Tsunade read the latest report as she frowned, a village had been attacked in retaliation to its constant harassment of the Land of Snow. Although normally she would simply glance at it and put it someplace else as the village was not allied with Konoha, she was worried at the method used to attack the village as it was not like anything she had ever seen. The small reports that she got indicated that the village was attacked by some 'armoured warriors' and 'machines of steel' the armoured warriors wasn't of any concern to Tsunade as it could allude to a variety of mercenaries that still uses armour. But the 'machines of steel' part did make her worried, because she didn't know if that alluded to machines similar to what Fort Hood had, or was it something else altogether?
"What's wrong Tsunade-sama? You look worried," Shizune asked.
"No it's nothing," Tsunade said putting the report away before picking the next one up, this was a mission request from a nearby village to aid them against some people who are trying to annex their land. This Tsunade took seriously because if that land was taken then the Land of Fire would be next as she decided to summon a Jonin team to lead the mission, "Shizune summon Kakashi to me immediately."
"H-hai," Shizune said as Tsunade took out the personnel file and began flicking through it to see who would be most suited for this mission. In less then three hours she got several Jonin, including Kakashi, waiting for her orders.
"What is the matter Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.
"We have a request for aid from a nearby nation, it seems that they have aggressors who wish to annex their land, we cannot have that nation fall. If it falls then it gives whoever invaded them a clear line of sight to our the Land of Fire and that cannot happen, you are to intercept the invading forces and do anything in your power to stop them," Tsunade ordered.
"Hai Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, "it'll be done."
"Good luck, dismissed," Tsunade said as the Jonins quickly shunshined away.
"Are you alright Tsunade?" Sarutobi asked coming into the room, "You do look very worried," as he read the report and raised his eyebrow, "machines of steel? You're not thinking…"
"I don't know what to think Sarutobi-sensei," Tsunade said, "I know that the United States military wouldn't do anything to break our trust, the three leaders are men and woman of repute and I trust them, plus they don't seem like the kind of people to go behind our backs. But I can't rule it out either, no matter what my personal feelings are."
"I understand, it is hard to know who to trust in a position like this, but if you ever need advice then you can come talk to me," Sarutobi said.
"Yes sensei," Tsunade said, "thank you."
It took less then four hours for the Jonin team to arrive at the village, however it seemed they arrived too late, the village lay in ruins and bodies were piling all over the place, "How could this be?" one of the Jonin asked, "Surely they couldn't move this fast?"
"Maybe they sent the aid request far too late?" another suggested, "Either way what should we do now captain Kakashi?"
"Spread out and look for any survivors, hopefully there will be someone who can tell us who did this to them," Kakashi said as the shinobis spread out. He went to the central part of the village as he sighed, his life had been one of a never ending war, bloodshed every time he went out of the village, sometimes he had to wonder if shinobis were truly needed in this world. If there were no shinobis then perhaps peace can truly reign in this world, he had been talking to some of the US soldiers and they said that their world was mostly in peace except for some parts of the world; they too want peace, but can never have it as long as soldiers like them existed. But this was just too much, who would want to slaughter children as well? Kakashi looked sadly at one of them before moving on to the next.
He then heard a sound as he tensed, was it a survivor? Or the enemy? He strained his ears to listen to any sound that might indicate where the enemy was before he found it, "Got you," he said throwing a kunai towards the location as he heard the sound of flesh being pierced, a loud cry of pain, and then a loud crack before his shoulder burned with pain. Grunting he fell to the ground and looked to see a wound similar to what he saw during Konoha's first encounter with Fort Hod, surely the US wouldn't attack them?
He was answered as an armoured man bearing an emblem that he had never seen before came out of his hiding place with a kunai in his shoulder as he pulled out a strange gun-like weapon similar to the handguns that he was shown by a few soldiers one time. Knowing what it could do Kakashi rolled away as the dirt was blasted apart as he then got to his feet and quickly dashed towards the man, another shot ringing out as he dodged that one and before a third shot could be fired Kakashi punched the man square in the face sending him flying into a wall where he groaned and then laid still. Panting a few other Jonin arrived at the scene, "Are you alright captain? Are you hurt?" one of them asked.
"Just a flesh wound," Kakashi said as he picked up the gun, it was certainly nothing he had ever seen before and it didn't look like any weapons that the US would have, it was cluncky and heavy and the appearance was starkly different. And it only fired at the most six rounds, very unusual.
"I thought the US were on our side, why are they giving guns to these guys?" one asked.
"It's not the US, this is completely different from the US, this metal…it resonates with chakra, it's metal that can absorb chakra to fire the bullets, metals that can only be found in our world. And the design is different as well," Kakashi said.
"I don't recognise that emblem," one of the Jonin said, it was in the shape of a three-leg crow, Kakashi recognised it as a Yatagasaru which is commonly depicted in legends and myths. Perhaps there is a special symbolism for the faction?
"It's a Yatagasaru, a three leg crow, commonly found in myths and legends," Kakashi said, "anyways I don't think there's anything else we can find here so let's-" his words were interrupted when a volley of shots rang out as the Jonins ducked for cover. Kakashi peered through a corner as his eyes widened, a row of armoured men armed this time with rifles were marching towards them firing as they went along, behind them was a steel vehicle that was similar to one of those tanks that Kakashi had saw during the invasion of Konoha as it rumbled along.
"My god, what is that?" a Jonin asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good," Kakashi said as the 'tank' turned its cannon towards where Kakashi was hiding, "crap run!" he shouted as a loud boom came from the tank as the building where Kakashi and a couple others were using for cover exploded into dust as the armoured men charged ahead stopping now and again to aim and fire at the retreating Konoha shinobis. "Run! Retreat back to Konoha, we can't win against them!" he said as one of the men gave a cry as one of the bullets hit him in the leg, Kakashi went to the wounded shinobi and carried him towards safety as bullets whizzed past him.
"Just leave me, I'll slow you down," the man groaned.
"No, I'm not abandoning my comrades," Kakashi grunted as one of the shinobi fired off a lightning attack which briefly stopped the advance of the enemy, before he was also hit by a bullet as another shinobi dragged him away, "just try to run, they can't run that fast with that much armour on," Kakashi said as the remaining shinobis ran as fast as they can. Kakashi slowed down a bit due to him carrying an injured shinobis as the echoes of gunfire dulled and soon stopped indicating that they were well out of reach of those guns as he wondered just what on earth was happening now.
"T-this is incredible," Burton exclaimed flabbergasted at the report, "a rifle? An actual rifle?" he asked.
"This is one of the weapon that I picked up from the enemy," Kakashi said taking out the handgun and putting it on the table as Catherine picked it up and inspected it.
"Interesting," she murmured, "this is reminiscent of olden weapons, though of a different design, and you said that the metal was from this world?"
"Yes," Kakashi replied, "I recognised it as Chakra metal, that can only be gained from the Land of Metal."
"Which doesn't really mean anything," Tsunade said, "the Land of Metal is a powerful merchant nation that has a large abundance of metals, they sell it to anyone who pays high enough, some of our weapons were forged from the Land of Metal as well."
"So mercenaries?" Burton asked, "Even so I thought you guys said you never even seen a gun until we came."
"And we haven't," Tsunade said biting her nails, "this poses a problem."
"More importantly as well is a tank, you faced a tank?" Burton asked.
"Hold on Colonel, I need to ask something," Catherine said after inspecting the gun for a while, "Kakashi could you describe to me, in detail if you could, what the tank looked like."
Kakashi, like all shinobis, was an observant person as it was almost an unspoken requirement for all Chunin and above rank shinobis, observation meant that you know things, and knowledge was power indeed. So Kakashi had little trouble describing the tank as Catherine wrote down the characteristics as she muttered to herself, "Steampunk," she finally said after analysing it.
"I'm sorry? Steampunk?" Tsunade asked.
"The design, it's certainly of a steampunk-genre," Catherine said.
"What's steampunk?" Kakashi asked.
"It's a literary genre, much like fantasy and horror, that focuses on machinery that uses steam as a source of power, basically during the past we didn't have all these machineries and writers imagined a world much like the modern one we came from. The way you described it, it's almost identical to common designs of steampunk tanks," Catherine explained.
"Wait so someone's been reading steampunk books?" Burton asked.
"Unlikely, I said it was identical, not exact so more likely it was inspired by something else. But it still poses a problem, your world is not prepared for such technological advances, I think that is the point of the enemy. If they attack any nation they would overwhelm it instantly because no one can ever be ready for something shoots bullets at a distance," Catherine said.
"So what should we do about it?" Tsunade asked.
"I'm no tactician, that I leave to the good Colonel here," Catherine said flashing a smile at Burton who cleared his throat.
"To be quite honest I say we see where this new enemy goes, if they try to attack Konoha or the Land of Fire in general then please allow Fort Hood to go and engage them," Burton said as a messenger burst into the room.
"My apologies Hokage-sama, but we have report that the armoured enemy is advancing into the Land of Fire, they have five machines of war supporting almost twenty armoured men," the messenger said as Tsunade's eyes widened.
"Colonel Burton, I'm now asking officially as Hokage to aid us in this attack, you have my full authority to use whatever weapons you deem necessary to stop this advance and defend our nation," Tsunade said.
"Of course, you have my word," Burton said, "I'll personally lead my men into battle." It wasn't long before a full alert was put in place as a task force of seven M1A1 Abrams supported by several Bradleys full of troops were mobilized as the village became nervous at the reports of similar enemies advancing on them, however they had high hopes that the US soldiers would be able to fend them off.
"Are you going John?" Kurenai asked as John was quickly walking to one of the Bradleys.
"Yeah I'm called to the front-line," John said as he carried his M4 carbine with him.
"Please be careful," Kurenai whispered as John looked at her.
"Y-yeah I'll be careful, I promise," as Kurenai, who was holding onto John's arm, let go as he waved her a goodbye as she smiled at him praying that he would return back to Konoha safe.
"Is it true they have armoured vehicles with them?" one of them asked on the way to the path the enemy was heading down.
"Supposedly," a sergeant said, "but I doubt whatever their armoured vehicle they have can penetrate our armour."
"I'm more worried about how they were able to produce it without any blueprints, last I heard they never used guns," John said.
"Hey human ingenuity my friend," another soldier said, "probably the same way our guns came into existence, someone thought it up, followed it and voila they created their own version of a gun."
"Yeah, just hope it's just guns and tanks," John said though he had a feeling that it wouldn't be the case. A thought came across him as he wondered if this was the reason that Fort Hood and all those other facilities were brought into this world, was it to fight against this new enemy? If so then who brought them here? The Bradley then stopped as the soldiers disembarked and created a line, if the enemy came into their sights they were to shoot on sight, as a wall of Bradleys covered the soldiers while the Abrams stood behind them ready to open fire with their 120mm 44 M256 smoothbore cannons. They didn't have to wait long as the sound of gunfire, unlike those of modern weapons, cracked as it hit the metallic armour of the Bradley as John could see men wearing armour charging towards them and firing their rifles.
"Open fire," Burton ordered as the US soldiers unloaded their carbines at the enemy troops as several fell from the first volley before the rest took cover at the trees and rocks, a loud boom echoed as a chunk of the dirt was blown as the enemy tank opened fire. In return the Abrams opened fire as two of the five tanks exploded in a fireball before one of the tank got hit by an enemy round as it skidded backwards a bit, but it remained operational if only damaged before it returned the favour as another tank exploded. However the enemy infantry weren't doing well either as the Bradley's chain gun ripped through the enemy line as their weapons did little to the Bradley's armour, to the US soldiers though it was a 50/50 chance of being it as one soldier demonstrated when he was hit on the chest, but luckily the projectile was stopped by his body armour before he managed to drag himself out of the firing line. Finally the last of the tank exploded as the remaining enemy infantry retreated as the US task force sighed in relief, in total they suffered no casualties, a few of the tanks were damaged in the exachange, but other then that it was a resounding victory.
"Well…that was something," Burton commented, "let's go pick up some loot, maybe the good doctor can figure out how they're making the weapons," he said as the US task force went and looted the enemy body taking body armour and weapons from them. They wouldn't usually do this, but seeing as how this new enemy was now shooting back at them they had to know how to combat it the next time they face them, if there ever was a next time. After that they climbed back on board their vehicles and made a quick get away leaving the tanks behind as they had been reduced to a husk and weren't salvageable.
"What do you think is happening John?" one of the soldier asked, "I mean…shinobis I get, but now people with guns?"
"I don't know Jack," John replied, "I'm a little worried too…"
"Man this is just messed up," as John silently agreed, things were starting to get very messed up.