Out of Sasori's body rose a giant metal tail with a razor sharp blade at the end of it. "If you get in our way you will regret it." The tail stabbed forward and sliced into Gamabunta's webbed foot.
"Ow!" Gamabunta looked down to see who had just wounded him.
Whomp!
Gamabunta stepped on Sasori and deliberately ground down. His wound was a small one given his body mass, but it was starting to burn
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"Heads up!" Jiraiya shouted and pointed at the ninja on his giant clay bird. Several clay birds were heading down towards them. Gamabunta leapt high into the air avoiding the projectiles that instead stuck the surrounding neighborhood and detonated on impact.
"Water Bullet!" Gamabunta shouted. Inhaling the boss toad fired off two huge spheres of water in quick succession.
Seeing them Deidara had only a few seconds to react. A sharp bank to the right let him avoid the first, but took him straight into the path of the second. He was swatted as he and his mount were sent careening to the ground.
"Let's get out of here as fast as we can," Jiraiya called.
"Fine," Gamabunta grunted, his wound was acting up. He leapt high into the air and quickly headed south towards Fire country.
Karin yelped and had to focus chakra to her feet to keep from getting tossed off. The swift up and down motion of the toad's leaps were making her feel ill.
Sasori's, 'body' was smashed and half buried in the ground. A tap door popped open and the figure of a young red haired boy in a black robe with red clouds jumped out. "Who would have ever expected on of the Sannin to interfere."
As he stood there Deidara landed beside him on his flying clay bird. "Hurry up and climb on, yeah! We'll go after him."
"Yes," Sasori climbed on and they lifted back into the air. "We mustn't keep our leader waiting."
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It took two days to reach Grass country. When they got there the roads were choked with civilians fleeing for Fire country. Everyone had the same stories about villages and towns being burned down and helpless people being massacred.
Along with all the civilians they came across a handful of Grass nin who were also trying to run away, they had no more stomach for facing the Rain nin again.
"The village has been destroyed," one of the weary Grass nin told them.
"That's impossible! Kusa couldn't have fallen this quickly," Kakashi said. "It's only been seven days!"
"The village is gone!" The Grass nin said bitterly. "Believe it or not but it is, the Rain nin took it and killed everyone in it man, woman and child. Then they burned it to the ground."
Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai drew off to have a quiet talk.
"Do you believe him?" Kakashi asked quietly.
"He wasn't hysterical, he seemed rational enough," Asuma said. "I think we have to take what he said seriously."
"Yosh! But if Kusa has fallen we can expect no help from the Grass nin. Surely most of them would have used their fires of youth to defend their village."
Asuma nodded. "If the village is really gone then so are most of the Grass nin except for a handful."
"I can't believe it," Kakashi said. "I fought beside the Grass ninja in the last war. If they were able to stand up to the horde of Rock nin who attacked them I just can't see how they could fall so easily now."
"Well the question is what do we do now?" Asuma asked. "The plan was for us to join up with grass in the field and support them. If the Grass army is really gone we have a whole different situation. Do we continue on or fall back to Fire country?"
"Yosh! What do you mean? We are here. The rain nin are our enemies. To retreat without ever facing the enemy would be most unyouthful!"
"Gai does have a point," Kakashi said. "We've declared war on Rain; we're going to have to face them. Do you want to do it here or in Fire country?"
Asuma sighed. "Yeah, there really is no choice."
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Nearby Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino all looked on as Asuma was having a meeting with Kakashi and Gai. The three were all Chunin and had been tapped to serve with the army. They hadn't specifically been told to work as a unit but, as was their habit, had come together on their own.
"What do you think their talking about?" Ino asked.
"Who knows?" Shikamaru said. He was taking advantage of the momentary lull and was lying down in the grass. "It's probably something troublesome."
"You think everything is troublesome," Ino said annoyed.
Shikamaru opened a single eye and looked up at the gorgeous but oh so troublesome blonde. "If you want to know that badly why don't just ask Asuma?"
She sniffed. "I don't want to seem nosey." She said.
"You are nosey."
Ino reared back and kicked him min the shin. "Lazy baka!"
"Ow! That hurt you troublesome woman!"
"Well you deserve it!"
Nearby Chouji was munching on some chips and smiling to himself. He knew better than to get between the two love birds when they were like this. I wish they would go ahead and start dating though.
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Sakura was also nearby. Knowing she was going into battle soon she was nervous. More than that she was also lonely. Tayuya was not here. And while Kakashi was he hadn't sought her out and so she did not want to be a burden to him by going up to him. She had seen Naruto earlier and he had come over to say a quick hello but he didn't know where he was right now. She would have liked to have talked to him, even as just his friend.
Shika, Ino, and Chouji were close by but she hesitated to approach them too. Over the last couple of years they had all sort of drifted apart, even her and Ino didn't talk much. It was at times like these that she was painfully aware of how far some of her old classmates and friends had come. She was never more aware of the fact that for all her brains she had wound up as just a plain old kunoichi while others were Chunin and Naruto was a Jonin and a rising star in the village. How did I get left so far behind? She wondered.
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A couple hour later the army of Konoha had just passed through a forest of gigantic twisted trees and out onto an open plain when their scouts came running back with the word.
The enemy was here.
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"Battle formations!" Kakashi yelled out. "Stay close to your squad mates and remember to support them and watch out for them!" He pulled up his hitai-ite and uncovered his sharingan.
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"Yosh!" Gai shouted eagerly to his platoon. "Unleash the flames of you youth and fight with all your heart and soul!" His teeth were blinding as he smiled at them, fire seemed to be coming from his eyes.
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Asuma calmly took a last puff from his cig and then stomped it out. He got his trench knives ready. "You ready for this?" He asked.
"Probably not," Shikamaru muttered.
"Hey Shika, remember to take care of my body." Ino scolded. "If anything happens while I'm using my jutsu I'll never forgive you."
"Why me," he complained.
"Just do it you lazy bum!" Ino yelled at him.
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Sakura was a part of Kakashi's platoon and waited nervously. She didn't really know most of the other ninja in her unit or how best to coordinate her genjutsus with them. Things had just been too rushed for there to be time for that. She would just do her best; there was really nothing else she could do."
"Good luck Sakura-chan!"
She turned around startled to see Naruto's smiling face. "Naruto, yeah, good luck to you too."
"I have to get to my platoon," he said excitedly. "But I wanted to wish you luck first! So here," he suddenly leaned forward and gave her a small quick kiss on her cheek. It was the first time his lips had ever touched her. "You can have a little of mine!" He ran off before a stunned Sakura could make any sort of response.
Watching him disappear among the mass of ninja she reached a hand up and touched the spot on her cheek where he had kissed her. Naruto-kun.
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They came out of the tall grass from across the field. Kakashi saw immediately that there were more of them then they'd expected. He guessed their number was closer to two hundred than one hundred. Even so the forces of Konoha would hold more than a two to one advantage. As they came they were spread out in one long line coming at a dead run. There was no flank attack or ambush here; it was a straight frontal assault that would rely on raw power to break through.
Kakashi's immediate impression was that they had made a very serious mistake and were underestimating the ninja from Leaf. Then as they got within two hundred yards they activated their seals on mass. Before his eyes Kakashi watched as the enemy ninja transformed from human beings into various freakish forms and shapes. He felt the level of chakra before him grow four of five times stronger, and this chakra had a dark and evil taint to it. In the blink of an eye they had transformed from an army of ninja to an army of monsters.
I have a very bad feeling about this. In his hand his chakra took visible form and the sound of birds chirping could be heard. His Raikiri was more powerful but also used more chakra and could only be used three times in a day. He could use Chidori a maximum of six times. (He'd built up his endurance and worked on better chakra control.) He had a feeling he would need the extra attacks.
With his sharingan active he ran forward towards his initial enemy. His enemy had dark blue skin and tentacles where his mouth should have been. He had eight rubbery arms with tentacles sprouting out from below his shoulders. All eight whipped out trying to grab hold of him. But with his sharingan he could see exactly where each one was aiming to be and avoided them all with ease. He got in close and slammed his palm straight into his enemy's chest. The Chidori tore clean through the body and put the back. There was an explosion of flesh and inky blood.
Wasting no time Kakashi yanked his hand right back out again. The monster in front of him gave a gurgled death cry and toppled over. His body reverted back to human form, and the ink on Kakashi's arm and shoulder became blood.
"That's one," he said calmly and created a new Chidori in his palm and picked out his next target.
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"YOSH!!" Gai cried out as he delivered series of blows into his opponent's chest and neck. Normally he did not like to kill those he faced, but he understood the reality of war. Currently he felt an immense amount of power flowing through him. He had opened three gates and waded forward without fear. This was the first time he had opened any of the gates since killing Gaara all those years ago. Doing that had nearly killed him and permanently damaged his chakra coils. He could still use jutsus but with only about half the strength he'd once had. He would also never be able to open more than three of the celestial gates again.
He hadn't planned on using the gates except as a last recourse. But when he'd sensed the amount of power his enemies possessed he'd quickly decided he could not afford to hold back. He would use all his power from the start and do all he could. With the gates open he knew he wouldn't be able to stand the strain for long.
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Asuma ducked and just missed having his head taken off. His enemy looked like a giant black bear and was about the size of one too. Besides that he was very fast and hard to kill. He'd landed several strikes with his trench knives that would have been lethal on any normal opponent. He drew blood and caused his opponent to bellow out in pain, but he kept right on coming. The bear ninja brought his giant paw down and Asuma was forced to leap back to avoid it. He landed on his feet and hurriedly readied for the next attack when he saw his enemy standing in front of him motionless.
"Asuma!" Shikamaru shouted. "Hurry! I can only hold him a few seconds!"
Understanding the situation Asuma ran forward. Taking his wind coated trench knife he leapt up and drove it straight down into the top of the bear's skull going for the quickest and surest kill. The bear fell dead and turned back into human guise. Asuma noted that his enemy had worn a Grass hitai-ite with a deep slash through it.
Asuma hurried over to Shikamaru's side, he was panting heavily. An unconscious Ino was lying at his feet. "Thanks Shikamaru."
Shikamaru gave a single weary nod. "My shadow jutsus aren't working as well as they should. They're all too strong."
On another part of the battlefield there were several loud, 'booms' in quick succession. Bolts of lightning had come down out of a clear blue sky and ripped into the Leaf ranks.
"This isn't going good is it?" Shikamaru asked.
"No, it's not." Asuma replied.
And without warning a new enemy appeared. His truncated body looked like and insect's with six long spiny legs. Out of a still human torso were shelled arms ending with claws. The clawed enemy came up on them and with one swipe slammed into Asuma and sent him flying. He then brought up the other arm meaning to kill the unmoving Ino.
"No!" Shikamaru shouted. "Shadow Possession Technique!" His shadow instantly reached out and merged with his opponents.
His enemy was stopped. But only for a few seconds. He was too physically strong. Despite all he could do he felt the arm about to come down and crush Ino's head.
"No!" And without a second's hesitation Shikamaru did the only thing he could. He leapt in front of Ino.
The claw came down on Shika's unprotected head and smashed it like a pumpkin, killing him instantly. And because his opponent was still connected to him by his shadow jutsu he died immediately as well.
"Shikamaru!" Asuma howled. He'd only been down a handful of seconds, but it had been too long.
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"Rasengan!" His fist tore into his opponent's body, killing him instantly. Naruto pulled his arm clear with an excited smile on his face. "Who wants some?" He shouted.
Surrounding him were a dozen enemy corpses. Alone among all the Leaf nin on the field he still had plenty of chakra left. His platoon was the only one that had not given ground; he had stopped the enemy on his front single handed.
He spotted a couple more enemy ninja coming at him. He decided to kill these two from, a distance rather than up close. He performed some hand signs. "Blades of Wind Technique." Before him about thirty invisible scythes of wind chakra formed and were sent at his enemies. They seemed to be able to sense the chakra in his jutsu and they attempted to dodge, but had no hope of avoiding them all. Naruto watched as they were sliced up into several pieces.
Looking around Naruto saw there were no more enemy ninja nearby. None of them seemed to want to take him on any more. Smiling excitedly he was about to go looking for some when the radio communicator all platoon leaders wore began to buzz.
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"That's six," Kakashi gasped as one more body fell before him. Though he didn't want to he pulled down his hitai-ite. He could feel he was almost totally depleted of chakra, if he used the sharingan much longer he would be in danger of collapse. Personally free for the moment he quickly looked around to try and gauge the status of the battle. One look was all he needed.
He had killed six and here and there he could see places where the leaf was holding its own. He'd have bet those places were where the elite Jonin were. Their best were a match for anything Rain had even with curse seals. But there weren't enough of them. Most of the line was bending back and starting to give way. If that happened the few strong points would be surrounded and overwhelmed. He knew what he had to do. He got on his radio communicator and hit the send button.
"This is Kakashi! Code word rabbit! I repeat, rabbit, code word rabbit!"
When he released the send button the communicator came to life with an angry voice on the other end. "Kakashi-sensei what are you doing!" Naruto cried. "We're winning!"
"No Naruto, we may be winning where you are but not everywhere. I'm in command and I'm ordering operation rabbit into effect. Now I need to do your part. Understood?"
"Roger," an unhappy Naruto replied.
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Though he hated it Naruto followed his orders. Rabbit was the code word for retreat. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" All around him two thousand clones came into existence. They rushed to every section of the battlefield. They would attack the enemy and pick up any wounded he saw. While his clones covered the retreat the Leaf nin would pull back the way they'd come.
With that done he turned around to look at his platoon. All of them were looking at him with awe and a bit of hero worship. "All right!" He yelled. "Fall back as fast as you can the way came! Everyone fall back!" His ninja nodded and obeyed him without question. He stood his ground as long as he could, he would be the last one to go and he would protect their vulnerable rear.
XXXXXXXXXX
Ino was fighting in a powerful, but hideous, body when she noted her side was withdrawing. She was actually relieved to end her jutsu. Fighting as an enemy was dangerous and she was near the end of her endurance anyway.
When she came to she was in Asuma's arms flying back towards the strange forest they had passed through earlier. She saw Chouji nearby but not Shikamaru.
"Asuma-sensei," she asked wearily. "Where's Shika?"
He looked at her sadly. "He's gone Ino."
"Go… gone?" She said in a small voice.
Asuma nodded. "He's dead."
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Sakura was running as fast as she could. She had gotten through the battle without a scratch, though she hadn't done that much good with her genjutsus. As she was running she was suddenly scooped up by one of Naruto's clones.
"Naruto? What are you doing? I'm not injured.' She had noted him picking up the wounded.
"It's o.k. Sakura-chan, I have plenty of energy. I just want to make sure you're all right," he told her.
A younger her would have probably yelled at him for underestimating her and then punched him. But at the moment she was just happy to know that even though he was far out ahead he hadn't left her behind after all. When she needed him he would come back for her.
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"Damn annoyance," Gamabunta muttered. "I'm sorry Jiraiya but I'm at my end."
"Already?" Jiraiya sounded surprised. They had long since crossed into Fire country but were far from the village. And behind them in the distance were their two pursuers flying after.
"I was poisoned, it's not dangerous but it's weakened me. I'm afraid I'll have to go."
"Up ahead Jiraiya spotted some abandoned quarries from an old mining operation. "Bunta, can you get us to those mine shafts before you go?"
"Sure!" And with a grunt of effort Gamabunta put on a last burst of speed.
He got them to the mines and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Now what?" Karin wailed.
Jiraiya grabbed her arm and pulled her into the nearest mine shaft. "Now we play hide and seek with your friends."
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Author's Note: You know in all my stories I had killed every major character at least once except for Shikamaru. I finally have a full set.
