BREAKING BORDERS
Prologue
Everyone already knew what they would find in those caves, so nobody really needed Neji's warning, "Be careful."
The young Hyuuga checked his platoon's position with a last sweeping glance. Since this wasn't exactly a stealth mission, none of the shinobi under his charge had bothered to conceal themselves. Instead, they were all in their favorite battle stances, every muscle tensed and ready for action.
He could see Lee, his back smack against the high-rising cave wall just beside its gaping entrance, left arm outstretched and taijutsu already tingling in his limbs. The trademark green spandex he wore was torn in several places, the cuffs shredded and frayed, but his outfit's state of disrepair only served to reveal the smooth, rock-hard muscle underneath. Even after three years of constant war, Lee still thrived.
He could see TenTen, one hand pushing back the branches of a thick bush and the other hovering over her summoning scrolls, on a hair trigger to call forth an arsenal large enough to supply half an army. Her soft brown eyes had hardened over the years, and the two cute buns she used to have had merged into one, tied brutally tightly at the back of her head. She was not the carefree, playful teenage girl she once was, but a battle-worn kunoichi.
And he could see Kohaku. Kohaku, who wasn't even supposed to be here for this fight. Flattened on a large boulder, her eyes were locked on the cave, a kunai clutched in her grasp, she looked every bit the ninja she shouldn't have been.
A dangerous swell of pride and confidence bloomed into existence at the sight of his team, so alert and powerful. For that one moment he fully believed that he could look into the future and see that it was really going to end that day. The taste of victory was already on his lips.
After that, he vowed to himself, he would make sure Kohaku never had reason to touch a weapon ever again.
The short-wave radio he wore in his ear buzzed to life. All other platoon leaders reported themselves ready to engage, and after Neji added his affirmative, he heard Kakashi say a few words. Among these words, the only ones that stuck in his mind were, "Don't get hurt." Raising a hand for attention, he silently pointed two fingers at the depths beyond the cave opening, and issued the unspoken command: attack.
Don't get hurt.
The last struggle for Konoha began. Leaf ninja poured into the vast cavern, streaking along the ground, walls and domed ceiling along a dark, tunnel-like passage. Neji led his team forwards as they ran in formation, Lee slightly behind at the right, TenTen at the left and Kohaku bringing up the rear. Packed dirt crumbled underfoot and small particles dislodged from the people above rained down on them. Fluorescent rods were in every fist, dotting the blackness with green pinpricks of light.
Once again he wondered how many of those around him were unknowingly counting down the last seconds of their previous lives. He was running straight into this death game with firm expectations of living to get back out, but would he really? Would any of his friends?
At their speed, the half-mile journey didn't take more than a few minutes. Before he had quite finished preparing himself, a sickly, mustard-yellow light loomed up ahead. The eyes of his platoon were on him and he nodded, hoping they would see.
This was it.
Don't get hurt.
Author's Note: Don't ask my why I won't give up on this plot. Just don't. Anyway, I expect I'll have chapter up pretty soon. Most of it is already written (actually, I wanted to put some of that stuff into this prologue since it's so weird and short, but things would have just gotten confusing).