A Ninja's Guide to Surviving a Shinobi War
By: JAJapster
Copyright Stuff: I don't own anything in the contents of this story. Please don't republish this story without asking permission. That is all.
Summary:
Slightly AU –It has been three years since the flames of war engulfed Konoha and the rest of the world, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands. When Naruto unexpectedly returns, though, he brings with him the key to Konoha's victory: a suicide mission deep behind enemy lines. A squad of Shinobi will leave on a quest to end the war, but none of them will return home the same, if at all.
Chapter One: Three Years Later...
The soft humming noise that filled the spacious cargo bay of the T36 Nighthawk Transport was relaxing, threatening to lull First Lieutenant Nara Shikamaru to sleep as he rested his head against it. The plane rocked and bumped every time they ran into an air pocket or a particularly strong gust of wind, but this did little to distract the young Shinobi. Ever since he had been commissioned as a Chunin and then promoted to Jounin over the last several years, it seemed like he spent the majority of his days traveling in the back of airplanes, being whisked around the world to wherever his duties required. He was used to turbulence; in fact, he was so accustomed to being rocked and jarred to sleep it that he sometimes found it unsettling lying in his own bed.
"Five minutes, sir!" shouted the pilot from the cockpit. A bulb overhead lit up, bathing the cargo bay in an eerie green glow.
The insulated interior of the transport did an efficient job of isolating them from the rest of the world, fooling them, if only momentarily, that their plane was some kind of invulnerable sanctuary soaring through a raucous storm.
However, Shikamaru knew that if the airplane had a window to look out of, he would see an ocean of flickering lights erupting less than a mile beneath their position. Each flash represented an explosion of enemy shrapnel, a cloud of deadly metal shards that would rip through the transport's hull like paper.
If they were lucky, the fragmented pieces of jagged steel would kill them all instantly. If they weren't, the plane's engines would sputter and die, sending the smoldering wreckage spiraling through the air until it crashed into the forest below where they would slowly burn to death.
It was a morbid thought, but it was one Shikamaru had trouble keeping out of his mind every time they flew over this particular stretch of forest in Kusa. It was called the Airplane Graveyard for a reason. Dozens, if not hundreds, of aircrafts, both Konoha's and their enemies', had been sniped out of the sky by anti-aircraft batteries. Fly too high and you'd show up on someone's radar as a juicy target for their surface-to-air missiles. Fly too low and you'd end up as another entry in the growing list of aviators that the forest had claimed.
"You need to relax," Ino whispered. Most of her face was hidden behind the balaclava and combat helmet she was wearing, but Shikamaru could still see her bright blue eyes shimmering brightly in the dimly lit cabin. Traces of blond hair cascaded from beneath her helmet, draping down her shoulders and spilling over the olive flak vest that all Konoha Shinobi wore into battle. Shikamaru thought she looked beautiful.
"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "All this risk for one person."
Their mission was as basic as it was stupid.
A patrol somewhere in the woods below had gotten separated off from their platoon when armies from Earth and Lightening had unexpectedly attacked. The platoon, having sustained heavy casualties, retreated out of the forest with their dead and wounded, and the remainder of the patrol was promptly surrounded. As of their last update from three hours ago, they were completely cut off, low on ammunition and supplies, and were in danger of being overrun at any moment.
Unfortunately for Shikamaru and Ino, one member of the patrol was the son of a high-ranking Konoha councilman. Within minutes of the news that the councilman's son was in danger, the Hokage had given them the assignment to enter the forest, find the kid and get him out safely.
"Orders are orders," Ino replied, stroking his arm gently. "Don't worry. We'll get in, find him and be back at base before dawn."
"Yeah, right," Shikamaru snorted. If everything went well, they would land close to the patrol's position, find the councilman's son, and with their elite Shinobi training, manage to smuggle him out from beneath the noses of at least a hundred enemy soldiers who were armed to the teeth with machine guns, rocket launchers and night vision goggles. The odds of everything going that smoothly, though, were slim. More likely, their information would be wrong and he and Ino would spend the next few days scouring the forest for the patrol, only to find the members of the patrol all dead.
It was a pointless waste of their time and Shikamaru resented the fact that they were putting their lives in jeopardy just to rescue one soldier because of his political connections.
"Three minutes!" The pilot glanced back and smiled at Ino warmly. "Good luck ma'm."
"Thank you, Captain," Ino said sweetly. She had given the pilot a kiss on the cheek for good luck when they had lifted off. He was smitten now, just like any other poor sap that had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of Ino's shameless flirting.
It had been three years since they had abruptly graduated from Konoha High and were forced on to the front lines of war. They had both been through a number of battles and lost many friends, but it never ceased to amaze Shikamaru just how little Ino had seen to grow up during that time. In a way, though, Shikamaru was glad for this. It reminded him of better days days, back when they still had their childhood innocence and youthful optimism.
"Thirty seconds!"
A door in the transport's floor slid open and the deafening roar of rushing wind immediately filled the cabin. Shikamaru peered down at the landscape as it tore by, wincing as gusts of icy cold air tore at his skin. It was too dark to see the ground, but every few seconds, the night would be illuminated by a flash of light as another barrage of shrapnel detonated far too close for comfort.
It was hard to believe they were about to jump into that, without a parachute no less. A parachute would slow them down enough that a sniper might blast them on the way down. Hurtling through the sky and using their chakra to cushion their landing was the only way they'd make it to the ground in one piece. It was hardly ideal, but it was better than the alternative.
"Good luck!"
Ino leaned over, pulled down her mask and gave Shikamaru a long kiss on the lips, "I'll see you on the ground!"
And with that, the two Shinobi leaped out of the airplane and into the darkness.
Hyuga Hinata sighed as a relaxing breeze swept through her blue hair. Her feet dangled freely over the edge of Konoha's towering city gates, swaying back and forth as the young Hyuga leaned back and enjoyed the evening's tranquility. She gazed upwards, her pale eyes dancing over the stars that interwove to form intricate, sparkling patterns in the night sky. It was moments like these that she treasured, momentary respites from her normal routine of chaos where she could afford the luxury of merely sitting there, completely without worry and entirely at peace.
Hinata wiped some stray blood off her hands on to the dirty scrubs that formed a voluminous cloak around her diminutive form. She had just gotten off a double shift at Konoha's medical ward and hadn't even bothered to change before heading out. The emergency room where she worked as a surgeon could be overwhelming at times. Working all day (often futilely) to patch together the dying was taxing on her sanity, and yet, because of Hinata's ability to recognize chakra flow and other important vitals in the human body, she was one of the most suited Shinobi in the village for the job.
Today, she simply needed to leave and get some fresh air as soon as possible. A young Shinobi, no older than Hinata, had been wheeled in only an hour earlier with most of his lower torso missing. He had been airlifted all the way from the front, and it was a miracle that he hadn't bled out on the way. A special anti-Shinobi mine, an explosive that detonated when it detected a chakra signature, had torn the poor man almost in half.
Hinata had used her chakra to help alleviate his suffering, but there was little that she or any of the healers could do. He was dead within minutes of arrival.
"Evening, ma'am," one of the city gate sentries said, tipping his helmet respectfully as he passed by. Hinata smiled in return. The guards knew to expect her -she came to the top of the city gate every night after her shift ended for an hour or so before returning home.
Part of the reason was to escape the hospital. The other reason, though she would never admit this to anyone if asked, was the faint hope that one day she might see a familiar blond haired Shinobi approach the very gate she had seen him disappear through three years earlier. It was a silly wish, she knew, hoping that Uzumaki Naruto might suddenly return from exile, but she refused to abandon it.
It had been three years, three months and sixteen days since Naruto had left Konoha in pursuit of the traitor, Uchiha Sasuke, and no one in Konoha had heard from him since. One rumor had him living in Lightening country helping a resistance movement. Another claimed he had died shortly after leaving Konoha.
Still, that hadn't stopped Hinata from dreaming that one day she would see her friend again.
"Hinata?" A teenage girl who looked remarkably like Hinata was standing nearby.
"Yes, Hanabi?"
"Father says he wants you to return home."
"Thanks, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Hanabi, however, didn't leave. "He also wanted me to remind you that you have dinner with Mr. Kazumuru tomorrow evening."
Hinata rolled her eyes and exhaled deeply. "Thanks." she muttered.
"Is something wrong?" Hanabi asked, eying Hinata curiously. "Mr. Kazumuru is only a year older than you and he's incredibly wealthy. In all honesty, he's also very handsome. You two would make a very respectable couple, I think."
"You wouldn't understand," Hinata grumbled.
"I'm almost sixteen," Hanabi protested with a frown. "I'm not a child."
It was hard to believe that Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister, was already on the cusps of womanhood. She would graduate from the academy next year with honors and would probably be drafted for ANBU or another one of Konoha's special forces programs shortly after. How the time flew by.
"Would you want to marry a complete stranger?" Hinata asked.
"If that was what was good for the family, of course," the younger Hyuga replied promptly. "Besides, he's not a stranger. Father has known their family for years now."
Hinata smiled sadly. "I'll see you at home, Hanabi."
Hanabi gave her a confused look, as if she couldn't comprehend why Hinata was making such a big fuss, but then nodded stiffly and left.
Once her little sister had left, Hinata reclined again, resting her head on the cool stone surface of the city gate.
Shortly after the war had broken out, her father, Hiashi, had discovered that the youngest member of the Hyuga clan, Hanabi, possessed the same kind of prodigious talents that their cousin, Neji, had. As a result, her father had become her mentor, personally overseeing every aspect of her training. From the moment she returned from the academy, he had her training, sharpening her skills for the day she graduated and became a perfect Shinobi warrior. In Hiashi's eyes, Hanabi had the potential to become a Shinobi worthy of the Hyuga name. The same, however, couldn't be said for Hinata.
Always a disappointment in her father, Hinata had decided not to be deployed to the front line as a combat medic and instead elected to work in the hospital. Perhaps in retaliation, Hiashi had begun trying to marry her off to another wealthy family, expressing that at least his daughter might be able to bear strong Shinobi children, even though she wasn't one herself.
There was no lost love between the two ever since Hinata found out that Hiashi had conspired with Danzo to get Naruto flee the village three years ago. While things hadn't gotten any more hostile, they never spoke with each other. When they had breakfast with the rest of the clan, they would just eat in stony silence, refusing to look at each other much less converse. It was all very awkward, but Hinata certainly wasn't prepared to forgive the man who had single handedly ruined her childhood.
Merely thinking of Naruto sent a pang through Hinata's heart. Her chest tightened and it took a moment for her to regain her composure. She dug into her pocket and removed the worn forehead protector that she had found lying on the ground where Naruto had abandoned it when he left the village. Stroking it, feeling the soft fabric between her fingers, comforted her for some reason.
She didn't know how she felt about Naruto. There was no denying that she still had very strong feelings for him –she had been in love with him for almost half her life, after all. But how could you still be in love with someone you didn't even know was alive?
Author's Notes:
As promised, here's the first chapter of the sequel to a Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School. If you haven't read the prequel, it's probably recommended that you give it a gander (you can find the link in my author's profile), as the sequel is based on its ending. If you don't have the time to read over (which is completely understandable), I'll definitely try and get everyone up to speed in the next few chapters.