Two hundred fifty-six shinobi lay in wait.

Over the past three weeks, efficiency sciences had worked together with the Commander and Generals, and they'd come up with the likely time Kiri would target Sakata Port, one of the largest as-yet untargeted ports yet.

It had been left alone, so far, because its port design all-but necessitated a siege even before Konoha had flooded in additional defenses.

But Kiri seemed to be trying to deliberately hit every port, and Konoha had investigated each to determine the best port to stage an ambush.

Sakata, with its natural cliffside defenses, had been selected.

And so—two hundred fifty-six shinobi. Waiting.

This was a volunteer mission: if you wanted to volunteer, you went to the best sensor in your area and demonstrated your ability to hide.

Once selected, you were ordered to preserve your chakra, loaded onto a train, stuffed full of food, and sent—from all over the country—straight to Sakata.

To wait.

The true powerhouses were distributed evenly along the coast.

Between them, the shinobi who proved to be the absolute best at concealment—at chakra cloaking and genjutsu—they each held two valuable tracking seals.

The powerhouses would provide the distraction.

The stealthers would get the tracking seals in locations where they would be unlikely to be found.

Everyone else—

They were there to convince as many of Kiri's ships to turn and run.

However many Kiri sent, they would only be a minority of the total.

The more ships that Konoha convinced to flee—by presenting them with significant danger, providing an obvious way out, focusing more on killing a few important enemies instead of disabling the ships—

The more ships that fled, the better Konoha could track their fleets in the future.

Add more seals.

It was midday; but when the lookouts sent up the flair, it was brighter than the sun.

It was time to begin.

Uzumaki Kushina grinned, dancing across the waves as she killed all the Kiri-nin hiding underneath.

The ships around her were freaking out, shooting hundreds of projectiles and chakra attacks her way.

Minato's flying squadron—twelve primarily Akimichi jounin Minato could maneuver through the air—were doing a fabulous job of eating and redirecting each attack, the billowing reinforced sheets they carried stopping dozens of arrows and knives at a time, and Minato yanking them out of the way of any true danger before it could do any harm.

They'd only had a few days of practice—this was the first combat test at all—and it was working wonderfully.

The Akimichi's chakra was preserved to allow them to eat attacks, Minato was far enough away to be defended by thirty men and out of reach of harm, and Kushina—

Kushina was a terror of the seas.

Soon, Kakashi would be able to join.

They'd make an amazing team then, but for now—

Well, she sincerely doubted there was anyone in the world who didn't know of the Kyuubi's power.

But if there was, she'd make sure they learned.

Kushina whipped around, stabbing a particularly well-hidden enemy with her chains and taking the moment to glance out to sea.

There, clear as day—

The first ships were turning.

She wanted to laugh.

She didn't.

She yelled, instead, made it seem like she was off to chase after the ships.

Immediately the Akimichi surrounding her did their jobs too—

"No! Nine-tails! Stay in the line! Stay!"

It galled her, sometimes, to be treated like a beast.

But it always made her enemies that much more afraid.

And it allowed for just a bit of subterfuge.

Kushina allowed a furious expression to take over her face, stabbing even more violently—and only mildly less effectively—into the water.

She imagined Kiri's shinobi looking at each other, looking at the blood in the water.

She imagined them looking at the retreating ships, without a single ninja chasing after them.

It didn't take long for the next ships to turn.

And the next.

Kushina didn't let up, didn't hold back even as Minato (chakra finally depleted, seals finally worn out) set the Akimichi ashore.

She pulled the Kyuubi's chakra in, forming a shield, and kept killing anyone that came near, ignoring the boats in favor of the people.

The harbor had more blood than ships now.

This was the sort of day she'd think of every night for months, still remember years later without even intending to think of it.

It would be worth it, though, because she'd seen the number of civilian casualties, and Kushina was well aware of how ineffective most of the past attacks had been.

This one—

It was bloody.

It was deadly.

It was successful.

The last Kiri ship, the only one to refuse to retreat, sank.

Kushina went ashore.

.

Minato coughed weakly from the bed.

"Well, that just about did me in."

Kushina snorted. He grinned at her.

"You know, you could have pulled the flyers back earlier. You didn't have to keep them in the air for as long as you did."

"I wanted to give Kiri the clearest shore-based threat possible for as long as possible. Actually, I was hoping they'd retreat before my chakra ran out, but that was always a pipe dream."

"Yeah, well so was making other people fly. Even wind users have ridiculous trouble keeping themselves in the air!"

"Yeah, and the worst part is I still can't keep myself in the air—the way the seal works, the control seal and the receiver seal have to be on different bodies."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Still, I think it's much easier to manage other people's flights—maybe it's the perspective? I'll have to keep experimenting."

"You won't be doing any more experimenting for now—you're barely lucid!"

"Come on, give me more credit than that. I won't even pass out for another ten, fifteen minutes."

"That's optimistic."

"I'm talking with you, aren't I?"

"Your eyes closed barely seconds into the conversation and haven't opened back up yet."

"I'm resting them."

"You're slurring every word."

"I'm speaking deliberately."

"You haven't so much as twitched a non-jaw related muscle since we started talking."

"…"

"Minato?"

"…"

"I knew it."

.

"The seals say Kiri's ships are an hour out from our Uzu convoy."

Commander Nara grinned, "Let's give them a bit of a surprise. Use the radio—let's get a full battle going."

"Really?"

"Well, if we keep fighting ship-to-ship we'll lose. If, on the other hand, we have dozens of shinobi race over water to the ships, pop chakra pills, and jump on board…"

"Deadly."

"Sometimes, risks have to be taken."

It didn't feel good to say.

Commander Nara sighed, looking at the table map in front of him, at the stacks and stacks and stacks of injured civilians.

Of dead civilians.

If they didn't do something—

Well, the ambush worked.

The seals seemed to be working.

They just needed to fight with all they had, get Kiri to back off at least long enough to stem the flow of attacks on civilians.

Then they could spend a bit longer coming up with a safer plan, a better plan.

But until then—

"Send the message."

"Hai."

.

Kohana glanced around the table.

She was just a daycare instructor.

She was just a civilian.

She was just twenty-two.

But she was the future wife of the Clan Head.

And Akimichi Mikuri and Nara Yoshino were too.

"Alright, that's financing done, provisions done, and Kohana—you've written the updates for the Hokage?"

"Yeah, finished it this morning," Kohana said, pulling out the documents. Yoshino was terrifyingly efficient, and the only one of the three to have had experience administrating prior to their decisions to fall in love with main clan members.

"Great! Any other issues to report?"

Kohana shook her head. There were issues—many—due to the rising tensions: more squabbles about nothing, more squabbles about something, more discontent in general, but that was to be expected.

Yoshino didn't consider those to be 'real' issues.

Mikuri shook her head too, even though she and Kohana had been talking before Yoshino arrived about how the Akimichi were struggling to meet the additional agricultural demands.

Yoshino probably wouldn't consider that a 'real' issue either, and Kohana had already volunteered a larger than normal portion of the Yamanaka civilian labor force already, which Mikuri had appreciated.

Yoshino nodded sharply, pleased. "We'll reconvene in two days. Please ensure you are prepared."

"Hai," Mikuri and Kohana acknowledged.

They watched as Yoshino hustled out of the room with Kohana's reports to deliver to the telegrapher herself.

They broke into giggles.

"Well, if you can't laugh, you'll cry," Mikuri said.

"At least she means well."

"Yes, and I know both of us would be lost without her—but wow, she is scary!"

Kohana giggled again. "Reminds me of my sister Sakura. Always thinks she's in the right, and usually is."

"Oh well, it's always good to have someone who wants to take charge."

"Even better that she's Shikaku's fiancée; he definitely doesn't want to lead."

Mikuri snorted, and then it was time for them, too, to get back to work.

Before they could leave, however, alarm bells sounded—a call for all shinobi. A call for the radio.

They were in the Akimichi sector, so Kohana rushed after Mikuri as she dashed to the radio room, the Akimichi already in there turning up the volume to account for the sizeable crowd of listeners.

"All shinobi in the area who can, please follow the Uzu-Mainland ship path to counter-attack the Kiri attack, which will arrive in approximately fifty-two minutes. All shinobi…"