"Human talking"
"Human thinking"
"Demon or Summon talking"
"Demon or Summon thinking"
Jutsu will be underlined
19 days later, 10 miles south of the Northwestern border 0207Hrs:
BOOM! BOOM! "Exploding arrows, cowards" Sasuke said to himself as he and Ino weaved in and out of enemy artillery-fire. "What's taking Naruto and sensei so long? You might be able to sprint and shunshin forever but my legs are about to give" Ino informed her teammate before avoiding an explosion by performing a substitution with one of the many water clones she was able to create due to the moderately falling rain.
Team 7's first seven supply drops had been largely uneventful with only the unusually cold and wet weather in the Northern part of Fire Country to contend with. But when Kakashi, and then Ino detected a four man enemy team he ordered Ino and Sasuke to stay behind with shadow clones that he and Naruto discreetly created while the originals snuck behind the enemy to launch a surprise attack. That however was 15 arrows ago and while Sasuke's suggestion that they draw fire to keep attention off of their flanking teammates seemed good at first Ino wasn't about to last much longer.
"Ino, lock on to my charka signature and get ready to follow me out of here" Sasuke ordered before going through hand seals. "Demonic Illusion: Triple False Surroundings Jutsu" Sasuke whispered casting a fairly wide spread Genjutsu to mask their escape. As he and Ino fled the area he could already tell that the archers had already dispelled the first layer of his jutsu but figured that by the time they discovered that there were two more layers left he and Ino would be out of the danger zone. "A little insurance couldn't hurt" the Uchiha air thought to himself before scooping Ino up in a bridal carry and taking off in a ranged shunshin.
With Naruto and Kakashi:
Naruto pulled Kubikiribōchō from the chest of the male missing-nin mercenary who he assumed was from Kiri. The man wasn't exactly powerful but he was clever and with the abundance of water in the area due to the weather it took Naruto longer than it should have to finally put him down. Looking ahead he saw Kakashi engaging a dual nunchaku wielding female Jonin. Trusting his sensei's skills Naruto went to take out the two archers that had just stopped firing.
Naruto spotted his targets who were looking down in the slight depression that contained his teammates. "Release!" he heard one call out busy dispersing a Genjutsu. Capitalizing on his enemies distracted state Naruto raised his massive sword and turned it so the flat of the blade was facing them. Channeling wind chakra into Kubikiribōchō Naruto swung it straight down generating a massive gale, filled with wind blades. "Akina move!" The male called out before substituting himself with a fallen tree branch. Unfortunately his female partner was just a little too slow and was cut into pieces milliseconds before being blown away.
"You asshole! You killed my sister!" The remaining archer yelled before drawing his tanto charging Naruto blindly. "Seriously, dude?" Naruto asked before tossing a hollow, kunai at him. When the enemy shinobi struck the kunai with his tanto in an attempt to deflect it he was surprised when it shattered and the knockout gas filled pellet inside went off right in his face. Naruto walked up to his now unconscious opponent and beheaded him in one clean swipe, granting the young nin a quick and painless death.
Hearing a pained yell followed by a gurgling sound Naruto looked behind himself and saw Kakashi had one kunai plunged into his kunoichi opponent's heart and the other in her throat. Pulling his weapons free, blood gushed from the woman's arterial artery as her body fell to the ground. "Let's link back up with the others and make the drop" Kakashi said to Naruto who simply nodded.
FOB Tobirama, Grass country, 0321Hrs:
As team 7 were waved through by the gate gaurds and entered the farm turned forward operating base commandeered by companies Shibi and Asuma they noticed that there were way more Kusa shinobi present than normal. "You guys go ahead to the S-4 (supply) tent and deliver the scrolls. I'm going the main house to find out what's going on" Kakashi ordered. Upon entering the main house Kakashi was immediately waved up stairs to the main bedroom turned Base commanders office. Before he could even knock on the door it was opened by a small swarm of insects.
"Hatake-san, you're here good. The Hokage and Fire Daimyo have worked out a deal with the Land of Rice Fields' Daimyo to allow us to create a FOB in his country. The FOB will have a modified make up consisting of only one full company of Konoha shinobi lead by Choza Akimichi and two platoons of Kusa shinobi, which are the extra personnel that you noticed upon entering the base. There will also be a platoon of Leaf Anbu and commandos for more covert missions. The war council has ordered that you be removed as leader of Team 7 and placed in charge of this Special Ops platoon. Your students will be assigned to this post and will conduct their active supply missions and inactive training from here" Shibi informed him.
"Who will be their team leader?" Kakashi asked wanting to make sure his students were in good hands. "It was initially supposed to be Genma Shiranui but I sent him and his squad to rescue the Grass Daimyo's kidnapped son a half hour before these orders came in. For now I plan to switch your Genin to inactive status have them start training. But if something happens I'll attach someone capable to take over team 7 myself" Shibi answered.
FOB Tobirama, 0938Hrs:
Kakashi explained Team 7's new orders to his Genin and left with the Kusa-nin for the new FOB. Naruto, Sasuke and Ino had then been shown to tent 30 which was set aside for Genin teams to rest in between supply runs and told that they would be living in it for the time being. They managed to grab four hours of sleep before they were woken up by 3 Special Jonin.
"Team 7, My name is Santa Yamanaka and I'll be training Ino during your inactive status, the kunoichi on my left is Uroka Kurama and she's been paired up with Uchiha-san leaving Machi Gai with Uzumaki-san" Santa said before leaving with Ino.
With Sasuke:
Sasuke stood in front of his trainer on a narrow stretch of mud and gravel in between the FOB's west wall and a barn wall. Looking at the woman the first thing he noticed was that she wore a face mask like Kakashi and that the right side of her face that was visible was horribly burned. She had hazel eyes and short, spiky, light brown hair that was only a couple inches long. All of her skin from the face mask down was covered in a tight black body suit and black gloves. She wore her flack vest (which was also black) unzipped, most likely finding it more comfortable that way because of her large, D sized bust.
"Oy, Uchiha, are you finished checking me out?" Uroka asked. "Hai, sensei" Sasuke responded blushing only slightly.
"So I've been ordered to add to your Genjutsu repertoire. Kakashi-senpai came and found me before he left and told me about your proficiency with the Shunshin jutsu as well as your ambition to become as good with it as Shisui Uchiha. My older sister went on a few missions with him back in the day and told me her theory on how he fought.
According to her he probably used a multi-layer area Genjutsu on his opponents before entering battle as well as using regular clones to confuse the enemy and casting a technique over himself so that he appeared as a blur after exiting a shunshin, making it easier to avoid strikes to his vital organs.
What made Shisui's use of Genjutsu and shunshin so scary was that by the time you realized you were under a Genjutsu and dispelled all of its layers Shisui would probably already have a kunai in you. And on the off chance that you were able to totally snap yourself out of all of his illusions before he could get to you it only took one look in his eyes to be snared again.
We're going to be working on your Genjutsu casting speed, the potency of your illusions as well as sparing to speed up your reflexes. Oh and here (Uroka hands Sasuke a small scroll) Shisui quickly struck at two of his opponent's vital organs and then moved on to the next poor bastard, so I want you to study that scroll and make sure you are intimately familiar with the location of vital spots" Uroka finished.
"How did your sister become so familiar with Shisui's techniques and tactics? I mean this sounds a little too descriptive to be a theory" Sasuke asked. It was only due to having Kakashi as a sensei that allowed him to know without a doubt that the woman frowned before answering him.
"Our clans didn't exactly get along back then so she never admitted it but I think my sister may have had an affair with Shisui for a couple years…before your brother killed him that is. Now let's quit talking and actually train." Sasuke grimaced at the mentioning of Itachi but didn't allow it to distact his as his new teacher started going through hand seals.
With Ino:
"All right Ino, I plan on teaching you some more clan techniques as well as sharpening your skills as a sensor and teaching you how to use this" Santa stated before taking a small scroll from his hip pouch and unsealing a small back pack with an antenna and a wire with a suction disk coming out of it. "This is a mobile Chakra Transmission Communication Device. It's basically a radio that's powered by chakra and can only be used by a chakra sensor. It can broadcast and receive messages via Morse code or telepathic messages although the latter is very difficult and it will be some time before you are able to do it" Santa explained before sealing up the device.
"Now I want you to lock on to my body's chakra signature. Unlike the Hyuga and Uchiha we can't actually see chakra but we can feel it. This ability makes it possible to feel an opponent move before they actually do. (Ino frowns not completely understanding) Ok, before someone moves there body sends a small, almost unnoticeable amount of chakra along the chakra pathways and tenketsu of the moving limb. If someone purposely channels extra chakra to their limbs to increase their speed or strength it is easily noticeable to us sensors"
Santa explained before channeling chakra to his legs and left arm before quickly closing the distance between Ino and himself and launching a left jab which Ino sensed coming and ducked. She didn't however avoid a knee to the chin that knocked her on her ass.
"See what I mean? The jab was easy to dodge because it was chakra enhanced and you could feel it coming before I even moved. That knee however was launched using only my natural speed but after I'm done training you, you'll able to feel both types of attacks coming" Santa told Ino before instructing the girl to take a lotus position for sensor meditation drills.
With Naruto:
Naruto and his teacher who he discovered was the 17 year old niece of Maito Gai (and had the same since of fashion as her uncle) were currently engaged in an intense spar. They had been able to get one of the 3 small training areas present on the FOB due to the Jonin who had reserved the area for himself owing the personable Machi a favor.
The point of the spar was to improve Narutos ability to wield Kubikiribōchō. Machi had suggested learning one handed seals as well as using shadow clones to keep his opponents busy while he swung the heavy sword. Naruto had already thought of both tactics but had not had the time to properly train in them.
He decided to hold back less than normal and keep upping the difficulty as long as Machi could take it. She proved to have no problems with Naruto in the speed department not even needing to remove her leg weights but she her blocks did seem to buckle every once and a while under the force of Naruto's powerful swings.
The Genin was pumping chakra to his arms, swinging Kubikiribōchō as hard as he could without utilizing his chakra cloak. Machi was wearing special metal gauntlets that absorbed the kinetic energy of Naruto's strikes only to grow stronger and more durable after each one.
"Ah, very good Naruto-kun! You are extremely strong and resilient for your age, we have been at this for a while now and you do not even look tired, more over you have taken three blows to the head from me and remained conscious!" Machi said enthusiastically while grinning her sparkly white teeth sparkling briefly.
Naruto wondered how they did that with the overcast sky that was over head before bringing the flat of the sword up and blocking a punch from Machi that pushed him back 3 or 4 inches.
"Come on Machi-sensei I know you are holding back some and could have knocked me out any of those times you got around my guard" Naruto stated while thinking that he could probably defeat Machi if he pulled out all the stops.
"Ah but for you to even…" Machi was interrupted by the arrival of a bland looking Chunin.
"Machi-shoi, your squad has been ordered to do a patrol in grids B7,8,9 and C1 by Anko-chui, you are to leave in 30 minutes."
"Understood Eita-kun, but where is Anko-chui now?" Machi asked.
"She was walking towards her tent when she stopped me and sent me here" Eita answered.
"I see, thank you, you may go back to whatever you were doing" Machi said smiling at the Chunin causing him to blush.
Turning to Naruto she asked him if he would like to go on the patrol with her squad to which Naruto of course said yes. After they found Anko and asked her if the Genin could tag along Machi's 13 man squad plus Naruto left left the FOB heading west into the wood line.
"Naruto-kun unless I say otherwise I want you to stay with in arms reach of me got it?" Machi asked to which Naruto nodded.
"Machi-shoi, is it wise to have this Genin with us outside of the FOB, has he even seen battle yet?" a male Hyuga main branch member who was in his early twenties asked. "Ask him yourself Han-san"
Naruto couldn't help but notice that Machi used san instead of her usual kun horrific when addressing the Hyuga.
"Well Genin, have you see any conflict yet and try not to embellish in your response please" Han asked Naruto.
"Hai Hyuga-san my teammates and I have killed a low ranking samurai turned bandit from Iron country who was on the Cerberus drug though our use of teamwork. I also defeated a physically weak but clever missing-nin from Kiri roughly 10 hours ago while my team was in route to the FOB" Naruto informed him, purposely leaving other battles out as to not seem like he was 'embellishing'.
The condescending look in the Hyuga's expression lessened upon hearing the polite and humble response from the Genin. Han gave Naruto a small nod convinced that the boy wasn't impulsive and arrogant before turning and falling into formation with his team.
"Well done Naruto-kun you handled that very well" Machi complemented.
"I've met a few Hyuga before, they aren't that bad as long as you know how to speak and act around them" Naruto responded.
Machi had her squad patrol B7 together before sending Alpha and Bravo teams to grids B8 and 9 respectively. She and Naruto went with Charlie team to C1 and after 15 minutes Han saw something with his Byakugan and signaled the team to stop. "What is it Han?" Machi asked. "There is a four man team of Taki-nin assembling what appears to be a man sized mortar launcher" Han reported.
"Ayano, signal the other teams to meet back at the rally point as well as sending some of your insects back to the FOB to notify the taichou. We are pulling back for now but leave some insects here to monitor the situation" Machi ordered. The female Aburame raised her arms and four different groups of insects left to complete their tasks.
When Machi's squad reconsolidated in grid B7 the Alpha team reported that they had also discovered a small team of ninja setting up a mortar launcher only they were Iwa-nin.
After only three minutes of waiting a dragon fly zipped through the trees and landed on Ayano's shoulder. "Shoi, we are to ambush the mortar teams and destroy their equipment" Ayano informed Machi.
"Alright, Alpha and Bravo will engage the Iwa-nin while Charle takes out the Taki-nin. Our focus is on destroying the launchers though, so if the enemy is too much for you just blow the thing up and run, understood?" Machi asked before receiving nods from everyone and leaping away with Charlie team and Naruto behind her.
Grid C1, 1127Hrs:
Naurto crouched behind a tree with Machi on the edge of the wood line before the small clearing in which the Taki-nin were finishing up their task. Giving the signal to attack Charlie team minus Machi and Naruto rushed into the clearing tossing shuriken and kunai at the Taki-nin who deflected the attack.
Three of the Taki-nin rushed to meet the Konoha-nin while one went through a series of hand seals before raising a small dome of earth around himself and the mortar launcher. "Naruto-kun let's go!" Machi yelled unsealing her gauntlets and taking off for the dome in a burst of speed.
Channeling lightning chakra into her fist Machi punched into the dome dispersing the jutsu. "Water release: Water Gun!" The Taki-nin shouted firing a volleyball sized ball of water at Machi at point blank range that had so much force behind it Machi was lifted off her feet.
Luckily the young Special Jonin was able to put her arms up in an x block. Unluckily her right metal gauntlet was still cackling with electricity causing her to catch a nasty shock.
The Taki-nin was preparing to set off the mortar when a pair of hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him underground. Naruto emerged from a shunshin and slapped two explosive notes on the launcher before scooping up Machi and calling out "Machi-shoi's down but the launcher is tagged fall back!" Naruto then left in another shunshin detonating the explosive tags and the exploding clone holding the Taki-nin underground.
The Konoha shinobi fled and the Taki-nin who had lost a ninja to Naruto and another to Han's gentle fist decided against giving chase. The squad regrouped in a different rally point in B7 Alpha team having lost a ninja against the Iwa-nin before killing three and destroying their target.
Machi recovered by this point and was able to move under her own power so she ordered the squad to move back to the FOB saddened by the loss of one of her ninja and embarrassed at having to me carried away form the battle by a Genin.
Once they were only 300 yards away from the FOB Han spotted something. "Machi-shoi there are two men in black robes with red clouds at the bottom riding on two giant white birds heading for the FOB"
"Red clouds, Akatsuki?"Naruto wondered to himself remembering what Danzo had told him about the band of rebels form Ame before turning to Han.
"Hyuga-san please tell me what they look like" Naruto requested.
"One in wearing a slashed Iwa headband and has long hair, some of which is covering one of his eyes. It looks like there is something wrong with his hands like they have…teeth? The other is a hunched over man with dark skin with dreads, his face is hidden behind a mask that I can't see through at this distance" Han told Naruto.
"This is bad, really bad" Naruto said mostly speaking to himself.
"What is it Naruto-kun?"Machi asked.
"The Long haired one is Deidara of the Explosion release. He is an S-class missing-nin from Iwa that does terrorist attacks for money. Iwa must have hired him to blow up the FOB. I don't know who the guy with him is but if he's as powerful as Deidara we're in trouble" Naruto informed.
"Are you sure Naruto-kun?" Machi asked to which Naruto nodded. "We must get to the FOB and warn the Commander!" Machi yelled before removing her leg weights and disappearing, the rest of her squad behind her in shunshins.
Main house roof minutes later:
"Yes I'm aware; our sensors just picked them up and our long range specialists will begin firing as soon as they are in range" Shibi stated calmly. Machi and her squad looked into the sky as the two ninja flew closer. It wasn't too long before shouts of "Fire!" were echoed all over the FOB.
The sky above FOB Tobirama:
"Check it out Master Sasori, this place looks like a great canvas for my art! un" Deidara yelled excitedly.
"We don't have time for your bullshit Deidara, just start the bombardment so we can leave" Sasori replied.
Deidara reached into his pouch before producing to clay clones of himself complete with their own giant birds. The clones flew wide going to opposite sides of the FOB while releasing clay birds of various sizes from their hands. Two thirds of the birds were shot down by the long range jutsu coming from the FOB but the ones that weren't exploded with disastrous effects.
Feeling a pull on his chakra Sasori thought to himself "it seems that my puppets on the inside are ready". He created a reinforced shadow clone and encased it in a Hiruko duplicate puppet which had summoning seals engraved in it. He then sent a small amount of chakra in to a summoning seal signaling his brain washed shinobi inside the FOB to summon it.
Guest house storm cellar FOB Tobirama:
Four shinobi were gathered around a 6x6 foot summoning mat in the lotus position, their hands in the ram seal. The technique they were using wouldn't be able to stop the FOB's sensor's from detecting that something had been summoned from the outside of the FOB but it would keep them from pinpointing their location.
In a puff of smoke their master appeared and addressed them. "Go out to key locations around the FOB and prepare to detonate yourselves" The Sasori clone ordered before waiting a few minutes and exiting the cellar himself.
With Naruto:
"This isn't working! Enemy's technique is still getting around our defenses and causing a huge amount of damage!" One of the members of Machi's Alpha team exclaimed.
"Sir I think I can help" Naruto said to Shibi.
"How so Genin?" Shibi asked.
"My summons can raise a defensive wall around the FOB but I'll have to use its chakra to summon the amount of the familiars needed to cast a jutsu large enough" Naruto responded. Shibi looked in Naruto's eyes and saw that he was serious.
"Machi, you and your squad go and cover him."
"Yosh!" Machi yelled before taking off behind Naruto.
Naruto landed in and semi open area and made the half ram seal "Stand back some!" Naruto exclaimed before pulling on the Kyuubi's chakra, biting his thumb and swiping the blood over his summoning tattoo.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed calling forth Arumaeiji, Arumagoro and three other armadillos of various sizes that Naruto had yet to meet. Naruto quickly explained what was going on as well as what he wanted the armadillos to do. "Can you help us out Arumaeiji-sama?" Naruto asked.
"Of course Chico, Arumagoro tunnel near the North wall, Arumaiko the east, Arumaetsu the west and Arumaisao the south. I'll stay here and monitor you, as soon as you're all in position I'll start the jutsu and you all back me up" Arumaeiji ordered before his kin dug into the earth racing to get in position.
Less than a minute later Arumaeiji started going through hand-claw seals. "Armadillo clan art: Great Golden barrier jutsu!"
A massive dome of earth quickly started to rise around the FOB enclosing it. It rose so quickly that only one of Deidara's clay clone was able to make it inside before detonating its self at the top of the dome in an attempt to grant its creator access.
This proved to be futile as the dome changed to gold right before sealing its self completely with the exception of a few air holes with gold screens infront of them.
"I've never seen anything like this" Han said in disbelief.
"Hai this is a most impressive jutsu I …" Machi started before having to dodge multiple senbon.
"If it isn't the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, who would have thought you'd have such powerful summons?" Sasori asked from atop a building looking down on the Konoha shinobi. "Tell me, will this dome come down once I kill that old armored rat there?"
A/N: I'd like to thank quinisrael for his/her encouragement and advice on my usage of Spanish. I wish I could say that the next chapter will be posted in a week but since I'm thinking of rewriting it and maybe finding a new/additional beta I won't put a deadline on it. As always thanks and please review!