150 Sendai no Jin
The hour of the Engineers of Konohagukure
And the days of the
Hokage no Tatsunjin
Chapter 2: The Whirlwind of Battle
"OY!!!!OY!!!" He screamed to the ground. "TELL TATSUNJIN SENSEI I NEED TO SEE HIM!"
12-year-old Jiro Saito waved acknowledgement and ran down the dirt road to find Kushino as he supervised the completion of the wooden bridge over the small Amaki river. "Sensei? Hokusai needs to see you at once."
"Eh? Don't tell me he's trying to tree ride again?" Kushino said as he followed behind Saito.
"No Sensei, he sounded a little upset."
Kushino reached the base of the tree and called up. "What is it Hokusai?"
"Sensei? Something strange is going on at the village. You should come see this." The boy said as he pointed North.
Kushino might not have the use of one arm but it didn't effect his climbing skills. Using steel hooked ninja crampolions on his feet and right arm, Tatsunjin-sensei negotiated his way up to the top of the tree and joined Hokusai. "Now what is it?"
"Looks like smoke Sensei. Lots of it too. I even saw what I think was an explosion."
"Get the scope out of my bag please?" Kushino asked as he pulled his tool bag to where Hokusai could grab it. "Open it up for me?"
Kushino took the spy glass from the boy and scowled as he looked through it. There was smoke…too much smoke…and now the first licks of flames showed themselves over one of the roofs. His mouth pursed, his breath deepened…
"Quick. Go below and call the sound to assembly. Do it now."
"Sensei? What's wrong….what do you see?"
"GO BOY! GO!" Kushino pushed him and Hokusai flew down the rope, pushing off of the tree till he hit the ground….he snatched up Tamaki Shiminoka nearby. "Sound your bugle! Call to assembly!"
The boy shook at first then blew his bugle quickly in short blasts and soon the members of the battalion were coming from everywhere to his spot, crowding around him as Kushino negotiated his way down the tree.
"Hurry up! Quickly, Quickly…." Kushino called out as the "first" came running up.
"Sensei? What is it?"
"The village I fear is under attack." Kushino said as he wiped his face with a cloth. He raised his arm to the assembled battalion. "Hush! Hush and listen closely…My children, I fear our village is under attack."
The battalion became a sound of collective gasping, worry, concern…
"HUSH! I want you to quickly gather only what you need…Axes, work hammers, weapons, leave everything else behind and form up on the quick! Do it now!"
The massed collection of bodies exploded into scurrying individuals, abandoning anything and everything into piles and groups before quickly running to get back to formation. The two Chinins joined Kushino and the first on the side of the road…
"What did you see?" Masaru begged. "Who are they Sensei?"
"I wish I knew. You don't get to see much of anything past the tree line but from the look of things right now it might be a sizeable force."
"Son of a bitch." Masaru said snarling. "They picked the right time didn't they? The whole village must be at the amphitheater."
"Go up and down the column…assure them…assure their squad leaders. Whatever happens, today is the day…live or die, cowardice is no option today."
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
"Grandma? What about Grandma?" Iesada asked as her older sister Sachiko adjusted the ax sheath on her little sister's back.
"Bah! Grandmother is tough. A lot of stupid idiots will get her wok upside their skulls." Sachiko said as Kiyo patted her shoulder.
"You keep close to Seiichi and Iesada you hear me?" Kiyo snorted.
"That's my job." Masashi snapped.
"Yeah? And my job's to make sure you don't go off by yourself and leave everyone else behind."
Squad 14
Battalion Medics
1. Sanjo, Sachiko 20Battalion Medical Nin
2. Takishida, Hidetsugu 18 Battalion Medical Nin
3. Fujimoto, Kazumi 18 Battalion Medical Nin
4. Yamato, Samba 15 Battalion Medical Nin
5. Yamato, Risako 13 Battalion Medical Nin
"Risako? Get those tourniquets from the box and pass em out." Sachiko said as she started handing bundles of bandages to the others. Risako looked as if she froze when she held the tourniquets in her hands…
"Risako? What's up?" Her brother Samba asked. He took a few of the rope and wood dowel tools and stuffed them into his bag. "Sis…I know you're scared but if we get into a serious scrap, everyone's going to need you."
The girl closed her eyes and nodded. The reason for so many tourniquets was obvious. Katana had a nasty habit of severing limbs. She took several breaths and followed her brother out the tent flap tightly clutching his shirt. His loving grip assured her.
Ich Company
Combat Squad 1
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Shinji walked around to each of the squad members. "Let me sharpen your weapons?"
Tai pulled her two Ninja-to from their back sheaths and handed them over. "I want em to cut through air." She looked over at Juzo who was sharpening each of his crossbow bolt arrow tips with a short file. "Don't look so willing to go into combat. You should take a few deep breaths and meditate like Akira."
"I'm not meditating. I'm praying to the Sun Goddess for courage, The God Anushita for accuracy and the great Kitsune for rage."
"So many Gods?"
"Yeah…I need all the backup I can get."
Kushino walked up and down the column on one side while his "first" and the two Chunin went down the other side checking weapons, giving encouragement, stifling fears…
"Sendai!" Kushino snarled. "Our homes! Our village! Our loves ones are under attack! I call you to be brave today! To be stubborn today! To face what comes with hearts of steel and hands as fast as eagles talons! Stand firm, be stubborn, guard the backs of your brothers and sisters and let us give the enemy hell!"
Cheers and Banzai screams went up all along the column.
"Twin Knife! Hyosuke Center up!" Kushino called out and the long black haired Genin girl raced to his front followed by the Squad leader of Ni-Company 1st Squad. "Take squads 1 and 2 of each company. Fan ahead and behind and cover our advance….take no prisoners."
Both Genin raced back to the column and soon 10 each were going forwards and back behind the battalion as Kushino, His first and both Company leaders went to their places. Kushino pulled his Katana from its sheath and swung it above his head…
"SENDAI!! ON THE QUICK STEP…..FORWARD!!"
The column started slowly at first then picked up their pace to a quick stomping march while the 20 ninja spread of combat Genin flew in a circular ring through the trees and brush shielding the column as it advanced towards the rapidly growing disaster back home.
NI-Company
Squad 13
1. Okamoto, Chomei 18 plumbing and piping
2. Okamoto, Samba 17 plumbing and piping
3. Shimaoka, Tamaki 17 plumbing and piping
4. Shimaoka, Yukako 12 plumbing and piping
5. Maruya, Kiyomi 16 plumbing and piping
"Look out foolish enemy, here come the pipe laying bastards of Number 13." Chomei snorted as he tightened the grip on his short ax.
"Yeah…We'll beat em with our pipe wrenches." Tamaki chuckled. "Then choke em with Teflon tape!"
"Yukako got tapped in the back by Samba. "You're still inexperienced in Taijutsu Yukako. If they call for a reserve I think you should go with them."
"I'm not leaving my brother." She snorted. "You can go if you want."
"Yuki? He's right." Tamaki said softly. "If there's a reserve, you're going."
"You suck big brother!"
"That's why I make all the decisions. Besides if something should happen to both of us it will be an especially hard time for mother."
Ni-Company
Squad 4
1. Takishida, Shozaburo 18 Electricians and communications woodsman
2. Takishida, Sotatsu 16 Electricians and communications woodsman
3. Okamoto, Akinari 16 Electricians and communications woodsman
4. Erizawa, Yukako 14 Electricians and communications woodsman
5. Kushino, Genokoke 15 Electricians and communications woodsman
Genkoke grabbed Akinari's hand and squeezed it. "Stay with me ok? Even if father calls me to be a runner, you come with me."
Sotatsu snarled out. "We all stay together! Who else will be best man when you two get married?"
"I'm maid of honor!" Yukako shouted.
"So I guess I'm the flower girl!" Shozaburo shouted. That got some interesting looks back.
Kushino turned to his "first" and pointed back. "When we reach the fork up ahead, we'll split the companies in half. Ich Company will assault through the front gate and Ni Company will take the East Gate. Ich Company's first and second squads will head for the Hokage's house to guard the forbidden scrolls. Ni Company's will assault the amphitheater…hopefully we won't have a massacre on our hands."
Katashi snarled. "Whoever's decided to do this Sensei must have a serious death wish on their mind."
"Death wish hell…" Kushino replied as he felt the ground shake under his feet. "They better have brought the devil to this fight if they're thinking of victory. Right now I bet Gui Sensei is all over himself with stupid glee."
Ni-Company
Squad 8
1. Yamato, Hokusai 22 Concrete and Masons
2. Chiba, Yukako 19 Concrete and Masons
3. Hasekura, Junzo 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Ayabito, Naoko 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Osagawa, Hidetsugu 15 Concrete and Masons
"What are you crying for?" Junzo asked Hidetsugu.
"My family was going to the ampitheater...."
"Buck up!" Yukako said. "What help will you be if you start balling? Just hold to your training and stick close, we'll get there in time."
"Bastards. How dare they attack under such easy conditions? Cowards. I hope every Jonin master cuts their damned heads off."
"Blood thirsty?" Yukako asked Hokusai. "First thing he'll do is run home to make sure his manga collection didn't get scortched, you'll see."
Ich-Company
Squad 1
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Tai landed on a branch and scanned ahead and around as Shinji landed a branch below her and waved up. "I haven't heard a thing yet."
"No? I've felt enough. Something bigger is going on not to far. The ground is rocking and I've felt concussions in the wind."
"I bet my cousin's busy." Shinji snorted. "Lucky bastard, right in the thick of what's going on I bet."
"Don't be so willing to run right into it." Tai warned. "Swift thinking will get you killed."
A crossbow bolt suddenly soared past her head and smacked into the chest of a hidden attacker ahead of her, knocking him off a tree and sending him to the ground while a second smacked into his back.
"Business is open!" Screamed Junzo as he flew past her and drew his ninja-to.
"Up and at them!" Tai yelled as she jumped from the branch, somersaulted to the ground below and locked her blades with an attacker coming from the side. She noticed his head band before delivering a double slice to his chest and another across his neck…
"Sound ninja? Shinji! Go back to Tatsunjin and report that the attackers are sound ninja!" An explosion off to her left shattered a tree to bits as a kunai attached muzlin bag erupted in a flaming sphere of violence that blew two more ninja to shreds!
Kushino threw his hand up and slowed the battalion's fast march when the explosion's noise wooshed past. "Our flanks have made contact."
Shinji Arakida bounded up the trail and threw a chest salute. "We've crashed into some Sound ninja Tatsunjin Sensei! Un-known numbers, Twin Knife says just flankers."
Kushino threw his hand forward and increased the foot falls to a quick trot. "Tell Twin Knife when you break through, both first and second squads are to get to the Hokage's house as fast as you can and guard the forbidden scrolls."
"Yes Tatsunjin!" Shinji replied before he swiftly bounded back up the trail.
"We're coming to the fork in the road. We're at 140 strength in the column now. Send word back…the medics and 35 of our youngest form a reserve…they'll go through the gates last. At the split 50 through the main gate, 50 through the East Gate, you'll go with Ni-Company."
The "first" looked at Kushino with worry. "I'd rather stay by you. Three hands are better than one."
"Appreciate the concern." Kushino said. "But you'll be needed on the flank I assure you."
Ich-Company
Squad 3
1. Enoki, Kiyomi 19 Electricians and communications woodsman
2. Urogataya, Toshiko 16 Electricians and communications woodsman
3. Shimaoka, Sotatsu 13 Electricians and communications woodsman
4. Joshuyo, Heiji 13 Electricians and communications woodsman
5. Isoda, Kimie 15 Electricians and communications woodsman
"Sotatsu, go to the reserves."
"What?! Like hell!"
Heiji snorted. "You get to sit back and eat rice, what a lucky…."
"Heiji…you too."
"What?! That sucks! Why can't I be a runner or something?"
Kiyomi huffed. "You have a gimped leg. Don't you hate qualifications?"
"Hmph!....You'll need me sooner or later."
Sotatsu smiled. "We could play checkers?"
"Shut up!"
Ich-Company
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
"Iesada? Go to the reserves, I gave you an order!"
"I can't hear you, too much noise older sister."
"Little witch! Don't defy me or so help you…"
"What? Spank me? Like that'll do anything! You push me, I'll come look for you! You tie me up? I'll slip out and come looking for you! You can't tell me what to do!!"
"That's what we get for spoiling her, she's become a bitch!"
Iesada slapped seiichi off the head. "Creep! Grandma said we stay together! Now you go and tell Grandma to kiss off Kiyo!"
Masashi smirked. "Little thing has a point?"
Kiyo snorted. "When you get a chance? Tie her, chain her, knock her silly, whatever."
"We're coming to the fork Sensei!" "First" snarled as the sounds of battle became more pronounced. The closer mingling of explosions and blade klangs, the farther sounds of wood being splintered, concrete being smashed and something massive making the ground below the feet shudder…
"This is where we split Katashi…good luck and take care of them."
Katashi gripped Kushino's shirt tightly before letting him go. "Good luck Tatsunjin-sensei..see you when this is over."
The battalion split at the fork. Ich Company, the reserves and 3 medical ninja went for the main gate while Ni-Company and 2 of the senior Medical Ninja went for the East Gate.
"Company! Pull your weapons!" Kenji Masaru snarled as he pulled his tomahawk in one hand and a short sword in another. Behind him came the sounds of blades, axes, long handled hammers and other bladed weapons being drawn into angry hands. He looked at Tatsunjin who looked back at him with an emotionless snarl…
"Company!!At the double quick…..forward!"
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
" We stay together you hear!" Kiyo screamed as she gripped her concrete ax hammer. "If you have to…grab a shirt or press back to back but we don't separate! Oldest watches the youngest!"
Squad 5
1. Yamanoue, Sotatsu 17 Lumbering and clearing
2. Tamuro, Hidetsugu 17 Lumbering and clearing
3. Fujimoto, Tai 16 Lumbering and clearing
4. Katayanagi, Seiichi 14 Lumbering and clearing
5. Narato, Jiro 13 Lumbering and clearing
"Goddess Aramatsu hear me! Goddess Aramatsu hear me! Goddness Aramatsu hear me…."
"Will you quit that!" Tai Fujimoto demanded. "You're driving me nuts!"
Squad 12
1. Joshuyo, Kimie 20 Landscapes
2. Hagino, Kinnosuke 19 Landscapes
3. Akamatsu, Asako 19 Landscapes
4. Nakadai, Kazumi 17 Landscapes
5. Urogataya, Masashi 15 Landscapes
"Hey Asako?"
"Yeah?"
"If I don't get out of this? Give this to my Mom…I've owed her a hundred Ryo for a month now and I don't want to die with her thinking I was cheep."
Asako looked at Masashi and snorted. "And you placed a bet this morning? You are a cheep bastard!"
12:38 pm
Konohagukure West Wall
Ich-Company Combat squads 1 & 2
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man (cousin of Iruka Sensei)
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Squad 2
1. Isoda, Hachigoro 18 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Arakida, Akemi 18 Combat Genin, crossbowman
3. Katayanagi, Eiko 16 Combat Genin, swords
4. Deushi, Chomei 14 Combat Genin, explosives
5. Deushi, Izumo 14 Combat Genin, explosives
They formed a flying diamond with Tai in the lead as the squads flew by a massive hole in the defensive wall and a snake of enormous size as it threw itself around the outer buildings of the village…
"DO YOU SEE THAT!" Akira shouted.
"Not out concern." Tai snarled back. "We have to get to the Hokage's house and protect the forbidden scrolls, that's our concern."
They were a single line now as they took turns bounding off a tree, sailing through the air with weapons and swords extended, hopped off the top of the wall and sailed down into the streets below. Tai and Kinnosuke were the first to draw blood inside their village, coming down atop a stunned sound ninja and ripping him apart with their swords.
Now the squads were in haste, bypassing groups of enemy ninja or running over them as they stood wondering why the village was so empty of inhabitants.
Ni-Company
East Gate
They turned the last bend in the road and increased their run with the "First" waving his katana and screaming up a storm. "FORWARD! FORWARD AND GIVE THEM HELL! BANZAI!
The two sound ninja at the gate had just finished searching through the bodies of the two gate guards when they heard the banshee screams of the onrushing company, their faces maddened, their weapons leveled for a bloodletting…
The two ninja threw hand signs and fired sound percussion waves across the open space between them and the Company. Kit Akamatsu became the first of the battalion to lose her life. Effortlessly she threw herself into the air ahead of the onrushing attack and caught the brunt of the percussion, her body dropping to the ground and sliding to a stop as her fellows surged forth.
They caught the two sound ninja in a furry of flying kunai and shuriken.
Main Gate
Ich Company attack
They flew through the front gate and into the main street of town with Kushino drawing the first blood, his Kupakai whistled through the air and slammed into a sound ninja's neck. He pulled the katana from his teeth and drove it into the man's chest, snatched the tomahawk by the handle and ripped it out, slashing it across space to bury it into a sand Genin's shoulder and withdrew the katana with a kick to the dying ninja's chest.
Sotatsu Shimaoka caught a charging ninja by the shoulder with a flying kick just as he tried to run Kushino through and buried his kupakai in the ninja's skull. He didn't rise before an arrow whistled down and caught him in the thigh. He rolled to avoid being cut and watched Oharu Joshiro crack that ninja's skull with a flying ax hammer.
"You're going to feel that in the morning!"
"Oh you think?! They're not all Sound or Sand ninja!"
"Damned Ronin bastard mercenaries…." Oharu pulled shuriken from his pouch and nailed a ronin in the back as he tried to swipe a wounded comrade. He turned to see Ni-Company's combat Genin racing by the fight.
Ni-Company
Combat Squads 1 & 2
Squad 1
1. Akamatsu, Hyosuke 20 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Ohka, Yukako 19 Combat Genin, crossbowman
3. Arakida, Hokusai 17 Combat Genin, explosives
4. Uchida, Naoko 17 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Uchida, Sachiko 14 Combat Genin, explosives
Squad 2
1. Erizawa, Junzo 18 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Kahaya, Masashi 18 Combat Genin crossbowman
3. Akimoto, Hachigoro 15 Combat Genin, explosives
4. Nakadai, Hitomi 12 Combat Genin, explosives
5. Nakadai, Akinari 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Hyosuke slid to a stop before the thin building crowded street that led strait towards the amphitheater. "Crossbowmen! Take to the rooftops and cover our run up the street! Hachigoro and Hokusai, go with them with throwing bombs!"
The 5 Genin flew up to the rooftops and began a dead run and jump ahead of the group below. Sachiko saw a group of Ronin round a corner close by and whipped a kunai with a paper bomb wrapped around the hilt from behind her back. It smacked into a light pole and exploded with a hellish blue flash that sent iron and wood shrapnel through the attackers.
The Sendai had no special jutsu, no tricks, no flashy effects, just raw hand to hand fighting power and the enemy ronin hadn't gotten off their feet before blades and kunai found their marks.
Masashi slid to a stop and sent a pair of cross bolts into the chest of a rooftop bow sniper across the way. He ducked as he heard an arrow being sliced in half by Junzo who pulled him onto his feet and pushed him ahead with encouragement. "These lackey bastards suck! When are we going to run into some real competition?"
Ich-Company
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
Sachiko kicked in the door of the house. "Grandma? Grandma?"
"She won't be here." Masashi said as he came in behind her. "If she was smart, and didn't stand there like the stubborn old goat she is, she left with the first year students to the hill-side bunkers."
Kiyo wrapped him off the head. "Old Goat? Disrespectful little dolt."
Masashi and Iesada stood by the door and looked down the street. "I see some of our Chunin and Jonin going at it up ahead! What's your bright idea Kiyo because we're going to be knee deep in it pretty quick!"
Kiyo turned and walked to the doorway. "We're going to the trail near the bunkers. SABE!!" She screamed as she saw Sabe Funakoshi leading his squad up the side of the street. "SABE!!FOLLOW US!!"
The squad ran to the house and huddled by a wall. "Where you guys going?"
"Up to the bunker house trail. If these idiots find out where the village civilians are hiding?" Kiyo pointed up to Hokage Rock.
"I get your point." Sabe gasped and dove for the ground as a flurry of arrows sailed over his head. "It's getting a little annoying around here!"
Ich-Company Combat squads
12:49pm
Hokage's House
Squad 1
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man (cousin of Iruka Sensei)
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Squad 2
1. Isoda, Hachigoro 18 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Arakida, Akemi 18 Combat Genin, crossbowman
3. Katayanagi, Eiko 16 Combat Genin, swords
4. Deushi, Chomei 14 Combat Genin, explosives
5. Deushi, Izumo 14 Combat Genin, explosives
"Hurry and cut that tree down!" Tai snarled as she pointed. Four Genin chopped furiously as she and Chomei broke the door lock and pushed their way into the foyer room. "Forgive us Hokage…Move the furniture….cover the windows. Akemi, Eiko, Izumo go up to the second floor, guard the windows."
She turned to Akira and Shinji. "That's the room where the forbidden scrolls are locked up. You two go in there, anyone opens that door you hack them to pieces."
Hachigoro came through with the others carrying the fallen and stripped tree trunk in their hands. "I don't think we have much time before they get here."
"Did you see any of the elites? Master Hyuuga? Ninja Dog handlers?" Tai asked.
"Nope. They're probably around the Amphitheater or still up with the civilians. You know what the emergency plan is."
"Well someone should tell them "Plan A" was all shot to hell the minute we charged through here don't you think?" Kinnosuke snorted.
Eiko waved her sword by a window to get attention. "I think we told the bees there's honey in the pot here! They're coming up the street!"
Ni-Company advance
Kazumo Fujimoto, medical nin, snatched Yukako Shimaoka by her shirt and pulled her through a broken doorway into a small farmer's shop after her leg was ripped by a musket ball…"Argh!....using muskets, what shameful cowards!" Yukako screamed as she grabbed her leg. "Oh it hurts!"
Kazumo held her by her arm. "I have to dig the ball out before I can close the wound, hold this tourniquet so I can…"
"No,no,no,no! Don't cut my pants!" Yukako screamed. "My mother will kill me! This is my best pair!"
"You've got a musket ball in your leg and you're worried about your pants?!"
"Pull them off Kazumo!"
The medical nin whipped his hair furiously. "You're being ridiculous!"
"Pull em off or so help me!" She pounded a kunai furiously on the floor.
Kazumo yanked the black denims off in one screaming stroke and set to remove the ball with a scalpel when a screaming ronin came running through the door with his sword raised for a killing. A kunai nailed him in the chest…
"Can't a girl have some damned privacy! Stupid scum, Oh this hurts!!"
Ni-Company
Squad 7
1. Abe, Asako 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Gensai, Shozaburo 18 Concrete and Masons (d)
3. Nagai, Atasuke 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Deushi, Tamaki 12 Concrete and Masons
5. Ohka, Izumo 12 Concrete and Masons
Tamaki reached Shozaburo as he lay against a wall trying to twist a rag over the stump of his missing right arm. "I….I got it…."
"Tamaki? Guess you'll have to find someone else for fishing next weekend huh?"
The young boy watched as Shozaburo went limp. He pulled the tool bag from the dead man's belt, stuffed his pockets with throwing kunai and chased the others down the street.
Kushino quickly scrawled a message on his rice paper pad. "Sotatsu!"
"Yes Sensei!"
"Take this up to the bunkers, find any Jonin you run into, tell them it would be nice if they'd stop playing checkers and kindly join us down here would you?"
Sotatsu was off as Tatsunjin pulled out his spy glass and eyed the amphitheater over seven blocks distant. "What the hell is that thing on the reviewing building?" He thought as a piece of iron struck him in the left arm and twisted him like a top.
"Sensei!" Toshiko Urogataya screamed as she covered his wound with a rag. "You're wounded, I have to take you out of here."
"You'll do no damn thing except fight! Just wrap it up and keep going. One less of us means one more dies, keep fighting!"
Trail leading to the civilian bunkers
Ich-squads 7 and 8
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
Squad 8
1. Funakoshi, Sabe 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Naito, Toshiko 16 Concrete and Masons
3. Shimaoka, Samba 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akera, Kojuro 13 Concrete and Masons
5. Akera, Sumiko 12 Concrete and Masons
"Stop here!" Kiyo shouted with a raised hand. The group was a hundred yards shy of the opening in the sheer rock face of Hokage Rock at the point where the village wall butted up to it amidst the dense woods around it.
"Why not get closer to the opening?" Sabe asked.
"Bottleneck. We couldn't move and fight." Kiyo looked around her. "Boulders, downed trees, dense wood…good place. Slope to our left will be a bitch to climb…good." She thought as she clutched her ax hammer hard till her hands turned red.
"You ok sister?" Masashi asked.
"Just thinking." She grabbed Sabe by the shirt. "You and your squad take the slope on the left in case they try to swing around. The wall on our right will guard that flank."
She turned to her siblings. "This is going to be tough but if we stay together and stand as one…they'll get what they asked for."
Iesada pulled a set of nunchuku from her tool pouch. "And you wanted to send me to the babysitter, you suck older sister."
Toshiko pointed down the trail. "I hear them coming…sounds like tens."
"The boat man on the styx is going to have a field day." Kojuro snorted.
"Good luck." Sabe said emotionlessly as he coaxed his squad off to the side and a little down the slope. The Akimoto's took their places off the trail and waited…each one thinking of the others, of their grandmother, of needed strength.
Ni Company Advance
10 blocks from the Amphitheater
"First" snatched a shivering boy up from behind a barrel and shook him. "Are you a civilian?"
"N…n…..no….4th year Acadamy Student Araki Sir!"
"You get up and fight or you God damned run but you're not sitting here to be a sucker target now move boy!" First snarled as he smacked the kid off the head and pushed him from his hiding place.
"Bahbahbahboom!" A crash of muskets went off a block down the street as Ronin shot from behind the corners of buildings…
Akinari Nakadaitook a ball to the face and died instantly.
Seiichi Tatsuya was nailed in the ankle, spun like a top and thrown to the ground.
Akemi Enoki felt the hot fire race through her shoulder blade and threw her tomahawk in a rage into the head of one of the shooters. "Eat that you bastard!"
Samba Yamato broke from his little sister and raced into the street, pulling Seiichi up over his shoulders and trying to get him to safety. His sister watched as the back of his head exploded in red and he toppled over lifeless with Seiichi screaming from another wound to his right leg…
Risako Yamato thought nothing as she ran into the street and dragged Seiichi to the arms of Shoji Eto…
He watched in horror as a ball ripped through the center of her chest.
"God damn it! Blow those corners apart, we're being killed!" First snarled as the cover ninja on the rooftops unleashed a rain of paper bomb wrapped kunai into the intersection ahead. The street erupted in flying rocks, blasted building parts and human limbs.
Ich-Company Combat squads
12:58pm
Hokage's House
Squad 1
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man (cousin of Iruka Sensei)
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Squad 2
1. Isoda, Hachigoro 18 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Arakida, Akemi 18 Combat Genin, crossbowman
3. Katayanagi, Eiko 16 Combat Genin, swords
4. Deushi, Chomei 14 Combat Genin, explosives
5. Deushi, Izumo 14 Combat Genin, explosives
The first impact of sound percussion slammed into the stout oak door of the Hokage's house with a loud wooden thump but the door kept its form well.
"When do you think they'll find out the door has iron in it?" Eiko asked Izumo as he huddled near the stairs down to the first floor.
"Oh….about…."
KABOOOM!"
"Now when they try to blow it up."
Tai and the others on the ground floor tried to get as much cover as they could, and there was little to be had except for a few tables and furnishings tossed into piles. The breaking of glass and a scream from the bedroom was the first intrusion, and the first killing. Hachigoro gutted the ronin with his sword and threw him to the floor with a spit. "Come get it! The lunch wagon to hell is open!"
"How original!" Kinnosuke joked. "Paper bomb Kunai Yakitori hot out the window!" He threw a kunai through the front window and turned as it exploded and broke the other window on the other side of the barricaded door.
"Now you've made it much easier for them to come in, way to go dumb ass!" Chomei snorted out.
A kunai paper bomb sailed through a window in the upper office and connected with the ceiling above Akemi Arakida. She had enough time to throw Izumo through the air before the explosion ripped her to shreds.
"Son of a bitch." Tai snarled as she clanged her swords together and whirled into a two cut spin against a ronin jumping through one of the windows. She double stuck the man behind him and kicked him off before throwing her Kupakai into the face of a third behind that.
Again the door shook with a loud percussion shock and the tree stump holding it visibly blew splinters from the impact!
Chomei pursed his lips as he huddled behind a table. "Wanna place a bet as to how long the door holds?" He asked Kinnosuke.
"You suck at wagers. I couldn't take advantage of you." Kinnosuke replied.
Ich Company advance
5 blocks from the Amphitheater
"Chouza-San!" Kushino screamed as he saw Chouza Akimichi snatch up a ronin and slam him through a wall while crushing the windpipe of another in his other hand. "About damn time!"
"I was taking my afternoon lunch in our garden when these fools violated my peace!" Chouza snarled as he hugged a wall. "What's your situation Tatsunjin?"
"The battalion's in full contact. I estimate their numbers between 500 to a thousand, whoever's doing this must have rounded up every sorry dirt lot bastard they could find. This is insane!"
Chouza looked towards the Amphitheater. "The 3rd Hokage is dealing with, what I think, is the leader of this rabble. I've seen Sand and Sound Shinobi all over the place."
"And most of our people are in the Amphitheater, these vermin have no honor!"
Chouza rolled to protect Kushino as a paper bomb exploded near by. "You're wounded."
"My bum arm, can't feel a damn thing."
Chouza pulled out a small glass box and waved it. "How about a bulldozer? You builders always need a good bulldozer."
Kushino smirked. "EVERYONE FORM UP BEHIND CHOUZA-SAN!"
Sachiko Sanjo checked herself as she gave Atasuke Morishita a flask of water to drink. She'd been wounded several times from sword cuts, a Kunai slash to the face and a thrown kunai to her calf but still she focused her chakrah to tending to Atasuke's broken arm.
"Sachi…you need to pull back." He said with little discomfort.
"I'm fine, stop your concern." She reacted suddenly to a flash in her eye and winced as a blade cut her palm as she grabbed at it. Atasuke reached up with his kunai and delivered a fatal blow to the attacker's groin.
"How about….we both get out of here?" He said as he pulled a rag from his tool pouch and pushed it into her hand.
"Just help me wrap it will you?"
Trail leading to the civilian bunkers
Ich-squads 7 and 8
12:53pm
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
Squad 8
1. Funakoshi, Sabe 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Naito, Toshiko 16 Concrete and Masons
3. Shimaoka, Samba 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akera, Kojuro 13 Concrete and Masons
5. Akera, Sumiko 12 Concrete and Masons
Fighting without reach weapons was getting dangerous if not foolish but the Akimoto's didn't budge. The narrow defile they'd chosen made shooting muskets a serious hazard and fortunately so far the ronin and their Sound masters were unwilling to risk shooting in such tight quarters.
Seiichi steadied Iesada behind a rock. "Your arms must smart."
"Less than a few heads." The young teen replied smirking. "They haven't tried going around."
"From the sound of it they did." Seiichi said back.
Masashi held a Kunai to his chest. "The noise in the village is getting smaller. A good sign you think?" He ask his older sister.
"Just a lull." She replied. The sudden noise of growing footfalls made her jump. "Here they come again!"
This time the enemy wasn't as willing to hold back as before. As Seiichi and Iesada rounded their bolder for the coming attack, the sounds of muskets exploded among the collision of bodies…
Seiichi's head was thrown back in a sickening thump and his limp body fell at his little sister's feet. She rushed forwards and cracked the skull of one attacker before three balls ripped her chest open and sent her flying back to a lifeless thump against the boulder's face.
Ni-Company Advance
2 blocks from the Amphitheater
"First" threw his hands up in exaltation as he saw the master of the Akimichi clan throwing ronin and Shinobi through the air like play toys…well anything was a play toy to a suddenly 50 foot tall armored ninja.
"Charge!" The "First" screamed as he pushed engineers past him with a wave. "Charge! The day is ours!"
Akinari screamed like a banshee as she joined the moment of victory only to be kicked in the side by a wounded Ronin looking to claim his last victim. He did as she felt herself thrown to the ground and looked up to see a katana run through the person who saved her.
Genkoki had plunged a dagger into the man's neck and took the Katana through his chest. He looked back with a loving smile before they both fell to the dirt.
Ich-Company Combat squads
1:29pm
Hokage's House
Squad 1
1. Nozaki, Tai 19 Combat Genin, swords
2. Arakida, Shinji 16 Combat Genin, weapons man (cousin of Iruka Sensei)
3. Satoh, Kinnosuke 16 Combat Genin,explosives
4. Nakadai, Junzo 14 Combat Genin, crossbowman
5. Ogyu, Akira 12 Combat Genin, explosives
Squad 2
1. Isoda, Hachigoro 18 Combat Genin, weapons man
2. Arakida, Akemi 18 Combat Genin, crossbowman
3. Katayanagi, Eiko 16 Combat Genin, swords
4. Deushi, Chomei 14 Combat Genin, explosives
5. Deushi, Izumo 14 Combat Genin, explosives
The fighting had turned viciously murderous up close. The lower rooms of the Hokage's house were a disaster of flaming embers, destroyed walls, cracked supports, torn up books, furnishings….bodies.
Tai took advantage of the lull to get explosive kunai passed to all who were still on their feet. "If they break through…we'll take as may of them with us. No one gets past us into that scroll room."
Shinji snorted and spat as he gripped a set of kunai. "I guess this is it huh? That doors all bent to hell, they'll spinter through here on the next charge."
Akira smirked at him. "You smell like piss."
"What of it? Let's see if you didn't do it in the last fifteen minutes you dumb shit."
A percussion slammed the door and bent the corners further…
Tai snarled. "Here they come!"
Eiko snarled. "Service with a smile."
Another Percussion….then another….then another……then…..nothing?
Nothing for seconds…..then minutes….
"What the hell?" Tai wondered.
"Coffee break?" Eiko smirked.
"HEY IN THERE! OPEN UP! IT'S IRUKA SENSEI!"
The remaining ninja started smiling till Tai shut them up. "It's a damn trick! Shadow clone or mimic jutsu, screw you fool!"
"NO! IT'S REALLY IRUKA SENSEI!"
"AND I'M A SANNIN, GO TO HELL ASS HOLE!" Tai screamed.
"Is my cousin Shinji there?" The voice asked.
"Sure!" Shinji replied. "Come in and I'll give you a big sloppy kiss in the chest you stupid foolish prick!" That enlisted laughter and cheers from his fellows.
"Hey! Shinji has the birth mark of a dog's head on his left ass cheek!" The voice said laughing.
Tai gave Shinji a snort. "Do you?"
Shinji looked at his fellows and pursed his lips. "Yeah…"
The cheers flowed as the engineers removed the tree trunk and forced the door open to embrace and welcome Iruka and several chunin and school students behind him.
"You are a sight for tired eyes Sensei." Tai said as she hugged him.
"You all look like hell…any casualties?"
Tai looked around. "Sadly so. But we made them sorry they came here."
Iruka nodded. "Looks like it's dying in the streets but the 3rd Hokage is still battling the enemy leader at the Amphitheater. It looks like….
Ich Company
Holding 1 block from the Amphitheater
"Orochimaru-Sannin? That filthy criminal bastard!" Kushino snarled as he looked through his spy-glass. His inner temper was burning hot as he looked about the disaster that had befallen the village and from the feelings and sounds of thunder like noises around him, it wasn't over.
"Set up a parameter and send a runner to the First to do the same." Kushino said to Kenji Masaru. "We'll hold till I feel we can storm the amphitheater."
Trail leading to the civilian bunkers
Ich-squads 7 and 8
1:48pm
Squad 7
1. Akimoto, Kiyo 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Akimoto, Masashi 18 Concrete and Masons
3. Akimoto, Sachiko 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akimoto, Seiichi 15 Concrete and Masons
5. Akimoto, Iesada 13 Concrete and Masons
Squad 8
1. Funakoshi, Sabe 19 Concrete and Masons
2. Naito, Toshiko 16 Concrete and Masons
3. Shimaoka, Samba 16 Concrete and Masons
4. Akera, Kojuro 13 Concrete and Masons
5. Akera, Sumiko 12 Concrete and Masons
Masashi tried to shrug off the seriousness of his wounds but he couldn't' shrug off the terrible situation before him. He looked around at his siblings, all of them lying in ghastly twisted forms, all of them mangled, all of them gone and still the enemy hadn't stopped. He gave a last look towards Sabe and clenched his teeth around a paper bomb wrapped Kunai before hurling himself headlong into the group of charging ronin…
The horrific explosion ended the threat to the civilians.
