Chapter 17: The Killing Field
"Naruto," said Sasuke, "It's time."
Naruto muttered something incomprehensible as he rolled over on the cot that was set up for him inside the fortress. He and Hinata kept watch at the walls for about four hours or so and were then relieved by Shino and Neji. Saying their goodnights, Naruto and Hinata went to bed, not together of course, they're not ready for that level of intimacy.
"I said it's time to get up, Naruto," said Sasuke in a more firm tone.
"Yeah, got to make sure the noodles are just right," Naruto murmured.
"Let me handle this," said Sakura, "Naruto, we've got work to do, so get your fanny perpendicular this instant, or else."
"Pass the chopsticks, will you, Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"That does it!" said Sakura, "Get up, you frigging ramen-head!!" as if merely lifting a book from a table, Sakura picked up the cot, with Naruto still in it, and threw both against the wall. The impact broke the cot and brought Naruto out of his ramen filled dreams.
"What the hell, Sakura!?" exclaimed Naruto as he stood up.
"That'll teach you to sleep in when you're needed," said Sasuke.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, "Oh, we're in Andalasia! What's going on? Are we still being bombarded?"
"The enemy stopped their catapults a few minutes ago," said Sasuke, "We think they're going to attack again soon."
"Why didn't you say so?!" said Naruto as he removed the wrapper of a self-heating breakfast sandwich. It wasn't the same as ramen, but it would do, "Let's get going already!" He then rushed out of the room and headed towards the walls.
"That Naruto, he really drives me up the walls sometimes," said Sakura through gritted teeth, "I swear, one of these days I'm gonna cut him into little pieces, if the enemy doesn't get him first."
"I feel the same way sometimes," said Sasuke, "Unfortunately, Sakura, we're stuck with him, for better and for worse."
The enemy launched their attack just before the sun rose. Judging by the sheer numbers Manos was committing to this strike, the enemy seemed hell-bent on overwhelming the defenders.
"The joke's on them," said Henry, who seemed to be in a good mood that morning.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. It was confusing to see Henry smiling in the face of such numbers. By Neji's estimate there were nearly 50,000 enemy troops massing at the mouth of the pass for this attack.
"Wait a minute or two," said Henry, "You'll see."
"We may not have a minute or two," said Ino, for the enemy began their attack, cramming as many abreast as they could into the pass' narrowness.
But then the sun came up in the east, blinding the attackers. The charge faltered as those in front stumbled about in the brightness of the dawn, while those behind began piling up. The defenders watched as the enemy attack got so fouled up that they had completely stalled about 150 yards from the walls. In some places the enemy soldiers were so packed together that they couldn't move forward, backwards or sideways.
"This is so sad," said Sakura, "They're so mess up, I just don't have the heart to ask for a cannon strike."
"Well we can't just leave them there," said Naruto, "I mean, well, you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean," said Shikamaru, "No doubt Manos won't make the same mistake again, so we need to make this one count and kill as many as we can."
"I'll order the gun crews to load up with double shot," said Henry, "And have the archers standing by."
"You do that," said Shikamaru, "Or I could do something, even though it'll really be a real effort on by behalf, probably give me nightmares late on."
"What are you talking about?" Henry asked.
"This," said Shikamaru. He stood atop the wall, channeled his Chakra, and extended his shadow so that it now mingled with the shadow of the wall. The combined shadows then raced across the battlefield until it reached the congested enemy formation. Within seconds the air was filled with the screams of the dieing as the shadows constricted around the enemy soldiers and crushed them.
"Oh my gods!" said Elaine.
"That's so wrong on so many levels," said Tenten.
"Impressive," said Garra, "Very impressive. I didn't know the slouch had it in him."
The slaughter went on for another fifteen or twenty minutes; Naruto and the others didn't pay much attention to the time, they were so intent on observing what was going on.
By now the enemy soldiers in the rear realized what was happening and began retreating. Several soldiers were trampled in the rush to get off the battlefield, adding to the death toll.
Shikamaru then released his control over the walls' shadow, returning it to its normal length for the time of day. He then got down from the wall ramparts and started back to the fortress keep.
"You okay, Shikamaru?" Ino asked.
"I'll be fine," said Shikamaru, "I'm just going to go throw up for a while. It's no big deal."
"Well finish up as soon as you can," said Sasuke, "The enemy may try again before too long."
"I'll be as quick as possible," said Shikamaru, who was looking a little green in the face. But then Garra stepped in front of him.
"What?" Shikamaru asked impatiently, "I'm kind of in a rush."
"I've seen many things, Shikamaru Nara," said Garra, "Things that would drive a normal person to the brink of insanity. I've done many terrible things in my life, killed so many people, but what I've just witness was pure artistry." And just like that (insert finger snapping sound) Garra gave Shikamaru a hug.
"Umm," said a understandably confused Naruto, "Okay, this is weird."
Shikamaru was the most confused at Garra's sudden show of affection. Fortunately he didn't have to dwell on this for too long, for his breakfast threatened to come back up again. He hurried back to the fortress and spent the next twenty minutes in the bathroom.
It was estimated that 6,500 were killed in the failed attack, with another 11,000 wounded. Just as Shikamaru came back from the bathroom, a messenger approached from the enemy camp. Shino, Kankuro, Henry and four Andalasian solders went down a rope ladder to accept the message. After hearing what Manos had to say, Henry nodded to the messenger. He and his escorts returned to the wall, while the messenger went back to the enemy camp.
"What was that about?" Naruto asked.
"I just agreed to a one hour truce," said Henry, "So that the enemy can collect their dead."
"That's understandable," said Sasuke, "The battlefield is so choked with casualties, it'll have to be cleared before the enemy can try anything again."
"That doesn't make sense," said Ino, "I mean, the enemy didn't bother to clear the field yesterday, we had to do that ourselves. Why are they concerned now?"
"Maybe they've realized that things are gonna get messier than they thought," said Sakura.
Our heroes then watched for the next hour as thousands of enemy camp-followers cleared the dead from the battlefield, "No doubt brainwashed slaves, all of them," said Henry.
"We'll free them," said Elaine, "Once Manos is defeated."
The enemy slaves finished removing the dead from the field just as the allotted time expired.
"They're efficient," said Shino, "I'll give them that."
"Get ready," said Sasuke, "No telling what Manos will send next."
From the enemy camp emerged several dozen men and women dressed in mage robes with Manos' crest embroidered on them. Each one carried a black staff.
"Now what?" Naruto asked.
As if to answer, several enemy mages raised their staffs and shot dark-purple fireballs at the defenders.
"Incoming!!" shouted Sakura as the fireballs hurtled at the walls and fortress keep.
Elaine tried to cast a shield spell in time, but several fireballs made it past her spell, impacting on the walls and fortress, killing ten Andalasian defenders and wounding another thirty. But the walls withstood the fireballs with only minor damage.
Sakura and several healers, including Clare in her Genjutsu disguise, did what they could for the wounded; most of these injured suffered second and third degree burns. Fortunately the healers managed to heal all but one who happened to die from shock.
Meanwhile the enemy mages had launched another volley of fireballs. Elaine tried to block the attack, but she was only one magic user against several dozen. Fortunately, Garra had called forth a shield made of sand that moved above the defenses, blocking most of the fireballs that got past Elaine's spell.
"Can't we blast them back!?" Naruto asked after he and Sasuke dodged one fireball that got though.
"They're outside cannon range," said Sasuke, "And if we try to go after them directly, they'd see us well before we could attack."
"If I could get in range," said Ino, "I could fry their brains."
"You'd have to sneak up on them," said Neji, "And that's going to be harder than usual. I've watched their tactics; one group launches their spells at us while the other keeps watch on us to make sure we don't sneak up on them."
"We need something that'll distract all of them," said Tenten, "And I've got just the thing in mind, assuming Big Bob is ready."
"Big Bob is ready, willing and able," said Jacob Douglas, who happened to be at that area of the fortress, "He arrived last night and has been put together just this morning."
"Then tell the gun crews," said Tenten, "That it is time to 'Drop The Hammer.'"
"What does 'Drop The Hammer' mean?" Naruto asked.
"And who's Big Bob?" Sasuke asked.
"I have a feeling that we're about to find out," said Henry.
Big Bob wasn't much of a 'whom,' he was more of a 'what;' a very large cannon to be exact. One of the special projects that Tenten helped set up for the war was the construction of a breach-loading cannon that fired a specific type of shell. The components for the weapon were manufactured and shipped to the fortress.
"So this is a Big Bob," said Naruto as the gun crews moved the cannon to a firing port in the main fortress.
"Impressive," said Henry, "But what good will it do? Sure it has a larger range, but the enemy mages will surely block any projectile shot at them."
"Not this kind of projectile," said Tenten. The gun crews brought up several shells that had a gray stripe painted on them. As a shell was loaded into the cannon breach, Naruto and the others thought they heard liquid sloshing inside it.
"Everyone's ready," said a runner. Back down at the walls Ino, Hinata, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru waited for their chance to attack the enemy mages.
Just then the fortress shook as a fireball impacted.
"Any time, Tenten," said Henry in an impatient tone.
"Just as soon as I get this thing aimed," said Tenten as she adjusted the gun sights and elevation of the barrel, "Okay, everyone hold your ears!" She attached a lanyard to the trigger, put earplugs in her ears, gripped the lanyard, "Ready! Fire!!" she yanked on the lanyard; the cannon blasted it's shell towards the enemy mages.
One of them heard the shot and cast a shield over the assembled mages. The shell exploded as it hit the shield, but it was a muffled explosion, one with a lot of smoke.
"Direct hit!!" exclaimed Tenten, "Reload!!" Fifteen seconds later the cannon was ready to shoot again, "Fire!!" another shell came crashing onto the shielded mages, producing more smoke.
"I think I know what's going on!!" shouted Sasuke as the cannon reloaded and fired again, "It's a smokescreen cannon!!"
True enough, within minutes the enemy mages were enshrouded by a thick cloud of smoke so heavy that they couldn't see the fortress.
"Now's our chance!" said Neji. With that he, Ino, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru leapt down from the wall and rushed at the enemy mages, who were still blinded by the smokescreen. The smoke, which went right through the magic shield that was meant to block solid projectiles, rendered several of the mages incapacitated as they tried to cough out the black smoke.
Just then one of the mages found himself face to face with Ino. "Hi there!" she said before blasting the mage with a Mind Breaking Jutsu. With his brains effectively scrambles, Ino moved onto the next one.
Kiba and Akamaru had their hands and paws full of eviscerating more of the mages, while Neji and Hinata disabled the others with their Gentile Fist style.
Soon only a handful mages were left alive, those disabled by Neji and Hinata.
"Go on," said Neji to the survivors, "Go back to Manos."
The mages hesitated, as if anticipating a trap. When it was clear that Neji and his group were really going to let them go, they headed back to the enemy camp.
"I don't know if it's a good idea to let them go," said Kiba, "What's stopping them from attacking us again when their powers come back?"
Kiba's question was answered when the surviving mages were cut down by a volley of arrows from the enemy camp.
"Oh that's just plain sick!" exclaimed Ino.
"It's about to get worse!" said Kiba as another volley of arrows came hurtling at them. Fortunately, Neji and Hinata saw the arrows coming and blocked them from Ino, Kiba and Akamaru.
"Nice blocking," commented Ino, "Now can we get back to the wall before they try anything else against us?"
Neji, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru had no arguments, so it wasn't long before they were safely back at the wall.
"Why did they shoot their own mages?" a shocked Elaine asked. "I thought they were on the same side."
"Once again we've underestimated the evil of Manos," said Henry, who was watching the enemy movements through a spyglass. "I'll bet that Manos ordered the deaths of those mages, just to make an example to his minions."
"And I thought Orochimaru was pure evil," said Sakura.
"He was," said Sasuke, "And unpredictable, another thing he and Manos have in common."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Shikamaru. Thought a spyglass he saw another group of mages raise their staffs and started chanting. Soon the sky above the battlefield was choked with dimensional rifts, each spewing out vile creatures the likes of which mortal men aren't meant to see. Within minutes the battlefield was full of hundreds of monsters of various sizes and shapes.
"Now who didn't see this coming," said Shikamaru sarcastically.
"I didn't" said Naruto as the monsters headed towards the walls, "But I'm not gonna just stand around while these things come and get us!" he jumped onto the battlefield and made his hand signs, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!!"
Where there was one Naruto there now was 200. They rushed to meet the oncoming monsters and began slaying them.
"If that knucklehead thinks he's gonna have all the fun," said Sasuke as he drew his sword, "He's got another thing coming!"
"Darn right!" said Sakura as she pulled out a pair of kuni knives. They both leapt onto the battlefield and joined the Naruto multitude in the monster slaying.
"Save some for us!" said Henry as she drew his sword and leapt onto the battlefield.
"The destruction of diabolical creatures would prove the perfect opportunity to improve my abilities!" said Rock Lee eagerly, "Guy-Sensei! I dedicate this battle to you!!" With that he leapt onto the battlefield and began destroying monsters with various Taijutsu techniques.
"Come on you apes!!" exclaimed Chouji to the defenders, "You want to live forever?!"
Several dozen Andalasian defenders followed Chouji onto the battlefield and joined in the fight.
The Naruto clones did most of the work, slaying as many of the monsters as possible. For each clone that was destroyed, at least five monsters died, mostly from kuni and shuriken stabs, and the occasional Rasengan attack.
Sasuke wound up starring down a really ugly one, a tiger-like beast that Henry would later identify as a Manticore. The creature had razor sharp claws and teeth and a spiked tail that could shoot poisoned barbs in multiple directions.
But Sasuke wasn't deterred by this monstrosity. He got behind the creature and stayed in its blind spot, while he charged his sword with Chakra.
"Lighting Blade!" he exclaimed when his sword was fully charged. Running at top speed, he jumped onto the Manticore's back and stabbed it in the heart, breaking the sword and leaving several pieces of chakra-charged steel in the creature's body, which is what finally killed it.
"At this rate," said Sakura as she caught up with Sasuke, "We're going to go through a lot of swords."
"You can say that again," said Sasuke as he looked at the shattered remains of his sword. It's true; normal steel just can't handle such a high level of chakra.
The remaining monster were all destroyed within fifteen minutes. Most of the slain creatures dissolved into goo that quickly evaporated, but quite a few remained to clutter up the battlefield.
Another messenger from the enemy camp approached and asked for another truce to clear the battlefield. Sasuke and Henry agreed, so now our heroes have another hour to rest.
"You're going through swords faster than Naruto downs ramen," Kiba said to Sasuke, while Sasuke unsheathed and sharpened a fresh sword.
"Maybe he should buy them in bulk," said Naruto as he slurped some ramen. With the battle on hold, he used the time to finally locate some instant ramen in the fortress food stores.
"Don't remind me," said Sasuke, "But what else can I do? Normal steel can't handle the amount of chakra a Chidori needs."
"I think I may have a solution to your predicament," Henry said, "I once heard of a special alloy called Escudo. When forged into a weapon, the metal becomes far stronger than steel."
"Keep talking," said Sasuke, clearly intrigued.
"I cannot tell you the number of legends centered around Escudo weapons," said Henry, "For Escudo works well with magic, or in your case, Sasuke, chakra. I'm sure an Escudo sword will be able to tolerate the chakra necessary for your Jutsus.
"And here's the best part; a weapon made from Escudo bonds with its intended wielder. No one will be able to hold it except its rightful owner. At the least, another person just won't be able to pick it up, and at the worst…well…let's just say it wouldn't be a pretty sight."
"Now I know I want one," said Sasuke eagerly.
"Uh, there might be a problem," said Henry, "You see, nobody has been able to make Escudo alloy in over 300 years, we just simply forgot."
"It wasn't simply forgotten," said Elaine, "It was banned."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"An Escudo weapon is nearly indestructible," said Elaine, "And only another Escudo weapon can destroy it. Many terrible wars were fought with Escudo weapons. They caused so much death and destruction that the practice of making Escudo alloy was marked forbidden. While the means for making Escudo weapons still exist, the actual art hasn't been practiced in over three centuries."
"Well what about an Escudo sword that's already been made?" Sakura asked in a hopeful tone.
"It wouldn't be the same," said Elaine, "The only way another person can touch and use someone else's Escudo weapon, is for the owner to willingly give it to another. As I said, the only way to destroy an Escudo weapon is with another. Most have been destroyed, and the few remaining are kept in museums or in their owners' tombs; the owners having died before they could pass their weapons on."
"Still," said Naruto after swallowing, "An Escudo sword would really be cool."
"You got that right," said Sasuke as thoughts of wielding a chakra-charged Escudo sword filled his imagination. An especially pleasing image of such a sword slicing Itachi in half was very prominent in Sasuke's mind.
But then all thoughts of mythical weapons left Sasuke's mind when he heard Jacob shout, "Here they come again!!!"
"If it's not one thing, it's another," grumbled Shikamaru, "And sometimes it's the same thing over and over again."
"Story of our lives," said Shino as they headed out to the walls to meet the new attack.
Throughout the rest of the day the enemy continued to attack, each time suffering massive casualties, yet managing to kill only a few defenders. Every few hours another truce would be called to clear the dead from the battlefield, then the fighting would resume.
The fighting slacked off a bit around sunset. Everyone at the fortress knew what would be coming that night. Despite all the fighting done today, none of the defenders had a chance to do anything about the enemy catapults. Or maybe someone did.
"It's almost dusk," said Sakura as the sun headed for the western horizon.
"Gee, I had no idea," said Ino in a sarcastic tone.
"I'm worried about what the enemy will do tonight," said Sakura, "Elaine hasn't had the time she needed to prepare another shield spell. Unless…"
"Sorry, Sakura," said Elaine, "I haven't had any free time today to get a shield spell ready."
"Well that's just peachy," said Chouji in a disgruntled tone, "Now the enemy can pound us with their catapults."
"I wouldn't worry about that," said Shino in a casual tone, "I believe that the enemy won't be using any catapults any time soon."
"Why?" Henry asked, and then in a suspicious tone, "What did you do?"
"Very little on my part in fact," said Shino as he cleaned his sunglasses, his back to the setting sun, "Earlier today I had a meeting with representatives of several nearby termite colonies. They agreed to pay a visit to the enemy catapults, as well as the siege towers and battering rams that are being held in the rear. It won't be long before the enemy's war machines are rendered null and void."
"Shino, how would you like a medal?" Henry asked, "For 'ingenious strategy above and beyond the call of duty.'"
"I'm just carrying out my role in the mission," said Shino.
The fading light revealed confused movements in the enemy camps, as if they didn't know what to do now that their siege equipment was destroyed.
Just after sunset the defenders saw through spyglasses and night-vision spyglasses that Manos was forcing his soldiers to pull themselves together.
"They're reluctant to fight," said Neji as he watched the enemy camp with his Byakugan, "Only their fear of Manos is making them continue this battle."
"It won't be long before they start deserting," said Sasuke, "Another day or so of banging their heads against the wall, and they'll be running away in droves."
"They've still got plenty more to throw at us," said Henry as another enemy formation approached the fortress.
Throughout the night the enemy launched random skirmishes against the defenses. They would rush at the wall, the cannons, muskets and archers would drive them back, then the enemy would rush forward again a few minutes later. Nobody got much sleep that night
Unknown to anyone on the battlefield, a certain pair of Shinigami stood on the cliffs overlooking the pass. The two Shinigami had achieved a lot this day, each filling several pages of their Death Notes.
"Not a bad haul," said Talon as he read over the eleven pages he wrote in, "And this is only the second day."
"Tomorrow will be more worthwhile," said Malicious as he went over his fifteen pages. Both Shinigami had filled their pages with soldier's names, each marked with a simple cause of death: killed in battle. The exact time and means of death were left up to chance. But if one were to read the names written in the two Death Notes that day, one would find names belonging to enemy soldiers and not one Andalasian or Shinobi.
"Aren't we taking a risk here?" Talon asked, "We've killed a lot today, but only on one side. Wouldn't that look like we're favoring the Andalasians?"
"Not in the slightest," said Malicious, "It's true that Shinigami are forbidden to use the Death Note to save the life of a human by killing another, but we haven't prevented any Andalasians from dieing during this battle. And many more soldiers bearing the crest of Manos have died without any help from us."
"Then why haven't we written the names of the Andalasian soldiers?" Talon asked.
"Their time will come," said Malicious, "Plenty of them will die soon enough without our help."
Talon was about to ask What Malicious was implying, when a sudden gust of wind nearly blew Malicious' Death Note out of his hands and onto the battlefield below, where anyone can pick it up.
Fortunately for him, Malicious reestablished his grip on his Death Note. "That was close," he gasped, "Never again, never again."
"That's right," said Talon, "You did say that one time you dropped your Note by accident. But you never told me what happened."
"It's personnel," said Malicious, "But if you must know, it was an accident that made me drop my Death Note, one moment of negligence and it was gone, lost in one of the many world populated by humans. I spent three weeks traveling from one human realm to another to find my Note. And just when I located it, a human came along and picked it up.
"Fortunately, the human who found my Note was very understanding of my predicament. He promised to give it back to me, once he was done with it."
"And what did he use the Note for?" Talon asked.
"Revenge," said Malicious, "He used the Death Note to destroy those who viciously wronged him, and they deserved everything that happened to them, they were that despicable. And the human who picked up my Note, his writings were very elaborate, very imaginative. It was then that I felt that what Riku said was right; humans are interesting creatures."
"What happened to the human who found your Note?" Talon asked.
"He gave the Note back to me once his revenge was complete. I had already explained that, once he gave up ownership of the Death Note, he would also lose all memory associated with it as well. His only concern was that will he would forget his revenge.
"I assured him that, while his memories of the Note would be gone, his sense of satisfaction, his peace of mind, that would remain. With a sigh of content, he returned the Death Note to me, and I returned to the Shinigami world."
"You are a complicated Shinigami," said Talon, "You think too much."
"And you ask too many questions," said Malicious, "Have another apple."
"Groovy!" said Talon as Malicious handed him an apple.
By dawn several thousand more of the enemy lay dead. Once again a messenger from Manos approached the fortress and asked for a truce to clear the battlefield. Within another hour the battle resumed again with what was now the usual format; the enemy would try to scale the walls, the cannons would blast holes in their ranks, while several Shinobi and Andalasian defenders would launch a counterattack. The enemy would be driven back, regroup and attack again. When the battlefield became so thick with slain soldiers, the enemy would call a truce to clear the dead.
It was around midmorning that things began to look up for the defenders. Currently the enemy was attacking, while Naruto and several others were counter-attacking. While taking a turn supervising the gun crews on the second wall, Sasuke happened to look out at the enemy camp, and with his Sharingan, saw several soldiers heading west, away from the battlefield.
"There they go," said Sasuke as he pointed out the enemy deserters to Henry, "The first of many who will see the truth of Manos' tyranny and madness."
"I wonder how far they'll get?" Henry asked.
Not very far, for Manos sent several riders after the deserters and had them executed immediately. Yet a small handful got away.
"For every five they execute," said Neji, "They'll be another that manages to escape, and at least another five who are willing to try and run."
"If that's the case," said Henry, "Then the battle may be finished before the rest of the army gets here." Unfortunately the fighting was nowhere over, for a fresh wave of enemy soldier had arrived on the field and joined with their comrades in the mêlée.
Temari meanwhile was having a ball out on the battlefield. With her oversized fan she blasted the enemy soldiers to their deaths. Sometimes she'd channel some chakra into her fan strikes, "Wind Style: Sonic Tornado!" creating a whirlwind that would send several enemy troops into the stratosphere.
But then one particularly tall and ugly soldier came charging at Temari with an enormous axe. She folded up her fan and used it's metal sides to block the axe from cutting her in half.
"You're a pretty one," said the soldier, "I think I'll have some fun with you before sending you to hell."
"Gee," said Temari as she strained to hold the axe back, "I thought we were already having fun." She pushed harder, forcing the soldier back.
Temari unfolded her fan and blasted the soldier at point blank range. But he withstood the blast.
"How cute," said the soldier. He then swung his axe, knocking the fan out of Temari's hands. She jumped back to avoid a follow-up axe swing and drew a pair of kuni knives.
"Little girls shouldn't play with knives," said the soldier, "You need a lesson on how to treat real men, like me."
"Come and get me, you pervert!!" spat Temari as she threw the knives at the soldier. Both blades found their mark in the soldier's chest, but he was so large and so thick, the knives didn't do as much damage as Temari wanted.
Fortunately Temari had more than a few tricks up her sleeves. Just as the soldier raised his axe, Temari aimed and fired a bolt from a concealed crossbow at the soldier's neck. The bolt hit the soldier at the base of the neck, but missed the vital blood vessels.
"You're really starting to annoy me, little girl!" said the soldier as he pulled the bolt from his neck, "I'm gonna make you scream so loudly before you die."
"I think not," Temari said calmly as she turned around to retrieve her dropped fan.
"Don't you turn your back on me!!" exclaimed the soldier, "I want to see the look on your face as I violate you till your heart bleeds!"
"You're already dead," Temari said in a cold, as-a-matter-of-fact tone.
The soldier grunted in confusion, before falling flat on his face, stone dead.
Temari picked up her fan and looked around for another group of enemy troops to slay. She saw that the attack was winding down, the remaining enemy soldiers falling back to their camp.
She then saw Shikamaru looking at her. "What?" Temari asked.
"A poisoned crossbow bolt," said Shikamaru, "An effective backup weapon, but potentially dangerous. One scratch and you're also dead."
"It's worth the risk," said Temari as she loaded another bolt into her crossbow, then pushed her sleeve back down, "My brother Kankuro can attest to that."
"Well I think it suits you," said Shikamaru as they both headed back to the wall. The enemy had withdrawn for the moment to regroup, so our heroes had a few minutes to regroup themselves and breathe easy.
"Me too," said Temari, "It just goes to show you that beautiful things can be deadly," without warning she slapped Shikamaru across the face, not too hard, but hard enough to really give him a shock to the system, "And don't you forget it."
"You okay man?" Chouji asked Shikamaru as they both watched Temari head back onto the wall.
"Wonderful girl," said Shikamaru as he felt where Temari slapped him, "Either I'm gonna kill her, or I'm starting to like her."
Another truce was called sometime after midmorning. But time something was different. For the past several hours Garra stood at the second wall feeling more agitated than normal.
"I sense something," he said, "A disturbance in the essence of the earth. I don't know what it is, or where it is happening, but something is happening, something wrong."
Many of the other Sand Shinobi also felt something wrong was going on in the ground, as well as some of the Andalasian defenders, those who were more attuned to nature that is. But nobody could tell what was going on.
"It's Manos," said Elaine as she began drawing various symbols on the wall with a piece of chalk, "He's cast a jamming spell so we can't detect whatever he's doing."
"Can you stop the jamming spell?" Sakura asked.
"I can try," said Elaine as she continued to draw with the chalk. Finally she finished, having completed a complex array of symbols that Sakura couldn't make heads or tails of.
Elaine then began chanting, at the same time the chalk symbols began glowing bright blue. They flashed three times, then shone brightly for several seconds before vanishing.
"It's done," Elaine said before she lost her balance.
"Elaine!" said Henry as he caught her before she fell off the wall.
"I'm alright, Henry," said Elaine in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "I'm just tired, that's all."
"It must have been a really powerful jamming spell that she had to break through," said Sasuke, "To have exhausted herself."
"No!!" exclaimed Garra, his eyes wide in shock, "How!? How could they have sneaked up on us like this!? I should have sensed it long before they got anywhere close!!"
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.
Just then a low rumbling came from the first wall, which began to shake violently, like an earthquake was going on in that area.
"The bastards!!" exclaimed Henry, "They sent in sappers! Everyone off the first wall!! Now!!"
His warning came too late, for large portions of the first wall began collapsing inward, as if the ground had opened up. Several Andalasian defenders were on the collapsed sections; many were killed with the stonework fell, while many more were trapped in the rubble.
Before the dust could settle, a loud commotion erupted from the other side of the pass as fresh enemy soldiers charged at the ruined wall.
The end of chapter 17.
Naruto: Oh crap! Oh crap!! Oh Crap!!!
Sakura: Stop saying that and do something!
Naruto: Well what should I be doing? The fortress is crawling with enemy soldiers! Seriously, we're doomed!!
Sasuke: For Kami's sake, Naruto! You're a Shinobi! Pull yourself together!!
Temari: Well at least I finally got some screen time.
Shikamaru: You really need to get your priorities straight.
Garra: Next chapter, 'To The Death.'
Kankuro: Reviewers will be privy to super-secret spoilers.