It was a cold, dark night. The wind was blowing softly, creating a quiet woosh as it moved through the streets and alleys of the dilapidated buildings, cracked and looking as though made of sand, with simple square holes for "windows". The place had several waves of foul smells to tell of.
Naruto knew it was risky to be having a smoke. All was dark except for his cigarette. His M200 Cheytac Intervention lay beside him. Sure enough, a shot cracked right into the roof on which Naruto lay. He quickly put out the cigarette and grabbed his rifle. He rolled behind the huge billboard that spanned most of the side of the roof he was on to give him some cover, just as another shot cracked by. He should've been paying more attention. Now he was locked in a battle with another sniper. He made sure there was a shot loaded into his Intervention. He went to the other side of the billboard and scanned for a bit with his scope. He saw the sniper across the street on another building, and quickly ducked back as a bright flash and sound sped by right where his head was.
The other sniper was a good shot, it seemed. Naruto attempted to countersnipe. He quickly poked his head out, took a shot, and ducked back only to avoid another bright flash, accompanied by the same sound. Naruto then decided put his helmet on his rifle and stuck it barely out past the edge of the billboard. The other sniper quickly shot, and the helmet flew back quite a ways. Naruto waited for several seconds, not wanting to take the possibility of the sniper seeing through his bluff.
After a few deep breaths Naruto poked his actual head out again with his sniper. He got into his scope, and saw the other sniper had relaxed.
The plan had worked. Naruto remembered he hadn't bolted the M200 yet, and did so. He then pulled the trigger, and a shot rang out as the other sniper fell over, blood oozing from where the bullet had entered, right in the head. Now, he would wait for the inevitable search team sent out for him, and they would be dead as well. He was given orders to just scout out the layout of the dusty village, but he was just forced to shoot his rifle. They'd surely send out teams to check out the sounds of the shots. Naruto bolted the Intervention. He had shot twice, so his current clip still had 5 shots left, and he'd two spare clips after that. 19 shots. Hopefully, they wouldn't send beyond 19 people scanning for him. And that was assuming every shot he made was a one shot, one kill.
Naruto made a brief scan of the street to make sure there weren't any scouts there who could relay his exact location. He found a old civilian woman, and that was it. It was odd that an old lady would be out this late. She was looking right at him. Naruto decided to take another smoke, behind the billboard this time. He would simply wait to hear the sound of a motorized vehicle, rather than risk his head scouting for it every few minutes.
It was not but maybe five minutes or so when Naruto heard the familiar sound of several trucks that these guys used. He poked his head slightly out, and saw a tactical with a heavy machine gun mounted on the back, and a transport from which several guys had begun dismounting. He saw the old lady walking up to the tactical in front. She was talking to them, and pointing right at Naruto's roof.
"Shit…"
Naruto quickly took the most logical shot, going for center mass, and killed the civilian lady. She fell over in a useless heap, bloody. Naruto bolted and then shot the guy manning the 50 cal machine gun right in the head. Naruto bolted once again, and shot the driver, hitting him right in the neck. The entire crew of the forward truck was down. Now it was just the transport truck.
Naruto shifted his sights, and saw that there were still men getting out of the truck, with several scanning around the general area where the lady had been pointing, as only the men on the tactical got the exact location.
Naruto bolt and shot two guys that climbed out, and had to let the third climb out as he reloaded. He poked his head out again, and shot twice more, killing two more. There were only 10 men or so remaining. But then they found him, and started spraying bullets at his roof. He got hit in the arm almost right away. Naruto ducked back behind the billboard, looking at his arm. He wouldn't be able to use the sniper for a while. Examining his arm, he saw that there was no exit wound, indicating it had lodged in the bone. He used what limited medical supplies he had been given to patch it up and stop the bleeding.
So now he was down to his M9 pistol. He shifted to the other end of the billboard, and poked his head out with his one arm and M9. He saw the group of 10 or so, and shot several shots. He downed one, and then another violent wave of bullets erupted and he quickly ducked back behind the billboard. The part of the roof he was just behind, the rising all around the square roof, seemed to be almost instantly vaporized. The wave of bullets was constant, unending. As they started shooting randomly through the billboard, nearly hitting Naruto several times, Naruto went off the roof down to the second floor of the three story building. The second story had several windows from which he could peer out of. He saw they were still spraying at the roof.
He took some more shots with his M9, dropping two and reloading before they caught on. They were clearly untrained, considering he wasn't hit again and managed to kill another before he went back to cover. Their guns were tearing the walls out incredibly quickly, and were definitely AK-47's judging from the firing sound. 6 of them left. They didn't stop shooting. This time they all seemed to reloading at the same time, since the shooting completely stopped. Naruto quickly took this chance and looked out the window, shooting more shots. He killed two more, and they then started shooting again. Naruto went to the first floor, and planted two M18A1 Claymore mines, one at the front entrance, and one at the back. He reloaded his M9 again. He had one spare mag left. It would be more than enough. He heard his two claymores go off. Two left. He went back up to the second floor of his building, and waited for the remaining two to ascend the staircase. One did, and Naruto shot him right in the head three times almost immediately. There was no questioning that he was dead. Naruto quickly turned around and jumped out of the second floor window, making a rather hard landing with a grunting noise, and ran through the front entrance of the building.
The last man must have been panicking, 'cause he didn't hear Naruto. Naruto grabbed him from behind, used both hands to grab his head, and snapped his neck.
Naruto headed to his extraction point. He was almost half an hour late, but surely his slaughtering of this many men compensated for it. His country, the country of fire, was at war with Orochimaru's small country of Sound. It had been going on for almost a year now. "Orochimaru's military is weak, morale is low, their tech is weaker, they are fewer in number. They will be crushed in a few months." That was what their forces were told. The only one that was true was the second. But it was their land, their territory. It was difficult to fight in a place not your own against a clever and cunning enemy. Naruto reached the extraction chopper.
"What took you so damn long? There were several gunshots off from where you came from. And you have a shot arm," asked the pilot.
"I took a small detour."
"Most "small" detours don't involve returning with half the ammo you were given and a shot and bandaged arm."
"Just get me out of here. I'm tired of this damn place."
And so they took off. Naruto decided to crash on the chopper. He could fairly easily sleep even despite the noise, it was something he was used to.
They got back to the base fairly quickly, waking Naruto quicker than he had hoped for.
"Why so damn fast…" he grumbled.
"This base is only a few miles out from where you were operating. You were told this before," responded the pilot. "See the commanding officer. He is expecting you. Just expect him to bitch at you."
"For what?"
"He always finds something."
Naruto trekked past the several tents and ammo boxes and working out soldiers in their white tank tops stained with sweat, and went to the biggest tent with a flag bearing the sign of the leaf raised tall and high. He entered.
Sure enough, the commanding officer found quite a bit to complain about.
"So, on top of breaking orders to just go scouting, you killed a civilian, delayed the chopper nearly half an hour, got your arm shot, and attracted unnecessary attention."
"And killed several guys."
"You were just supposed to scout. But oh, no, you professional sniper guys, you have to fucking show off and shoot everything that breathes and isn't on your side. Your weapons were given to you for self defense, not so you could go waving your dick around in Orochimaru's territory."
"Funny how you mention waving ones dick around, when your tent here has all the air conditioning, the huge flag, and is, in general, the biggest tent on this base."
"You were just supposed to scout. Are the definition of the words "just" and "scout" foreign to you?"
"Weapons are for killing people. That's what I did. Besides, the civilian was revealing my location. It was either shoot or lose what little surprise I had. I wasn't told there would be snipers scanning that weren't me, either."
"Well, since you're so high and mighty, you should have been expecting such a scenario," spat the CO.
Naruto wiped the spit off his face. It would be so easy to just make this guy eat his own teeth and drink his own blood, then piss in his mouth. But he couldn't do that.
"It still doesn't change the fact that 17 of them are dead, and you didn't suffer a single casualty."
"Naruto, you're dismissed," came another voice. It was one Naruto would much more gladly hear.
"Thank you, Asuma. I will gladly take my leave. I need to get this wound taken care of, anyway."
The CO turned in a fit of rage on Asuma as Naruto exited the tent and went to the doctors tent, marked with a red cross in a white circle.
The doctor could take the bullet out without complications. He repatched the wound, and let Naruto go. Naruto went back to his own tent, marked Tent D. None of the other people who also slept in this tent were there. Naruto crashed on his bed, this time for much longer.