Previously on Konoha's Devil Dogs:
Both men glanced at each other before nodding to Kami. They began to fade from existance when they heard her speak softly, "May my guidance light your path, Hokages." She gazed at the spot they had been standing only moments before turning and making her way to the fallen Marines. As she came to Sarge, she gently caressed his face, blowing warm air into his face, new life into his body.
Sarge's eyes shot up and greedily sucked air into his lungs. The first this he noticed when his blurred vision began to sharpen was a pair of brown eyes gazing into his. Before he could react, a sweet melodious voice rang out to him, "Welcome Sergeant Cameron Zener, there is trouble brewing that only someone of your caliber can take. You could say.. I'm in need of a few good men."
The older man blinked stupidly at the young woman before him. Her gentle brown eyes staring curiously at his face, her brown hair hung loosely off her head, gently framing her face. All this and the sergeant merely blinked in response. Suddenly phantom pains from his injuries not but a few moments ago registered in his mind. Kami bounded backwards as the grizzled sergeant came up swinging. She patiently waited for the fit to subside before she approached him. Once the pain subsided, the older man stared suspiciously at the deceptively innocent looking girl. She smiled at him before she walked over the rest of his squad, caressing their faces and blowing a golden wind into them.
He sat and watched in amazement as his squad, his family, return to the land of the living... so to speak. The young woman worked quickly and quietly, not speaking to another one of the Marines. As she revived each of them, Sarge in turn would walk up behind her and get the Marines to focus on him as they fought through the phantom pains of what was suppose to be injuries that killed them. As she came to Doc, the last Marine to be revived, the others gathered behind and glanced at the nothingness that surrounded them. No one spoke as Sarge went to gather Doc into his arms. Still weak in her knees, Sarge hoisted her up and threw her arm over his shoulder, supporting her as they walked to the young woman that revived them.
"I suppose I owe you an explanation of your current condition," Kami spoke to the confused Marines. Her voice flowing around them, calming their frayed nerves. She turned to face them as she paused for a moment. Her eyes gazing into each of them, studying their features, peering into their souls. "All of you died in the battle with the 'Brutes' and those creatures you called the 'Flood'," she explained, her gaze fallen upon Sarge. He's eyebrow rose as he snorted out his question, "So we're dead?"
Her soft laughter rebounded around them, almost angelic in its harmony, before she composed herself. "Yes... and no. You see, you may have died at this installation you called the 'Ark', but I've collected your souls together here for another purpose," she held up her hand to stave off questions, as she continued, "There is a world under my keep, one that must remain aligned with the natural order of things. An evil foreign to this world is slowly it. So in order to counter this darkness, I've gathered you here to fight." She had been pacing, explaining all of this to the group, only to find when she had her back turned to them, they began to converse amongst themselves.
Her delicate eyebrow, twitched in annoyance. So few beings ever had the chance to bask in the presence of a deity. Now these 'Marines' had the gall to ignore her? Furiously, she shook her head, her mane violently bouncing as she regained composure. Coughing into her fist, she was pleased as the Marines focus upon her once again. Before she had the chance to speak, Sarge stepped forward and poked her in the forehead. Each of them blinked at one another before he rounded onto his Marines, "Yup, she's real, anyone else got any bright ideas?"
It was absurd, the sentient beings of her plane of existence worshiped her and when in her presence, spoke in hushed, respectful voices. Now, these nine individuals, souls saved by her power were ignoring her? This would not stand. Power flared around Kami as the Marines whipped around and gazed at the awesome sight. She grew in size, towering above the humans as they staggered back to keep the fierce being in front of them within their sights. "Foolish mortals! You will stay your tongues and no speak until spoken too," she bellowed. Startled for a moment, the Marines fall into a silence while they glanced at one another. Kami, thinking that this was a sign to continue, began to dispel the display of power when the Marines broke out into fits of laughter.
Kami froze at the sound. These humans, these 'Marines', were truly something else. The audacity to openly laugh in the face of a god that had given their broken bodies new life was not something to be taken lightly. Still here they were, roaring with laughter and ribbing each other until finally they calmed down. Disbelief shone across Kami's face before it settled into a ghost of a smile. She truly had selected the right beings for the job. "You nine mortals are going to save this world from utter annihilation...," was all she could say before she was interrupted. "What about the Chief? And the Arbiter? Did they make it? What happened in our own world dammit," Sarge barked gruffly at Kami.
"The ones you fought bravely for, the ones you sacrificed you lives for, have completed their missions. Your world will live on for generations to come. Your sacrifices were not in vain," she gently spoke causing the Marines to release their collective breath they had been holding. As the Marines celebrated amongst themselves, Sarge turned to Kami, a look of steel in his eyes, "Now what was this about us saving someones ass?"
Kami for her part had the decency to blush at the crude language, "You and your squad must be reborn in the land of Shinobi, were you will crush an evil spreading though out the land. An evil born from Hell itself. It infects the hearts of the wicked, given new life where ever this evil flows. Your fight is not over just yet." The Marines gaped at her, gazing as if she sprouted another limb or head. Sarge closed the distance between himself and Kami with two easy strides before he thrusted his grizzled features into hers, "Bulllshit, we fought, we won, now we're dead. Let us rest in peace. I don't give a damn about someone else's problems. If its such an issue, get someone from your world to fix it, because thats what we did for ourselves. Not our problem lady."
Kami sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew this was going to be difficult, but one would think that battle hardened soldiers would not shy away from more battle. "You must understand, the fate of hundreds of thousands rest in your hands. Surely, you are not afraid of a challenge," she questioned, hoping to get a rise. Sarge scowled at the woman, "You don't get it, we've been fighting for our lives these last twelve years. We are tired of fighting, we just want our time to rest." The rest of the squad was silent as they followed the exchange between the two. Kami snapped her fingers and an image sprang to life behind her. It showed a small boy running from a mob of people, cuts ranging all over his body. His cloth soaked in his own blood. Kami narrowed her eyes at the gruff older man, "This young man will grow up alone and hated amongst those that should see him a hero. He will hold back one of the greatest demons of all time, and still he will be shunned for his burden.
Sarge scowled at the images, seeing the mob corner the boy and beat him to an inch of his life. With another snap, the images shifted. Fires raged across a massive forest, villages burnt to the ground as men had their way with struggling women. Children lay slain in the streets, gutted, beaten, or beheaded. "Will you really abandon this people? Will you forsake vows you have taken in your previous life? To protect the innocent, protect those unable to protect themselves? If you are, then leave, take your rest, I would find another that would not forsake his fellow man so easily," she turned her back to him as she finished.
Kami almost regretted her decision when she felt herself wheeled around to face the grizzled sergeant. He thrust out his jaw aggressively at her as he spoke, "Now you listen to me bitch, last time I was guilt tripped into helping someone, I fell through the attic floor at my brother's mother-in-laws home. I fell through the ceiling and bounced off the fucking couch and tumbled out the damn window of a second story building. Four fractured ribs, a slipped disc, broke both my damn legs, and a broken arm, now you tell me if that is not a worthy cause for not falling for your guilt trip."
She froze for a moment before tilting her head to the side in a questioning glance, "So, will you aid me and the boy?" The sergeant scowled and looked to his squad, all nodded in agreement. He sighed as he glanced back at the deity in front of him, "Did I even have a damn choice?" Kami smiled sweetly as she shook her head, her hair bouncing with the gesture. He sighed as it was his turn to pinch the bridge of his nose to ward off an oncoming head ache, "Fine, what do we have to do?"
Kami snapped her fingers once more and desks appeared behind the Marines and a chalk board behind her. She gestured towards the desks as she took up station in front of the board. "You are going into a world of mystical energies and spiritual powers. Body energy is a vital force generated with the cells of living organisms. Combined with Spiritual energy, or force of will and mental fortitude, it can be harnessed into a variety of uses, mostly common, chakra, essential to the use of even the most basic of jutsu," she explained as various diagrams drew themselves upon the board behind her.
"In your bodies, are pathways or circulatory system for said chakra, and this energy is released at points known as chakra points. There are five known elements in the Elemental countries, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Lightning. Each element is stronger than the next, but weaker than the previous, with Lightning looping back to Earth," she explained as a circle of the elements drew itself onto onto the board.
She grinned as faced the Marines again, who sat there sweating bullets, "You nine will be reborn with the basic knowledge chakra control, genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu. So there will be no further need to explain to you. I only present this knowledge to you so you may focus on rebuilding your bodies to be in peak fighting condition."
She glanced at the gathered Marines before her, she closed her eyes as she summoned two images of the two men that were there before the Marines came too. She gestured towards the images on either side of her, "These men were here moments before you came too, they saw your fight with the Brutes and your deaths. When you return to the world of the living, you'll be but infants, orphans due to a rather brutal bandit raid. They will guide you as best they can. Please, follow the blonde's orders as you will not be with him for long I'm afraid. You will see when the time comes."
The Marines nodded to her, and began to glow a soft white. The light expanded and wrapped into their essence. And just as quickly as it started, they were gone. Kami stared momentarily at where the Marines stood moments ago before she began to vanish herself, a tear slid down her face as she turned away, "I'm so very sorry, Marines, may my light shelter your hearts in the coming darkness."
Two men sat in the orphanage gazing upon nine infants. The older man, Sarutobi, Third Hokage of the village Konoha, sat and glanced at his soon to be successor, Minato Namikaze, before speaking up, "I'm getting to old for this." The younger man grinned at his leader before he motioned to the door, "Oi, best get started on that paper work Jiji-sama. These brats are barely days old and already given you a mountain of paper work." The Third scowled at Minato, gestured for him to follow, before he replied, "Yes, and then theres the fact that your going to help me, successor."
Minato blinked before he became starry-eyed. He really was going to be the Fourth Hokage! Sudden realization hit as he knew that mountain of paper work was still going to be there when he took office, and summed up the situation as simply as he could, "Well crap."
:Thirteen years later:
"Where the hell is Blue Team," shouted an overly irate Sarge in his teams comlink. Though the comlink was no where near the sophistication of his previous world's technologies, it sure as hell got the job done. Eight other people winced as Sarge's voice boomed into their ears, three in particular, said occupants of Blue Team. Doc, Tank and Doyle all glanced at each other with guilty expressions, they wanted to be anyone but where they were currently. Red Team and Green Team both ran in pursuit of their target, slightly adjusting their course to move the target into the path that would allow Blue Team to intercept their target.
Unfortunately, Blue Team was east of their position that they needed to be in. Tank scowled at his teammates and radioed in, "Roger that Green Leader, Blue Team moving east by northeast, please readjust pursuit for interception in forty meters, ETA thirty seconds." Red and Green Team immediately shifted heading, using thrown weapons to shift their quarry's directions. Sarge barked over the com, "Pursuit team closing kill zone, ETA ten seconds!"
Blue Team dropped from the canopy, into the pursuit team's field of vision and went for the intercept. Several tense moments as Blue Team struggled with their target before Tank stood up with several scratches on his face, as he held a young looking cat with a red attached to its left ear in a vice like grip. Tank shook the cat as it clawed at his face again before he turned to his sergeant, "Sir, with respect... next time the Hokage sends on this 'Rescue Tora' mission, we redecorate his office with mud and paint."
Sarge wore a shit-eating-grin as he faced the thirteen year old Marine, "Duly noted, now I'll hold the beast of hell while Doc looks at your face, unless you want a few 'atta-boys'?" Tank scowled at the prospect of 'atta-boys', awards given to soldiers who fucked up and got hurt but still got the job done, "Sir, no sir."
As Sarge was given the cat, Doc went to examine the young mans face, inhaling sharply as she did. The rest of the squad quickly shot glances to her, Sarge already at her side, given the cat to Rat. Both man and beast gazed wickedly at each other, the sparks flew from their eyes. Tank the most worried, stood stock still, as Doc examined him. Sarge glanced at Tank, seeing nothing immediately wrong and frowned at Doc before he voiced his thoughts, "Something wrong Doc? Tank, you wounded Marine?" "Sir, no sir," the stock still Tank said, his eyes shifted between Doc and Sarge.
Doc rounded onto her sergeant, "Sir its his face!" Suddenly that caught the attention of the entire squad, as they crowded around Tank. A few tense seconds crawl by before Sarge again voiced the thoughts of the squad, "Whats wrong?" Doc having stepped back in order for the squad to press in on Tank, looked her sergeant dead in the eye and simply stated, "He's slightly better looking now." The squad blinked in unison before erupting into laughter. Tank scowled deeply at the young medic, who in turned smiled sweetly at the large boy, "Don't worry Tanky, I'm sure there's someone out there that is as blind as you are ugly just waiting for you."
The laughter died slowly, Doc gave high-fives to those that offered, before the Sarge had them focused again, "Alright Marines, lets get the hell outta here." A chorus of 'ooo-rahs' sounded in agreement before suddenly they were gone. The travel back to Konoha was set at a timed paced, each squad member taking extreme caution, the war with Iwa still fresh in their minds. They had just graduated by the time the Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, put an end to the war. Still they had done their parts, helped with moving supplies and the such. Each squad member wore identical uniforms, hooded tunics, with leather belts and pouches, leather closed boots instead of the standard sandal. Brown turtle necks that covered the lower half of their faces and leather fingerless gauntlets, to better form hand seals while still providing some degree of protection. Their tunics and pants were dyed green with hits of gray dabbed in for better camouflage. Their entire uniform were composed of earthy colors, used to provide cover when fighting on unfamiliar terrain.
Still, how Tanks face mask was shredded by the cat, Tora, claws was something to ponder. There were dogs trained to fight along side shinobi...so why not cats? Sarge shook his head of these thoughts as Konoha's massive gates came into view, "Alright Marines, head back to base, I'll drop the beast of hell and the mission log off to the Hokage, be back in time for chow." With that the squad took off I different directions as they headed back to their 'base' and Sarge headed towards the Hokage's tower. He gave a salute to the Chunin as he passed by, all things considered that he was still a Genin. He climbed the stairwell and knocked twice upon the door that led to his village's leader. A few moments passed before a voice from the other side beckoned him in.
Sarge closed the door behind him about faced to face the Fourth. He went rigid as he snapped a salute, waiting for his superior to return the salute or give him the at ease order. Sarge never wavered but when he saw his leader's eyes flicker ever so slightly to his right, the sergeant now Genin, reacted on instinct as he tucked and rolled to the left. He felt the gentle push of wind generated by the limb that would have clocked him pass over him. He came out of the roll into a combative crouch, his eyes softened as Kushina relaxed the limb she used to throw the punch. He shook his head, here he was, a trained veteran of almost two wars, and almost had his ass handed to him by a woman about to have a child. He grinned at the woman before dropping the cat, and his mission log onto the Fourth's desk, "Good to see you too ma'am."
Kushina smiled as she walked behind the desk and wrapped her arms around the Fourth. Such display was reserved for only a select few for Minato had a large amounts of enemies to be on the look out for. Minato looked lovingly at his wife before addressing Sarge, "I'll be sure the Fire Lord drops off the extra money his wife, Madam Shijimi, always seems to skip out on. I take it the mission went without incident?" Sarge smiled under his mask and gave a nod to the Hokage, "Nothing to report sir, just went in, did the shit, and got the hell outta dodge, sir."
Kushina scowled at Sarge for his use of language in her presence. Still she had come to accept the fact that the young man spoke and carried himself like an old soldier, a thought that made her giggle at the mental image of him being a gruff old man. She blinked as both of the males in the room stared at her, causing her to blush and wave off their attention. After a few moments Sarge returned his attention to the Fourth and issued his warning, "Sir, with respect, the squad feels the need to sharpen our skills, even if they are rudimentary missions such as baby sitting and gardening. I believe the mention of redecorating your office with mud and paint was brought into the equation somehow."
The Fourth sighed as he gave the Genin a slight nod. Knowing he would have to assign the next time to a few Chunin. There was no way in hell that this cat warranted material to be D-rank. He was about to issue the bank notes when he winced at the pain in his shoulder. His and Sarge's attention focused on Kushina, who held Minato's shoulder in a vice like grip and the other hand hovered over her bulging belly. She swayed slightly, both men moved to either side of her to steady her, "I think my water just broke." Both men paled slightly as Minato suddenly took hold of her. He was about to body flicker when he noticed the stare of the young man still present in the room. It was a stare that most soldiers got after they had seen too much action, a thousand yard stare. He was broken out of musings when Sarge whispered quietly, "You feel that?"
Caught up in the announcement that his wife would soon go into labor, he stretched out his sense and almost became physically ill when he felt the immense hatred and rage emanating on the horizon. So far out, and still able to feel it... Minato gathered his wits and began to issue orders, "Sarge I know others in the village must have felt that as well, gather your squad and round up every available Chunin and Jonin. We have a very serious issue to take care of. Go." Without another word, Sarge was out the window, he barked into his squads com, "Don't get comfy Marines! Shift your asses, we got to get every available Chunin and Jonin to the Hokage tower ASAP."
The village was in an uproar, the ninja moved amongst the villagers, or over them. Delta squad stood in front of the tower, flanking the Hokage as he gave assembled shinobi what his scouts just delivered. The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was en route to the village. Panic swept through the ranks like wild fire. Even the Hokage had to take a moment to restore order, "Genin teams will escort the villagers into the shelters, I need every available Chunin ranked shinobi or higher to report to the village gates for deployment. We must stall it long enough to figure out a weakness, or kill it out right. If not our village is lost."
Roars of disbelief and screams of panic echoed amongst the gathered shinobi. One individual stepped forth and addressed the Fourth, "Hokage-sama, with all due respect how can we hope to defeat the strongest of the Tailed Beasts? Victory is impossible!" Fear was set a blaze anew. This time the Hokage himself couldn't quiet them down. Order came in the most unlikely of places to those who didn't know him, Sarge, "AHHHten-HUT! Belay that shit people!" He wafted into the crowd like a bulldog, knocking sense into people as he went. When he finally came back around to the front, order had been restored. The Fourth gave Sarge a nod of thanks before explaining his plan of engaging the Kyuubi.
The plan was simple, engage Kyuubi, stall long enough to allow the Fourth to perform the necessary seals in order to kill the Kyuubi. One tiny problem. Some idiot in the back began to babble incoherently about they were all going to die. If there was one thing that could destroy moral right now, it was panic, because everyone was afraid, nothing could drive the fear out. Panic though caused irrational decisions.
So with Minato's permission, Sarge began a speech his old sergeant had given them back on the first encounter with Halo. "Shinobi of the Leaf, we've got a angry hell bent force of nature bearing down upon us and our beloved home. It wants to get its filthy claws on Konoha. There in lies its first and fatal mistake. Because it thinks that its the baddest thing to every walk this earth."
He paused the monologue as he paced back in forth in front of the assembled men and women, he spun and glared at them, "Well, I don't care if Kami herself disagrees with me, we are the baddest mother fuckers this side of Fire Country, and we're not gonna let it have our home! What we let it have is a belly full of kunai steel, and a pool of its own blood to drown in!" He paused again, his head swiveled back and forth taking in the faces of those before him, "Am I right, shinobi of the Leaf?"
The roar of approval and shouts of encouragement echoed throughout the village, before the Marines moved out to carry out their tasks. As they reached the end of the street, they turned and gazed the shinobi moved out the intercept the Kyuubi. The Marines gave what would be their final salute to the man that had practically raised them. They knew now that Minato would give his life to protect the village, it was only several days after the attack, that they found out he actually did give his life, as he sealed the demon into the baby Kushina had recently given birth too. The Marines were saddened as Kushina herself had passed on due to complications in child birth. The nine Marines knew that now they had another family member, as they converted one of the rooms in the 'base' into a nursery.
This was going to be a helluva adventure.