Chapter 26

As we ran to the gate I was trying to think about what I could do.

We could try to deny the mission, but it wasn't like we were actually asked. If that order wasn't directly from the Mizukage it was from someone who had his power in whatever absence he had. So disobeying would mark us as traitors. We could also leave, but that was desertion, which would also mark us as traitors. The punishment for betrayal was death.

If it was just me, if I could just leave, I would. In fact I would have left a long time ago. I could probably get on a boat and just go, or hide out until I could find way out of the country. Maybe I could go to another ninja village or just go about my business wondering. Maybe it would be hard but I had the skills necessary to do so now. They might send hunter-nin after me, but that was a lot of resources for just one little genin even if they did send them out and the worst happened, that was fine as well. When it came down to it I didn't give a flying frak in space about what this village thought of me. I hated this village. I hated the nepotism, I hated the xenophobia, I hated the fact that all the wealth and prosperity was built on the backs of their poor whom if they didn't ignore, they looked down upon like they were the dirt beneath their feet. What they were doing here was horrible and I severely doubted that it was much better anywhere else in this bloody country. The only reason I stayed this long was, well also the reason why I probably wasn't going to just leave. I couldn't just leave the other kids alone.

I could take my platoon, they might all listen to me. We could run to the border it was probably in shambles at the moment, or it would be once Zabuza destroyed it on his escape. Though that was a problem, if we met Zabuza, he might just kill us. Sure we're a bunch of kids but honestly he might think we're Kiri spies sent to go after him. He could and probably would just kill us before we could get through explaining that.

Then there was the other two platoons, just us escaping would be signing their death ticket. They were just like us, maybe I didn't know them as well but that wasn't an excuse to just let them die.

Damnit, there were so many reasons I could and should just leave, except for the one where I betray all those who stood next to me.

I blame my old life, because I don't think I would have the same common decency instilled into me if this was the only life I had ever known.

So we were going to fight this fight, maybe we were going to die in this fight. But what we really needed to do was buy time, engaging with this enemy on even normal ground wasn't going to do that.

The gate to Kiri was set between two very high stone walls. It was closed currently but something was ramming against it with continuous pounding. The gate was wooden even though the walls were stone because it was a lighter material to move. It had a rigged mechanism that kept it closed but the wood was beginning to fracture under the pounding.

We only saw it for a moment before as a unit we jumped onto the sheer walls and ran up them to the top of it. Several other shinobi were there throwing barrages of kunai and jutsu but otherwise not budging from their position. It was there job to stay at the gate, to protect it but it was easy to see why they were intimidated. The mass of people that coated area in front of the gates was not easy to overlook.

There were something like three to five Kaguya for every one of the shinobi currently present including us, well students wasn't the right word now, officially we were all genin. Kirigakure had more forces to push at them, but well they were currently occupied. We had to hold the line if they were going to take down the Kaguya because if they got into the city shinobi wouldn't be the only ones who died, civilians would, fast.

While Kirigakure had very well protected and fortified bunkers for its civilian occupants the actual evacuation would take time, and inverse to preserving lives the priority was to those who lived in the center of the city, better known as the seven families district. It made a sick sense that the poorer were positioned near the gate that in the instance that the wall or the gate were breached they would be the fodder for the invaders while the wealthier citizens were being evacuated to safety.

This simultaneously a reason I hated this village and why I couldn't just abandon it at this time.

There was chatter among the students but most of them were just stunned at the sheer numbers. It was one thing to train for this, it was another to see it and decide what to do. I'm not even sure the gate guards ever faced a force like this before. I was still conflicted when Hiroshi shouted first.

"Strategy twelve!"

Instinctively we all lined up and started to initiate. We were soldiers so we were drilled into twenty one basic strategies that Kiri employed. Strategy twelve was a very classic one used by Kiri, the flood.

All students of Kiri were trained in water release, the most basic water release was a stream of water that comes from your hand. It wasn't always an ideal technique because the amount of water that could come and how faster was determined by how much chakra you put into it, and how much water there is in the air. This made it harder in places that had dry air, but in Kiri, well this was the place you didn't dry your clothes outside because it only made them mold.

While it wasn't simultaneous because of the proficiency and affinity of the students varied, but was quite a sight to see as the flood poured down the wall creating an artificial waterfall. We weren't the only one, the two doze shinobi stationed at the wall followed suit. When the jutsu finally finished the air around us was bone dry as the mist disappeared from around the gate and the small river pushed through the crowd of Kaguya who were now pushing through the mud climbing forward and running over each other to recover the ground that was lost when they were pushed back by the rush of water.

"Seven!"

Hiroshi bellowed and I grimaced but moved aside as the ninjutsu standard course stepped forward with several of the guards. They lined up and did the jutsu I knew was coming. Lightning Release: Bolt. From each of them a lightning jutsu arced out from their palms to the ground. With the wet muddy ground and the line of water the result was instantaneous. The water sparked and the went Kaguya we stunned several fainting immediately at the bad shock that cleared through the first few but grounded out a few feet from the door. Well that took out at least a few dozen but there was still more. So I decided to add in.

"Strategy eleven, wall stand formation."

The water affinity ninjutsu specialists moved down the way into formation. This strategy necessitated them to get closer to the ground though not necessarily touch it. Strategy eleven was called the frozen steam, it used another water release though not one as common as the water spout one that froze nearby water sources. Freezing in this sense didn't mean making the water colder by making the surrounding colder that was very energy inefficient, but it also what made this variant of water release tricky since you have to release the heat you are taking from the water. In this case the heat was released right at the edge of where the ice ended, a safety to keep it from blowing back on the person who did the jutsu. The reaction to the horde of Kaguya even though only a few yards in diameter was instant. Because water holds a lot of heat. So as a result a wave of heated air rose creating a cloud of thick maiming steam at the ices edge.

Our attacks took out several dozen of their warriors who were either dead or dying after our coordinated efforts. Some had been knocked away from the flood, shocked into unconsciousness, other frozen in place in the frozen mud that surrounded the front gate. It didn't matter though, because this horror that was there front lines desemation didn't slow those behind them in the least. They kept charging forward, through the steam that burned them onto the ice that only upset their footing slightly like men possessed by demons trampling all who had already fallen like the never ending horde they were. They were the unstoppable force, well this was going to suck.

The shinobi on the wall yelled.
"Form a line off the wall! Triangle formation."

We all formed groups of three I looked down at them my face,

"Ninjutsu maintain position on wall, melee forward!"

I grabbed two other people, Shiroki, a taijutsu, and Onuchi another swordsman, neither were from my platoon, but it didn't matter. We all received the same training in triangle formation. Three backs together to cover attacks from three sides. It wasn't my favorite tactic in fighting, with focus and training I was now the faster person in my year, by a lot. It was however much safer than darting through them like Leeroy Jenkins. Naruto, Sasuke or any of the other Konoha kids might have been able to go through this horde like paper or in Naruto's case make one just as big. But we didn't have that. Quantity over quality was the name of the game in Kirigakure, and to compensate for that their standardized formations relied heavily on outnumbering their opponents by keeping tight military formation. Against a skilled shinobi, this was functionally useless, however against these Kaguya, it might just work if only to buy us the time we need until we can get the numbers required to overwhelm them.

That was a big might.

The three of us hit the ground and ran to meet the others. The only person not in a triangle formation was Suigetsu, who ran forward and was going wild sweeping through with his sword shrugging off the hits and knives going through his liquid body. Nobody had to worry about him.

My three ninja unit moved not like a well oiled machine, but a more stilted half formation, us nervous as we were besieged on all sides slashing and punching trying to stop them as they moved forward. My wakizashi slashed out in quick strikes aimed for the center mass or lower trying to slow the oncoming rush, blood slashed across by blade that I didn't have time to use an extra move to flick off as one pushed back and others moved down. I had to duck to avoid being grab and turned in time to see one of the Kaguya have Unochi in dangling in the air with hands strangling the boy. I tried to push forward when another Kaguya kicked me in the back I stumbled landing at the other man's leg. Damn, damn. I tried to get up but the Kaguya who kicked me tried to grab my legs, big mistake. I made a half sign.

"Force jump."

The burst of air hit him knocking him down and propelling me forward taking the legs of the man holding Unochi out from under him as I skidded across the ground. I stopped my slide by pushing chakra into my feet and pushing myself out into a crouch. There were at least three Kaguya between me and the man who had been choking Unochi. We were now so far out of formation that we could easily be mobbed. This wasn't good. I gathered chakra into my feet and held myself low as I made my hand seal.

"Force jump!"

I pushed forward and landed straight into the chest of the nearest Kaguya in front of me, him continuing forward under my momentum and dominoing into two more. They were only stunned for a moment though and the first of them tried to grab me. I reached down and pulled my sword slashing upwards making a line that went straight up his chest to his neck and out before I resheathed and jumped again this time straight up. For a few moments I was just in the air looking at the field.

We were being overwhelm.

When we could see the field we could coordinate and work well, but this was different, this was war. What we lacked in this instance wasn't training but experience, to keep from panicking from fleeing. I saw several students break formation some being trampled and stomped. I saw Suigetsu moving taking out whoever got close but he couldn't use large scale jutsu, all his energy was concerned with keeping his water form. He was losing water fast, if a Hozuki takes too much damage they start to dehydrate as the water separates from their bodies even he couldn't keep with this onslaught for much longer. The wall was being swarmed the door was being hammered while several of the Kaguya were trying to run up the walls. They were being bombarded by the ninjutsu and support company who were holding it. We wouldn't last much longer.

I looked through the crowd to find my squad. They were nowhere to be found. Damnit.

I jumped before I landed again pushing just over the head sword drawn as I approached where I guessed we were located. There was no strategy now except to survive. I had to find them, or someone, but the Kaguya were grown men and we were swamped in their height and numbers. This worked to my advantage, the tight spaces of the mob worked for me to move through, to strike more easily as I striked them, at tendons, at legs to stop them moving forward. I was trying to slow them down, and I was looking, looking for my squadmates, for one of the other swordsman, for anybody. But I couldn't find anybody in this horde, their heights blocking my view above even as I fell them one at a time.

I was alone in this horde and time was immeasurable. I didn't know how long I stayed in there, how many grazes and almost grabs I got trying to push through. I heard a scream from the wall. I swiveled and pushed myself up with a jump again to see the wall again. Not good, they were fighting on top of the walls now. Two more jumps pushed me over and onto the wall I saw Chojuro standing on the side fighting off a wave more of Kaguya trying to push past but there was no supporting fire of ninjutsu on the wall so he was having a time holding them back. I made it to the top and saw the laid bodies of several of the students. They weren't moving. I pushed it down. I needed to move. I saw the guards fighting the Kaguya some cutting them down, the numbers up here were more manageable. Those who weren't fighting the guards though were moving into the city. Damnit no.

I pursued, there were four that I could see. I took a deep breath and got my fingers ready for the seal. I jumped forward and past the Kaguya flipping and twisting myself so I landed just in front of them. They didn't stop and I didn't hesitate. My sword flashed as I force jumped forward drawing my sword. The force of my lunge and the friction of my quick draw increase the strength and force of the strike and the head of the Kaguya went rolling onto the ground. I readied a force jump and before I landed I pushed off again mid air and impaled him through the back with my readied sword. The two remaining Kaguya rounded on me but I flipped off the back of the dead Kaguya on my sword and for the first time since I started flicked the blood off my sword. It splayed out in a wide arc before I resheathed my sword. My hand on the sheath I jumped forward and slashed across the two of them as they charged me the line my sword going up across one of their chests and the other across the edge of their neck. The blood gushed from the wounds as the two of them fell like puppets with their strings cut.

I flicked the blood off my sword and resheathed it before I heard movement behind me. I turned quickly trying to draw but my hand was caught as I looked into the eyes of another shinobi.

"Woah little fish, woah. It's okay."

I stared at him for a few seconds in shock. I barely registered the forms of more and more shinobi running past me in my peripheral vision. I looked at him then I looked down at myself. I was covered in the splatters of bloods, my hands and sword were sticky with it. I had killed them, I had killed them, and they had killed.

My eyes welled as that realization hit me and I collapsed against the older shinobi sobbing over both the loss and what both I, and my class had done.