As the commander of the assault Aono was in his tent going over the maps of the local country. What a miserable land, he thought half of it is bog, marsh, and crag. Why do even want this damn place? He knew the answer to that of course, they wanted because it was there. No matter how wretched the land was taking it would expand the borders of Earth country and look good on a map. It would also clear the path for the next assault on Waterfall.

Looking back down at the map he knew it was anything but completely accurate. They knew there were plenty of bogs and marshes filled with quick sand and sink holes but where they were exactly was a guess. The Whirlpool ninja knew, they seemed to know every blade of grass. For him to lead an army through such, even an army of ninja, would be slow and difficult. Unless he had them expend most of their chakra while doing so. But that had its own dangers; going into battle with low chakra reserves against a rested enemy was a very bad idea. That was why the beach was vital to this assault. When low tide came they would have a nice flat road that would take them directly to Whirlpool village.

Aono was different from his commander. Whereas Ryozo was eager for glory Aono cared only about carrying out his orders. He wanted to capture Whirlpool as quickly and with as low a cost as possible. Right now most of his men were sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. They would depart about an hour before sunrise and hit the village in the pre dawn light. If everything went according to plan it would be all over before noon. There would still be enemy nin in the field of course, but with out their village dealing with them would be a mop up operation.

In the meantime there was a heavy screen patrolling the lands south to deal with any intruders. Just so long as they could maintain secrecy they were almost certain to win.

XXXXXXXXXX

A single rock nin came to a stop on the edge of a salt marsh. He had a burn scar covering most of the right side of his face. Tied to his hip was a sword. He looked all around carefully; he'd thought he'd seen something.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hidden behind the tall grass Kushina slowly moved her hand to her sword.

Shinzou noticed and made a hand sign. "Stop."

"Why?"

Frowning he pointed to himself before signing. "Obey."

Frowning herself she drew her hand away from her sword and gave a quick nod. After a few minutes of looking things over the rock nin finally moved on. At that point Kushina leaned in close to her brother to whisper to him. "Why did you stop me? I could have taken him easy."

He looked at her very calmly. Her brother was such a child at times. But when they were in the field she would see another side of him. He would stop being the annoying older brother and suddenly transform into the great ANBU captain everyone said he was. "When was the last time you saw a single enemy on patrol?"

Actually she hadn't thought of that. She'd been so focused on wanting to attack him the question had never even occurred to her. "You know, I don't think I ever have. We always run into them in squads."

"Single patrols can cover a lot more ground."

"But they're easier to take out."

Shinzou nodded. "True, but even if they're taken out silently you can bet it won't be long before it's noticed someone is missing. For some reason the rock nins are going to an awful lot of trouble to keep unwanted eyes out."

She could only nod. They'd been dodging patrols all night. "Why are there so many patrols out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Shinzou looked westward. "They're guarding something, and it's something that's damn important to them."

"So what do we do? We're at the end of our patrol range, we're supposed to head back."

"We're not going back yet," he said decisively. "I want to see what's so damn important to them."

She couldn't help but grin. "So we're breaking the rules of the mission?" She couldn't help but think back to her circle drills.

He nodded. "Some times you have to break the rules to accomplish your goal. Now come on."

XXXXXXXXXX

They stuck to the marshes and bogs as much as possible, avoiding the firmer ground that was more likely to be watched. They moved slowly and carefully, sacrificing speed for stealth. Every foot they traveled took them deeper and deeper into enemy territory. There was no moon out and with only starlight it was pitch dark. That was a blessing to their mission, but also made it harder for them to travel. They didn't use chakra to walk across the bogs and salt marshes. They were conserving their chakra for battle and possible escape.

After a couple more near run ins with single patrols they came out of the wetlands and into an area of drier and better ground. Crawling around a patch of tall grass on the side of a hill they suddenly found whet they were looking for. The two of them squatted down and each took out their binoculars to get a closer view. (Kushina had received hers as a birthday gift.) Even under starlight the enemy camp came into sharp clear view. As a camp it was nothing really special. Just a couple hundred tents or so surrounded by a simple ditch and stockade. But the location and all the efforts the damn rock nins had gone through to keep it secret was the problem.

"It's an attack force," Shinzou whispered. "They have to be planning a surprise attack on the village."

"Wh… what do we do?" Kushina could feel her heart begin to pound. She was a veteran and had seen plenty of combat. But the sudden realization that the two of them had stumbled across an entire enemy camp was scary.

"We sneak out just like we snuck in and tell the village that there's an imminent invasion threat."

She gave him an eager nod and the two of them began slowly backing away. But before they could break cover a group of three rock nins landed about a hundred yards directly behind them. Shinzou and Kushina froze. Fortunately they were still under the cover of the grass. Unfortunately there was nothing but open space between where they were and where the enemy was. But worst of all the rock nins seemed to be studying the ground intently.

"They've spotted our tracks," Shinzou whispered with a sickening certainty. "They'll be on top of us in a minute."

As they watched one of the three leapt away while the other two stayed right where they were.

"He's going to get help," Kushina said. She put her hand to her sword to draw it. "I guess there's no choice but to rush…"

Shinzou caught her hand and kept her from pulling out her weapon. "Change of plans Kooky. I want you to wait until those two are gone and then I want you to get back to the village as fast as you possibly can to warn them. Stick to the bogs but use your chakra to run through them. Avoid the patrols if you can but speed is the priority not stealth." He brought his face close to hers and gave her a look of such intensity that it scared her more than the rock nins. "It's all on you now, the fate of the village depends on you." Then he did something that truly scared her. He hugged her.

"Wha… what are you…"

"I love you Kooky," he whispered to her. "I know you'll be a much better ninja than me someday. I'm sorry I won't get to see it. Tell mom, dad, and everyone that I love them."

She understood. "Shinzou don't…"

He smiled. "For the Uzumaki, for the village, and for you."

He shoved her back and leapt out of the grass. His sword was out and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. The two Iwa nin were caught by surprise. They got their weapons out but never stood a chance as Shinzou cut them down with his katana.

"COME ON YOU IWA BASTARDS!!" He ran south away from her position as there were of the shouts and movement coming from all around. All of it being focused on him as he ran away.

"Urusai," she whispered. Oh Kami he's sacrificing himself for me! She wanted to go after him; she wanted to protect him even if it meant she was going to die. But she knew she couldn't do that. She had to get to the village or mother, father, Timjin, and everyone would die. And his sacrifice would be for nothing. "Oh forgive me." She leapt away from the hill side and ran, unobserved, away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Aono was pacing outside his command tent when the prisoner was finally dragged over to him. He was thrown roughly down and the hatred in the eyes of his men made it clear they wanted to kill him. Only their orders had caused them to bring him in alive.

"This bastard killed twenty men before we could take him!" One of his ninja said furiously before kicking the tied up prisoner.

The Whirlpool nin grunted in pain but then laughed through his bloody mouth. "I wish it could have been twenty more."

The same rock nin kicked again harder.

"Enough!" Aono said sharply. "I need him alive for now." He looked down at the man. He was covered in blood from wounds all over his arms and legs, but none looked life threatening. He had lost a lot of blood though. Despite the blood and the damage to his clothing there was no mistaking the red and black bodysuit. "I should have known that if anyone could lead a successful patrol to find this camp it would be an Uzumaki. How many in your patrol and what route did you take to get here?"

The Uzumaki looked up at him with a swollen face and a mouth full of bloody teeth. "It was just me, I came alone and I don't remember how exactly I got here."

"If you'd actually come here alone you'd swear that you were leading not one but two or three patrols." Aono reasoned. "It doesn't matter, whoever you came with they won't make it back out."

The Uzumaki smiled and said nothing.

"Answer my questions and I promise you fair treatment."

"Fuck you," the Uzumaki said pleasantly. "Like a fucking rock nin would even know what fair treatment was."

Aono looked at the men who had brought him in. "I need to know everything about the patrol he led and I need to know now. Send out trackers to help our patrols catch them." He looked back down at the prisoner. "I don't care what you do but get me my answers, and don't kill him. When we're done we'll send him to the commander. Ryozo would love the chance to meet the great Uzumaki Shinzou. It's not often you capture someone who is in the Bingo Book."

Shinzou chuckled a bit. "Ah, fame."

That earned him another kick in the ribs. Despite the pain he still laughed. They could do whatever they wanted, he could hold out long enough to protect her. They could send out as many trackers as they wanted. No Iwa nin would ever be able to catch her going through those bogs. She'll make it back I know it. Even as they tied him up to a post and stripped off his armor and clothing he smiled. So long as she made it, it was all worth it.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the darkness the guards saw a figure running towards the gate and tensed. "Halt! Identify yourselves!"

The figure came to stop and stood there panting and shuddering. Even with her huge reserves she had used up most of her chakra getting back as fast as was humanly possible. Between breaths she managed to answer.

"I am… Uzumaki… Kushina… and I need… to see… my father."