Kisame could hear her teeth grind as they looked on their flock from between branches. He kept his thoughts to himself unless he was asked for them, despite the disparity in prestige and right between them, Reina was the one charged to lead the mission and her word would be law.

His sword purred beside him, there was blood in the air and it wonder just like Kisame why they weren’t partaking, it was the cleanest solution after all, at least in his opinion.

The flock of Kaguya beneath them numbered over a hundred and all of them were averse to their forced migration, but their opinions mattered less; they had no say in the matter. Inspiring obedience in a hundred civilians, Kekkei Genkai or not, was a simple feat for a trained shinobi.

More than half were the growing youths, the fat useless ones or the malnourished remnants of what the Kaguya clan condemned as the spawn of devil sinners. The latter were less prevalent in their numbers but they were a noteworthy subset according to Reina, enough to document in a census.

Kisame didn’t care for any of them and felt Reina was right in her opinion to exterminate them, as many other shinobi in the village thought was wise. However, the Mizukage had other plans and thus they obeyed.

Of course, that didn’t mean they couldn’t make their jobs a little easier, Kisame was extremely pleased to feed the few naysaying elders to Samehada, a scene he’d always watched Fuguki direct and now had the pleasure of doing so himself. Junko-sama, Mizukage-sama, thank you for the opportunity.

The strain of that burden begins to show in the thick marshlands where blood soaked the dirt and river. Reina leaped out onto another branch, a water clone took her place as she yelled commands at the clutch of devil spawn she placed at the head of the flock to lead the way.

It turned out the foolish Kaguya feared their own kind almost as much as they’d begun to fear Kisame and Reina, perhaps even more. Those malnourished sticks of children, young boys and girls beaten, chained, caged and burnt beyond recognition of their parents who are surely dead or part of the lynch mob inciting the abuse.

Reina understood more than Kisame what it felt like, she was a Kekkei Genkai wielder herself and the both of them understood what it was perceived like. That’s why those feeble, broken children with a hate and despair in their swollen purple eyes were the best herdsmen for their clansmen.

Of course, the old village head was upset to see them free and at the reigns and so Samehada ate him too.

“Halt! Not another step!” Kisame heard his own water clone barking orders at the rear and soon the entire migrant party of over a hundred civilians and two high A-rank shinobi came to a stop.

Reina landed with a thud next to him, not bothering to hide the weight of her footfalls any longer she gritted her teeth before she let out a heavy breath, “Kisame, we’re going to need another path through.” She said looking onward with tired, steely eyes.

Besides complaining about the mission parameters Reina has only been upset over the size of their mission party. Two A-rank—arguably S-rank with the way the Samehada makes him feel— are certainly more than equipped to handle almost any mission, including this one. However, a squad of Chuunin or even two squads of Genin would have been greatly appreciated.

There were over a hundred foolish Kaguya in the migrating group, the Mizukage’s orders were to deliver them to Kirigakure but with just the two of them and a whole lot of the Daimyo’s war spilling into territories and islands, it’s difficult to safely complete the mission.

With over a hundred useless civilians to protect out in the open, the logistics did call for a new route, especially with platoons of the Daimyo’s enemies stationed in the village ahead of them, the very one that would have been their source of refuge, shelter and food for at least a night.

To Kisame, there was a better solution than searching for a new route that could just as easily be compromised by anyone of the blundering fools they’re herding. On any other day, any other mission he would shut his mouth and follow the mission lead’s orders, his thoughts were not asked for, she simply pointed out the obvious.

But Samehada’s purring gurgled his own bloodlust, it helped that even if he weren’t hungry for a battle to test the weapon it would still make sense to offer this solution and so he did, “Why don’t we just kill them all?”

Reina seemed to have seen this coming, she sighed and shook her head, “We don’t know what they’re capable of, if they’re fighting the Daimyo then there’s a good chance they’re a Kekkei Genkai clan and even if they aren’t, we don’t know how many or how skilled they are. It’s only us two, we can’t leave these people without a watch to go fight.

“Besides, Kirigakure is officially not involved in this war, Mizukage-sama has not pledged his support for it either so taking any action could start some political jargon back home, means more trouble for us.”

Kisame clicked his tongue and heaved Samehada onto his shoulder, “What if they spot us? What if we’re forced into a battle?”

Reina set a steady gaze on him, “Kisame…don’t go orchestrating your own version of things, I have enough problems as is.”

He grinned, he had thought of that but even with Samehada, the ANBU Commander was not someone he should underestimate. By all right she should have been among those summoned for the Succession Royale, as good as Raiga is, she’s simply better.

“No such thing, Reina-san, I’ll be good as long as they are.”

She nodded and rose to her feet. She bit her thumb for blood and weaved through hand-signs in a flash, “Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Denka, be my eyes.”

Reina gestured at the village and the Class-D summoned Owl rotated it’s head behind before it said, “Of course, mistress Reina.” Denka flew away to scout the area; its wings were soundless as it soared right above the flock of Kaguya without any knowing it’s there.

Reina sat back and pulled out some stationary equipment, she sighed and said, “On the off chance they do notice us and the chance that there’s more armies to meet on our way, better let Mizukage-sama know in advance that there will be trouble.”

At this Kisame grinned, it meant if the Daimyo’s enemies saw fit to add Kirigakure to those they’ve offended, he wouldn’t need to hold back one bit.