Naruto: The Eyes of Redemption
written by "Lifethane"
Episode III: Vision for the Future
It is a time for prayer in the land of shinobi. Although the War of the Eyes has been over for two years, conflict continues to rage in the Country of Lightning. With it's reigning leader captured, the country has been forced to turn to the leader of the Cloud Shinobi, Raikage. Though the people fear that he has gone mad, the powerful master ninja has declared that the advantages held by the enemy villages of Leaf and Sand will be made meaningless with the launch of their new and catastrophic superweapon, which he has dubbed Susa.
Believing this new weapon to actually be the same module deployed in the Grave two years prior, the Leaf's top leaders have agreed that the only course of action is to find the weapon and destroy it. If their beliefs are correct, this weapon is capable of wiping out entire villages in a matter of moments. It also confirms the connection between the Cloud village and the mysterious organization Akatsuki that the Southern Eye forces have suspected for months. This theory, if true, is too devastating to be unexplored.
Spies have reported seeing a suspiciously high level of activity in a mountain-side facility some distance south of The Village Hidden in Clouds. Despite suspicions that the Cloud are deliberately leaving their movements unmasked to draw out the last of the Jinchuuriki—the humans containing the mighty Tailed Demons within their bodies—to further fuel their weapon, the Leaf's Hokage has dispatched their greatest heroes into this likely trap...
Chapter I: The Hurricane
Operation: Nut Cracker
Diamond Peak Fortress, Lightning Country
0800 hrs
Dawn greeted Cyclone Battalion with a brilliant winter sun that set the mildly clouded sky aflame with color and turned the frost upon the grass to moist dew. All twenty-five hundred of the Fire Country's foot soldiers crunched over the hard, brittle soil with cheery determination not common to soldiers on the brink of battle; many raised their weapons in salute to the glorious daybreak, and a number of younger men cheered loudly, shouting premature words of victory. Daytime wildlife in the forest alongside the road they travelled woke from its slumber to find its nocturnal counterparts flitting away in irritation or instinctual fear, and soon followed suit as the many marching footsteps and boisterous hoots drew closer to them in the echoing mountain pass. The battalion, reputed to be the rowdiest, noisiest bunch of warfighters in the whole of the continent, was outdoing itself this day.
"Well, how could we not?" the veterans would later say with smiles. "Nobody could keep a straight face, much less a grim attitude, with such a major victory only hours away—and especially not with him at the reins."
Many such comments were made of the inspiring presence of Cyclone Battalion's commander in those years, and many were made for years to come after. He strode confidently at the front of the lead formation in every march, struck the first blow in every charge, yelled the loudest when the banner was flown. Wherever he was, he seemed to project an aura of such high morale that, it was told, a soldier nearby took a spear through the belly, single-handedly defeated the adversary who had thrown it and three of his companions, and proceeded to make a full recovery in the medical tent just scant weeks later. Under his banner, ordinary soldiers with less than a year of military experience were said to find a whole new side of themselves and become as adept at combat as trained shinobi. And wherever this band of daring, courageous young men and women went, victories for the Southern Eye numbered in the dozens. With their commander at the forefront of every operation, the long conflicts with the stubborn remnants of the Northern Eye and the unreadable rogue Lightning Country were near their final end, and the soldiers' confidence had never been more palpable.
Uzumaki Naruto was having no less of an effect on his troops this morning. He had been making his rounds throughout each rank of the leader of the ten formations at intervals, speaking words of encouragement to each warrior in turn, as was his custom on the day of a battle. He found that in doing this, he was able to learn a great deal about the true, hidden capabilities and weaknesses of his men on an individual basis. Even if he was notoriously forgetful of many of these facts in a social setting and often could not even remember a man's name, the information had a knack for coming back to him in times of critical need. The practice also dramatically improved morale and caused his soldiers to trust him implicitly—a quality he valued in everyone he worked with. Doing this over many battles, he had become good friends with a number of these men.
When each man in the formation had exchanged words with him, Naruto returned to the front of the pack. As he rounded the corner, he noted the slender, dark-haired young woman smiling at him from behind gleaming white eyes and altered his stride abruptly, exaggerating his movements and turning to face the horizon with deliberate militaristic flourish. The gesture caused the woman to giggle in amusement and the bulk of his troops to burst into chortling applause for the commander who couldn't act like a commander to save his own skin. He turned on his heel jerkily and marched backwards facing the laughing crowd, feigning anger.
"What are you laughing at, you miserable layabouts?!" he yelled in a mockery of a Fire Country drill sergeant.
This, of course, only made the men laugh harder—just as he intended. Even when the laughter died down, their smiling faces shone in the light of the rising sun, much to his satisfaction. Nothing, he was sure, could possibly dampen their spirits now. They were ready to cut the pants off of their enemies and send their naked behinds crying home to their mothers.
He turned to the young woman walking beside him, saying, "I think they're ready now. What so you say, Hinata?"
"They look like it," she answered, peering over her shoulder. A young female soldier waved to her from the third rank in recognition, and promptly had her hand pulled back to her side by her grizzled old platoon leader. Hinata laughed quietly to herself and waved back at her before turning to Naruto again. "You really do have an effect on people, Naruto. Every day they find some new excuse to praise you."
"Oh, really?" Naruto smiled at her with the same boyish, fox-like grin he'd been grinning since he had teeth. "What did they say this time? I'll bet it has something to do with the tree-club stunt back at the Border Sentry station."
"Actually," Hinata replied, "They have been continuing their made-up rumors again."
"Oh, no," Naruto exclaimed, his smile replaced by an insulted pout momentarily. "Not another one of those lame Uzumaki Naruto jokes. Jirou's spread them across half the world by now, I don't need them out here in the wilderness..."
"Uzumaki Naruto doesn't eat. Food understands that the only safe place from his fists is inside his own body," a nearby soldier volunteered helpfully. Naruto immediately slapped his forehead in dismay.
"It is illegal to clone a human because it would make it possible for an Uzumaki Naruto punch to meet with another Uzumaki Naruto punch. Sages theorize that this contact would end the universe."
"Oh, come on!" Naruto rebuked frustratedly. "You've seen me punch myself before, Kenta!"
"But sir," the young veteran insisted, "Ninja clones aren't the same as clones born like normal people. Besides, you've never had two of yourself punch each other in the fist, have you?"
"Yes, I have," Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. "The universe didn't end."
"No, but that particular crater won't be going anywhere for a few years, commander."
The whole company was laughing good-naturedly throughout the whole exchange. It was the one kind of joke that Uzumaki Naruto never seemed to find funny, but it was the one kind of joke that was too funny for the troops to stop telling. Hinata thought it ironic that Naruto, who once would have loved the idea of such blatantly over-exaggerated boasting brilliant, would now be unable to stomach it. It worried her sometimes.
"Naruto," she asked, once he had calmed down, "Why do you get so upset when they start telling those jokes? It isn't like you to not laugh at a joke."
"That kind of joke is praise that I don't need," Naruto said. His voice was not strained or angry, but it was devoid of his usual enthusiasm; he was stating things simply, matter-of-factly, all business—the way he would talk in a strategy meeting. "It's a great running gag for the guys and all, and it helps everyone's attitude, but it makes me feel like I'm becoming this symbol..."
"You are a symbol," Hinata said, putting her hand on his arm gently and beaming at him. "You are the ray of hope that the weak and powerless victims look to in this war. You give people hope of peace and justice when, all their lives, they have only known fear and oppression."
"They cling to me like I'm some divine gift, sent to deliver them to the promised land," Naruto said. He took her hand in his, squeezing it lightly as his way of acknowledging and thanking her for her support.
"Was I any different five years ago?" Hinata asked, stepping closer to him.
To her relief, Naruto smiled at her. She allowed him to put his arm around her and pull her body against his so that they walked side-by-side before the marching battalion. Someone whistled at the two of them, causing her face to turn a shade of rosy pink. A residual instinct to hide from prying eyes caused her to huddle deeper in his shadow.
Naruto laughed. "Now who's the one not acting like herself, huh? The 'Angel of the End,' in reality, would probably be better off being called the 'Angel of Closeted Cuddlebugs.'"
"Ah, you're making it worse!" Hinata squeaked. Her face was deep crimson by this time, and the female soldier who had waved at her was now practically swooning with sympathy for her.
"See, I'm not the only one who can't take a bad joke," Naruto said. The foxish grin had returned.
Although still red in the face, Hinata managed to keep her reply steady and free of stutter. "You never answered my question. How is being a symbol bad? I thought you would be proud of yourself with all this attention. This humble reaction makes me feel concerned for you."
Naruto calmly told his troops that they had had enough fun, and ordered them to start focusing on the day's objectives, promising that there would be a lavish party among the victory fires that evening. The troops, accustomed to this routine, readily obeyed in their own individual ways—some of them liked to pump themselves up by humming a tune or putting more heart into their marching, while others preferred to "be like the ninja" and meditated (or tried to meditate) on the move. In any case, the attention was turned away from the leader and his antics at the moment, which suited Naruto just fine for now.
"Hinata," he said quietly, "I am proud. I'm doing what I've always known I was born to do, and now I'm being acknowledged by everyone for it. Once upon a time, that was all I wanted, and I couldn't have been happier."
"Then, what's the matter?" Hinata asked. She could sense that she was getting closer to the truth now; Naruto's face could never hide his intent.
Naruto, meanwhile, found himself powerless before her beautiful white eye. The gentle concern he saw within them comforted him more than any words she had spoken. Somehow, though he could tolerate any physical pain in existence, he had never been able to resist the boundless kindness in Hyuuga Hinata's eyes. They brought him comfort and reassurance, and he felt compelled to do the same for her.
"I'm proud," he said, "But not just for myself. Every time I hear one of those jokes, I think to myself, 'What about Shikamaru, Gaara, and Granny Tsunade?' Everyone knows they're the brains on our side. What about Kiba and Shino? They've dug up half the enemy's hiding places by themselves, and taken down more of them than we have. What about everyone who died for the sake of peace? All of them? Where's their praise? Where's his...?"
"Sasuke?" Hinata intoned, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah..."
Hinata breathed more easily. Here was an adversary that she had beaten once before. It would only take a gentle nudge to do it again. She took his cheek in her hand, pulled his face close, and kissed him softly upon his lips.
"It's sweet of you to give others the credit they deserve," she told him reassuringly. "Especially Sasuke, who was willing to give his life to take back what he did and save everyone. If he hadn't, that weapon could have destroyed our world. But, look at them, Naruto..."
She turned her head to look back at the jubilant mass of soldiers plodding along behind them. They were busily preparing their minds for the battle that was yet to come, just as they had been ordered.
"They're looking to you because you are living proof that no matter how bad things look, there is always hope for a better future if you keep your head up. We all have the power to change things for the better, but it took your courage to show them that."
Naruto did not respond. He looked over his own shoulder at his troops, thinking long on Hinata's words.
"You aren't the only hero," Hinata finished, "But you're the one they all recognize. I'm sure that they acknowledge the other heroes in their own way, or else they eventually will. You are in the spotlight because they need a common banner to rally behind. Someone with a noble cause, an idealist who will end the war honorably and lead them into the next golden age. You keep promising them, by words and with actions, that they are all going to see that golden age."
"I never take back my word," Naruto said, a small smile forming on his lips.
"Your way of the shinobi," Hinata said. Her eyes flashed happily as the light returned to his face.
"Did I ever tell you that I love you?" Naruto asked.
Before she could answer, a muffled beep issued from Naruto's backpack. Their conversation had been interrupted by a call from the command center. Naruto quickly pulled the headset out of its pouch and affixed it to his ear, tapping the microphone gently to ensure that it was connected properly. Then he adjusted the frequency to the required band and depressed the small, silver button on the earpiece.
"Cyclone Battalion, Cyclone One speaking," he said.
"Cyclone Battalion, this is Knight Battalion. Have you reached the position yet?"
"Wait a minute, Knight," Naruto responded, smiling as he recognized the voice of Nara Shikamaru on the other headset. "Hinata, our General's getting antsy. What d'ya say?"
The blood vessels supplying the girl's eyes had dilated to allow more oxygen and nutrients to flow, thus sustaining their superior vision. Hinata was already looking ahead of them with her Byakugan's power of far sight.
"We're nearly there," she told him. "Less than five minutes at this pace should bring all of our forces to the top of the hill, and then we can start. Look, you can see the top of the tower now."
Indeed, when Naruto lifted his own eyes to the heavens, he could just barely make out the tip of the sharp spike of white stone jutting up from behind the mountain's slopes. Diamond Peak Fortress was famous for this monumental defensive structure, which dwarfed the formidable, half-underground main structure by comparison. The tower had windows for over one hundred archers and platforms for two heavy catapults which could hurl a number of different projectiles, including boulders, fiery charcoal, and balloons containing a glue or, if they wished to, an acidic weapon. The outer gate of the fortress was designed to funnel intruders directly into the courtyard, where they would be in the range of the tower's weapons, so that the only way into the main structure was through a hail of arrows and artillery fire. Due to the difficulty of passing through the courtyard, the Southern Eye's combined forces from the Fire and Wind countries and their respective shinobi clans had failed to take the fortress on two separate occasions.
"It's going to fall today," Naruto said. "Once this place is captured, we'll have a clear path to the heart of the Raikage's power. Then we'll make him answer for all this."
"Naruto," Hinata cautioned, "There's still that weapon that we were told about. Do you think it's really the same one that killed Sasuke?"
"Could be," Naruto said, shrugging. "If it is, we'll destroy it. If it isn't, we'll destroy it, then find out if they have more of them, and destroy those, too. Either way, the Cloud're on their last legs. We're gonna end this war now!"
Hinata smiled at his rekindled determination. It kept her heart warm to see her hero get fired up.
Well, she thought to herself, he's really everyone's hero now. But that's why he's so special; he takes destiny into his own hands and turns the lives of everyone he touches—even his own life—right around.
"Hey, Knight Battalion," Naruto called over the mike. "We're just about there. Give us five minutes and we'll be ready to go."
As he spoke, the front formation crested the top of the hill, and a sliver of the fortress's outer gate became visible to them, peeking out from behind the nearby slope.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Cyclone Battalion is in position," came Shikamaru's voice. "Bloodhound, Weasel, mark your status."
Uzumaki Keisuke crouched low in his hiding place behind two barrels on the wall above the inner gate, rubbing his torso and shivering to keep warm. He wished he had brought more than just his ANBU mission uniform to wear; the things were little more than light metal plating over a thin skin of black mesh, and were geared for temperate climates. Behind his ornamental bat-styled mask, he fought to keep his teeth from chattering too loudly.
"Hurry up already, Kakashi," he muttered under his breath. "This is no time to be reading your books."
He knew that his partner had an obsession for the legendary Jiraiya's line of naughty novels, and was often known to take his sweet time reading them when the mission was relatively undemanding. Keisuke didn't dare look over the wall to see if he had reached the base of the gate like he was supposed to have done, for fear of compromising his own stealth. Fortunately, Hatake Kakashi had taken the mission seriously today, and wasted no time in replying to the general.
"Bloodhound ready for insertion," the radio said in his voice. Keisuke's turn was next.
"Weasel is ready for insertion," he whispered.
"Roger Bloodhound, Weasel. Bloodhound, wait until Cyclone Battalion engages. Weasel, go ahead and insert now. Be careful—it's critical in the early stages that you remain undetected."
"Roger, Knight Battalion," Keisuke said. "Don't worry about it. Just make sure that you get here quick once we've done our part. We don't know for sure what's waiting for us in there."
He lifted the bat mask away from his face, revealing unkempt dark brown hair cut, just short enough so that he didn't look shaggy, and a pair of ice-blue eyes that blinked and squinted in the harsh sunlight. Keisuke was tempted to rub them, but forced himself not to; they could be unfathomably itchy when agitated.
"Damn things just don't want to cooperate," he grumbled quietly. He realized that this was because the eyes he possessed were a relatively new addition to his middle-aged body, and it probably didn't help that the laboratory they had been grown for him in was still highly experimental. They had to be cleaned very carefully, and they were slow at adjusting to changes to light level. Brilliant flashing colors caused him to become instantly nauseous. The list of shortcomings was extensive compared to people with normal, healthy eyes, and even if they did provide him with a whole new way to experience life, he found them highly impractical for use in his daily life.
Withdrawing a black cloth from a leg pouch, he unceremoniously tied it around his head, covering the eyes and effectively blinding himself. Despite numerous efforts to train his new eyes to assist him in combat, Keisuke still found that his fighting was exponentially more efficient without them. They only became a distraction, constantly trying to follow big movements and pretty lights rather than focusing on the target. He preferred to rely instead on his other "sight."
With the blindfold secured, he pulled the mask back over his face and focused his mind, concentrating the energy within his center of chakra. Then, slowly, he began to push it outward towards his limbs, then the extremities of his limbs, and finally out into the air itself. As his energy expanded outward into the environment, he began to feel things; the stone beneath him and its grainy surface, the barrel and all its splinters, the crispness of the air. All this information came from sixty-four invisibly thin, immensely sensitive extensions of his chakra flow, whipping about in wide patterns that covered a sizable radius all around him.
"That's better," he said to himself, checking that his short blade was secure in its holster on his back. "Unless it's the Byakugan, a pair of eyes has nothing on the Ghostly Arms."
He shifted the bulk of his invisible feelers in front of and below him, where the briefing officer had said that a small gap had been blasted in the top of one of the gates in the previous assault. He found it immediately; it was smaller than they had estimated, but it would just barely accommodate Keisuke's lean build. With a quick check behind him to ensure that no guards were passing his hiding place, he vaulted the low barrier and swung himself acrobatically inside the hole, the heavy stone scraping his bare upper arms as he passed through it.
Emerging onto a steep rock ledge, he applied chakra to his hands and feet and clung to the first near-vertical wall his fingers found, and scurried up towards the ceiling to get out of the sunlight that was shining through the hole, surveying his new surroundings as he went. It was lit only by torches inside the fortress—he could feel their small heat—but that suited Keisuke just fine. There were bound to be hundreds of soldiers stationed within, and the more cover he had, the better. The surface he clung to, much to his surprise, was largely unrefined stone, which gave it the feel of a cave rather than a building. This would make navigation more difficult.
Well, he thought to himself, they don't exactly pick ANBU members to do easy missions, now do they?
"Well," a deep voice sounded, causing Keisuke to freeze in place on the wall, "They don't exactly pick grunts like us for the glorious jobs, now do they?"
"Pah," said a second voice, more shrill and nasal than the first, "Mebbe not, but gate guard? Ah'm a effin' SERGEANT now, innit just mo'e sensical to put me in th' tower? Mebbe wit' th' catapults?
"Who'd want to be up with the catapults?" the first one said, in a tone that suggested he might be rolling his eyes. "Those things'll never fire a shot while there are still archers at their stations. Fifty archers in the tower can hold off a whole army. Hell, you saw it yourself last time."
Though he could not extend his feelers to the ground level, Keisuke surmised that the two men were soldiers conducting a change of the guard. It seemed that they were, thankfully, completely unaware of the impending attack on their base, though that would change soon enough. He held his position above them, his hand on the grip of his blade in case he had to silence them.
"Now, I'll tell you where I want to be," the first man continued. "I'd rather be on that ship they're keeping two levels up. Have you seen the weapon they're loading on that thing?"
"But ain't that ship takin' off t'day?" the nasally voice asked.
"Yeah, but I'd still kill to be on it. Cloud says this thing will blow the enemy right back to the border and take their capital in a month."
"Naw! That jus' ain't..."
"Hey, what's that?"
Keisuke winced underneath his mask. He'd tried to keep still, but had lost his grip on the handhold when he had jolted in surprise upon hearing the lowly gate guard speak about the weapon. He stayed frozen in place, dangling by only his feet, hoping that he hadn't lost the element of surprise so soon into the infiltration.
"Damn torches," he heard the first voice say. "I swear, if they keep going out like this, I'm going to have a fit. I've asked them to fix those drafty holes in the door at least a thousand times now..."
Reassurance flooded Keisuke's cold veins, and he shuddered to rid himself of the tension. He righted himself and crawled upside-down like an insect on the ceiling, moving down the tunnel with a new sense of urgency. His superiors had not known that the weapon was scheduled to be moved this soon; they had known it was being repaired and perhaps modified, but they had not been able to ascertain the completeness of the work. If it was indeed going to be leaving today, he had to find it quickly. Silently, he thanked the unknowing guards for narrowing his search to one level of the facility.
Despite these hardships, Keisuke found himself thinking optimistically. In less than an hour he would likely find the weapon and plant his beacon, and then the cavalry would storm in and take it out. The victory would be complete.
Yet something bothered him: What kind of ship could move a weapon that big without an ocean to float on?
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"Weasel has inserted," Shikamaru said over the radio. "Bloodhound, stand by. Cyclone Battalion, begin operation."
Naruto grinned widely and put the radio back into his pack, not bothering to answer. The field was as silent as a graveyard around him, but he could feel the buzzing energy of the soldiers standing at his back. The gates of the mighty fortress loomed over them, and the tower stood menacingly in their path. The blond jounin hero looked at his white-eyed partner with boyish excitement.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yes," Hinata replied, smiling back at him. She felt the rush of boundless energy flooding her body, and a second set of sensory input entered her brain. Her chakra circulation was joined with that of the young man next to her, synchronizing their senses and pooling their energies together. Even now, she marveled at the amazing potential of the Ghostly Arms that Naruto shared with his adopted brother. Combined with the power of the beast within him and his own immense chakra, she knew that he was capable of defeating entire legions single-handedly. Together, it was sometimes said that the two of them could even defeat a god one day.
Naruto raised his arm dramatically, and it seemed that, for a moment, he stood holding the sun in the sky. Then he brought it downwards in an equally dramatic sweeping motion that ended with his fist punching out at the fortress's waiting gates.
"Attack!" he yelled.
The soldiers collectively threw up a cheer so loud that a small avalanche fell from a nearby mountainside. While it did not bury the fortress, it made a rumble that was highly satisfying and musical to Naruto's ears. Then Cyclone Battalion rushed forward, brandishing its weapons at the advance squadron of troops that were rushing out to man the walls.
Naruto, surprisingly, did not charge forward with them in the initial assault like he usually did. The soldiers in the second wave saw this, and slowed their own charge, wondering what was wrong with their leader. A few of them noticed the devious grin on the fox-like face, and renewed their onward rush, encouraging others to get out of the way.
Glowing tails made of chakra extended from the base of Naruto's spine—nine of them, formed by the Ghostly Arms twisting themselves together in fours—and wrapped themselves around his physical body, forming a protective, majestic shell. Then he leaped into the air, forming shinobi seals with his hands. A whirlwind sprung to life around him, causing him to hover low to the ground and flinging snow and ice everywhere.
Ready... Hinata heard the silent word enter her mind. She moved behind her partner. Aim... She sank into the basic stance of the art of Jyuuken, or Gentle Fist, the traditional fighting style of her clan. With her Byakugan active, she set her sights on the gates, looking for a weak point, and found an appropriate target—an internally cracked section of the stone of the left door. Adjusting her position to aim at this section, she drew back her right hand and focused her chakra within its palm, making it spin into a small whirlwind of its own. Everything was set.
"FIRE!" Naruto yelled gleefully. Hinata obliged, thrusting her charged palm forward just as Naruto dropped his hovering whirlwind, launching him towards the gates. Soldiers gasped and looked up in wonder as they saw their leader sail over their heads and start spinning around wildly in the air, faster and faster until he was nothing but a swirling ball of raw energy. Then they saw the ball flash red and catch fire, and knew that he had invoked the energy of the beast living inside him. Finally, they saw the living fireball smash against the heavy stone doors and shatter them, leaving the way to the courtyard open and leaving a nice pile of rubble that they could use to climb up the walls and attack the guards standing on them. They cheered and rushed onward.
Naruto rebounded from the collision and spun down, the red energy of the Nine-Tailed fox receding back into his body at his command. He felt the sting on his forehead that announced the modified Caged Bird seal doing its job as Hinata used the secret technique of the Hyuuga main family to activate it, thereby reigning the beast in. Two years ago, this process had been painful, but Keisuke had taught him to modify the seal by covering it with a piece of his Ghostly Arms, thus shielding himself from the effects of the brain-killing technique while allowing it to work its magic on the demon freely. In this way, Naruto was able to call forth the demon's full power in short bursts and then immediately have Hinata restrain it, so that it could not control him. It was a very useful tactic, and had won battles for them on numerous occasions.
High above the ground, he again made a seal with his hands, channeling an enormous amount of chakra. At once, five hundred Shadow Clones materialized in the sky around him, which dropped to the ground among the troops, joining them as they stormed the walls of the courtyard, overcoming the wall sentries and their supporting troops in very short order. Then, he searched the ground below with his eyes, locating Hinata among the fourth wave of troops as they passed her. Closing his eyes, he concentrated, feeling the barely detectable emission of chakra coming from the seal he had formed from one of his Ghostly arms in that spot. An instant later, he was standing on that very spot next to his partner.
Hinata jumped when he suddenly appeared beside her and reestablished their synchronization. Naruto chuckled at her.
"Naruto!" she exclaimed, "You frightened me."
"Sorry, Hinata," Naruto answered. "Forgot that you're not used to the whole Shunshin instant movement thing. I'll try to warn you next time."
"No, it's all right," she said. "I should learn to expect it, anyway. It's a useful technique..."
Naruto silenced her with a peck on the lips. "Maybe later. For now, let's go crack that rock!"
Hinata blushed, but followed him willingly towards the now-open courtyard. Maneuvering through the ranks of charging soldiers, she could see ahead of them to where the first waves were still clashing with the fortress defenders on the walls. The sentries had been eliminated by now, but more soldiers were emerging from their bunkers to take their places, fighting ferociously to keep Cyclone Battalion from advancing further. Hinata knew that this was because the entrance to the foreboding tower was not from the ground level, but from catwalks that connected it to the courtyard walls. This would normally prevent invaders from capturing the tower, but with Cyclone's troops on the walls themselves, it was up to their swords to keep them from crossing the catwalks.
Fortunately for the Lightning troops, there was a section of the walls that passed within range of the tower's archers. Hinata's enhanced vision could already see arrows being loosed onto the first wave as it advanced to that section. The initial success of the attack was halted as the deadly rain of steel fell upon them. Naruto's Shadow Clones helped absorb much of this counterattack, but not enough to avert several casualties. The troops stopped their charge just out of reach of the arrows and began to create defensive formations, as they had been trained to do in this situation.
"Damn," Naruto said. "I knew they had arrows, but I didn't think they had THAT many. Good thing you're such a good planner, eh, Hinata?"
Though her face flushed with modest embarrassment, she refrained from retreating into her timid habits—they had a job to do. Her Byakugan saw into the tower and watched the movements of the troops inside.
"Naruto, we should focus the attack on the east catwalk," she said. "There aren't as many bunkers on that side."
"Good thinking," Naruto agreed. He summoned a fresh batch of ten Shadow Clones and dispersed them into the melee, where they began spreading the word to the company commanders before joining the fray.
The Shadow Clones themselves were highly efficient warriors, as powerful as the original Naruto. They waded and leaped and plowed through the fighting, lending their hand-to-hand, wind-based, and Kyuubi-fire-based attacks to the aid of the soldiers wherever the fighting was thickest. Hinata could see the soldiers rallying around them wherever they were present, using them as a base for their defensive positions. These clone-centered companies seemed from a distance to act like small hurricanes with the Shadow Clones at their eyes.
She saw Naruto's vision focus on one of these clones, who was standing near the catwalk she had pointed out. She heard through the synchronization the wordless mental instruction, grab on! And quickly obeyed, taking hold of the real Naruto's hand, and instantly found herself standing with him near the Clone he had been looking at. He had used the Shunshin technique to instantly move to the location of the special seal made by the Ghostly Arms of this Clone. Then the Clone disappeared as it was struck through the chest by an arrow.
"Okay!" Naruto yelled, loud enough for all the nearby soldiers to hear. "Everyone stand back! Hinata and I are gonna clear this bridge, and then we're taking this tower!"
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Deep within the fortress, five figures stood in the shadows in the chamber of the weapon known as Susa. All of them wore black cloaks patterned with red clouds, marking them as members of the organization known as Akatsuki. They observed the Lightning Country workers and technicians in the main hangar below, all scurrying wildly to complete their tasks before the enemy reached the chamber. The ship's massive engines hummed as they warmed up. The weapon itself gleamed with unholy lights from six of the nine cylinders that hung from the firing module—the second, fourth, and ninth cylinders were empty.
"Such a magnificent machine," rasped the ghastly voice of one of the figures. He was a tall man, with a robust, upright posture that suggested regal background. His face could not be seen, as those parts that were not shadowed by his hood were covered by a dark metal mask. No part of his body with the exception of his obsidian eyes was visible, the rest hidden by his cloak.
"It's ugly," said another, this one a female. Her hair was combed and straight on one side of her head, and wild and unruly on the other. She wore a look of bored disdain. "Why waste time on Bijuu and flying warships? Ninja have gotten along fine on their own since their beginning."
"Karen," the third figure, a fish-like, sharp-toothed, scrawny young man said, brandishing his large sword warningly, "Shut up. You talk way too much, and you never have anything positive to say."
"Karen has as much right to speak as you do," said the fourth. This one was much larger than any of the others, and had gentle features, though these features seemed to be tense, marred by some internal strain.
"You can shut up, too," the sharp-toothed boy shot back. "You're only on her side because we wouldn't have broken you out of prison without her help."
"Be silent, the both of you," the hooded man whispered hoarsely. "This is an important time. Soon, we will have our first glimpse of our target, Uzumaki Naruto. As you know, our new friends, Akatsuki, would very much appreciate his... cooperation. When this fortress falls, he will return to his village to rest, and then he will receive orders to pursue the airship."
"Assuming the airship lifts off in time," the woman called Karen interjected.
"I assure you that it will," said the hooded man. "And when it does, we will go with it as planned. All except you..."
He rested his gloved hand upon the shoulder of the fifth figure—a girl who must have been no older than ten years, who possessed midnight black hair that framed her face in such a manner as to make it look like a pale moon. She had dark, glassy black eyes that gleamed with cunning that looked discomfortingly out of place on a child so young.
"My dear Sachiko," the man told her, "You will go with Uzumaki Naruto and fulfill your assignment. Your father is counting on you. Do not disappoint him."
The girl gazed upon the massive airship and watched as flame shot from its engines. The fortress's ceiling began to open, and the sunny sky outside revealed itself, opening its arms wide to the great machine. Susa would be airborne very soon.
"No," Sachiko said, "I will not."
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