence, a stalemate. A very big stalemate.
For the smaller factions, the Mitsugo sent shinobi were a kami-send. They were serving on the front line and their ability to create the trenches was something that changed the face of the war. What would have been an attack by the enemy shinobi which would overrun them with superior numbers and skills, was a situation where they were able to survive hidden behind their little walls. The Raisu land leasing agreements able to supply them with food but naturally, it was not enough and they had to purchase more food, either from the land lease stockpile, or that of Raisu itself.
The Mitsugo could not be happier.
The stalemate was not something that they had planned, rather it was something that occurred naturally, the counter to a fast moving attack force after all was either to have your own, or to simply build a wall and watch them crash into it. From there it was a matter of just watching as they built their own wall. After all, you could use yours to send across attacks, but they weren't able to counter, thus prompting them to turtle up as well.
And so all sides of the conflict had settled into a rhythm where they sent across small parties to try and probe the wall, using Jutsu that allowed for them to jump the massive gaps, or tools that allowed them to avoid being impaled on the sharp spikes. The ninjas would grappled with each other, silently before leaving again if alive or staying if dead.
They were forced to do it quietly, both sides if they heard a sound would be sending shuriken and kunai at the sound thinking it was either a party about to leap into their territory, or it was one that had landed on their territory.
As such the preferred weapons were their own hands and silent Jutsu, ones that wouldn't alert every one in 10,000 kilometers like the typical more flashy Jutsu.
It was a dramatic change and they had to adapt. No more calling massive fireballs, at least not at night. The night time fighters slowly diverging from their daytime counterparts, both traveling down different roads when it came to using their Jutsu and Taijustu... and everything else.
It was creating two entirely different schools of shinobi that were going to have an impact on their clans in the future the shinobi were sure.
With the fighting ground down to a halt and offensives being reduced to a few ninja at a time, large groups being nothing more than target practice as they tried to scale up the sides of the trenches, or they leapt over en-masse, the casualties were also dramatically lowered as a result of the Mitsugo intervention.
The ninja simply losing four of five per engagement as opposed to a few dozen.
The Mitsugo having a very positive effect on the overall population and health of the ninja as a whole, something that was a fortuitous consequence… as was their ability to make more money.
With the war dragging on, the nations began to run out of their stockpiles of food and were forced to purchase more from the Raisu, their own stocks being inadequate to cover it. Which naturally meant that the Mitsugo were very happy since they could not make more money, and gain more power over the other clans, villages and nations.
While the idea of there being a debt of gratitude was a nice idea, it was a very impractical one. The Mitsugo preferred it when things were more concrete and things like debts were very concrete indeed. To default on one was to lose any and all reputation for it marked them as being unable to repay their obligations.
As such the Mitsugo preferred to either gain debts for long term gains, especially from those such as the larger nations, or from the smaller nations, they preferred to do things such as bartering for food. A means that they were able to use to effectively gain much from their little exchanges for small things like a few hundred tonnes of food. For them food was cheap, but to gain access to things like the Uzumaki Bloodline, the Iburi bloodline, the Kaguya bloodline and more. Those of the larger nations were naturally rather reticent to part with their Kekkei Genkai, but their mounting debts had to be paid off and part of it could be forgiven in trade.
The Mitsugo therefore, were profiting from the war in great numbers, massive numbers. They were gaining practical experience, they were gaining bloodlines, they were gaining allies in the smaller clans for their assistance, and they were establishing grips on all the powerful nations through the food that they were receiving.
The Raisu in effect were becoming powerhouses but they were very quick to hide the fact. Preferring to appear as if they were completely neutral, which in effect they were. They did not broadcast their power to the world, preferring to keep it hidden so that things would… not rock the boat as one could call it.
The Great War was in fact, going to become what one might call the "Establishing War", a war where the borders were set in stone, literally if the Trenches were an indication, while they also served to demonstrate the power of the Mitsugo clans.
Their own food convoys to various different nations were allowed free passage, the Raisu symbol having become a recognized one throughout the entire continent. Anyone who tried to attack it would be facing the punishment of those who were receiving the food, they whose land the food was passing through, as well as the Mitsugo themselves.
It took a very desperate or a very stupid person to try and make off with the Mitsugo cargo trains, it took someone equally as stupid to try and buy them. There were very little of those on the continent and those that bore the Mitsugo clan symbol were allowed free passage throughout the continent, much to the consternation of those in charge.
It was a concern that needed to be dealt with before they lost all the power that they had.
Black Gravel was pretty good at their job they thought.
They were a triplet pairing that had been sent to Land of Whirlpools as a way to support the Uzumaki Clan. They had been part of the delegation of 4 other teams, which meant that there were 20 of them being sent out which was pretty cool when it came down to it.
For Black Gravel they were just there to explore and have fun.
From birth, they had been aware that the world was not what they expected it to be. Or rather it was… different. That they were part of something bigger. A feeling that was only cemented when they were placed together. The feeling that this was how things should be, that the three of them were the best damned thing since they were born and that they would accomplish the greatest of things together.
A feeling that all was right with the world and they were going to be alright.
What was more was the feeling that they weren't alone. That the three of them were not truly isolated, that there was something that was in their minds, gently coaxing them, comforting them.
They didn't understand what it was, but it was a fact that they weren't as loud as other children (that weren't Mitsugo), they didn't cry unless they needed something, content to just be there with each other and the presence in their minds. It wasn't until they were old enough to understand words that they learnt that the presence in their minds was something that all the Mitsugo felt on some level. That it was not an individual member of the clan, or something that was really that isolated.
Rather it was something that embodied the clan, a guardian spirit that watched over all of them and allowed for them to feel that they would always have something there for them. As they grew yet older, the spirit would be able to communicate with them, or it could be used by other family members to communicate with them. That other members of their bloodline would be able to communicate with them through the link.
It was something that was weaker and slower than the full link that they had with each other, the way they could share everything and anything instantly, the way that they were essentially one mind shared amongst 3 bodies they were so in tune with each other. The way that they spent more time in each other's bodies than their own, the way that they didn't even know which bodies were their own in the first place.
Still, the link was something that was to be hidden at all costs. It was the thing that allowed for the Mitsugo to always be safe, to always have each other, but the other clans would try and take advantage of it. It would ever be spoken about out loud, it would be the secret that only they knew for all eternity. If anything had to be said about it, it would be done over their link.
The other villages and clans knew about their ability to communicate, but they had assumed that was all, that it was a skill reserved for the Triplets. If they instead found out that the Link, or Gestalt was able to do so much more than that, able to funnel chakra to them if they were exhausted for example, then there was going to be a dramatic rise in the number of shinobi that wanted their bodies for experimental 'research'. They could do nothing but hide this information for the good of the clan.
And so the Black Gravel as they had decided to call themselves had grown up as ninja, had grown up as something that was part of something special. Something that allowed for them to be different from everyone else, something that allowed for them to feel secure at all times. The link like a blanket that snuggled them and kept them safe and warm.
It was with this link that Black Gravel was moving into the Land of Whirlpools. Their team leader was called Taylor. A strange name.
Why wasn't it as awesome as Black Gravel?
All triplets chose their own names, what with them being indistinguishable to anyone else, even their chakra signatures were the same, something that should have been impossible.
It was something that happened early enough in their lives that there was no real disruption to their school lives and the like. At the same time, it also let them express themselves… although why that was important for tiny children they didn't know. What they did know was that they were allowed to change the name again when they graduated the academy and Black Gravel had done so.
Could you imagine being called Mommy's Little Boys for the rest of their lives? Luckily they were allowed to change their name and luckily the elders had thought of this beforehand. As for their name itself...
It was because they were really good at grinding stone into gravel. A layered name…. Heh… get it? Sedimentary rocks? Gravel? Small stones?
Yeah, they didn't get the reaction that they wanted from people, but at least they had a cool nickname. BG. Just one letter away from BiG. Which meant that their name then became BiG and that was alright.
It was a joke since they were actually really small and being called BiG meant that it… well, it was funny. And like all good jokes it got worse over time before it became funny again. The cycle of life as it were, a microcosm of reality.
As for the Land of Whirlpools it was a land that one needed a boat to get across to or just… you know… do the ninja thing and run on the water like all real ninja were able to do.
Taylor had led them across and they were now sitting inside a room while she talked it out with them or whatever. They didn't know the specifics but apparently it was something pretty cool to get her so worked up. Who cared about the boring stuff, they wanted to make rocks. Making rocks was awesome, the way that you could tell what was in the soil when you did, the layers, the way that they all melded together to create something so whole… yet so different.
The way that the rock was something that just… called out to them.
BiG really liked their rocks, making rocks, breaking rocks into dust, half-breaking rocks into gravel.
It was the little things in life when they were left at odds and ends they would just do what they were doing now. Little handfuls of sand being turned to rock, then not, then rock, then not, then gravel. It was something that never got old and they loved it.
As for they of the Uzumaki, they were doing something weird BiG wasn't too sure what was going on but they had been told to help out. Something about the people of the continent not liking the Uzumaki or something. They didn't care, it wasn't as if it really impacted them in any way.
They were just here to do some building and maybe kick some ass. Lots of ass.
The Uzumaki had ass, lots of ass and it was pretty awesome.
Since it was an Island, the Mitsugo had decided that they were going to be building a very massively awesome system to kick ass with.
First was going to be a fucking huge defensive network that was going to be spread out all over the place. Make it look like a giant fucking thing. Like a seashell, that's it. Make it a real big spiral, just like their clan symbol.
Genius.
It's like poetry.
It rhymes.
They chuckled at that.
And so they built what was essentially a massive shell, a shield that was going to be defending the Land of the Whirlpools from those that might try and attack it. The Land of Mist, the Land of Lighting, all of them wanting to destroy the village since it was apparently really strong and they had weird powers or something.
BiG didn't know what was so important about it all, but they certainly enjoyed the fact that their skills were good enough to ensure that the fish they caught could be kept alive inside the scrolls, the Mitsugo hadn't quite worked that one out yet.
If they did… well, fresh sashimi wherever they went.
Genius.
As for the rest of it… well, it was a giant ass shell, with spikes on the interior and all kinds of dangerous traps. If anyone wanted to get in, they would need to make sure that they stayed on one of the only paths into the island. A path that twisted and turned and cut off line of sight to anyone who was not immediately behind or in front.
The main path, or rather one of the two, one to the East and one to the West. Large channels through for shipping, two one way lanes, in and out. The same spikes were here, deviation from the lane would see their ships torn apart. That was not all, however, the Uzumaki were very good when it came to matters like their sealing, which naturally translated to the defensive positions.
Oil from the fish that they were harvesting with the help of the Mitsugo to make it harder to climb, fireballs, rock formations and more were sealed into the walls themselves, walls that would allow for them to greet any would be attacker with dozens if not hundreds of attacks a second.
All the while they were trying to keep their footing on the surface of an increasingly turbulent ocean, while underneath would rise a platform made of nothing but spikes, hooks, and blades. Unless one could fly, they would be having a very very bad day at the hands of the Uzumaki and the Mitsugo.
It was a match made in heaven, one with excessive turtling skills, the other with the ability to make use of those surfaces. It was something that would have to be explored further BiG considered, not that it really mattered for them. They were just floating around, having what amounted for fun.
As for BiG, it was the next day, a day when they could improve on the defences further, a way for them to go and build yet more death traps, or maybe they could help out the Uzumaki and build them their buildings and the like. Big buildings, ones that let them live higher instead of wider. More land to farm and set traps on.
Only word had come in that they were under attack. Apparently, those ninja with the water had decided to attack. Why they didn't know but it was certainly an annoyance.
They sighed and sent one of them over to the sea wall. You had to start at the proper side before heading out, the walls didn't connect so that attacking ninja couldn't use them to avoid going through the passageways that had been made for them, the ones with the whole dying thing.
They were sending a pretty big force today, what looked like a few dozen ninjas with their arms doing the ninja run thing. All of them were on the water… and now was the time to test the platform design.
BiG and Green Berry linked themselves together so that they could do their Jutsu at the same time and to synchronize their chakra usage, no need to waste any.
Together they started.
Earth release from the bottom and then push it upwards.
They grinned, they couldn't see what was happening, but they could guess what it would be like. The hooks would grab onto flesh, tearing it as the blades cut through flesh and the spikes punched through anything in the way.
One might say that this was a cruel and unusual weapon, but they certainly had time to dodge once they saw it coming.
As the platform rose a voice came over the wall. "They're falling back!"
It certainly looked like their little plan had been successful.
Only they hadn't taken any casualties and that was unfortunate. Perhaps a little retaliation was in order?
Once the death-platform was raised, BiG fell back to the big thing. The thing that would let them kick unholy amounts of ass.
It was a giant band wrapped around a set of trees that had been grown to be more resilient. With the three of them, loading it with wooden spikes tipped with iron was completely possible, even if it was a pain in the behind.
They weren't going to hit anything, that much was for certain, but they could at least make themselves feel like they were doing something.
It had been a stalemate for quite a while now and they were just doing the same thing every day.
This ninja war wasn't very… ninja-ee.
Very disappointing.
Shooting giant spikes at people was really cool, though, even if they never actually hit anyone.
At least it was something.