"Alright gentleman! Sit the hell down and shut the hell up!" Bellowed Captain Magnus, his voice echoing in the hanger where the 200 soldiers were situated. They sat down immediately and stared straight ahead. Magnus stepped back and gestured to Colonel winters, who stood up from his seat.

"Good day charlie company!" The greeting was repeated in perfect unison by the paratroopers. Winters nodded and moved to a tactical set up at the hanger mouth.

"This is a map of the Konoha region. Here," he pointed to a section on the map. "Is the city itself. For those of you who have been speculating that we will drop into Konoha, it will not happen. We would be cut to pieces before we could recover from the drop. Instead, a joint Taskou, Canadian, and American force will push through the Soviet and ninja lines and surround the city. While they do this, The 101st airborne will disrupt the enemies supply lines and make it difficult to bring provisions and replacements to the front. While we do this, bomber wings will pound the city itself and the surrounding areas. We are to destroy all things that could be used by the enemy, for agricultural purposes or the war. Charlie company will drop here." The colonel gestured to a rice field on the map. "This is our drop zone. After the deployment, we will head to several villages, codenamed: Gettysburg, Antitum, and Yellow tavern. Our objective is to destroy anything that could be used against us, even if it hurts the lives of the residents." A soldier in the third row raised a hand, Winters acknowledged him and he stood up.

"Sir what if the villagers resist? What are the rules of engagement for civilians?" Winters hesitated, then spoke loud and clear for all the men in the room.

"The lives of the villagers are expendable, it would probably be best to kill them all anyway, to keep our mission from being compromised. Tactically speaking." A disturbed murmur fell through the paratroopers. The soldier sat down, Winters followed up with more. "That is the tactically sound thing to do, however, I trust you to make the decision that is right. Now we will link up with the rest of the 506th after we accomplish our objectives. We will hold this town here, about one mile from the city itself. It is a major road junction for soviet troop movement to the northern front, if we can cut that supply rout, the Russian forces will have a harder time fighting the Canadian and US forces up there. Other units will secure further supply routs, this will not last us long, the enemy will rally and throw us out or make alternate supply lines. That is why we must surround and block off the city as soon as possible. If the regulars can't reach us and accomplish their objectives, then we will become another statistic."

"Son of a bitch" Muttered a soldier in the crowd.

"Operations will start within the week, be ready men. This is the big time."

Anko sat at the table in her apartment, a cup of tea sat on the hard wood surface. She eyed the ring on her hand and sighed.

"You dumb man, win the war and come back already." Hinata eyed her from the other side of the table. Her thoughts very similar to her companion.

"At least they're ok, I mean, he called you this morning." Anko smiled and stood from her chair, stretching. "We can count ourselves lucky that they are not on the front line. They death toll there is quite high after all."

"Yeah I guess so. Still, he needs to kill all those dogs and get home."

"I totally agree, but I-" The apartment shook with the vigor of demigods. The two women fell to the floor and crawled under the table for some cover. The earth never stood still as explosions and loud roars of engines was all that could be heard. The destruction fell on Konoha for what felt like hours to Hinata. Anko didn't move, she just kept her head down. It seemed like hours went by as death hailed from the sky. No one had seen anything like it before, the Americans had never bombed Konoha before. The apartment building shook violently and the far wall collapsed. The dust clouded the room, making it impossible to see. The explosions abruptly stopped, Hinata lifted her head from the ground and sat up.

"Anko! Are you ok?" Anko raised her hand from the other side of a couch, then stood up.

"Anko... Your bleeding. From your nose and ears..." She lifted her hand and lightly tapped her nose and ears, then sighed.

"So are you kid. Same places too." Anko wiped the blood away and offered the shaken girl a hand, she took it.

"The hell was that?" The Anbu trainer shook her head.

"Wish I could tell you, I haven't got a clue." People in the streets were screaming, either to help the wounded or the wounded themselves. The pair stumbled out of the room and gazed out of the destroyed wall.

"The hell is this?" Anko said, her eyes widening in shock. Hinata began to quake with anxiety. The city around them was in ruin. People were screaming, children and adults alike were dead and dying. The Hokage mansion was still untouched. She looked around, not seeing any sign of their attackers. The thrum of engines were becoming distant. Ninja were in the streets, assisting the wounded. A genin looked on the results of destruction in horror, it didn't take long for him to heave and lose his lunch. Hinata approached the madness with gentle steps. She didn't know what to do, she was useless when it came to medical jutsu.

"HEY!" Yelled a man to her right. Hinata heard his voice over the screams and chaos. He looked strangely familiar. 'The owner of Naruto's favorite ramen stand!'

She navigated through the debris and fallen villagers to the old man. He held a young woman in his arms, Hinata guessed his daughter. A gruesome wound in her chest bled heavily, pieces of metal and wooden shrapnel peppered her body.

"She's not breathing! Help her ninja!" The desperate look in his eyes told Hinata that he didn't believe she was dead, which was definitely the case. Hinata felt for a pulse, it's absence was a certainty.

"S sir, I'm s s sorry. She is gone." The man's gaze went from Hinata to the girl. The old man began to sob and held her close. Hinata stood up and ran back to Anko, no time could be wasted on comfort right now. Anko was giving orders to several chunin, pointing and yelling. The men bowed and ran off. Hinata stood next to Anko once again.

"Hinata, get a message to Hokage tower. The residential district is in chaos, the current ninja here aren't enough. We need help."

"Hai!" She bowed and took off for the palace.

"Son of a bitch!" Cursed Sergeant Jonas Corinth as he threw the newspaper out the window. The other soldier in the room raised his eyebrows. A paper of his own in his hands.

"What's your bitch, sarge?" asked the young private.

"You have a paper! We just blew half of Konoha to hell! Almost no military forces were in that city!" The young Armenian immigrant rolled his eyes.

"Sarge, that's just what the enemy says. Those anti-war communist journalists are going to demonize us as much as possible. Stop believing everything you read."

Jonas sat down in his chair and sighed, running a hand threw his hair. "It's still not right, killing civilians and such."

"Well, maybe you should tell Ivan that. I'm sure you'd make this whole war come to a close in weeks after the two sides learned to talk this out, compromise, and become or remain capitalist."

"Fuck you Felix." Jonas said casually as he looked out the window at the compound.

"Whatever man." He went back to reading his paper. The pair were silent for a time, then Jonas spoke once more.

"Felix, I feel so useless back here." The Private let out an exasperated sigh and looked at the sergeant.

"Sarge, we've had this talk many times before. The army isn't going to let you fight again. The brass isn't convinced that your mentally stable." Jonas clenched his teeth, his anger rising.

"I know what I saw, if I'm so crazy then why was I promoted or allowed to stay in the military.?"

"You know the answer to that, sarge."

'Because I'm one of the thirteen survivors of the battle of red ridge.' The Armenian continued.

"You were big in the states after you showed up two years ago, the military decided to keep that horse shit from the press to help you. To keep them from asking questions, they had you transferred to an easy job in the rear to reward you and then gave you that promotion. Guarding prisoners sarge, can it get much easier than that?" Jonas looked Felix in the eye, his expression serious.

"If the six hundred and twenty six shinobi decided that they wanted to get back into the fight, we'd all be shredded meat. You can't stop this many ninja from getting out. Not with the one company of MP's we have." Felix quirked an eyebrow.

"So why haven't they done it yet? They've been here for two years." Jonas shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe they're waiting for their side to be winning. Six hundred would kill 2400 soldiers by the statistics. Though we have some serious talent in the compound." Felix snorted.

"What ever sarge."

"Well. This is a surprise." The small Canadian ammo dump the Hammers visited the month before had blossomed into a whole base of operations. The wire parameter had been replaced with cement, guard towers and bunkers lined the walls. The area of the base had quadrupled, the number of men had grown enormously.

"The Americans have moved in. Shit." Said Tenten to Ino. The blond continued to glass the base.

"well, that ain't the worst of it." She handed the weapons master the binoculars. "Hundred yards from the center of the base." Tenten gazed at the spot. Several large buildings stood in a line, a Sherman was parked outside the one farthest to the left.

"Shit. Tank sheds." Ino nodded

"By the looks of it, they might have thirty to fifty tanks in that base. Who knows how many ground troops."

"A division at least. I wouldn't be surprised if fifteen thousand men came out of there." Tenten made several hand signs to her left. The pair to their left responded. She relayed the reply.

"Reznov says that Pawel identified the unit as the 87th infantry division." Ino raised her eyebrows.

"How the hell does he know that?" Tenten shrugged. Reznov sent her another message.

"He says to pull out. The sun is getting higher and the sentries relief will get here soon."

"Good idea, the more ground between us and the search parties, the better." Remarked the blond. Sending a smirk at the several unconscious men below them. Tenten signaled their withdrawal and the two started down from the US outpost. Reznov and Pawel not far behind. The team consolidated about a mile away. They remained silent until they crossed the "gap" in the American picket line and headed for their little base of operations, the truck where they massacred the Canadians. Naruto and Genma were already there.

"Report?" Asked their squad leader. He lazily leaned against the truck, chewing on his senbon.

Ino sat down and set her AK aside. Her voice serious and business like. "The enemy is the US now. The base has grown to epic proportions."

"Define epic" shot Naruto, his mood seemed pissy for him.

"At least four times the size." supplied Tenten. "Possibly a division that moved up here. They could have around thirty to fifty tanks."

"I see" Genma muttered, he seemed deep in thought.

"The outfit is the 87th infantry division. Their experienced from the last war, sir." Genma narrowed his eyes.

"How hell did you figure that?" Pawel stuck his finger up in the air, and stood up straight. He always did this when talking about statistics, facts etc.

"The 87th ID fought in Germany in 1944-1945. They were one of the few units that fought alongside soviet troops. I just happened to be there. Tough bastards sir."

"I see... Well me and Naruto scouted out the American front lines. There are about three times as many as usual." Sergeant Reznov nodded, a realization donned his features.

"Comrade Genma, I believe that the allies are going to start a major campaign. They definitely have the man power to do it." Genma sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Yup, looks like it. We need to report this." The jonin first class stood up and stretched, He placed his gear on his person. The others we ready. The six Hammers moved quickly threw the snow of the frozen north.

"Now I know how Akumaru feels now. This camp sucks." gripped Kiba, the chunnin was lying on his back, soaking up the sun from the roof of his barracks. "I haven't been able to use a jutsu in two years. I can barely stay in shape." The girl next to him smacked him more for emphases then for pain.

"OW!" the dog ninja rubbed the afflicted spot on his head.

"Stop complaining, this camp is the best treatment we could ever hope to receive."

"Complaining is a soldier's sacred right, Sakura!"

"Well, your a ninja, not a soldier. Stop getting ideas from the guards. Me and you don't have the right to say what we want. Only the Americans and Canadians have that right." Kiba sat up and shook his head.

"The guards say we have all the rights we do while we are under their care." Sakura just shook her head.

"You should be more careful, don't get used to the idea of these freedoms. When we are handed back to the Leaf armies, we'll no longer have these rights." Kiba frowned.

"Whatever... Did you here Asano and Sugi took the deal?" Bolted her head up and looked at him. Her expression worried.

"To where a Taskou Uniform and fight for them? To become traitors!?!" Kiba nodded.

"Yeah, saw them walking out yesterday. It is a tempting offer." Sakura frowned, but nodded in agreement. "Hell, might be worth it for you. You could talk to that guard from the other side of the fence... Jonas I think his name was." Sakura nodded.

"As much as I like that man, I can't change sides for him. Naruto and the others would never associate with me again..."

"You've got a point... I wonder if they're even still alive. This war has claimed so many lives." She sighed.

"We can only hope. They don't tell us anything here."

"I wonder why-"

"It's because we're trying to control you!" Came a voice from bellow. They peered over the edge of the building. Two guardsmen stood below. Sakura smiled, Kiba blanched.

"Jonas! Felix too. What are you doing here!?!" The Armenian shrugged.

"We were board so we figured we'd come harass the prisoners and make you all feel like shit." His glare directed at Kiba. Jonas chuckled and put his hand on Felix's shoulder the soldier laughed too, Sakura joined in. Kiba didn't. The pink haired shinobi leaped from the barracks and landed next to Jonas, their mutual smiles gleaming. Kiba cautiously watched Felix, he didn't trust the man.

"How are you today?" asked Jonas, crossing his arms.

"I'm fine, this camp is a bore though." Jonas's grin grew, so did Sakura's. Felix sighed.

"Sarge, get her to do the deal so we can leave. We shouldn't be here." Jonas looked to him and nodded. Sakura's face turned downcast.

"I'm sorry Sergeant Corinth. Don't ask me to betray my country." Jonas opened his mouth to speak, but she put a finger up. He closed his mouth.

"I wouldn't ask you to betray America, please don't ask." Jonas frowned, then shrugged.

"Fine... Felix, let's go. I have nothing more to do here." He nodded, then the pair of MP's left for the Guard section of the compound. Sakura fell on her butt and sat there for a time. Kiba joined her.

"Maybe after the war, eh?" Sakura put her head to her knees.

"Maybe"

"Do you think that This will work?" Asked Alistair, The paratrooper secured the last of his equipment. The gear weighed just as much as he did. His parachute and reserve made the burden even worse.

"Only one way to find out. If it ends the war, then I'll try anything." Said Lucas. The trooper was sitting on the runway with his parachute propping him up. His comfort smoke was doing it's part. Keith stood next to Alistair, his Browning 1919 heavy machine gun at his side.

"Whatever gets me home to my wife faster." He said. Meyers was checking over his weapons. "Lavan! Get your ass over here!" The young replacement hustled over to the bear of a man.

"Yes Keith?" The sergeant looked him over.

"You ready for this boy?" The soldier nodded eagerly. There was no way the kid was eighteen. But they had no proof. His duty as assistant gunner for Keith made the Jewish shrimp pretty important to the squad.

"When we get to the DZ. You find my ass and grab my belt, understand?"

"Yes sergeant!" This kid nodded his head vigorously. He hefted the tripod up for Keith to see, as if a child were showing off a new toy. The sergeant put a large hand on Lanvan's helmeted head. Saying a brief prayer for him, then he moved on to the other men in the squad. Meyer grinned at Lavan, the boy gave him a quizzical look.

"Here that boy? You've got Jesus protection." Lucas snickered.

"Isn't that some kind of insult? The protection of a false messiah." added Lucas. Lavan huffed in annoyance. Then strode away to talk with some other members of the platoon. Alistair shook his head.

"You guys should be kinder to him. He's just a kid after all." Meyer rolled his eyes.

"Tell that to the Reds or the Leafs. The Fire breathers send children into battle too. They'll show him no mercy."

"Meyer, we're on the same side! Be good to the kid!"

"Yeah, don't be an ass. That's an order." The three looked to the new comer.

"Lieutenant Hessler!" The men stood at attention.

"As you were." The men sat down. "Boys, we're getting ready to mount up. Find sergeant Keith and tell him to get your stick together." The grunts saluted and the officer returned it, then he left.

"You heard him Alistair, go tell the sarge." He nodded and left as ordered. Meyer secured his weapons and walked to his squad and relayed the message. Lucas took a long drag from his smoke, then he tossed it and stamped it out.

"Here we go"

"Hokage-sama here are the figures." The attendant handed Hiashi a paper with the damage statistics. The number of casualties were unsettling, thousands were killed, wounded, or missing. None of them were military.

"It took you two weeks to come up with this report?" The secretary bowed.

"I am sorry Hokage-sama. There was a lot of debris to go through, we could have given you something sooner, but it would not have been reliable. The wall is intact and a message is ready to be sent to the Konoha 1st for them to be withdrawn to assist with the rebuilding." Hiashi crumpled the paper and cast it aside.

"Do no such thing. Tell them that the city was leveled and inflate the casualty figures. It will give them great cause to fight the US even fiercer. It the meantime, send the civilians to the shelters and send all the Jonin to join the 1st. This will be essential to our victory."

"Hai Hokage-sama. What of the Anbu black Ops?" Hiashi waved his hand.

"They have their orders." The assistant bowed and left the room. Hinata entered right after the man's exit.

"You called Hokage-sama?" He trained his eyes on his daughter and scoffed her presence.

"I want you to take Neji, your sister, and Rock lee and join the 1st Konoha. Get Hanabi some much needed combat experience. Her safety is yours and Neji's responsibility. If she is killed, don't bother coming back. It will not be pleasant if you do. The branch family always has room for one more."

Hinata sucked in a nervous breath.

"Do I make my self clear?" She bowed her head. Trying not to stutter.

"Hai Hokage-sama." Hiashi waved his hand, gesturing for her to get out. She complied. Hinata strode to the Hyuga complex to pick up Neji and Hanabi. They would leave tonight, the 1st Konoha would need all the assistance they could get. Night began to fall. Hinata stopped and gazed at the setting sun.

"So... Beautiful..." Hinata would not be able to gaze upon the sun setting in such security for along time, and she knew it. "December 18th, 1947. My last day in peace." She shook her head and continued to the compound.

The roar of the engines was deafening. Lucas looked onto the night sky. The door to their DC-17 was removed before take off. He could see the lit villiges villages from the air, though his DZ was not with-in his sight. He barely heard someone hacking up their dinner. He looked inside the aircraft. Lavan, was wiping his mouth, a new puddle of filth had been added to the floor. Keith had his hand on the kid's shoulder, keeping him comfortable. Meyer was the only one who had seen combat, and he wasn't leading the squad. A replacement was. Lucas always wondered why, but never asked. He didn't really care, as long as he personally kept his head. The big Sergeant was muttering words to himself, most likely praying. Meyer appeared to be sleeping, though if he was or not, he couldn't tell. Alistair stared blankly towards his boots. The somber feeling mixed with the red lighting made the situation feel negative, at least to Lucas. The pilots voice came over the com.

"The forward planes in formation have confirmed the presence of AA weapons. We will receive fire in a matter of moments. Brace yourselves." True to his word, flak explosions darted the sky moments later. The plane rocked in the air. Turbulence added to the physical environment that was the world of the paratrooper. A loud explosion and a flash of light lit the sky, the plane directly next to them exploded in a blossom of fire. The jump master, Staff Sergeant MacMaster , pointed at the remains of the craft as it plummeted to the earth.

"That was Captain Kritoff's plane!!!" Lucas looked in horror, their company CO was just blown to hell with the company First sergeant.

"Fuck!" A shell exploded just outside the plane. The right side of the plane was ripped open. SSGT. MacMaster fell to the floor clutching his stomach.

"We gotta get the hell outta here!" Yelled a soldier in the back of the plane. Several more planes lit up in the night sky. One lost it's wing and plummeted to the ground.

"We wait for the fucking light!" yelled Lucas, who took the helm as jump master, qualified or no. He heard the soldier curse but he didn't argue. More planes were going down, most of there formation was gone. An explosion shook the plane, Lucas fell to the floor.

"The fucking engine's on fire!" Yelled Alistair, Lucas stood up and positioned himself in the door. The stick got in line behind him.

"Jump Lucas! I want out!" Yelled the soldier behind him. Lucas said nothing. He just stared at the burning engine. Then he felt a hand on his back, then a firm push. The dick behind him pushed him out of the plane. Before he could register that, he was in free fall. He watched the plane shrink as he fell, he made out the shapes of men jumping. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 than the engine exploded. The blast tor the wing off and the DC-17 began to spiral. Lucas deployed his chute. The jerk hurt like hell, but he was alive. He steered himself as best he could. He landed in a garden inside a compound.

"The land lords manse..." Lucas muttered to himself, cutting himself loose and putting a round in his carbines chamber. "I'm not too far from the village." A second man landed in the garden, Lucas didn't know who.

"Killjoy!" Lucas yelled as quietly as he could. The soldier, cut his shoot and responded.

"He was here. And he can kiss my ass."

"Pvt. Orson?" Orson, a short man from New Jersey. Jogged over to Lucas and hid in the bushes. His Thompson at the ready.

"In the flesh, where the hell are we?" Lucas looked around again. The large courtyard was surely the local lords. He told Orson, who nodded.

"There's an exit over that way." He pointed to a gate at the far end. Lucas stood up to head that way, when the private pulled him down. Several people entered the yard from the house. By their silhouettes, he could tell one was a woman. The one in the center turned on a flash light and trained it on the two parachutes. Orson cursed. The woman cried out in fear and ran back to the house, the men started yelling what sounded like an alarm. But he didn't know. Orson aimed his smg and sprayed the area the two men occupied. One went down, shrieking in pain. The other ran. Lucas fired several rounds, felling the man.

"We need to get the hell out of here!" Orson yelled. He didn't even wait for Lucas to acknowledged him. He just took off. Lucas ran after him, they ran through the gate and into the road. The pair practically ran into a squad of men that were running to the house. The one in the lead cried out in surprise and fired at Lucas and Orson. They rolled into a ditch next to the mansion, returning fire. The enemy squad took cover behind a small wall down the road. The lead man never got there, Orson made sure of that. Lucas pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it in the vicinity of the soldiers. They cried out in alarm and threw it away. It blew a decent sized holt in the mansion wall.

"Who the hell are these guys!?!" Yelled Orson. Lucas had no clue. The soviets had no soldiers in the area, and the fire nation hadn't fielded regulars before. The weapons were certainly russian.

"We can't stay here!" Yelled Lucas. Orson nodded. They both emptied fresh mags into the enemy position to suppress them and head back into the garden. The reloaded and ran as fast as they could. Lucas fixed his bayonet.

"Into the house!" Lucas hollered. Orson ran threw the paper thin traditional door and rolled behind a table. Several scared woman ran from the room. Orson aimed his machine gun and killed them all.

"Can't have them reporting our position!" He yelled. Lucas nodded. The room they were in was lavishly decorated, it must have cost lots of money to furnish. A bullet riddled, blood covered the far wall. The only door was too the right. Lucas kicked it down. An old man was standing between them and the next door, a sword in his hand. Orson ran into the room and trained his sights on the old man. Then the old man was gone. He reappeared next to Orson and hacked the barrel off of his gun. Orson didn't flinch, he just went for his knife. Lucas raised his carbine and fired. He just nicked the old man. He stumbled and fell. Lucas hit him in the leg. Orson jumped on him and gutted him.

"Shit, this prick killed my gun!" Lucas hauled him to his feet and threw him behind him. Several rooms later, they exited the manse once again and made it into the woods.

"Hold the line comrades!!!" Explosions combed the trench where both hammers and regulars held the line against wave upon wave of Taskou and Nato troops. Genma reloaded his PPSH and fired on the Taskou forces, cutting down several men. Naruto was turning out shadow clones and having them charge the attackers. The kid was presently drained. Ino ran threw several hand seals and breathed a fire ball onto the oncoming soldiers, Killing many. The ninja's had held for so long only because of their jutsu, but they were spent.

"Plane!!!" Genma looked up and cursed. Several american fighters were descending upon the trench. Their guns opened up and sprayed the helpless men on the ground. Effectively wiping out the left flank. Taskou troops flooded in and started wreaking havoc on the exhausted soviets. The planes made a second pass, ripping more to pieces. Pawel never stopped firing, the heavy machine gun he operated cut down wave after wave. A platoon of regulars stormed into the taken trench and fought vigorously to take it back.

"We'll hold! Just a little longer men!" He yelled. He gazed to the sky and saw what he feared the most as a foot soldier.

"Dive bombers!" He yelled and fell on his stomach. The screech of the planes grew closer. Then veered off. The explosion came seconds later. Genma was thrown out of the trench and landed in a heap. He couldn't move his right arm.

"Comrade!" Reznov hoisted the wounded shinobi onto his shoulders. From that height, he could see the remains of the gun that Pawel was using. He and Ino were nowhere to be seen.

"Stay with me Comrade Genma! We must run and fight another day!" His vision became dim. He saw Naruto and Tenten covering them as they ran. Russian regulars fell like wheat before a scythe. Than he passed out.