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[Sukaina's POV, Several Hours before Shisui's arrival]

Kumo's army was a pain in the ass, but I was far worse than that. I guess that in a sense, I am haemorrhoids on steroids.

Ugh, what the fuck is wrong with me, that's disgusting.

Anyway, man plans, and god… Well, I have come to say that phrase quite a few times in my life, for there always seemed to be something ready to fuck up my plans.

And today, while I expected this thing to be the unexpected Two Tails Jinchuriki, it was actually the army's acting commander, C.

Boring name if you ask me, but not so boring commander. Quite the annoying one if you ask me.

My plan was to put fear into my enemies, forcing them to slow down to better defend against me. However, C was one ruthless bastard. While I did put quite some fears into my enemies, and killed quite a few of them, they did not slow down in the slightest. Instead, they even started accelerating.

As for me, C sent nearly all of their ninjas, who could move faster, after me. Unfortunately for them, I was the best there was at the game of cat and mouse, on this battlefield at least, and they were the ones who died in the end.

But as a result, C's army had managed to reach the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Frost in less than a day. And this wasn't good, because if he continued at this speed, then he would reach the Fortress before our reinforcements did, meaning there would only be 300ish Shinobis to stop 4000ish soldiers.

Of course, me taking out almost one thousand of his soldiers must have pissed him off quite a bit, and terrified his soldiers, but that wasn't enough.

If I didn't do anything, then C would reach the Fortress in the middle of the night, and with that Two Tails fucker the Fortress would be taken or destroyed before tomorrow's sun came out.

And so I did something.

Figuring the road they would take wasn't hard, there was only one they could possibly take with the size of their army, so I scouted ahead, and found the perfect spot for an ambush.

That's right, I wasn't using guerilla tactics anymore, I was laying a proper ambush, to face more than four thousand men by myself.

Quite the foolish endeavour, if you asked… well, anyone. Suicidal, and I was well aware of it. However, I didn't really have a choice.

This wasn't about honour, selfishness or some kind of hero complex, it was quite simply a non-choice. If I do not do anything, then it will bring the end of everything and everyone I love, and quite possibly me. And if I do something, which I am, while death is by far the most probable outcome, at least I would die protecting what I loved.

Well, it's quite sad to die at only 9 for a transmigrator, I'll admit that, but I've made my mind. I think.

Maybe this will be useless, maybe I won't make a difference, maybe I will not be remembered, but I don't care. My goal was never to be famous, or the strongest, or even to live.

I mistakenly thought, when I was younger, that those were my goals, that I wanted to achieve the goal of any transmigrator and roll over the entire world by farting into lady luck's face, but as I waited for the incoming army, I realized that wasn't it.

I didn't want to survive the war, I wanted to live a fulfilling life. And I believe that I have. Of course it has come with its fair share of troubles, and I would rather live a little longer if possible, but as the wise say, all things come to an end, and crying about it will bring me nothing.

Easier said than done, of course, but the philosophy is something I found myself agreeing to.

Yes it was sad I may die right after having found friends, brothers and sisters, after I finally started getting recognized my worth, after I started mattering in this world, but I can proudly say that those nine years I lived in this world were far better than anything I had ever done in my past life.

But as I realized the nature of my existence, and accepted I was truly ready to die, I felt something shift inside me. My chakra became unusually active as I stopped moving focusing on my insides.

And it only took me a second to find the abnormality. My chakra was rapidly converging towards my brain, where I felt a unique sensation, something I never felt before.

I felt like shackles I had never felt vanished, allowing me to use 100% of my strength. Curious, I smashed a tree next to me, and the result was astonishing. The sound created sounded like a small explosion, and splinters were sent flying everywhere as a huge hole was made into the tree.

I felt some pain in my arm and my shoulder, my muscles were torn by the attack, but it healed instantly, leaving no damage behind.

This was… a nice surprise. The First Gate, the Gate of Opening… I had opened it. Fully.

Well, it wouldn't really change much, but I guess it is nice nonetheless. I will get to bring down more than I thought.

One thing I did realize though, was why no one kept the First Gate opened at all times, despite the second one enhancing the healing factor of anyone.

It's because it fucking hurts. Although they would heal in an instant, my muscles and tendons would still suffer from tears of different sizes, which was extremely painful. No one would live like that if they could help him, and I definitely wouldn't.

So I turned it off as I continued laying my traps. One nice surprise was how the Gate still seemed to remain half opened as my senses were still at the First Gate level.

Anyway, as Kumo's army approached, the night finally fell. Standing on top of one of the tallest trees, I could see a dark mass move in the distance. Soon, the sound of their march reached my ears, and before long, they reached the forest.

And they received an explosive welcome.