Chapter 21 The First Strike
The sun had just set over the village as the lights from hundreds of houses and apartments turned on. All over the village people where settling down after a long day full of strange instances. First the army had come back from the occupied lands with news of a demon war, their Kage had called an emergency meeting of the upper clans and the word was that the Daimyo himself was coming in the next few days to talk to the Kage himself. The entire mood of the village was tense as the villagers went to sleep unaware what was happening only yards outside of the main gate on the ring of large mountains that ran around the village.
"What is the situation?" asked the commander of the ground forces for this operation Vachan the demon white tiger.
"Half the of the combined forces are deployed upfront to take the village with a quarter to contain the humans and the rest are in reserve.
"We will not need worry about the reserves; the humans shouldn't cause us any trouble." stated Vachan
"You under estimate the will of humans." stated a voice as Vachan turned to see Minato Namikaze standing with two other nine tailed foxes, they where there to make sure Minato didn't do anything to cause them trouble.
"You have waged war against this village before didn't you Minato Namikaze?" asked Vachan "How would you take Iwagakure?"
"I am going to tell you anything." stated Minato as the two other foxes glared at him.
"You should know you place Minato, you are a demon they are the enemy." stated one of the foxes.
"No…I actually respect that." stated Vachan as he looked into Minato's eyes "He knows that humanity is doomed to become demons but he can't bring himself to go against his oath to humanity. He is keeping to his honor intact the best he can. How about we do it this way I simply tell you what I know and you tell me if you agree."
"Fine." stated Minato as Vachan smiled before turning his back to Minato before looking out over village
"Alright Iwagakure being located in the mountains with only five paths leading out of the village that any large force could use to transport means that of all the human villages this village is the most easily defended from an outside attack." said Vachan as he put his hands behind his back. "Do you agree?"
"Any chunin could tell you that is true but you didn't want me up here to tell you what you already know." stated Minato
"Yes, but tell me why do you think we would begin our attack here?" asked Vachan
"Like I said it is the easiest to defend of the major villages taking them out first would deal a blow to human forces and it couldn't become the last holdout of the human villages where they may have developed a defense against us." stated Minato
"Us?" asked Vachan with a smile as Minato frowned. "Just tell yourself it is a slip of the tongue Minato when in reality it isn't."
"Did you just want me to talk to you because you wanted to study my mind?" asked Minato
"In a way, I heard that your elder son….Naruto is quite the hero to the humans and since I can't study him yet I will study the father." answered Vachan "Now I believe you along with your mate is partly in command of one of the reserve unites."
"Correct." Stated Minato
"Then you better get back just in case your unit is called into action." Said Vachan as Minato turned and started to walk away "By the way just in case you have any ideas your daughter is in a different unit it would be terrible if she had an accident."
"I will not let you kill my daughter." growled Minato as Vachan grinned.
"I wouldn't kill her, that would make the demon fox leadership upset." laughed Vachan "but maybe prevent her from walking ever again."
"You son of a bitch." growled Minato as he showed his teeth as all nine of his tails snapped behind him angry. 'You threaten my family and you expect me to follow orders."
"Listen Minato you may think of me as the bad guy but I don't want to do anything to your pack but if I have to hurt your pack to save our races I will do it." stated Vachan before turning to a panther "Prepare all forces we attack in two hours."
Minato walked away passing the lines of soldiers from all the living demon races, they were careful to remain hidden from the Rock Ninja guards in the watchtowers and along the walls. It took him some time but he made his way back to a back staging area where a group of younger demon foxes where gathered. To a human they may seem to be in their early twenties when in reality each one of them was at least a million years old but when the average of attacking force was 28 million these where the young pups who had never seen war. Minato and Kushina where the youngest in the group but had the most combat experience. Most of the young only had seven or eight tails with no real combat experience. Sitting on a tree stump watching the young kits gear up for combat which for demons mostly meant making sure their claws and teeth where sharp was his wife and mate Kushina.
"How were the higher ups?" asked Kushina as Minato sat down beside her
"They are going to throw us into combat I am sure of it." said Minato as Kushina lowered her head.
"Did they tell you where Adria is?" asked Kushina
"Only that she is in another unite." stated Minato "They will have her watched almost as much as they watch us."
"And Naruto, Sakura and Seth back in the demon village so we can't get to them all and make a break for the Leaf." whispered Kushina
"No." answered Minato
"They are using one of your three major weakness against you Minato-kun." said Kushina
"Three?" asked Minato as he tried to figure out the second and third weakness, Kushina was talking about.
"Your family, you do anything to protect your family that is one for sure. You will do anything to protect your family and to a lesser degree your friends." explained Kushina "That is one of the reasons I fell in love with you.'
"And here I thought it was all because of my looks." laughed Minato
"Well that certainly didn't hurt your case." laughed Kushina as she moved closer and rubbed her cheek against his. In demon the culture of the demon canines which included wolves, foxes and the now dead race of jackals that was a sign of affection almost on the same level as a kiss.
"I am still wondering what my other weakness is?" asked Minato
"Well your only a demon fox so you have other faults like leaving the toilet seat up for but everyone has problems like that." explained Kushina "I said major weakness.'
"Ok what is my other two major weakness?" asked Minato
"Well my cooking is your third weakness; I can get you to do almost anything I want when I cook your favorite food." explained Kushina as Minato laughed.
"Ya, I'll give you that Red Pepper." laughed Minato as Kushina glared a bit at him for using one of her childhood nicknamed.
"You know I hate that nickname." stated Kushina as she pulled away crossing her arms "Maybe I shouldn't tell you the other weakness."
"At least it isn't one of the other two." said Minato
"I'll give you that." said Kushina
"Will you please tell me what the other weakness is?" asked Minato
"Fine." said Kushina as she leaned forward to whisper in her mate's ear 'That thing I do for your birthday every year, the one that makes you putty in my hands."
"Ya…I know what you're talking about now." answered Minato as he thanked the spirits that thanks to his fur he couldn't be seen blushing.
The hours passed by slowly within the massive walls of Iwagakure, of all the ninja villages it was Iwagakure which was set up mostly like a fortress. It had not one but six massive walls that moved around the city. Two outer walls with a small gap in between them and three inner walls that divide the village into easily defendable areas. With a final wall around the Tsuchikage tower and Ninja headquarters. There were dozens of stone watchtowers rising up among the large stone buildings.
On top of one of the two towers which flanked the main gate stood two very board guards watching the road leading out of the valley and toward the other nations.
"Do you really think there are demon races?" asked one of the guards
"I saw how Killer Bee reacted to the news, so ya I do." answered the second as he looked down the road, thanks to the half moon which was out tonight he could just make out some shapes in the distance. "What is that?"
"What?" asked the first guard as he raised some binoculars.
"There by the tree line." stated the second as he pointed toward the tree line by the road, just as a shape walked out onto the road. "It's the demons isn't it?"
"A deer." answered the second guard as the deer crossed the road and walked back into the woods. "You need to relax a bit; we would see the demons coming. This is the most well defended village in the world."
Neither guard said anything else as both of them where grabbed from behind in a choke hold.
"Just go to sleep human." said a demon wolf as he looked to his partner as both of them lowered the humans to the ground before looking over to the other tower to see a pair of demon lions taking care of the other guards.
"You got to love how easy it was to get into this place." Laughed one of the wolves as they looked down the line to see the guards along the two outer walls to see the guards be taken down slightly from behind they had already taken the towers up to the second walls and no one knew they were there.
"That is only because those weird ants can dig those tunnels into the village in just a few hours." stated the first wolf as he looked toward one of the tunnels that the one of the demon ants had dug only to see his fellow demons moving into the village. The section between the two outer walls and the first inner wall was the least populated in the village. This section was home to more of the industrial area where the weapons for the army was made and where the training fields where located. There was the largest group of people who lived between the walls where the poorest of the poor of the village. They tended to live in towers near the first inner wall. The demons ignored the buildings they controlled the outer walls and the deeper they got into the village undetected the better. Most of the lights were out in the village and the only people who were really out an about where the ninjas on patrol which were taken down without a sound by different groups of demons. The only other group that was out and about where the drunks walking out from the bars which where easier to take care of them the ninjas. Already the humans where being gathered in a single large warehouse to be processed which involved having their weapons taken and their identities confirmed.
"Looks like we have control of the first section." said the one of the wolves on the watch tower as he pulled out a flashlight before singling the command with two quick bursts of light toward the woods.
"We have control of the first section." stated Vachan with a smile "The ants should be digging into that second wall in just five minutes."
"That section will cause some problems." stated the second in command "I wonder how the other armies are doing?"
"I wouldn't worry about it, they are hitting seven smaller villages and only two of them have a ninja cores of their own." stated Vachan "They should have those villages under control within an hour and a half."
"Sir looks like the ants got though the wall ahead of plan.' stated an aid as Vachan looked to see the demons where now entering the main part of the village where 90% of the population was located. Suddenly he sound of a load screeching sound filled the air as Vachan looked toward one of the towers only to see one of his tiger demons fighting against two humans with demon tiger lying flat on his back on the roof of a lower building.
"Well they know we are here now." stated the aid
"Oh well I thought we would be spotted sooner rather than later." stated Vachan
All over Iwagakure their ninja core along with the civilians where awoken by the alarm. They were rushing out of their homes and into the waiting arms of demons. Which were now pushing into the village taking as much care as possible to subdue the humans not kill them.
Just behind the front lines near the one of the small towers beside the secondary wall was a small group of demon foxes.
"Alright we are going to move in and take the humans on the third floor." ordered the dark pink demon fox Talia as she address the group of foxes.
"Yes, sensei." sad a young male fox with deep brown fur his five tails moving behind him.
"Are we sure it is wise to have her here?" asked another male fox with four tails as he looked toward Adria Namikaze
"Eaden shut up, Adria is a demon just like us." stated the five tailed male to the four tailed
'She warned the humans that we were coming, Calin." stated Eaden as the other teen demon fox
"Her brother is a human I am sure that now he is a fox everything is fine." stated Calin as the teammate and classmate of Adria smiled at him.
"We will worry about that later now we need to go in and capture these humans." ordered Talia as they followed different teams into the building. A team from each demon race was taking a floor luckily this was one of the smaller towers. Adria lowered her head as they reached the third floor, the sound of screams could be heard from the lower floors as doors were busted down and the half asleep humans where taken by the demons. It didn't take them long to reach the third floor, there was only two doors leading to two separate apartments.
"Alright Adria and Calin you take the door on the right and Eaden and I will take the other door." ordered their sensei Talia as she busted down one of the doors before entering with Eaden.
"Alright here we go." said Calin as he kicked in the other door entering the poorly light room. Adria paused for a moment before following her teammate into the room. What greeted them was a messy living room filled with boxes of old moldy food, a large man was sound asleep on the old couch with bottles of beers lying around him. He looked as if he hadn't taken a shower in over a week
"This is just sad." said Calin as he moved toward the man pulling out a small pair of plastic hand restraints from a belt he was wearing, 90% of the time demons didn't wear clothing but when they had to wear belts to hold scrolls or other tools. "Adria I'll take care of this guy you check the rest of the place."
"Alright." answered Adria as she moved toward one of the few doors in the place. She opened it to find the cleanest room n the room in the apartment. It looked like it belonged to a little girl maybe six or seven years old. There was dolls and stuff animals arranged in the corner with a small group set up by some fake plastic cups.
"A tea party." thought Adria as she looked at the bed it was the only place that was a mess, like someone had rushed out of bed. The soft sound of someone crying caused Adria to look toward the closet. She saw a pair of little brown eyes looking up at her though the silted closet door.
"Adria did you find anything?" yelled Calin from the other room.
"Not yet." answered Adria as she walked toward the closest door. The sound of movement behind the door told Adria that someone was in there.
"Listen…I don't want to hurt you but the others will, where is your mom I'll try to get her to you?" asked Adria
"I am here already what are you?" asked an adult voice on the other side of the closet door
"I am a demon fox; the demons have come to turn humans into demons. I don't want that to happen to you unless you want it to." explained Adria "So you two hide in here and they may not find you."
"What about my Daddy?" asked a young girl's voice
"Sorry they got him, now you two hid." stated Adria as she stood up to leave only to see her teammate standing in the doorway.
"Adria what are you doing?" asked Calin as he moved toward the closet reaching for the handle only to have his hand grabbed by Adria
"There is nothing in there, Calin." stated Adria as her teammate eyed her.
"Adria I heard the humans talking I know what you are trying to do." stated Calin "I could look the other way when you warned your brother because he was a member of your pack but not this."
"They don't want to become demons." stated Adria
"They don't have a choice, we are trying to save our race we need every human we can get." stated Calin "Besides the girl's father and her mother's mate are already going down stairs to be processed. Do you want to separate them? Like the council separated your brother from your pack."
"Don't you pull that." growled Adria
"I am sorry Adria but it is true, now I don't want to hurt you so please step aside." said Calin 'If the council found out about what you tried you and your pack would be in trouble. Think of them, is their pain worth the temporally freedom of these humans."
"Temporally?" asked Adria
"They are planning to destroy every building in the village." stated a new voice as Adria looked to see her sensei standing in the doorway
"Sensei."
"Even if their hiding places doesn't get discovered in the sweeps the village will be destroyed and they will die." explained Talia "Now Adria stand aside and let us work."
Adria lowered her head as she let go of Calin's arm only to have him open the door as the woman and little girl screamed as Calin grabbed her and her mother and restrained them.
"Calin can you handle the two of them? I need to talk to Adria." said Talia as Calin pulled the two human's out of the room leaving Adria with her sensei. "Adria you have to stop this."
"You know this isn't right sensei." stated Adria
"No it isn't right and in a perfect world we wouldn't have to do this but we do." stated Talia "We are trying to save our race."
"By destroying another." stated Adria
'We are destroying a single race in order to save nine other races." stated Talia "I may not like it but I will take that trade any time. Now I will overlook this offense but next time I will report you to command."
An hour later in the village the ninja core of Iwagakure was fighting a losing battle against the advancing demon forces. Leading a squad of twelve ninjas was the granddaughter of Onoki the third Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi.
"Alright we need to make contact with our defense line." stated Kurotsuchi as the ninjas moved slowly down a side alley making sure to remaining hidden from enemy which had over run the area.
"Contact." stated the lead ninja as a group of demon foxes ran though the main street.
"They are kicking our ass." stated an ANBU as he held his bleeding arm.
"I know but if we can gather we can form a solid defense line we may be able to hold." stated Kurotsuchi
"No, you can't not here." stated a voice as a demon fox appeared at the end of the alley.
"We will not let you take us." stated an ANBU as he pulled his sword
"We don't have much time, so we will make this quick." stated the fox "There should be a bar/night club just a block away, the rock house. In the basement there is a tunnel which the Leaf dug during the Third Shinobi world war, if it is still there it is your best chance to get out of the village and to warn the others about the coming attack."
"How could you know that?" asked Kurotsuchi as the fox smiled a bit
"Because I was part of the team that help design the seal that hid the tunnels from you." stated the fox
"Who are you?" asked Kurotsuchi
"Minato Namikaze." Stated Minato as the ninja's eyes widened "Now go before it is too late.'
With that Minato walked away down the street following the rest of his command.
"Can we trust a demon?" asked a jonnin "Yet alone the yellow flash, he was our worst enemy during the war."
Before anything else could be said five red flares went flying out of the Tsuchikage tower followed by a blue flare. Every ninja in Iwagakure knew that was a coded message to abounded the village and head into the hills to fight.
"Do we have a choice now?" asked Kurotsuchi 'The village has fallen now we prepare to strike back."
The sun was rising over the Demon fox village as Seth woke up, after his normal morning business he walked upstairs expecting to find his breakfast waiting for him like it normally was on a day off. After a moment he remembered why his mom wasn't around as he made his own breakfast. After eating his food he walked down stairs and toward his brother room.
"I bet he isn't there." thought Seth "Went to save the humans."
Slowly he opened the door as the smell rushed forward into his nose.
"Well looks like Naruto finally gave in to the vixen." Said Seth as he looked toward the bed to see the sheets tossed all over the place, over the edge of the bed was seven pink tails which had to belong to Sakura and eight blonde tails.
"Great he is only an eight tailed." said Seth "I can beat that with ease when I get older."
As Seth moved to close the door when he saw moment under the cover.
"That can't be?" asked Seth as his eyes widened as four extra blonde tails joined the other eight raising the total to twelve.
Well I hope you liked this long chapter and how I ended the chapter with the revealed of how many tails Naruto and Sakura has. I know there wasn't any real moments with Naruto or Sakura in this chapter but I wanted to focus on Minato/Kushina and a little bit on Adria. Also a more detailed demon battle will be coming up in later chapters. Now I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75.