I do not own Naruto or any related characters.
The group made their way through the wooded lands of The Land of Fire. They headed north. They would pass territory controlled by the Hidden Waterfall, and The Hidden Sound. They chatted and enjoyed the companionship of the trek. Elders instructed their students, peers compared and complimented each other's strengths, and teen-aged eyes met and remet throughout the journey.
Late in the second day the group determined their proximity to their goal and broke into their assigned roles. Shino and Ino were sent forward to scout and gather relevant intelligence. Anko and Shizune were dispatched to secure a forward post. The former Hokage disappeared to make their own preparations, and Naruto and Hinata were left to study and set the groups camp for the night.
The group reassembled around a late meal. "What have you got for us spy team?" Jiraya asked of his new apprentices.
"Heavy movement in the village on the banks of a large lake. It seems a ninja force from Iwa has occupied this area and is imposing martial law." Shino informed.
"The town's people are willing to switch sides. They have no love for Iwa, but at the moment they have no way to fight them either." Ino added.
"How many?" Anko asked.
"A hundred. All chunnin and above." Ino recounted to the dismay of the assembled listeners.
"We have two Sannin. That should be plenty to handle some Iwa punks. Right?" Naruto looked expectantly at his grandparents.
"It should." Jiraya responded. "And its possible just our reputation will be enough to diminish the force."
"OK I want game plans." Tsunade prompted.
"We send in Naruto. A few hundred Naruto. Then we pull big summons to funnel the Iwa-nin toward forces on the ground. Stick with wind, and water jutsu to minimize damage to the surrounding buildings and land. No point liberating a village if you burn it to the ground in the process." Anko posited.
"I agree. We can also cover part of the village in sleeping gas. We get a few civilians out of the way and get a few captives to use in bargaining with Iwa." Shizune supplemented.
"I like it. And if they don't filter out like we hope Katsuyu can split and spit, driving them one way or another with a little acid. For now set a watch and anybody with a free hand help Shizune put together sleeping pellets." Tsunade set the group in motion. She took Jiraya to one side to coordinate their roles for the morning.
...
Morning came with a deep red glow in the east, and the sound of a building storm. The group assembled at a forward post overlooking the village. Eight ninja stood to face a hundred. They took in the morning air shoulder to shoulder. Naruto looked left to Hinata, Ino and Shino and gave Hinata a reassuring smile. He looked right to the two jounin, Shizune gave him a thumbs up while Anko rechecked her protective gear. He looked past the jounin to his grandfather who winked at him. His eyes rested finally on his grandmother, the princess of the Senju, the Hokage. She nodded and he formed a thousand clones.
The clones rushed the village. Sounds of fighting filled the once still morning. Naruto stood watching the action. He turned a moment into the clash with a look of shock and horror on his face.
"The Iwa-nin were not alone. They have a bigger force coming through tunnels. And there are Rain-nin here too." the boy took in the shocked expression on the faces of his companions.
"OK game on. Anko Shizune go hit them with the sleep pellets as fast as possible. Ino Shino stay together no matter what but I need you to find the tunnel. Get to me or Jiraya as soon as you have it. Hinata stay with Naruto, I want you two there in that open area." Tsunade pointed down to an abandoned market square. "draw the fight to you. Keep the attention there. We fall back on you if something goes wrong. Jiraya you know what to do. Everyone, you are my family. Stay safe." with that each shinobi jumped off to their assigned task.
...
Anko and Shizune took to the roof tops. The area with the most clatter was the first target. They dodged kunai as they hurled pellets into occupied houses and stores. Anko took a kunai in each hand covering Shizune's torrent of smoking pellets and needles. Shizune pressed her back to Anko's. She took target after target with shuriken and needles while Anko was pressed at close range. The two covered a quarter of the village before exhausting their supply of sleeping gas. They took to the roofs again. They made their way toward the spot they knew Naruto and Hinata were fighting. The two kunoichi made it only half way before they were bogged down by a horde of Iwa-nin and breather-clad Rain-nin.
...
"Wait here. I'll go invisible and check." Ino told her partner motioning to the nearest building.
"Not a chance. I'll check the buildings with kikai. Go invisible and be ready to intercept close-range fighters cooing our way." Shino rebuked her notion of splitting up.
"Ahhh! Shino-kun! You really do care." the girl teased. She summoned a chameleon. The small purple reptile perched on her shoulder and inch by inch the girl faded to a transparent outline of herself.
The pair skulked from building to building. Every minute or so Shino would give the signal that the buildings did not contain their objective. He marked buildings as clear or not clear and they proceeded forward. After scouring the village the pair landed on top of a building in the western part of the village. Shino sent his swarms out to investigate and upon their return informed Ino they were in the right place.
The elation of competing a mission was cut short. Shino turned to locate his invisible companion. As he adjusted his view a kunai came into focus. Its trajectory was unmistakably accurate. The sharp point flew for his heart. Shino blinked and felt a heavy push into his chest.
Shino looked down at his arms. They were covered in blood. His heart screamed, but here was not break in his skin. He realized Ino had stepped in front of the kunai. He lowered her body to the rooftop. He hadn't even realized that he had caught her. He found the offending ninja. They stood on the next roof. Two males and a female. The female was Ino's size, short dark hair, a green sash around her middle. One of the males was blond with glasses and a dark cloak. The other had a beard and dark hair, with similar clothes.
"We are the Kamizuru. Its important that you know that, seeing as your clan wiped out most of ours." the female announced.
"Its not important, because you are all dead." Shino adjusted his glasses, then released a cloud of beetles that blacked out the sky.
..
Jiraya flew through the village at monstrous speeds. He announced himself wherever possible. Most of the Iwa-nin ran, but the Rain-nin seemed determined to fight. He did his best to incapacitate as many as possible. Gamahiro stood ready outside the village, occasionally redirecting retreating ninja in the desired direction.
Jiraya was tasked with civilian protection. He ran furiously from house to house battling incoming ninja and ferrying innocents to safer places. He wished he had the reserves to be in two places at once. He worried over the jounin, he was having a hard time with his end and could only imagine the attention those two attracted. He worried over his new apprentices, they knew enough to avoid a battle with multiple enemies but they were still very green. He worried over Tsunade, he knew she could handle herself but he worried anyhow. Mostly he worried over Naruto. The boy was a legion, but even legions fall and a grandfather is a grandfather even to a ninja.
...
Tsunade was cutting supply lines. The retreating ninja were allowed to go but no more came over land. Communication was one way. She couldn't let more forces to surround them and turn an offensive into a back-to-the-wall scenario. She was wondering where the intel on the tunnel was when a frightening sight caught her eye. On the lake, coming for shore, was a ship. She knew without having to see the vessel that it was filled with Rain-nin. This was not as much of a surprise attack as they had hoped.
The Sannin divided her efforts. She left Katsuyu to hold off attacks from land while she went to deal with the incoming ship. I could really use Shizune right about now. I hope Naruto is OK. She mused as she split her front.
...
Naruto stood in the square taking comers from all directions. Hinata was in a defensive pattern using an impressive boost in her jyuuken skill to keep the original Naruto safe from those that broke his lines. The Iwa-nin fought him with some grudge he didn't understand. Th forces from Rain were well trained and very calculated. Both enemies pushed forward with a host that felt as endless as Naruto's own. The number of clones was unheard of in the ninja world. But even with his sea of chakra, Naruto could not make a Rasengan for each, nor could any of the constructs take more than one hit. The teeth of the Iwa war dogs were closing on the abandoned market.
Naruto surveyed the scene around him. He was pressed from the streets and roofs. He wasn't sure when to unleash his arsenal of Rasengan, and Hinata wouldn't last as long as he would.
I have to figure something out. I wish somebody would come. I wish Obaa-san was here. I wish Ojii-san was here. I need to do something. I need to get Hinata out of here. Hinata? She has improved so much since she figured out the Hyuuga manual. There is something I'm missing. Hyuuga manual. Ojii-san. Rasengan. Wait! I've got it.
Naruto shouted above the din of the fighting. He pointed several clones to nearby houses. He had his answer.
I'm gonna do something they never dreamed.
...
Shino's bugs descended on the trio before him. As the beetles attached the bodies fell and crumbled into piles of bee's wax. Shino gathered his senses and searched again for the trio. He spotted the blond crouched next to the eves to his right. The large man was directly in front of him also below the roof line. The female was gone. Shino summoned a swarm of flesh-eating bugs and sent them to wait behind him in the alley. He readied a group of defensive bugs at his feet and prepared a small batch of his most potent chakra-eating kikai.
The blond leaped from his hiding spot. He crossed in a large arc from Shino's right to his left. In the middle of his flight the man released a small cloud of bees armed with paper bombs. Shino raised his wall, deflecting the bulk of the blast, but being thrown backward in the process. As he came to a stop Shino produced a pair of tonfa from his jacket and began blocking the bearded man who had charged in Shino's moment of weakness. The larger man fought only a moment before dispersing into a group of bees. The swarm launch its Thousand Stinger technique, riddling Shino with venomous barbs. Shino absorbed the assault and then popped into a cloud of insects himself. The real Shino reformed behind the bearded man and managed two blows with the tonfa before the man could turn.
"You are done." Shino raised the weapons, which scattered, revealing they were made of chakra-eating kikai. The bearded man raised his arms to fight, but succumbed to chakra exhaustion and fell into unconsciousness.
The blond man charged madly at Shino. Shino was aware that this man had no time to set a trap, nor could he match the kikai in a frontal assault. Shino simply moved to the side and placed a kick at the right instant, sending the man off the roof into the alley full of flesh-eating bugs. The second Kamizuru was rolled after him. Shino returned to Ino's still invisible form to begin applying medical aid. He bent to the wound and began spraying it with antiseptic. Shino was engrossed in his labors and did not notice when a giant bee rose above the roof.
The last Kamizuru sat astride the malicious beast. She was furious. Usually she would have set up a hive and driven the fight to her advantage, but the hasty assault by Iwa demanded that she make do. Now with two of her clansmen dead she summoned her most powerful vengeance. Unfortunately for her, so did Ino. Shiromari lashed his sticky invisible tongue and caught the flying creature. In an instant the last Kamizuru and their great summoning technique were gone.
"Ino, are you alright?" Shino asked. She was becoming visible again. Murasaki popped into a small puff of smoke near the girl's ear.
"Shino-kun. I'm really tired." The girl looked up at him.
"The kunai hit your clavicle. It didn't break, but you lost some blood. You used all your chakra, and you saved my life. We are going for help now Ino-chan." Shino broke his usual monotone for a single word.
"I hope you don't plan to address me that way in other company." The blond teased.
"No, its just for you and me." Shino scooped the girl up and headed for the rendezvous point.
...
Shino dropped from the roof. Hinata rushed to Ino to tend her wounds and chakra exhaustion. Anko and Shizune came a moment later. Both were riddled with minor injuries. Jiraya dropped into the midst of the group. This last member was all Naruto needed. He had news of the ship approaching, and clones that had made it to the rooftops gave him insight into the overwhelming fights of his companions. He had gathered the necessary supplies from nearby houses and figured he had enough.
"Anko, Shizune, I need a path to that building." Naruto shouted, pointing at the tallest building in the square.
The jounin wasted no time in rushing back to the thick of combat and making a path. Jiraya completed a similar mission to the other side of the square. In five minutes there were clones working on all the nearby buildings. Naruto took his own coat and went to work on that as well. With the preparations complete Naruto focused for the attack.
"I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I will be the greatest ninja to ever live. I am the new Flying Thunder God!" Naruto shouted. The Iwa ninja cringed. The Rain-nin scoffed. Everyone turned their eyes to the boy.
Naruto had roughly a hundred clones scattered throughout the square and surrounding area. In a great orange flash they all disappeared. They reappeared a moment later and attacked. The enemy ninja looked around as their opponents vanished and popped back up. Naruto's teammates noticed the seals painted on every building, on the streets, and the one that floated on a make-shift kite above their heads.
The clones flashed away from incoming blows. Rasengan tore through defenses all around the stunned former Leaf-nin. The shadow clones didn't need to be replaced so Naruto put all his efforts into the glowing chakra orbs. Most of the Iwa-nin retreated at the sight of the working Hiraishin. The Rain-nin stood their ground, and fell to the legion of rushing Naruto.
A full retreat was called and the land battle died out with little more action. The ship looming over the lake was still a problem.
"Ojii-san, can you blow that kite over the ship?" Naruto asked, pointing to his coat, adorned with the chakra infused seal. He was very glad in that moment he had paid attention to Shikamaru's trick at the chunnin exams.
"No problem." Jiraya signed a wind jutsu and blew the kite in the appropriate direction.
The ship steamed for the shore. It was met by Tsunade running across the surface of the lake. She leaped aboard and began fighting. This ship, however, was full of jounin. Tsunade could keep herself from taking damage, but had no opening to do more than that. She used her titanic strength to pound the enemy back, but in the close quarters of the ship she could not dodge or evade to get an advantage.
The kite did its job. It drifted on a focused wind over the deck of the vessel. In an orange flash, Naruto appeared falling to the deck. The shocked Rain-nin didn't notice the clone that dropped after him, or the flash that signaled the disappearance of the Sannin. They only watched in awe as the boy standing in the midst of their most fierce jounin was orbited by Rasengan. The circling orbs drilled into the hull of the ship, they spun into men, and they countered attempts to rush the boy.
...
Naruto stumbled as his feet found solid ground again. His companions hurried to his aid. Tsunade caught him before he fell face first to the stone street. Naruto's body displayed cuts and bruises. His clothes were burnt shredded and dirtied beyond repair. Despite his obvious fatigue Naruto smiled up at his family.
"I got it. I figured out my father's jutsu." The smiling boy declared before giving in to his growing desire to sleep.
...
Thanks for reading. Sorry its been such a long time folks. Hope you like it.