A new chapter begins.
“My lords. We bow down to you. We humble ourselves before you.” I could hear. I could feel; suddenly light bursted into my eyes and life began once again. The colors sorted themselves out, images became clear. I was in a basement. No, rather, some sort of crypt. Before I could look around, I noticed that not only was my physical body limited, but my chakra felt as if there were restrictive chains around it. Crack. Crack. Crack. My head tilted to the right. Crack. Crack. Crack. It felt good to crack my neck finally. After… Being dead for… How many years had it been? I didn't actually know.
“Where am I? Who are you?” I heard a voice to my right that I recognized. Yusuke. The tenth damn Kage. His hair was still as gray as when he died. He noticed me looking at him.
“Makino! Grand to see you, old friend. You don't look a day older than I remember…” The conclusion came to him suddenly. “Tell me I did not send you too soon to your death.” I shook my head. I couldn't blame him in the slightest.
“Three days I think it was.” I stopped and looked at the intricate symbols on the ground before me. I sighed and gathered my thoughts. “I was Kage for three days.” Yusuke dropped his head, maybe in disappointment of me, or himself.
“So that war was not well founded?” I shook my head again. Someone cleared their throat off to the side of the room.
“We've reincarnated you with the Impure World Reincarnation. Our village is in trouble, and we need your help. Desperately.” I turned to look at the voice. There seemed to be five or six young shinobi crowded into this decrepit room, along with… About four reincarnations. More Kage? They certainly had the look of it. And the robe. Yes, the one on the other side of Yusuke read “Fourth Heizukage.” The other to my left read “Seventh Heizukage.” Where were the rest?
“I can see that you're wondering where the rest of the Kage are, well… We couldn't find anything of theirs that could be used to revive them.” I stood up on my wobbly legs.
“And you consider me a Kage?” I looked towards the shinobi who presented himself as their leader.
“Yes. We are some of the few people who actually believe you were right. You've gone done in history mostly as a tyrant. A usurper. But we don't think so.” I frowned. Of course. I could tell Yusuke felt uneasy next to me. Perhaps he wondered what I could've done in my short reign to be regarded so poorly.
“And how long have I been dead?”
“Almost eighteen years, sir.” He answered. Damn. Eighteen whole years have passed without me. Of course, to me, it felt like I had just died mere minutes ago.
“Who is Kage now?” Yusuke asked.
“Hirumi - she's been Kage since Makino died.” Yusuke smiled at this answer.
“A nice girl, I'm sure she has done well.” My frown turned into a scowl and my brow furrowed upon hearing that. Yusuke could sense my negative emotions seeping into the room.
“You seem discontent with that, Makino? Tell me, what happened after I went?” I could feel all eyes on me. Neither the seventh or the fourth had said anything, but I knew they were silently judging this conversation.
“Before you speak, Lord Yosai, I'd like to tell it how we were raised to believe. If that's alright with you, that is.” I nodded and motioned for him to continue.
“Alright, well, it begins with the Battle of the Plains of Ribo.” His voice faded away as I remembered the battle from my perspective.
“MAKINO!” Yusuke’s loud voice broke my concentration. It was held on nothing important, of course, but I couldn't help it. It was a windy day on these Plains. Of… Rido? Robe? Ribo? Ribo. Yeah, that was it. An aerial map sat on the table in front of me, pinned down in the corners by kunai. Yusuke was trying to get my attention. The other twenty or so division commanders standing around the table were staring in disbelief at me.
“Yes sir! Sorry, sir.” He shook his head. Maeda let out a chuckle next to me and elbowed my stomach.
“You and your second division will be leading the left flank.” He ordered, pointing to the left side of the map near a hill.
“An honor, sir.” He closed his eyes and sighed.
“You ALWAYS lead the left flank, Makino. Maeda ALWAYS leads the right flank, I ALWAYS take the center. I needn't remind you, right?” Such is the life of the third in command.
I nodded and grinned a bit. Some laughs made their way around the table, but I didn't mind. It seemed cheering up these guys was harder than leading them, and I was happy to try.
“Orthodox battle plan. I want you two to split half your forces and leapfrog them behind the enemy. Or into them, if circumstance permits. You all are experienced, you know how I like my battles conducted. Easy victory here, my friends.” He got up from his chair to stand on equal ground as his lieutenants.
We all saluted, and he returned the gesture.
Half an hour later, I stood at the head of a column of twelve hundred shinobi. We faced three horizontal lines of Okagakure and Morigakure ninja. All but the wind was silent as the two armies stared each other down.
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