As the fourth shinobi world war was happening, the remaining shinobi forces left in their respective villages patrolled their respective villages' perimeters. Ever vigilant if an attack to the village happened.
Team Ebisu, the four man cell that the nephew of the late Asuma Sarutobi belonged, were on break inside one of the barracks located in the village. They had patrolled the outskirts of the village for three consecutive days.
The duty was supposed to be handled by the village chunins but the situation as it is now, patrol duties were now handled by the village genin.
"Man, why can't we be with Naruto-niichan and the others." Konohamaru whined as he sprawled on the chair. "Why can't we go and fight in the war?!" The young Sarutobi heir continued to whine.
"Now, now don't be like that." The eternal genin, Kosuke Maruboshi, spoke. "Patrolling village perimeters is still as good as fighting in the war." The old genin continued sagely.
The eternal genin was apparently assigned with them as they were on patrol.
"But patrolling the perimeter is so boring!" The young heir continued whining. "I want some action."
Indeed nothing has happened near the hidden leaf village. Aside from the occasional conceited bandits, nothing much has happened in and out of the village. Everyone in the village was on the edge, civilian mothers with shinobi children who were above the rank of genin, lamented the fact that their children were at the war. Some prayed for the safe return of their children, holding out to that small glimmer of hope that their beloved sons and daughters would come back.
"Konohamaru-kun." Udon and Moegi muttered lowly.
While the other two teammates of Konohamaru agreed to their de-facto leader's thoughts but they knew the consequence of wars such as this. Their eyes were opened after Sand-Sound invasion all those years ago.
"Now, now Konohmaru-kun." The old man chided. "Be careful what you wish for or you mi-"
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" A shiinobi shouted that was followed with screams of panic and fear cut off what Kosuke was about to say. "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Another shinobi repeated this time instead of shouts of panic, clings and clangs of weapons clashing.
Kousuke's response was to ready his rather large frying pan on his back and prepared for battle. "Or you might just get more than what you bargained for." He continued what he was saying before as he exited the barracks and protect the hidden leaf.
"What are you three still doing here?!" Ebisu shouted as he found his students stuck in a stupor, standing with their mouths agape. "Oi! What are you doing there?!" Ebisue continued shouting to snap his genin from the stupor that they were in.
"R-right!" And snap they did
Ebisu understood why his students were in a stupor just now, he had overheard what Konohamaru was whining about. He just got his wish, he just hoped this won't affect his team, especially Konohamaru, negatively.
Konohamaru dashed towards the exit and saw the village.
He saw the village being overrun by a barrage of white humanoid creatures.
As far as intel of the five shinobi alliance has told them, these white creatures where called Zetsus and they can mimic anyone they touch.
And as far as what Konohamaru has seen not one of the Zetsus has yet to transform into someone. No one from the hidden leaf has attacked a fellow shinobi of the leaf. He doesn't know, no one knows, why this was the case but this has lessened the disadvantage they were in. But that was beside the point, as the bloodbath before him continued: he saw genin, no older than 12 years old get stabbed on his stomach; an academy student, who needed to play hero for his younger brother, got his neck snapped by the white creature.
That's when realization hit him. The shinobi left in the village were untrained, are only genin. Only a few could go down with a fight and a handful can hold their own. This doesn't count the competent shinobi inside the village who are either retired or on maternity leave, as was the case of his late uncle's wife, Kurenai Sarutobi.
"Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi Let's split up and give assistance!" Ebisu ordered his team as he jumped northwards.
"Yes sir!" The three genins complied as they too went their separate ways.
Konohamaru arrived at the shopping district to see three civilian men defending their families. The men's shirts were near non-existent as a result of the clash they had with the armored creature, not to mention the cuts and bruises they garnered.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Konohamaru shouted after doing the necessary seals as he replicated the lone shuriken he had threw beforehand.
"Run!" Konohamaru yelled at the men and jumped in front of them.
The men didn't need to be told twice, they nodded and carried their families towards the nearest safe house.
As soon as the young heir returned his attention to his targets, they had dropped dead as they turned into shuriken pincushion, but they were the least of his worries as more White Zetsus rose from the ground and began to attack him.
Konohamaru jumped and subsequently dodged a katana that was aimed at his ankles. He extended his left foot and stomped on the katana-wielding Zetsu's face before doing the same with his right foot. He jumped again and threw a kunai with an explosive tag to the ground.
The kunai exploded and covered the entire area with smoke as his foot latched onto a nearby pole. Once the smoke cleared out, scattered bodies of dead Zetsus littered the ground.
With no one left to attack, Konohamaru left the area and find someplace that needs his assistance.
Despite being pregnant, Kurenai was still a shinobi of the leaf and it is her sworn duty to protect the village, but more importantly, it is her duty to protect the 'king' in the place of her late husband. As soon as the attack happened, she didn't hesitate to go out and protect the village the 'king', despite protests from her nurses.
Currently she's fighting eight Zetsus who had risen from the ground. She was careful not to let her enemies make contact with her skin
She may not have been in active duty these past few months, she still received quite good intel from the alliance as she was still a shinobi and may be called to fight despite her situation.
She skillfully parried three kunai slashes to her torso and blocked two more swords that were attempting to cleave her in half. She then did a backflip and kicked the Zetsu in front of her. She then ducked under a barrage of Kunai thrown in her way. She maybe the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha, but she can still fight in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu.
She jumped and somersaulted away from the group of eight Zetsus. As soon as she landed on the ground, all eight Zetsus in front of her, she quickly did a set of handseals and she promptly disintegrated into pink petals. An explosion happened right after and killed all eight Zetsus.
Kurenai was about to jump and go to another area when she experienced serious abdominal pain due to pregnancy.
"N-not now!" She hissed as she tried to stand up but to no avail, the pain was just too unbearable to stand.
As luck would have it, a large group of Zetsus were coming her way, all carrying a variety of bladed weapons. Her only hope was to stall them until someone would arrive to help her predicament. Thankfully she still had strength to mold her chakra and engulf the arriving Zetsus with illusions to bid time, until her stomach pains would cease or someone would lend her assistance.
Before she could even throw even a single shuriken at the illusion bound Zetsus, more of them advanced through and completely surrounded her. The situation before her forced her to ignore all pain she's feeling now and defend herself from the oncoming onslaught.
"Katon: Haisekisho!" Konohamaru's voice echoed through her ears as gun powder covered her entire area, including the Zetsus that surrounded her.
Not a moment later she felt herself getting carried, bridal style, away from the smoke screen that was just generated. As soon as they were away, he got a glimpse of her savior, it was none other than her husband's nephew, Konohamaru Sarutobi.
"Kurenai-san are you okay?" The grandson of the third hokage asked his aunt in worry.
"I am quite alright Konohamaru-kun, thank you for the save." Kurenai thanked her nephew-in-law for saving her from such a predicament.
"Don't mention it." The boy sheepishly smiled. "We are family after all."
And in that instant an explosion rocked the area as the smoke that surrounded the Zetsus were turned into fire and engulfed all the enemy with fire.
"Let's get you to the safe house with the other civilian Kurenai-san, we genin will handle this." Konohamaru offered. "Because if you die, the king would die with you." The younger the pair said seriously as he escorted his uncle's wife towards their destination.
A few hours later reinforcement arrived in the form of Izumo and Kotetsu and trailing behind them was a battalion of the alliance heading towards their direction and in a manner of minutes, they defeated the hordes of Zetsu that had invaded the hidden leaf but not without grave prices.
Bodies of children littered everywhere, some were fortunate to have died instantly, while the others weren't as fortunate as they had died due to poison.
If there was one good thing, in the loosest sense, there a lot less children that were casualties as fathers and mothers shielded their sons and daughter from the attack. They shielded their offspring from thrown kunai knives to sword slashes.
Everyone took the initiative to gather the dead in one place and placed them in separate coffins after they were identified. A Family of four wailed and cried in sorrow as their academy student child was in front of them inside a coffin, another family mourned in silence as their genin would be buried before them.
Konohamaru looked down on the village with sadness. He wasn't able to save those children. All because of a stupid wish to see some action.
"Konohamaru-kun, despite what you may be thinking right now. You are not at fault." Kousuke offered as he appeared behind the boy.
The young heir looked at the old genin with teary eyes.
"While you may have wished to see some action." Kousuke began. "It does not mean that you wanted for this to happen." He continued as he put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Whether you wished for some action or not, the enemy would've still attacked." The eternal genin finished as he gave Konohamaru's shoulders a tight squeeze.
"He is right Konohamaru-kun." Ebisu said as he appeared beside the boy and looked at the village before them.
"Ebisu-sensei…" The Sarutobi muttered.
"Just remember to be careful what you wish for next time eh?" The teacher smiled at his student before making an announcement.
"People of the leaf, we all have suffered casualties but I regret to inform that the war is not over." He began shouting. "I must ask all uninjured and capable shinobi to go the barracks for team reassignments."
A protest was about to erupt from the civilian side of things and a few of the other genins.
"We will have time to mourn for our losses later but the protection of the village comes first." Ebisu finished his announcement as he, Konohamaru and Kousuke disappeared from the Hokage tower.
Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu = Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu
Katon: Haisekisho = Fire Style: Burning Ash