Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either the story or the character) or any of its component parts or associated bits of intellectual property. I do think it's pretty cool, and enjoy examining it through the looking glass of "What If". The originator, Masashi Kishimoto, is a creative guy and deserves credit for his work.
"This way," Ichikawa said, gesturing and then walking with Hiashi. They were moving through tunnels that cut beneath the hills. It made sense that the Hidden Valley Village would be here, nestled among the hill country in the southern part of the Land of Rivers. It was near the more valuable and populous coastal lands and the port city that served as the nation's capital, but still close enough to the northern half of the country that travel times wouldn't be too long. The hills and mountains themselves were too steep to be hospitable in the interior, but the outskirts were home to herds of livestock that grazed and wandered, so the area wasn't so completely abandoned that it appeared suspicious. The position was defensible; the mountains themselves likely had small passes and paths that locals would know, but Hiashi suspected they wouldn't be well-suited to moving a full invasion force, certainly not without inside help.
The location of the Hidden Valley Village had been kept secret since its founding. While most of the other powers on the continent would inevitably find out in time, it was new enough that ruthless efforts to preserve the secret had paid off so far. In that regard, being less prominent than the Five Great Villages was actually an advantage; everyone knew where they were by now, and larger populations meant that moving them was completely out of the question. In contrast, Leaf Intelligence knew that some of the minor clans and villages moved their headquarters periodically. Some did it at scheduled intervals, while others very carefully avoided developing a pattern.
Ichikawa took them through the tunnels, and Hiashi noted that they were marked with seals designed to block chakra; it prevented him and his kinsmen from seeing through the rock, though he suspected the locals had no way to be sure of that. It would also stop chakra sensors and most other methods of detection, so that people using the tunnels wouldn't give away their location unless they were actually seen.
Hiashi thought quickly as he followed his guide, but ended up deciding to do nothing, for now. The collective scent of his troops would be too much to wash away quickly, and it should give Kakashi's people enough of a trail to find the secret tunnels.
When they emerged on the other side, however, he did take note of the guard positions and defensive measures. It looked like the entrance was rigged to collapse at a moment's notice, and the same seals that blocked Hyuuga eyes and chakra sensing should prevent anyone from moving into the earth that formed the tunnels from inside. It might be possible to go around them entirely, but that sort of thing could only allow a few scouts to slip through, not an entire attack force. Any attempt to move an entire attack force through the earth would be guaranteed to warn the defenders.
Hiashi saw explosive notes, needles, knives, collapsing earth traps, what looked like an earth spike trap, some kind of floor trap meant to turn the ground into quicksand and then change it back, and other exotic defensive measures. The array of techniques on display was impressive. For a minor village created so recently and still building, it was almost a suspicious variety, in fact.
Ichikawa and Hiashi were met by a young messenger, clearly a genin sent on a simple errand. The boy told them that Yamamoto Kiyoshi was awaiting Hiashi and his officers at their convenience, and would meet with them immediately or wait until they had a chance to rest.
Hiashi opted to meet with the man immediately, bringing Asuma, Chouza, and two others with him. Ichikawa led the five away, while the boy promised to show the troops to the barracks that had been arranged for them.
They emerged from the cave the tunnel had led into, and Hiashi couldn't help being a bit impressed. They were walking down a slope that descended from the secret tunnel to the floor of the Hidden Valley, and it was a beautiful view. The valley stretched out ahead of them, encircled by mountains and hills, and the mountain springs fed into a lake in its center. The village itself was built around the lake. As Hiashi watched, some genin were training by running across the water in the lake's shallows, supervised by a few teachers. One of them began to kick water at his fellows, only to run away laughing across the lake while the teacher berated him. His disobedience was cut short when the water rose up under him and dumped him at the teacher's feet, soaked and spluttering.
The buildings had sharply sloped roofs, with grooves that seemed designed to funnel rainwater into small channels. The lake itself was surrounded by such channels, many of which obviously irrigated neatly laid-out gardens.
Hiashi's eyes allowed him to see at least two other tunnel entrances, both blocked up at the moment. That made sense; the Hidden Valley ninjas must change which tunnels they used to enter and exit the valley according to some system that minimized the risk of detection. He made a mental note to account for the security measure, but that would have to wait.
The village had a road of smooth, packed earth. It was neatly done, obviously the work of either one skilled and powerful earth user or a few working together, or perhaps a lot of determined manual laborers. The roads weren't as wide as those of the Leaf Village, but that made sense; the Leaf was a large, bustling place that needed roads able to accommodate large wagons to support all the trade that passed through. The Hidden Valley's secrecy made it impossible for it to serve as a trade hub, which was likely inconvenient in a variety of ways, but it also meant that the roads didn't need to be so large. There was very little space for horses or other animals, as well, though Hiashi saw a few, mostly smaller ones that served as both pets and food.
Hiashi took note of everything he could see, trying to memorize as much of the village's layout as possible. He knew that his subordinates would be doing the same. Ichikawa, apparently mindful of their fatigue after they'd set a hard pace getting here, took them at the equivalent of a brisk jog without sprinting, which didn't allow too much focus on the village without giving themselves away.
Soon enough they came to the home reserved for the village's leader. As in the Leaf Village, the leader's home and main administrative building were one and the same, and when Ichikawa led them in the front door they saw people hard at work studying reports, correlating information, and conferring with each other. Hyuuga Hiashi could see that most of the reports appeared to concern the Sand and Sound villages, and they looked like they were genuine, from what he could tell. He tried to spot the most recent and digest the main ideas. One report referenced casualties taken in a border skirmish to the southwest, where an aggressive probe by Sand forces had turned into a real attack. The Hidden Valley had lost control of two towns to the invaders, and the local detachment commander had died in the fighting over the second town. His second-in-command had withdrawn from the battle, ceding it to the enemy.
Another report said that Sound ninjas were raiding and running away in the country's northern quadrant, and speculated that they might be passing through the fringes of Rain territory to get there, possibly with the Rain Village's clandestine approval.
Taking them together, the reports Hiashi glimpsed painted a coherent picture of the conflict. That picture disagreed with his own information and briefings prior to leaving home, however. The fact that the Hidden Valley ninjas were allowing him to see it, of course, could mean that they trusted their Leaf allies, or that it was calculated to produce a specific effect on him.
Ichikawa led them up two flights of stairs to Yamamoto Kiyoshi. The man's clothes and manner suggested he was trying to look older than he actually was. When they entered he was sitting at a large rectangular table, about as long as Hiashi was tall, that was engraved with a map of the Land of Rivers. With him were a few other ninjas, clearly experienced. One was a chuunin, a woman with a girlish build and hard eyes. As they walked in Kiyoshi was ordering her to set out with a few squads to reinforce the southwest; she gave a quick nod and walked past them, hurrying out.
The room itself was a simple, circular chamber with a high ceiling that split in the middle and slanted sharply in either direction. The floor rose up into stepped benches that could seat a large number of people if necessary. The other two men, standing around the table with Kiyoshi, were obviously jounin. One was elderly, probably more of an advisor than a fighter at his age, though Hiashi saw that he remained dressed for combat. The other was about the same age as Kiyoshi.
Thinking back, it occurred to him that the Hidden Valley Village seemed to be on the young side, as a whole. That made sense, given how recently it had arisen. While some veterans had been drawn in when it was founded, the majority of the Hidden Valley's fighters were younger than Hiashi himself, and he wasn't that old for a clan leader.
Kiyoshi looked up from the table. "It is good to see our Leaf allies," he said. He walked around the table to meet them, bowing his head politely. Hiashi returned the gesture a bit more deeply, showing his respect; it wouldn't do to insult the man in his own home, in front of his subordinates. While Hiashi knew that Kiyoshi was almost certainly planning to betray him, he had excellent self-control. It was one reason he'd been chosen to lead this force.
"The Leaf Village remembers its friends and enemies," Hiashi answered, "and we uphold the obligations of our alliances and treaties. The Hokage asked me to tell you that she regrets being unable to send more assistance, but as you know we have our own defensive obligations as well. The treachery of the Sand and Sound ninjas has surprised us all, but together we will punish them as they deserve."
…
Kakashi took a deep breath, then gave the signal to advance.
His force had just crossed the border the previous day, trying to avoid letting Hiashi get too far ahead without tipping the Hidden Valley ninjas off. It had been difficult. While the Leaf had plenty of skilled scouts and stealthy fighters, the Hidden Valley ninjas had the advantage of knowing the terrain, and their patrols – while not densely deployed – were fairly skilled. Kakashi himself had been forced to take charge of the forward scouts, mainly because he'd chosen to assign so many of his observers to Hiashi's group, and it had left a bit of a gap in the forces under his direct command.
It seemed to have worked, though, at least for now. The second force, with Kakashi in the lead, picked up the scent trail left by the passage of their allies and followed it a bit south and further west, to the interior of the country. As the hills and mountains drew closer, their general destination became increasingly apparent. Kakashi's summoned dogs soon went ahead, keeping a low profile as they followed the smell, which led to what looked like a blank wall. As a user of earth techniques himself, Kakashi took a look and decided it was most likely a sealed tunnel.
That presented a problem, but he couldn't be sure how much of one yet. Starting there, a few carefully-chosen individuals fanned out, looking for similar entrances in the hills and mountainsides. They soon returned with a number of possible locations, but there were too many for even a major village to defend, so Kakashi concluded that most had to be fakes. It made sense; even the false entrances to the valley, which Kakashi assumed lay beyond, must be booby-trapped and designed to alert the defenders if anyone tried to enter. The only way to bypass the security would be to fly, so anyone trying to sneak into the hidden village would likely give away their position and suffer losses trying to find the true entrances and deactivate their traps. Moving through the earth beneath the village would probably be suicidal; the Leaf certainly couldn't be entered safely that way, not even by its own personnel.
It would have to be up to Hiashi's people, Kakashi concluded. The only good news was that they'd anticipated some obstacle of this sort, although they'd been unable to predict the specifics. Kakashi set his watchers to keep an eye on the tunnel entrances and the surrounding area, and then he began to wait for Hiashi to make contact. Sending a force into the village with no way out was a major risk, but the Leaf's people were skilled, and Kakashi was confident they wouldn't let him down.
He reminded himself that he was confident in his comrades, but he couldn't help feeling nervous. This was a strategic gamble, and there was only one way to see how things would play out.
…
Hiashi and his top subordinates met with Kiyoshi and his advisers for a few hours, discussing the situation and making plans for the next day, while the other Leaf ninjas set up in their barracks. Kiyoshi was a polite and gracious host, and even invited the Leaf force's leaders to dine with him. The food was surprisingly good, though Hiashi found himself paranoid about poison the entire time. He wasn't truly frightened, but he'd had to deal with poisoning attempts before, and it was never pleasant. Kiyoshi did seem the type; capable, but ultimately cowardly, he would prefer to avoid fighting his opponents at all if possible.
It was a mindset Hiashi could appreciate, but didn't make things any easier. Hiashi much preferred fighting bold idiots. They could usually be trusted to overreach and sabotage themselves.
For now, though, they seemed safe enough. The leader of Hiashi's few medics and support personnel, Hyuuga Nobuyuki, was a skilled and experienced man. If there had been poison, Hiashi trusted that he would detect it and act accordingly.
So he ate without fear, even allowing himself to enjoy the fish and rice that Kiyoshi served them. At the table, Asuma and Chouza were carrying most of the conversation, along with Kiyoshi's advisors, though Hiashi contributed enough to avoid rudeness. He knew that his clan had a reputation for reserve and even standoffishness, at times, so saying little would not seem strange.
The fifth Leaf ninja at the table, Aburame Shigeo, was even quieter than Hiashi. Given his clan's reputation, however, no one thought that odd.
Eventually the meal ended, and a subordinate showed the guests to their barracks, where most of the Leaf ninjas were already preparing for bed. Hiashi and his officers remained watchful, trying to predict exactly how they might be attacked without giving his vigilance away.
An hour later, Hiashi gave the signal. Asuma and two others stepped outside, ostensibly to smoke as they leaned against the barracks' wall. They were meant to distract the guards for just a heartbeat, but the Hidden Valley's watchers remained vigilant.
Asuma and his smoking buddies finished their cigarettes and were about to head back inside when two Inuzuka clan members came out, each accompanied by a dog. They nodded respectfully to Asuma, acknowledged the others with him, and then took their dogs on a quick walk around the building, allowing the animals to relieve themselves.
It worked; for just a second, a few too many of the watchers were focused on the dogs and their masters. In the brief opening the mundane distraction provided, one man and one woman slipped out of the barracks. The man, Yamanaka Eiichi, had little talent for mind-based ninjutsu, but was a good chakra sensor and excellent at concealing his presence. His partner, Nara Miho, had some skill as a medic, but was far more successful as an assassin, with a similar gift for stealth. In Hiashi's entire force, they were probably the two best silent killers, though they were nowhere near the strongest fighters.
Eiichi guided the pair as they took their time, slowly getting into position. While the Hidden Valley ninjas were watching their allies carefully, most of the watchers were obvious. It took the two about a half hour to find the non-obvious watchers, including one who was sitting in a room that dampened all chakra. It prevented the man from perceiving any techniques the Leaf ninjas might use, but allowed him to observe them in a purely visual sense without being seen in turn by Hyuuga eyes. The room's underground entrance also meant that there was no obvious scent trail leading to him. Eiichi and Miho only found him because, as assassins, they were used to studying areas and spotting relevant lines-of-sight.
It took another fifteen minutes to find the hidden entrance to the observation post without being detected. Once they found it, Miho silently picked the lock and they entered, killing the man before he could raise an alarm. The room's chakra-blocking seals meant that Miho was able to use one of her techniques – basically a cruder, longer version of a medic's chakra scalpel, unsuited for careful surgery but excellent at causing interior damage – without alerting other watchers. She cut the man's spinal cord at the neck, paralyzing him completely, then finished him with a similar strike to the brain, and the pair exited the observation post.
Normally their task would have taken hours, but circumstances weren't normal. Instead of having to sneak into the village, the pair was already inside. Instead of having to find all of the observers themselves, they began their mission already knowing where most of their targets were located, thanks to their comrades. Once they eliminated the first watcher, however, they had to move quickly. A shift change or scheduled check-in would reveal the security gaps immediately. The pair skirted the perimeter around the Leaf barracks and struck down three more guards with similar efficiency, then signaled their commanders that they'd finished their first job.
Miho and Eiichi had much more to do, but now they were joined by others. Aburame Shigeo and three more Leaf ninjas came with him, splitting into pairs, and the six stealth specialists conferred briefly, dividing their work, then moved onto their next targets.
Now that some of the watchers were dead, it was safe for those within the barracks to begin making preparations, as long as they were quiet and remained indoors. The "sleeping" Leaf ninjas rose and armed themselves for combat, checking knives, swords, shuriken, explosive notes, and other equipment. Hiashi donned his light armor, but carried little beyond the basic gear all genin learned to use until a branch family member brought him his bow and a quiver of arrows. The Hyuuga clan had been training its fighters in archery for more years than anyone in living memory could recount. A previous clan head, before the time of the Leaf Village's founding, had made it a requirement when he realized that his relatives depended too much on their eyes and close-combat skills, noticing that most Hyuuga who fell in battle did so while trying to get close to the enemy in the first place.
It was a chapter of the clan's history that Hiashi found relevant at the moment. His ancestor had seen a weakness and acted to change it quickly, and the decision had helped the clan ascend to its current exalted position. Similarly, the Leaf Village had come to be seen as soft, and Orochimaru's treachery would reinforce the perception that it was weak. Now, Tsunade's decision to launch a crushing preemptive blow against the Hidden Valley would likely undo much of that perception, if it was successful.
He quickly banished thoughts of the future from his mind, returning to the matter at hand. He had a battle to win and commands to give.
Aburame Shigeo soon returned.
"Hiashi-sama," he said, "I report that we have been successful thus far. Most of the watchers are already dead, and the other two pairs are finishing up the last of them. At your command, I will take my unit to open a tunnel entrance and signal Commander Kakashi."
Hiashi quickly took stock of his forces. "Are there signs of enemy mobilization yet?" he asked.
"Not directly," Shigeo replied. "However, I suspect that they are massing further away from our quarters. Miho, Eiichi, and I noticed that a few of the Hidden Valley's barracks appear to be exceptionally quiet and are most likely unoccupied, suggesting troops are preparing already."
"Very well," Hiashi said. "Proceed as planned. Inform Kakashi that we are moving a bit ahead of the projected schedule, but otherwise there have been no surprises yet."
Shigeo nodded obedience and gestured to his squads to follow, vanishing quickly.
While not as stealthy as Miho and Eiichi, those following the man were quieter and quicker than most ninjas, with two exceptions. They moved around the fringes of the valley, toward the tunnel they'd entered through. It was sealed, as expected, and the group split into halves, each a squad of four trailed by a pair on rearguard duty, looking for anyone who might spot those ahead of them and raise an alarm.
They began a systematic search to locate nearby tunnel entrances and determine their guard complements. It wasn't difficult; the tunnels weren't hidden on this side, and there were no fake entrances to deceive them. When they finished exploring, they quickly regrouped.
Of the twelve Leaf ninjas, including Shigeo himself, most were reconnaissance specialists or assassins, but there were two from a different background, brought along just in case they were needed and re-assigned to Shigeo's unit after Hiashi got a good look at the tunnels on the way into the Hidden Valley Village.
"Can you open it?" Shigeo asked them.
The two glanced at each other. Wada Junpei and Wada Chizuru were a husband-and-wife team of sorts, sealing and technique specialists who typically remained in their home village rather than going on any missions. They had been fighters, and retained the basic skills, but had not seen violence in some time. At the moment, they were a bit more nervous than their comrades.
"We need a closer look," Junpei said. "You'll have to kill the guards at one of the tunnels. Without seeing the plugs up close, I can't even tell you."
"Very well," Shigeo said. "We'll do this one."
He had the two specialists stay with a squad to guard them, then took his other five people to the tunnel they'd walked through to enter the valley hours ago. There were two guards at each entrance, meant to sound the alarm and trigger the traps in the tunnels if an enemy somehow found a way to open them from the outside. It was supposed to be impossible to do so, but no self-respecting ninja village would depend on something like that, so the theoretically impassable doors remained guarded.
Shigeo's group split again, into three pairs. One pair hung back, to watch and react, while the others each targeted one of the tunnel guards. Shigeo's partner climbed the rock wall the tunnel entrance was set into, blending into it with a simple disguise technique, and then crawled over the wall until he was directly above their target. Shigeo's insects struck, a few landing on the heads of the two guards and quickly crawling onto their faces and into their eyes. The blink reflex was difficult to suppress at the best of times, and blinking was something the pair couldn't afford to do. Shigeo's partner dropped from above and killed his guard before the man could begin to react. The other started to sink into the earth as soon as he felt the first bug land on him, but the pair tasked with his execution were quick enough and quiet enough, stalling his technique and killing him before he could escape and warn anyone.
Shigeo called the rest of his people forward. Chizuru and Junpei took a minute to examine the tunnel's sealed entrance before turning to Shigeo.
"We can definitely open it," Chizuru reported unhappily. "The sealing techniques they use aren't that complex. But they are secure. If you want us to open them and guarantee we won't set off an alarm, then we'll need a minimum of two hours."
Shigeo looked at her husband, but Junpei simply nodded agreement. The leader thought for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action.
"Could the rest of us open the tunnels?" Shigeo asked. "You said it's a simple process. How simple?"
"From this end, very simple," Junpei said. "Anyone with good chakra control should be able to do it. Probably an intentional design feature in case of emergency evacuation, I think. But doing that will warn the enemy that someone is either trying to get out or trying to get in."
"The good news is that I think we can damage the mechanism so they won't be able to close it again quickly," Chizuru said. "I think we can disable most of the traps, as well. They're designed to be easily operated by only the two guards, but that makes most of them simple to deactivate."
Shigeo nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. Tell us all what we need to know to open the tunnels and deactivate the traps. Two of us will escort you out; if something goes wrong, you'll be needed out there more than in here, I think. You'll open this tunnel after giving us some time to get to the adjacent ones. We'll try to open them all at once to confuse the enemy, and suggest to Hiashi-sama that he move at the same time."
Shigeo looked back at the village in the valley below. It had been a few minutes since they left the barracks, and they were pushing their luck. Taking too much longer would probably guarantee that the enemy would realize the Leaf ninjas were moving first, so acting decisively was the right call.
He dispatched one man as a messenger to Hiashi, assigned two to guard the specialists, and then gave each of the rest a target. They'd move in three pairs, except for Shigeo himself. Altogether, they should be able to open five of the tunnels, including the one Chizuru and Junpei would use to leave.
They split up, moving to their assigned targets, leaving each other behind.
…
When the messenger reached Hiashi, he was on the verge of beginning his attack in earnest anyway. His scouts had reported that the Hidden Valley force meant to kill him and his men in their sleep was about to move, and Hiashi had no intention of letting them take initiative.
At this point, all of the guards watching the Leaf barracks itself were dead, mostly due to Miho and Eiichi, who were certainly earning their pay on this mission. The two buildings were nearly empty, and the Leaf ninjas were already taking positions to ambush those coming for them. Hiashi sent the messenger back to tell Shigeo that the battle would begin in earnest any moment, and to assist the man he sent two more squads along.
He and others, many of them Hyuuga clan members, readied their bows. Sarutobi and Shimura men and women were preparing fire techniques and other ranged attacks under Asuma's direction, while Chouza was ready to play the most dangerous part, leading his group as they sought to bait the enemy into coming after them. Hyuuga Nobuyuki and his small group of medics were readying an aid station, tucked into a small area that would hopefully remain out of the way and unnoticed, with a few guards watching over them.
The men were confident, but their tension was palpable.
Hiashi gave a few final orders, his people adjusted their ambush positions, and then they waited.
…
The messenger arrived just when Shigeo was thinking about attacking the guards he was targeting, with eight more men as reinforcements. Shigeo quickly gave them their orders, keeping his original teammate and two more men with him and sending the rest to reinforce the other pairs he'd deployed. Now, instead of three pairs and one loner, he had four squads at his disposal. He gave the reinforcements time to reach their target tunnels and link up with their comrades, then struck. His newly-formed squad was successful, killing the two guards in silence, and Shigeo decided to move to the next tunnel. Better to eliminate a few more guards; they weren't very watchful, so far, so the risk seemed minimal.
He was just setting up his next strike when there was a loud noise. The sound alerted his targets that something was amiss, but it also drew their attention for a handful of seconds; he attacked immediately, knowing that the noise was almost certainly bad news for one of his teams. Fortunately, it hadn't been loud enough to raise the alarm on its own.
The alarm sounded seconds later, as Shigeo plunged his knife into the first guard's chest and his teammates killed the second. Had he been a different sort of man, Shigeo would have cursed aloud. Being an Aburame, he did it in the privacy of his mind, instead. Then he began to give orders to salvage the situation.
…
While the reinforcements Hiashi had sent were welcome, and the Hidden Valley's tunnel guards were lazy – an unfortunate side-effect of the fact that the best and most disciplined fighters were mostly off preparing to ambush Hiashi's "sleeping" forces – they weren't completely incompetent. Given enough opportunities, one of them was bound to notice something.
Two guards, more vigilant than their peers, were from a minor but proud clan, the Suzuki. The Suzuki clan's loyalty had always proven invaluable to Yamamoto Kiyoshi. He'd been careful not to favor them too much or too openly, but it was known to all that he was grateful for their aid in securing his position, and they had been welcomed into the Hidden Valley Village as one of its foremost groups.
Despite their loyal service, however, the Suzuki clan had neglected to inform Kiyoshi that they possessed a very minor bloodline ability. It was subtle, and not a great advantage most of the time, which was one reason it hadn't been discovered by outsiders and become common knowledge. But when four Leaf ninjas prepared to ambush two members of the Suzuki clan, the two guards were able to hear their would-be ambushers creeping quietly up on them, because all members of the clan possessed unusually sensitive ears.
The four Leaf ninjas attacked. The two Suzuki fighters triggered three of the traps designed and set to help defend the tunnel.
The first blinded all six fighters, but the two guards had closed their eyes in anticipation. The second trap opened a gaping pit in the earth, with sharp spikes of rock jutting out from the sides and ground. A quick kick knocked one Leaf attacker in; a second followed soon after when he dodged to one side to evade a few shuriken. He would have landed on solid ground and then moved immediately, but in his shock at being blinded he didn't hear the pit opening, and so he fell to a quick but painful death.
The two Suzuki fighters moved in tandem, their hands executing seals together, and then they shouted as they completed their techniques simultaneously. The two Leaf ninjas, still unable to see, couldn't do much besides dodge wildly. One executed a quick series of replacements, swapping his position with several object in succession, and then leapt up to cling to the cliff wall and melded into the earth.
The second tried to dodge long enough to get his bearings, but was torn apart by scything, swirling wind and sharpened earth spikes protruding from the ground.
With everyone's vision returning, the last Leaf ninja faced two-to-one odds. He ran to regroup with his fellows.
It was already too late to kill the guards silently. The third trap they'd triggered sounded the alarm throughout the entire Hidden Valley Village, warning everyone that the fighting had started.
The two Suzuki clan guards reacted quickly enough, but they didn't pursue the Leaf ninja or stay to guard their assigned tunnel. One pulled out a small paper – nearly indistinguishable from a standard explosive note to the eyes – and triggered it. It burned, again like an explosive note, but didn't explode.
The pair ran around the perimeter of the village. They had been assigned to guard the north; now they travelled to the south, where other tunnels were hopefully undiscovered and safe from the Leaf invaders.
…
When the alarm went off, Hiashi and his people weren't shocked; the discovery of Shigeo's team had always been a possibility. Fortunately, it had taken time. As the noise rang out and civilians began to awaken, some of the quicker-witted or panicked ones running out of their homes and toward what they perceived as (or hoped was) safety, the force meant to ambush the sleeping Leaf ninjas had just come into range.
"Now!" Hiashi commanded, raising his bow and drawing it back, an arrow already nocked. The Hyuuga bowmen – and a few from other families – were grouped together, and they'd been waiting for the order. They loosed their arrows as one, and the deadly rain fell upon the enemy.
Some of the arrows were enhanced with wind chakra, to cut through their targets; others had explosive notes attached, and a few archers just relied on superior marksmanship. With his clan's legendary eyes, Hiashi had a very good idea of how effective the strike was. That first savage volley sent a few dozen men to the ground, most with grievous wounds, perhaps half of them fatal. The explosive notes went off a second later.
Without waiting for further orders, the Leaf archers drew more arrows and began to loose them at their own personal speeds. The surprised Valley ninjas reacted badly, some breaking and running away in panic, while others tried to maneuver or defend their position. The lack of coordination cost them more lives, and Hiashi's best archers already knew to target anyone who started organizing the chaos.
When a group of Valley ninjas tried to get behind the archers, using back alleys to evade their arrows, they ran into Asuma's men. An entire street was blanketed in flame, and for a few seconds the noise was so loud the screaming victims were inaudible.
A few men, including Kiyoshi's aged advisor, started to regroup effectively. A young woman had created a wind shield to deflect enemy arrows, and she was holding it despite sweating profusely. Behind the barrier, the old man was shouting and signaling. At his command, a few men grouped together nearby and sent a torrent of water washing away the flames Asuma's group had created. Others quickly began forming squads, and charged in separate directions. It was an impressive display of command and battlefield discipline.
One small squad, acting on their own initiative, jumped up to the rooftop Hiashi stood on to eliminate his archers.
Apparently, they'd forgotten about the Hyuuga clan's bloodline limit.
As they jumped, Hiashi calmly dropped into the stance of his clan's Gentle Fist style, arms out, palms open, and calculated where they would land. Two men moved to support him while the rest of the archers kept firing.
As the first man came over the lip of the roof, Hiashi grabbed his wrist and yanked, pulling him forward, and then let go. He left the man to his subordinates.
The other three came up together, failing to realize that they were discovered and their leader already about to die. Hiashi struck the first with two blows to the forehead, destroying his brain, then turned to the left and struck at the second.
The second man didn't try to dodge, but instead stabbed at Hiashi's hand with his knife. Hiashi focused his chakra and the man's knife bounced, then he followed through to strike the man's chest. The Valley ninja dodged, avoiding a deathblow to the heart, but Hiashi's chakra-infused strike still collapsed his lung. The clan head ducked, spinning to his left to face the third opponent, whose kick had just gone over his head, and kicked the second man's knife-wielding hand so that he nearly stabbed himself. He managed to stop doing so, then his eyes widened in shock as he felt something forcing his hand to continue the motion and stab his own heart.
Hiashi, knowing that the Nara clan member supporting him had seized the other enemy, focused on the last, in front of him. He struck out twice, once at the head and once at the chest, but this one had apparently remembered her briefings on the Hyuuga clan and recognized what she was up against. She dodged the first strike, feeling her forehead protector fall off as Hiashi's attack cut the cloth that held it on, and parried the second with an arm, careful to only strike Hiashi's arm and not his hand. When she tried to kick at his knee his palm dropped toward her own leg, and she drew it back quickly. His eyes let him observe her muscles, and Hiashi could see her preparing to spring backward off the roof, so he stepped forward, arm flashing toward her chest again.
Unable to dodge, she tried for another parry, only for her eyes to widen in shock when Hiashi expelled chakra from his arm to deflect hers. She couldn't react in time, and his strike hit her heart. She tasted blood in her mouth for a moment as she fell off the roof, and then she knew nothing.
Hiashi returned his full attention to the larger battle. In the moments the brief engagement had consumed, Asuma had gathered most of his people onto another nearby roof. Enemy ninjas began to stream into the two building Hiashi and Asuma stood on, beginning techniques to attack them from below, but the Leaf ninjas were waiting for this. At Hiashi's and Asuma's nearly simultaneous order they abandoned their initial positions, falling back toward the less-fortified part of the village where their barracks was, and several of the ninjas assigned to the task triggered the explosive notes that had been planted on the roofs.
Two of Asuma's group were too slow to disengage. One got caught in the explosion, while the second leapt clear of the roof but was behind his comrades. The look on his face clearly showed that he knew he wouldn't catch up to the others before the enemy got him, but then Asuma turned and blew out a cloud of ash, obscuring his group's retreat.
Hiashi could see the man turn and redouble his speed; he made it back to the group, and Hiashi and Asuma continued their organized withdrawal. Some of the enemy was close behind, with three squads nearly on top of Asuma's people, when Chouza struck.
Akimichi Chouza grew to the perhaps three times his normal size and entered the fight with a massive kick. His foot caught three enemies and sent them careening backward while the rest dodged. When one tried to jump up onto his leg, a Nara supporter grabbed the enemy and pulled him off. He hit the ground and Chouza stomped on him. Two other Akimichi clan members were there in support, but at normal size; one was fighting normally while the other expanded arms and legs temporarily. They fought in Chouza's shadow, guarding him as he dominated the fight. When three enemies tried to run into a building, Chouza gripped the roof with both hands and tore it off, throwing it at a squad that was preparing to attack him together. Hiashi's archers, who had found a new position, riddled the threesome with arrows.
Chouza stumbled for a moment and Hiashi saw the signs of a genjutsu construct affecting him, but one of Chouza's teammates freed him from its influence before he could be harmed. He nearly stumbled onto one of his cousins as he shook his head, then his eyes narrowed and he stood to his full height. Unable to see an obvious target, Chouza simply smashed the nearby buildings, forcing the enemies to come out in the open or be crushed indiscriminately.
The remaining Hidden Valley ninjas came out, knowing it was a poor alternative, and Asuma's men were waiting. Those who remained inside died by crushing force; those who came out burned. Two managed to evade the fires, and one of them was struck down by an arrow. The last was uncommonly lucky and skilled, and managed to use some of the falling debris as a temporary shield from both Hiashi's and Asuma's groups as he retreated. He managed to get out of range of the archers and disappeared with an escape technique.
Temporarily clear, the three units moved back further, until they were on the slopes of the valley. Hiashi's archers set up again, as did Asuma's people, this time in smaller groups that were mixed together and had some distance between them. Below them, Chouza and the more durable fighters regrouped and waited for the enemy, Chouza shrinking back down to normal size. He'd eaten a fair amount in anticipation of the exertion, but growing that large took a significant amount of chakra; he could probably do it once more tonight.
The main enemy force wasn't far behind, but Kiyoshi's old advisor was still in command, and he forced his pursuers to stop and organize before giving chase. The good news was that this also gave time for more of the Hidden Valley ninjas to join the group, which meant they wouldn't go elsewhere to find trouble, and it allowed Hiashi to set his men up as he desired.
The bad news was that the enemy was now organized, and their force was larger than Hiashi's. While the minor Hidden Valley Village couldn't field nearly as many fighters as the Leaf, only a fraction of the Leaf's might was under Hiashi's command right now. Most of the Hidden Valley's strength was right here, at home.
He glanced toward the tunnels. How long would it take?
…
Aburame Shigeo's men had opened a number of tunnels and disabled the traps, then done their best to wreck the permanent seals that controlled the defenses. Some traps had simply been triggered by setting off pressure-sensitive mechanisms or tripwires, since an expended trap would be little obstacle to invading ninjas. They'd exhausted most of the passive defenses at four tunnels – three next to each other and one a bit further east – and opened several more. The ambushes against the tunnel guards had gone very well until the alarm went off, and afterward the Leaf ninjas had pushed themselves to work quickly, knowing that time was their enemy. While the northern tunnel guards had outnumbered Shigeo's men before the night began, they'd been split up into pairs and vulnerable. That, coupled with the advantage of surprise, had allowed him to lead his four squads to kill most of the guards that had been on duty. A few had escaped, and Shigeo had lost five men so far, leaving him with only eleven men, counting himself.
Those eleven were working quickly, hastily setting traps of their own. Kakashi should arrive anytime with his force, and once they came through the tunnel the attackers would have a numerical edge, but for now the only thing keeping Shigeo from being overrun was the fact that the enemy's attention was focused on Hiashi, who was wreaking chaos in the middle of the valley. While they couldn't see any details of what was happening, there were sporadic fires set throughout a few parts of the village, and that was a good sign for Shigeo; it was something the attackers would be doing, not the defenders.
Trouble came soon enough. Four-and-a-half squads of Valley ninjas arrived together, and they began to examine one of the entrances. One of them cursed.
He looked at the apparent leader and shook his head. "It will take days to fix this," the man said.
Shigeo smiled slightly, pleased. He'd feared that the enemy might be able to repair things faster than that, despite what the Wada team had said. Then he set off the explosive note hidden on the panel that controlled this tunnel entrance.
The blast killed the two men who had been examining the panel, and fortuitously caught the leader as well, knocking him to the ground with blood leaking from an ear. The explosion was a signal as well as an attack, and smoke bombs were quickly thrown to the ground, where they exploded.
Of Shigeo's remaining people, one was an Inuzuka, currently holding back two dogs. One was his own, but the other had been partnered with one of the dead Leaf ninjas. As the smoke bombs hit, the three were already transforming into beast-men, and they charged into the smoke with reckless ferocity. Shigeo sent his insects in as well. When the smoke began to clear one of the dogs was bleeding, one enemy ninja was on the ground and covered in bugs, and three more were dead or dying rapidly. The angry dog was savaging one of them, viciously ripping into the Valley ninja's flesh in his anger and grief over the loss of his master, while the other pair worked with efficiency to corner another opponent. The three beast-men suddenly whined in displeasure and Shigeo soon understood why when he detected a foul scent emanating from a pouch one of the Valley ninjas was opening.
The man tossed the pouch forward toward the animalistic forms and then recovered his leader, still disoriented but beginning to regain his senses. Of the eighteen enemies who had come to the tunnel, five were now dead and a sixth was woozy. The odds were much improved as Shigeo's group attacked together.
The Leaf ninjas struck with coordinated shuriken and jets of flame, and the enemy scattered in response. While they still had even numbers, the Valley ninjas didn't feel like the advantage was theirs, and they scattered and fought individually. One came at Shigeo only to find himself facing a lean but strong Shimura clan member with a sword when the two switched places. Another went for Shigeo, realizing he was the Leaf unit's leader, but when he punched at the man his enemy dissolved into a cloud of insects that landed on him and began to eat his chakra, while Shigeo confused two more enemies with a genjutsu, displacing his teammates' images to the side by a foot or two. They failed to notice the discrepancies in their senses in time, and lost the ensuing hand-to-hand engagement, dying without knowing why.
One Valley ninja lured a Leaf opponent closer to the tunnel entrance and then engaged him up close. They traded a few blows before the defender kicked at his opponent's head and then caused a ripple in the earth to throw him back, onto the poisoned needles from an expended trap.
The Inuzuka and the two dogs were working together, and one of the dogs bodily shouldered his master to the side, saving him from a knife that would have struck his face. The blade was long and it sank deep, causing the dog to fall over with a whine. In response, the other dog gave out a growl and leaped at the man who'd thrown the blade, knocking him to the ground and fastening its jaws on his throat. The man was already bleeding from several small wounds and they left him too slow to recover, allowing the canine to finish him off.
At the end of the fight, Shigeo had seven men left, and one furious dog that was barely calming down despite the best effort of its new temporary master. One enemy had escaped.
He ordered his men to treat their wounds or serve as lookouts as they retreated into the nearest available cover. More enemies would be coming soon, and likely better organized and in greater numbers.
Shigeo glanced into the tunnel. When would Kakashi's relief force arrive?
…
Yamanaka Eiichi and Nara Miho were now partnered with Hyuuga Hoheto and Namiashi Raidou, with Raidou commanding their squad. The scarred man, known for success as an assassin and guarding the Fourth Hokage, commanded their respect. Hoheto, similarly, had more experience than the two assassins, though he couldn't match them in their area of expertise.
Their current mission, however, was a bit different. The foursome wasn't wandering aimlessly, but their movements were a bit erratic as they combed the Hidden Valley Village seeking its leader. The Hokage had been very specific about wanting the man alive if at all possible. Hiashi, deciding that Yamamoto Kiyoshi was likely too much of a coward to lead his own battle if he thought he might lose, had sent three teams to seek the man out and capture him if they could, or see which way he ran if they could not.
Eiichi spotted the man ducking into an ordinary house near his official residence, and the four concluded that he was most likely headed for a secure bunker from which he could command the defense without exposing himself to harm. Attempting to enter such a place without backup was almost certainly a doomed effort, but there was a chance that inaction could let the man slip away.
Raidou looked at the place and considered trying to find another way in, but quickly banished the thought. Building secret doors into such places was too great a risk; it compromised their security if you told people about the secret entrance, and if no one knew there was no point having it. Instead, the four of them found places to observe from and waited.
Hopefully, Kakashi would arrive soon. When the tide of battle turned against Kiyoshi, he would run, and they would be waiting to see which way he fled.
…
Less than two minutes after Wada Chizuru, Wada Junpei, and their escorts exited the tunnel entrance, Kakashi was coming face-to-face with them and receiving their report. They didn't waste his time, and they'd heard the alarm go off; if they didn't act quickly, the defenders would find some way to seal the tunnels, trapping Kakashi's force outside the valley or at least slowing them down, which would put Hyuuga Hiashi and those with him in a difficult position.
It was time. He gave the order for his forces to move up quickly, and the waiting men and women responded. Kakashi turned to look at the man to his left.
"You ready to fight next to us?" Kakashi asked.
"I've been sitting in a cell for days and days," Baki said with a snort, adjusting his forehead protector, one finger tracing the symbol of the Hidden Sand Village. "My people and I are more than ready."
Kakashi's eyes wandered to where their young teams stood next to each other, and he had to admit he liked the Hokage's idea more now than when she'd first raised it. Seeing Gaara of the Sand standing next to Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke near Temari and Kankurou, and similar scenes all around him, he was looking forward to having the Sand ninjas as allies again.
Releasing prisoners was an unusual way to come up with more troops, but the Sand ninjas were numerous, well-trained, and itching to show the Leaf Village that they were strong allies to redeem the pride they'd lost when captured. The chain of command had been clarified fully before departure, and while the Sand ninjas weren't thrilled to be taking orders from Kakashi they were happy to be out of confinement and headed toward home, and eager to punish anyone who would side with Orochimaru. For killing the Kazekage, wounding their reputation, and using them as pawns, the Sand ninjas hated the man just as much as the Leaf, now.
Regardless, Kakashi was confident the Hidden Valley would wish it had stayed hidden. He and Baki finished gathering their troops and ran forward to battle.
…
END CHAPTER
Leaf Intelligence File: Suzuki Clan
While never important in the political and military history of the continent, The Suzuki clan has consistently managed to survive and avoid major conflicts. When it seemed like lasting peace had arrived, the wandering clan fell on hard times and was forced to prey on the weak to sustain itself. They weren't pleased, but they did it, until they found a new leader who helped them become something more than mere bandits again and restored their pride. This leader, Suzuki Saita, aggressively sought out opportunities to better his clan's fortune and eventually found one.
The formation of the Hidden Valley Village and the civil war that took place there provided that fresh opportunity. Suzuki Saita made a deal with Yamamoto Kiyoshi, supporting his claim to the leadership of the village in exchange for being allowed to fully join its ranks, securing the Suzuki clan's place in the minor village. Kiyoshi has not favored the clan enough to anger many other Valley ninjas, but his personal alliance with them has remained strong, and the clan is one of the main factions that supports him and guarantees his place in the leader's position. Members of the clan have been observed using earth and wind techniques in the past, along with basic ninjutsu and some camouflage techniques. One past encounter suggested they may not do sufficient training to counter genjutsu, but this may have changed since they joined the Hidden Valley.