The moon was absent when Junko and twenty-two other Jounin dropped onto the Kaizoku sea. Darkness was their weapon this night, their ships had blown out all candles and all now commanding Chuunin on deck were given a single order— to sail forward only after thirty minutes had passed.

Twenty ships had been put to sea, taken to war upon the Mizukage’s orders with each commanded by a Jounin with the Navy Commanders ship having two Jounin to itself. Six ships were destroyed in the initial scuffle but all six Jounin had survived their sunk ships as they should. For all intent and purpose, their army was still at full strength and Junko would see that they used every bit of it.

It wouldn’t take any Jounin more than fifteen minutes to close the gap between them and the enemy and it would be a cake walk to slip through with the dark at their coat to wreak havoc on the enemy. Except the enemy they faced knew the sea well and knew they were fighting shinobi.

In contrast to the darkness that covered Junko’s fleet, the enemy had lanterns and sea lights floating ten to twenty metres around them, lighting up their position like a new year festival.

This meant any approaching vessel, person or even catfish would be spotted and blown to bits within moments of crossing that radius, but that was fine by Junko, the light would become their own undoing even more so than their hesitance to push the offence.

Junko whistled a low pitch with short and long beats. She waited a second before hearing the tune resound down through every one of her fleet’s ships, her Jounin subordinates were set and ready to move. She let out a high pitched whistle before sprinting ahead in near sync with all twenty-two of her Jounin.

She was sure they were scared and if she was being honest she was scared as well. They were charging head first into the light of thunderous death, leaving their ships behind and basically acting as human shields, all on her orders. Junko’s heart skipped at the thought of feeding these Jounin to needless deaths and the shame, disappointment and rage that’d await her if she survived her own stunt.

But as her feet skipped over water her mind supplied sensible reasons why she should remain as confident as ever. For one, half of the Jounin charging in were of the Funato clan, after serving years as clan head to the Hoshigaki clan she would be remiss if she didn’t recognize the Mizukage’s purposeful hand in this.

Lord Funato had crossed Yagura and now the clan spearheaded his war. Kirigakure shinobi clans loved the glory and prestige of war but it would be hard to explain this as the Mizukage favouring the Funato clan at all, even if he was certain they’d succeed in their mission, placing so many in all fronts was clearly an attempt to throw the blood cost of war on their shoulders.

And thus, if a handful died in following her orders the Mizukage’s rage may be mild or even feigned. A second reason to keep calm even as the shadows of underwater creatures grew under her was that they were Jounin, she was Jounin, a clan head for that matter. Her plan would work and if it didn’t work as well she’d pull out every card in her bursting deck to ensure it did.

Junko crossed into the illuminated waters and chakra leaped from her fingers in the form of a water whip, extinguishing each lantern and floating light source as she and her Jounin moved forward.

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It didn’t take another second before alarms went off on the ships still metres away. She heard their frantic yelling and cries of alarm, ignored it as she pushed on snuffing out each light as her platoon approached. Between them they’d already extinguished the first line of lights of four and were quickly moving onto the next.

However, extinguishing lights wasn’t the only part of the plan. Somewhere to her left she felt chakra surge as her Jounin unleashed powerful Ninjutsu at the ships, six water cannons larger than any metal ball flew at the enemy ships, rocking them as they frantically arranged a response.

The unmistakeable thwip of bows resounded throughout the sea and in the blink of an eye the darkened sky was filled with hundreds of arrows with more nocked and on their way. It was a paltry thing to be rid of for a platoon of Jounin but a well distraction from the next part of the plan.

Junko’s fingers fluttered through hand signs, chakra connecting within her and she unleashed the pre-planned jutsu that few Jounin had learned but could easily supplement, “Water Release: Raging River Force!”

The sea was the worst place to fight any Kirigakure Jounin much less a Hoshigaki. A wave of water daring to be as tall as the ships themselves rose like the hand of a sea god before surging forward at speeds nothing as large as a ship could ever hope to react to.

It crashed into three ships at once, extinguishing all light as it broke wood and drowned men by the dozens. Junko leaped away, panting as she swatted away the flurry of arrows that still rained. She looked around and saw her technique being simulated on each side of the sea, ships swayed at the force of the water drowning their sailors.

A thunderous boom and explosion of water cancelled all thoughts of an easy win though. Water blew up from the sea like a spouting geyser as cannons fired hastily and without any true aim. The enemy was disoriented and attacking at random to stave away the danger but neither Junko nor her Jounin were done.

Chakra filled the sea as three water dragons soared out with animalistic roars, two exploded as cannons rocked through them, tearing a tail and head but one Water Dragon struck, biting hard and through the deck of a ship.

Junko soft smile grew to a grin and she bit her thumb, signing familiar hand seals before slamming a blood smeared palm onto the water surface, “Kuchiyose no Justu!”

The water exploded, releasing the plume of smoke from her summon as it reared his head under her feet, carrying her with only its human-sized dorsal fin poking out of the water, “Samekiru! It’s been a minute since you feasted on my enemies.”

Another round of cannon fire let loose but her Jounin were closing the gap and destroying ships well enough for her to only worry slightly. Samekiru let his giant mouth rise so he could speak, “Feast? It’s been even longer since you summoned me in this form. A rare occasion it is.”

Samekiru has been her companion summon since she was but a child and they’ve been inseparable, even after she became clan head Samekiru was at her side, lounging in the Fuuinjutsu built tank that let him moderate his size. In the years since they’ve been together Samekiru has grown significantly, to the point where he could raze through ships if she wished it and right now, she did.

He needed not a word from her to dive under water. Junko let him free, content to watch her friend’s handiwork from a safe distance. Samekiru covered the distance in seconds and not because of his speed. He lurched out of the water, jaws unshackled till they found hold on the remnants of the ship she’d brought to sinking with her jutsu. He snapped it in two, scattering wood and boxed supplies as he dived back into the water with a colossal, wave surging splash.

Still, more cannons remained and fired at her men but the final phase of her plan was at hand as flanking her from the sides was her war fleet, returning fire with thunderous accuracy, flensing the enemy fleet to nothing and leaving her with nothing but the chaos of her burning enemies.

Junko snorted and shook her head, “They really should have pressed the advantage while they had it.”