The assault spearheaded by the Aerial Fortress had ended in a disastrous failure. The massive stronghold had limped ho covered in scars, and the Sky Ninja Corps had suffered nearly four hundred casualties. For a village with barely five thousand shinobi, this was a crippling blow.
It was their greatest defeat—and their heaviest loss—since they had initiated the air raids on the Hidden Leaf.
Naturally, the news of the defeat sent shockwaves through the Sky Ninja leadership. An ergency council was convened to discuss their next move.
Defeat has a way of sharpening internal conflicts. The atmosphere in the council chamber was explosive, with more than a few high-ranking ninjas calling for the execution of the bald commander who had led the failed mission.
The bald commander sat with narrowed eyes, remaining composed in his seat—one of the three highest-backed chairs in the room. He treated the subordinates screaming that he was a "traitor deserving of death" or asking "how he had the face to remain alive" as if they were ghosts. Only when the noise beca truly unbearable did he idly dig a pinky finger into his ear to clear the static.
The Sky Ninja Village functioned differently from Konoha. They operated on a system of "Noble Coalitions," which most closely resembled a modern unlimited liability joint-stock company. The three primary leaders were equal in status, with the "Village Head" simply being the strongest among them. He lacked the absolute power of life and death over the other two.
In this model, major shareholders were equals, their influence dictated by their "shares," and their responsibility was total. In an unlimited liability system, if the company made a profit, the shareholders took the dividends directly without needing to reinvest in operating costs. But if the company lost money, the shareholders had to pay out of pocket until they were bankrupt. If they couldn't pay, their shares were forfeited and redistributed.
In such a power structure, "public opinion" and "criticism" were aningless. As long as the bald commander's fortress hadn't fallen, and as long as his subordinates hadn't all died or defected, he was untouchable. The insults being hurled at him were rely a performance—a tactic used to suppress the loser's bargaining power in the discussions to co.
Once the "shaming phase" passed, the council moved on to substantive matters.
"First, a report: the Hidden Leaf has rejected our terms."
"It's because of that failure! If we hadn't—"
The Village Head cut him off. "It has nothing to do with the defeat. Konoha rejected us before the first stone was even dropped. We are here to discuss our next step. No more useless bickering."
"Understood."
After a heated debate, the Sky Ninja reached a consensus: they needed to teach the Leaf an even more painful lesson to force the Hokage to bow his head and pay.
They decided to go all-in. They would mobilize their foundation—all three Aerial Fortresses—to systematically level the Hidden Leaf.
"Fortress One will strike the left flank, Fortress Two the right, and Fortress Three will lead the frontal assault. Konoha's walls and barriers cannot stop us. This ti, we destroy the village. We level the Hokage building. We shatter those three ridiculous stone faces."
"Are there any objections?"
"Yes."
The council turned to the bald commander. To speak up now was to not only offend the Village Head but to alienate every single ninja who had just agreed to the plan. If he survived the war, he would be a pariah.
"The Leaf has the Abura clan," the bald commander said, his voice level. "Their ninjas command flying insects. During the last engagent, the sky was black with them. Our ground troops couldn't fight, and the fortress has no way to deal with a swarm of that scale."
"Bugs? What could bugs possibly—"
"Millions of bugs! Each the size of your hand!" the commander snapped. "Toxic ones, explosive ones, acid-spitting ones! Our weapons are powerful, but they aren't designed to swat millions of individual targets! We have NO defense against them!"
"And they have explosive bugs larger than a grown man," he added. "Those things are an existential threat to the fortress hull."
"..."
"He's lost it," soone whispered. "The defeat broke his mind. He's babbling nonsense."
The eting ended. The conclusion remained unchanged: the plan would proceed. They would attack the Hidden Leaf in full force.
The bald commander's expression was ghoulish. No one believed him. They all thought he had been scared witless by his defeat and had hallucinated a nightmare to justify his failure. He could feel the cold wall of isolation rising between him and the other elders.
To ensure compliance, the Village Head ordered a partial swap of personnel between the three fortresses. As the order was given, the other leaders looked at the bald commander with icy, warning glares.
He couldn't refuse. But he knew, with every fiber of his being, that attacking Konoha was a death sentence. He had seen his elite strike teams—three whole units—wiped out like they were nothing.
It hadn't even been a battle. It was a slaughter.
His n had been brave. They had attacked the insects with everything they had—blades, tags, nets. And they had killed thousands. But the bugs just kept coming. A simple mid-air collision was enough to send a Sky Ninja spiraling. At high speeds, even a minor stumble on a flight rig was fatal.
Then there were the "Hand-Locusts." With those hard, iron-like spikes on their heads, they didn't just bump into people; they punched through flight engines.
And the toxins... the Sky Ninjas had stripped off all armor to maximize flight lift. They were exposed. Respiratory toxins, contact poisons, hallucinogenic dust—the bugs had it all.
When he looked at the survivors, the bald commander realized the poison wasn't ant to kill. It was ant to paralyze—to make them lose control of their rigs and fall. Falling 600 ters was far more lethal than any venom.
And then there were those giant explosive locusts. They were slow, but their destructive power was undeniable. If those things were allowed to rain down on a stationary target, a fortress would fall.
Unless they dealt with the swarm, the Sky Ninja couldn't deploy. And if they couldn't deploy, the giant bugs would eventually sink the fortresses. Logic dictated they should retreat and hide.
But no one believes a story they haven't lived.
The bald commander let out a long, weary sigh. Defeat was inevitable. Between his dissent and the coming catastrophe, his faction was dood. But he had to try and save the sparks of his legacy.
He flew back to his fortress and summoned a guard. "Get Toseven to my quarters. Imdiately."
"Yes, sir!"
A lean, wiry young man arrived. He had the build of a master pilot. "Master, you called for ?"
"The three fortresses are swapping personnel. You will handle the selection for our side. Rember: do not pick your own confidants."
Toseven blinked, then nodded slowly. "I... I understand, Master."
The bald commander continued, "Once that's done, gather everyone you trust. Take them and leave the fortress."
"Go to these coordinates and hide. Wait for to bring the fortress to you." The commander produced a scroll, scribbled a set of instructions, and handed it over. "It's well-hidden. There is water, trees, and enough food for a week."
"Master... do you think we can't win?"
"We can't. The Hidden Leaf is too strong. They have too many ninjas—far too many. A single defensive zone in that village has more n than our entire nation."
The commander gave a bitter, helpless smile. "How do you fight that? And those insects... our only advantage is flight, but in the face of that swarm, flying is a suicide mission."
"The Village Head is blinded by the power of the fortress. He thinks leveling buildings is the sa as destroying a village."
"Tell , my disciple: does destroying a building destroy a Hidden Village?"
"No," Toseven replied. "Killing the leadership is the first step to destroying a village."
"Correct. You are clear-headed."
"Konoha has Hiruzen Sarutobi, the White Fang, Danzo Shimura, and Akimichi Torifu. Do we have the strength to kill even one of them?"
Toseven shook his head.
"If our entire village surrounded just one of those n, could we kill him?"
Toseven thought for a long ti before shaking his head again. They might win through sheer numbers and sacrifice, but a ninja of that caliber could leave whenever they pleased. They couldn't be pinned down.
"Then how do we win? By breaking so windows?"
"..."
The bald commander lowered his head. He had initially supported the raids to extort a "peace fee" from the Leaf. He never expected his leader to actually try and fight a war to the finish.
"Take the young ones and go. Preserve the sparks of our people. Wait for the ti to rebuild."
"I understand, Master," the youth said, wiping his eyes. He turned to leave.
At the door, he paused. "Don't worry, Master. I will protect the spark. Until our village rises again, I will go by the na... Shinno."
anwhile, in the Hidden Leaf, the Abura ninjas had already traced the pheromones of the female bugs back to the Sky Ninja's hiding spot.
The news reached the village quickly. Hiruzen Sarutobi personally convened a war council of all Jonin. The goal: the total annihilation of the Sky Ninja Village.
"That is the situation," Nara Shikato concluded his intelligence briefing. "The enemy has three Aerial Fortresses. Their total strength is between 4,400 and 5,000 shinobi."
The Hokage tapped his long pipe against the table. "I thought finding their base would be the end of it, but it turns out their base is the problem. We're back to square one: how do we hit an enemy that lives in the clouds?"
"Thanks to the efforts of our 'Abura Jonin,' we now have a way to neutralize their standard flight troops. That's one major hurdle cleared."
Hiruzen intentionally avoided naming Tetsumaru directly. He wanted to win the boy over, but he couldn't officially promote him to Jonin yet without causing a political stir both within the Abura clan and his own administration. So, he settled for vague praise—the master of the "balancing act" at work.
Tetsumaru saw right through it. To him, praise without a paycheck was aningless. He figured the Hokage was just annoying everyone involved, but seeing the genuine pride on the faces of his elder relatives, he stayed silent.
I guess the joke's on . My clan is really that easy to fool.
"The key now," Hiruzen continued, "is boarding those fortresses. Once our ninjas are on the deck, those Sky Ninjas will be like fish on a cutting board."
"Think, everyone. If we don't solve this, they will continue to rain fire on our heads indefinitely."
Jiraiya stood up. "Chief, Gamabunta can clear fifty ters in a single bound. With my help, we can push that to eighty. But even that isn't high enough to reach them."
The Hokage looked at his other two students. "Orochimaru? Tsunade?"
Tsunade answered for both. "Even with our summons, that's about our limit as well."
"Can we use siege equipnt? Catapults?"
"No," a Jonin replied. "Too slow, too obvious. They'd see it coming a mile away."
"I have a thought." An Anbu ninja stepped forward. "I was present during the last battle with the Aerial Fortress. I noticed that as it approached the village, it gained altitude gradually. When the fighting started, it spiked its height as a defensive asure."
The Anbu looked at Nara Shikato. "Can we verify if their fortresses maintain a lower altitude during non-combat transit?"
Who is this guy? Tetsumaru wondered.
He had noticed the sa thing, but he had a Domain Field and a swarm to track the data. How did this Anbu pick up on it? Such a sharp ninja, provided he didn't die young, was destined for the top. This was no ordinary grunt.
Shikato quickly cross-referenced the intelligence and the photos taken by the Abura scouts. The conclusion was clear: the Anbu was right.
Shikato smiled. He had a plan.
The Hokage nodded, a twinkle in his eye as he lit his pipe. Jiraiya even gave the Anbu a thumbs-up.
Wait. Jiraiya's expression... that's not just approval. That's pride. That's 'look at my boy' energy.
Tetsumaru focused his Domain Field Barrier on Jiraiya's micro-expressions. He reached a shocking conclusion: the Anbu was Minato Namikaze.
He wasn't blonde right now—he was wearing a full head-wrap and hood beneath his mask. Not a single strand of hair was visible. No wonder Tetsumaru hadn't recognized him.
Minato is a pro, Tetsumaru thought. But man, what happened later? How did he end up 'teaching' Kakashi to go on top-secret missions with bright white hair and a visible Sharingan? 'Secret' mission, my ass. No wonder the whole world knew who Kakashi was.
Knowing where the tactical discussion was headed, Tetsumaru checked out. He started "rowing the boat" (slacking off), his mind wandering toward his next round of experints.
He'd spent too many days playing Mahjong and running drills. The mont this Sky Ninja business was over, he was going to lock himself in his lab and stay there.
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