Right, welcome all, this is the beginning of Kage no Naruto chapter fifty two, hoe I didn't keep you waiting too long for this update. Either way, whether I did this in my normal time-frame or not, none of it matters because none of you know where I live, and even if you did, I live behind a big gate. So from the safety of my home, I calmly say, 'Haha, you can't catch me.' And in the case that I updated on my normal schedule, just ignore all that. Or don't, I don't particularly care on that point.
And with that memorable note, let the chapter begin.
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Summary of last chapter
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A decent bit happened last chapter, for starters, Kisame woke up at the border and as per standing Akatsuki orders headed for Amegakure to meet up with Itachi.
In Kaze no Kuni, Team seven was trapped between a flesh ripping sandstorm orchestrated by Temari and a cliff that used to have caves in it, but they were sealed off by the Soldier Zombies under Temari's command. For them, things looked bleak.
At Houfu, Naruto sent a group of fifty Soldier Zombies specially armed to destroy defenses, to attack the wall. They were all destroyed by the wall's defenses. The wall came through the entire thing without a scratch.
After that, Naruto had a hundred Soldiers build a wall spanning the length of the valley and had his Soldiers guard it. They were to stop any and all merchants from reaching the gates. Naruto gave the citizens of Houfu an ultimatum: Surrender and be taken as slaves to work the mines or defy him and die. If they defied him than he would try harder to breach the defenses, if that failed then he would simply leave them to starve. They have until he returns from destroying Iwagakure to decide upon their answer.
Then he left and the chapter ended. On that note, let this chapter begin.
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With Team 7
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Team seven had seen better days. They weren't badly injured, but they were still pretty messed up. Kakashi sported long, bleeding scratches along his hands and forearms, and one cut across his cheek, barely a quarter of an inch below one eye.
Tenten was doing a bit worse, having scratches along her abdomen, hands, arms, and calves, a few of them rather deep.
Sakura came out of it the best. A few bad scratches along her upper arms, a few on her stomach that had gone straight through her top, but aside from that she came out fine and was healing everyone's wounds, particularly Sai's.
Sai came out of it the worst. He was wearing the least clothing so of course the deadly sand had cut into him good and deep, carving out a gouge of flesh two inches wide and half an inch deep across his stomach, about half a dozen scratches on his cheeks and face, two deep cuts going straight through his bottom lip vertically about an inch apart, cutting out a flap of tissue. Other scratches cut through his pants and into his thighs, almost severing some of the large arteries that lay there. It figured that Sai would be the worst off, he was the last one in.
When they were caught in the deadly sandstorm, their only shelter blocked off by rubble, Kakashi had taken charge and did the only thing that came to mind in that situation, get into those caves.
He went through handseals at an amazing rate, forming a Raikiri in one hand. Given all the wind chakra flowing through the air it took about three times as much chakra as it normally would, but he managed to get one fully formed and he used that to destroy the rubble at the entrance to the nearest cave, which was thankfully a deep one.
None of them knew that the Raikiri could be used like that. Apparently it could be used to pierce a target deeply in a narrow spot, or it can be spread so that the impact hit a wide area for less damage instead. Kakashi was pretty tired at the moment thanks to the effort. Outside the cave, the storm was still raging at full force. Going out there for even a moment would be suicide and everyone knew it. But not everyone knew why.
"Kakashi-sensei…." said Sakura as she worked on healing Sai's injuries, "What just happened out there? All of a sudden everyone started getting cut badly as though by invisible knives. I didn't see any enemies so what happened?"
Kakashi looked over and sighed before saying "We just escaped the most deadly sandstorm that I've ever heard of, that's what happened. The wind was going fast enough to allow the individual grains of sand to move fast enough to cut right through skin and muscle. If we were caught out there, we would have had our flesh ripped from our bones."
He gave them a moment to let that message sink in before saying "However Sakura, there WERE enemies out there. Storms don't get this strong on their own. I felt a definite presence of chakra making the storm stronger and controlling it however slightly, though I couldn't tell where it was from. Someone's out there, nearby, and they want us dead. I don't know who it is, or where they are, but we definitely have enemies in this desert."
Tenten was quiet for a moment before saying "Could it be Suna? Is it possible that the entire story about the Kazekage getting kidnapped was a deliberate false trail meant to lure ninja squads to come to Suna for ambush in preparation for another invasion?"
Kakashi was a bit impressed by the chain of logic. "Well, that's one possibility but I don't think that it's very likely. Suna wouldn't want a war with Konoha right now due to our current alliance along with the fact that we have stronger ninja. They wouldn't want a fight, at least not right now."
Kakashi sighed and said "More likely is that it's a member of Akatsuki, or even more likely a servant to a member of Akatsuki sent here to slow us down and kill us if possible. And we're right where the enemy wants us, in an enclosed space, altogether, with one way out that leads to suicide. If someone managed to get an explosive in here, we'd be fucked."
Sakura quietly looked toward the cave mouth as though waiting for an enemy to appear or an explosive rushing through the deadly sand.
Kakashi looked at her with amusement and said "Don't worry Sakura, they won't attack us right now. They're as limited by this storm as we are, they can't leave their own shelter for fear of the storm killing them instead of us. They'll wait until the storm goes down, or one of them will do their best to make it go down, before attacking. Anything else would be wasted time and an almost guaranteed death courtesy of the enemies' own attack. No, we'll wait here and tend to our wounds while we wait for this storm to die out. With any luck the creator of it will attack us then, when we're ready for him at which point we subdue him and either kill him or take him prisoner. That's all I've got for now."
Sakura nodded and returned to healing Sai while Teneten check out her weaponry. Sai snored.
What Kakashi DIDN'T say was what really bothered him though. 'This person has at least a decent amount of training with Fuuton Ninjutsu, and a lot of natural talent and skill. Controlling sandstorms is extremely difficult, though it appeared as though this person could barely do it. He didn't command it to go after us so much as nudge it in the right direction and give it a little push. If this guy had another year or two to train he could have had that thing right on top of us before we got near this cave, that's a small comfort. At least this guy is going to be tired after the massive exertion that this whole storm business would have taken. If we're lucky, we'll be up against a lone, tired, and cornered opponent with a lot of information. The worst case scenario….'
Kakashi didn't even want to THINK the worst case scenario. The scenario in which either a member of Akatsuki, in person, just tried to kill them and would be tired, but would have a partner nearby. They weren't anywhere close to taking on an Akatsuki member, even four on one. Two of them would be suicide, even with the squad fully healed and rested.
Then there was the even worse case scenario. That Suna had betrayed them and attempted to lure Konoha forces into the desert in a pre-emptive ambush before launching an invasion of Konoha. They barely recovered from the last one, Konoha couldn't survive another war right now. They would put up a fight, and take a lot of enemies with them, but in the end Konoha would fall.
Kakashi settled in against the cave wall and closed his eyes to think and meditate, partially to rest his aching and tired body, partly to think upon possible strategies, and most of all to help regain his chakra. He felt that he would need every bit of it in the fight to come.
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With Temari
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Temari stood upon the top of the cliff in which Team 7 was hiding, a scowl marring her features. She didn't know that the Chidori could be used like that. If she did then she would have put more effort into blocking off the caves.
Now she was worn out from controlling the sandstorm and strengthening it to the point where it could kill quickly. She had cut off her chakra flow from the storm since Team 7 reached safety, ending her control over it completely. Now she was simply waiting for the storm to move on, which would take about an hour at its current speed.
The four Soldiers were seated nearby, awaiting orders. Temari glanced back at them and went over the various statistics in her head, the likelihood of victory in the upcoming fight.
Temari was scared of what was going to happen in the next hour or so. She knew that she was skilled, but this was Sharingan no Hatake Kakashi, one of the best ninja in Konoha. However ill-gotten his namesake might be, his Sharingan eye provided a major advantage when it came to a Ninjutsu specialist like her. Combine that with over a decade more of experience, much more Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu knowledge, and a lot more speed and you had a very dangerous opponent.
Temari swallowed when she went over the facts again and again, comparing the abilities of herself and the zombies under her command with the known abilities of Kakashi, not to mention those three Chuunin with him. She was fairly confident that she could defeat Tenten, she remembered defeating her in the Chuunin Exams years ago, the pink haired girl was weak back then, but could have improved, and she had no idea what the third one was capable of.
Temari couldn't help but com to one inevitable conclusion every time she went over the information. Even wounded somewhat, Kakashi's team against Temari and her subordinates could only have one outcome.
Temari swallowed again as she forced herself to think the cold hard truth. 'If this fight is allowed to occur, I am going to die.'
There was no way around it. Even at full strength she was no match for Kakashi. The zombies may not be able to die, but they could be beaten down and knocked out given enough time and muscle was put into the task. They could also be immobilized if the spine is severed or the limbs are broken severely enough.
No matter what plan Temari went through in her mind, every last one had the same result. The zombies broken and defeated, and her, dead on the ground. The only differences in the various images of her own death was the method, location, and how badly wounded Kakashi was when he finally finished her off.
Temari grew increasingly distraught over the fact that her death was looking her in the face. So much so that she didn't notice the cold coming from the pouch at her side for several moments.
When she did, she put one hand into the bag and grasped the freezing object, drawing it out for her to see.
What was in her hands was a small, rectangular picture frame about the size of a walkie-talkie. In the frame was a picture of a dead face, slightly marred with impatience. It was one of Naruto's miniature Portrait Zombies used for communication. She saw a seal glowing dark blue around the rim, apparently Naruto gave the things the ability of getting the attention of whoever was holding it.
She just said "Yes, what is it?" at the undead messenger, hoping that whatever it was, it was something that would allow her to get out of her sure-death situation. Either she stay and get killed by Kakashi, or she ran and got hunted down by Naruto. If this messenger didn't have good news, she was a dead woman.
The Portrait Zombie looked at her from inside the frame and said "About time you noticed I was here, I've got a message from the master, and I haven't the time to be ignored by some little desert rat."
Temari was more than a little indignant at the comment. "What did you just call me!? You're lucky that I don't break this frame on the ground for that insolence you pint-size postage boy!"
The trapped undead just let out a rather loud raspberry at the comment and said "Whatever you camel-humper. The Master may have given you command over those four nimrods over there, but you can't do shit to me, or command me. So, with no respect whatsoever, STUFF IT YOU SLOW WITTED SAND COW!"
Temari was taken aback at THAT particular insult. She tended to forget how surly the Portrait Zombies could be at times. Spending years and years trapped in a painting did wonders for the attitude. To Naruto, Perona, Hogback, and Absalom they were polite and respectful, but to everyone else except a few of the General Zombies they insulted at every opportunity.
Temari swallowed a loud reprisal and said "Fine, whatever. What's the message from Naruto-sama then?"
"Oh, finally getting your mind on business are you? About time you dead weight wind bag." The Zombie cleared its throat and said, in an eerily close impression of Naruto's voice, "Temari, plans have changed. Get you squad and return to base immediately. I'm gathering every available resource for the next assault and we're on a schedule so hurry up. Regards, Naruto."
The Zombie cleared its throat again, and said in its own voice. "Right, with that out of the way, I shall now leave to take up conversation with more appropriate company to one of my personal stature. See you around, you shrieking harpy." Then the picture in the frame went completely black as quickly as switching off a light.
Temari stood there and looked at the picture frame for a moment in shock, and then let a very wide smile grace her features. 'THANK YOU NARUTO-KUN!' she mentally shouted, happy for a way out of a sure-death situation.
She turned to the four Soldiers and said "Change of plans, we're going home early so get up."
The four Soldiers jumped up and approached Temari as she took from around her neck a small gem of purest black. She held the crystal in one hand as she crouched down and put the other hand on the ground, willing her chakra through the gem and into the ground.
As she did so, a black material rushed from the gem to the earth, forming an oval about eight feet wide.
One by one, the Zombies jumped into it, vanishing form Kaze no Kuni and reappearing in the central hall in Dark Heaven Caslte.
Temari got up from her crouch and after a deep breath of relief and joy, jumped into the darkness as well, welcoming the cold of the shadows as she landed upon a familiar marble floor.
She looked up at the familiar stone walls and staring portraits. She was safe at home.
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With Naruto
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For the first time, all of Naruto's forces prepared themselves for battle.
Before now, the only ones sent out were a fraction of the strength that Naruto had accumulated with a combination of Hogback's medical genius and his theft of shadows taken from the great. This time was different. This time, this assault upon Iwagakure itself, was no small raid or small siege. This was to be complete and utter destruction of an entire organization that had survived for over a hundred years.
Every Soldier save a few were going into battle, every General save Kimmimaro was to take part in the assault. Perona, Absalom, the Sound Four, Haku, Anko, and Temari were also to be taking part in the attack, led by Naruto himself.
All of the leading elements of Naruto's group were gathered together in a large meeting-slash-throne-room. The room was massive, a large hall that had a floor of gold flecked granite, held up by pillars of white marble veined with gold. In the alcoves between the pillars stood ancient paintings of master artisans depicting scenes of carnage and chaos, or sculptures of demons and other beings that tormented mortal man. The room itself was at the very top of the castle, directly underneath the steeple of the roof.
From the thick iron door that led to the hall went a red carpet that led past the marble pillars upon which hung oil lanterns which lit the room, that led to the other side of the hall where a large round table sat near the end. The table was three feet high and made entirely of black marble flecked with white marble and silver. Surrounding it were several chairs of fine dark wood, straight backed and expensive, with thick cushions upon the back, arms, and seat. In these wooden chairs sat the Sound Four, Anko, Temari, Haku, and Ryuuma, the strongest General. Perona, Hogback, and Absalom sat in taller chairs made of silver and bronze, positioned directly adjacent to Naruto.
Naruto himself sat against the wall, directly facing the door, a mosaic of a great battle between humans and demons upon the wall behind him. He sat upon a throne that was at least a foot taller than the silver chairs of the Three Enigmas, the entire thing made of solid gold, studded with rubies and sapphires. Plush cushions made the thing extremely comfortable as well as extravagant. It was from this position that he dictated the meeting. Beside him stood Shizuru, one of the maids, who held a pitcher of a fine dark red wine which Naruto held a glass full of.
When Temari had finally returned and sat down, Naruto went through several quick handseals, enveloping everyone in a small Genjutsu that projected a map of Iwagakure itself along with the surrounding lands in the air above the table.
Naruto spoke "Right, the Soldiers will be split up into three divisions, which will attack the village simultaneously at these points." As Naruto spoke, points of red appeared on the map and arrows formed that led to three points on Iwa's wall which were marked as gates.
"One such division will be led by Absalom, a second by Perona, and the third is to be led by Anko. You are to attack the various residential areas and market places, doing as much property damage as possible, and stealing all valuables that aren't too heavy. Any ninja below the level of Jounin are to be killed on sight. Jounin are to be captured if possible, if it's not possible, kill them."
Naruto took a drink before going on "The Generals will act of their own volition, doing damage and killing the enemy's more powerful combatants. With the Generals supporting the main body of Soldiers, we shouldn't have much difficulty until we reach the Kage Tower. Temari and Haku, you are to operate under these guidelines as well."
Naruto gestured and a small, golden icon appeared upon the map, surrounded by four smaller red dots. He took another sip of his wine before saying "While the three groups attack the village and make their way to the Tower, I will be operating with the Sound Four. You are to come with me to Iwagakure's graveyard, where I will work my talents upon the corpses there. There aren't nearly as many ninja bodies buried as in Konoha, but there are a lot of civilian corpses there and I will make use of them to create some stronger undead to assist us in the final assault upon the Tower. Sakon, you will act as my drum, Tayuya, and Kidomaru will be guarding you. Any objections?"
Naruto held out his glass for Shizuru to refill, which she did, while Naruto waited for an answer, not that anyone was going to reply. Everyone there wanted to live a little longer.
After a moment, Naruto nodded and continued on "At that point, all of our forces will assault the Tsuchikage's tower. I will confront and neutralize the Tsuchikage, and after that the rest of the village should fall easily."
Naruto paused to take a drink before speaking again "There is something to be mindful of, and that's the civilians. They are only to be harmed if they get too rowdy, otherwise they are to be ignored or captured, preferably captured. We will go with several hundred cages fit to contain a dozen or so people comfortably, we will use those to hold them. After all, we need people to work the mines. There is still a lot of wealth in these mountains."
Naruto then took another drink and said "The only people not participating in this attack will be Hogback and Kimimaro along with twenty Soldiers and the Maids. Maids aren't meant for fighting and neither are you Hogback, and I'm not willing to risk losing Kimimaro no matter how unlikely it is. I want you to take those Soldiers and continue work on the Special Zombie. With any luck, we'll have destroyed a last stand of resistance in addition to gathering more laborers to work the tunnels and perhaps even a new General or two depending on whether or not powerful Jounin are captured and whether or not I can capture the Tsuchikage alive. Now then, any questions?"
He waited a moment, but no one said a thing. The orders were clear enough.
Naruto smiled and said "Then gather your battalions together and prepared for attack. We move on my order!"
With that, the illusion vanished and everyone left the room. Naruto settled back into his chair and smiled a bit, this would be a very good day.
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With Team 7
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It had taken two hours, but at last the deadly storm left the area. Sakura had healed everyone's wounds, and they were preparing to leave the cave. Kakashi only hoped that he wasn't making a mistake and he wasn't about to take a knife to the back of the head the moment he left the relative safety of the cave.
When everyone was ready, Kakashi burst out into the open, turning around in the air as soon as he was out of the cave and scanned the Cliffside. Seeing no danger there, he immediately checked the nearby landscape for any signs of someone being hidden. He performed several methods of dispelling Genjutsu, finding nothing. Then he signaled the others that it was safe enough to leave the cave, which they immediately did, taking up defensive positions near Kakashi
Kakashi was pretty unnerved. He KNEW that there was an enemy nearby, there was no way that the storm was that strong on its own and he felt definite evidence that someone tampered with it. The only thing was that he couldn't spot that enemy anymore, which was a very dangerous thing.
After a minute or so of silently searching the nearby landscape, he said "Right, let's start moving toward Suna. I don't think that whoever was here is still around, but just in case stay ready, don't let your guard down."
The other three just nodded and followed Kakashi's lead, heading North towards Sunagakure.
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With Naruto, outside Iwagakure, two hours later
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Naruto breathed in the fresh mountain air, savoring it before he looked down at the village below him, everything old and familiar. It had been a long time since he had been to Iwagakure. He had not been there since he brought Haruka and Yukino to his side, though it later came back to bite him. 'Still' he thought 'those traitors got what they had coming.'
He looked on as his watched his army approach the village from three directions, the Soldier Zombies blackening the twilit streets. Near the front of each unit, but not on the front line of any of them, he could see the appointed commanders of the three battalions. Perona, Absalom, and Anko. Normally the position of leading an entire battalion would go to Hogback, but he was not much of a fighter. In that case it should go to Ryuuma, but he was needed more elsewhere. So he went with the most experienced among his other human supporters. Near the backs of the three divisions were several dozen large steel cages each, every one of them moved and maintained by four Soldiers.
Behind Naruto stood the remaining members of the Sound Four, Kidomaru, Sakon, and Tayuya. Sakon had a piece of equipment that was not exactly standard issue with him. A large drum that was specially enhanced to be heard for miles.
Naruto watched Iwa ninja scramble as they prepared for the unexpected assault upon them. He couldn't blame them however, after all his forces appeared out of nowhere and immediately began to march to the gates. He saw some last minute attempts to bar the gates and help defend them, but there was little point to it.
At one gate, a gigantic ghost soared up to the wood and suddenly exploded, sending fragments of the wood flying, as well as large chunks of stone. At another gate, the hinges were blown off suddenly by fast moving, explosive projectiles, and at the third gate ice formed upon the hinges, freezing them and making them brittle for a gigantic summoned snake to bash the doors down. After the gates were quickly broken, the Soldiers swarmed inside the city walls and did battle with the Iwa ninja. He watched from his perch as various jutsu shook the earth as the Iwa Chuunin used their various specialties to try and stem the tide.
It was funny when their attempts to attack were pierced by lightning Ninjutsu from the Soldiers. Naruto may not have been able to utilize fire or lightning any longer, but his creations still could, and they used them to great effect, piercing defenses and attacks and goring through the stomachs or chests of the enemy. Those who were lucky and only got hit in a limb, or escaped all harm, tried to run only to be hunted down by the rapidly approaching undead.
As the Chuunin gate defense fell, the houses nearest to the wall were broken into and entered. With houses this close to the gate, they weren't likely to get anything good, the rich houses were in the market district and near the Tower. Still, he noticed a few bags being looted, and a few times a civilian family was dragged from one of the houses and passed to the back where they were slammed into one of the cages. Once inside, if they tried to escape they would be shocked into unconsciousness so escaping slaves-to-be wasn't going to be a problem.
He was surprised that so many civilians were still in their homes, though it was probably a pretty short notice evacuation. There were several shelters underground to protect civilians, though Naruto would be able to access them once the day was won.
Before long, fires were started in the buildings as the Soldiers fought past. So far, no Jounin or ANBU had shown up, though Naruto knew it was only a matter of time. They were most likely preparing a defense near the Tower, making the enemy come to them.
He watched as the various battalions started to break apart to cover more ground, all the while covering more territory to find and kill enemy ninja as well as to break into and steal from the houses and businesses. The looting was different this time, not a single Soldier came out of a building empty handed, this was where the smaller businesses and lower middle class houses were located, and there was always a bit of money in places like those.
He watched from his vantage point as the various ninja attempted to fight back against the unstoppable tide of undead flesh which did his bidding, breaking into and robbing buildings, burning them after they were past, as well as kidnapping civilians of all ages who were unlucky enough to get seen and caught. Men, women, children as long as they were old enough. If they were too young, infants or toddlers, the Soldiers cut their throats in front of the mothers before tossing them in a cage, after which they usually got quite unruly. Naruto could hear the wails of anguish from where he was watching everything play out.
After a short time, he noticed that a number of barriers were being formed around the Tower, and the Iwa Shinobi were beginning to push his forces back as a few Jounin started to join the battle. A small group of Jounin assaulted the battalion led by Anko, which surprised Naruto by working very well together. One raised a wall of earth behind the front lines of the battalion, while the others knocked the Soldiers out of the air with explosives when they tried to jump over it to join their comrades. At the same time, the other two Jounin bathed the separated portion in fire and wind, creating a sizable blaze that would cook any human.
Unfortunately for them, Naruto had long since made sure that fire wasn't a problem for the Zombies, and so the segregated portion jumped out of the flames and caught the Jounin by surprise, attacking with poisoned knives coated with a potent sedative. Three of them had impressive reflexes and escaped using a Kawarimi, but the fourth got stabbed in the leg by a second Zombie when he was blocking the strike of one going for his throat. He reeled back, staggering a bit as the rapid acting sedative flowed through his system.
A Soldier Zombie ran up and hit him in a pressure point under the jaw, knocking him out effectively. It was at this moment that the wall of rock behind them was broken apart by Soldier Zombies armed with maces for breaking through walls and such. The Jounin was tossed into the group without preamble and they began to carry him hand over hand to the cages near the back, where he would be restrained for the rest of the battle.
The other three Jounin jumped out of nearby buildings, breaking through the windows, in an attempt to save their comrade, but when they were in mid-air the three were hit by quick moving white blurs which propelled them into nearby walls. Once they were still, it was obvious that the white blurs were shots of webbing that trapped the Jounin against the wall.
Naruto looked in the direction that the shots came from and briefly saw the movement of a six armed figure between two buildings before it entered one soundlessly and escaped his field of view. 'Well, Gomorrah is doing his job well.' He thought.
Jounin also attacked the other two battalions but they were quickly dealt with, one of them was beaten down by the Soldiers, though several were injured fatally by the standards of humans with their throats slashed. Still, such injuries didn't even slow Naruto's creations down and they defeated the Jounin who were shocked at the sight. Three more Jounin were carried over to the cages as one of them was accidentally killed, in which case the body was thrown into a nearby building which was set on fire as they passed it.
As for the third group, they didn't even engage the Soldiers. They had scarcely appeared before a blur sped out of an alley way and through the middle of the Jounin group, before stopping on the other side of the street revealing itself to be Ryuuma. The Jounin twitched once or twice and fell bonelessly to the ground. None of them were dead, but all were unconscious since Ryuuma struck with the flat of his blade. He quickly saluted Perona who was directing the attack before vanishing again.
Naruto then turned to the Sound Four who were waiting behind him and said "Come" before jumping down and running down the mountainside, followed closely by the ex-Oto ninja.
He led them through one of the broken gates, through the burning parts of the city, heading toward the Kage tower before changing direction and heading west, toward the large graveyard that filled in a small section of the city in the parts closer to the Kage Tower than the Soldiers had gotten to yet. It was mainly a civilian graveyard, so no one protected it as they might a graveyard filled with ninja corpses.
They encountered a few fleeing Chuunin on their way to the graveyard, which Naruto dealt with in a way that none of the Sound Four had seen before.
He knocked them back with a swift strike, not hurting them but staggering them at which point he grabbed their heads and forced them to the ground. The Sound Four felt some kind of energy in the air as Naruto muttered under his breath, never taking his eyes from the Chuunin under his hand before abruptly letting him up.
The Chuunin stood, his appearance bland and dazed before Naruto merely said "Kill anyone wearing an Iwa headband." At which point the Chuunin howled in an almost animal fury and bounded in the direction of the Kage Tower.
Kidomaru looked at the whole scene unnerved for a moment before asking "Naruto-sama, what did you do to him?"
Naruto looked back and said "I tested something that I found in Kemmler's books. It was the art of breaking into and controlling a person's mind. There is a thing called enthrallment, basically turning a person into a mindless, obedient slave. There are two types of it, Rough and Fine enthrallment. Rough Thralls are basically sheep who are aware that they are slaves but are prisoners in their own heads, unable to control their own actions. This takes some time to do."
Naruto looked after the Chuunin and said "Then there is Fine Enthrallment. A Fine thrall is so well controlled that he doesn't even know that he's a slave, and it lasts long term. However, that takes time and a certain amount of empathy to do, as well as a certain talent for it, none of which I really have. Then, there's what I did to that poor bastard. I turned him into what's known as a Renfield."
Tayuya looked in the direction the Chuunin ran, from which screams could be heard and asked "And what are those?"
Naruto turned around and said "It's a quick, dirty way for someone to pick up some cheap muscle. It's done by crushing the person into total thralldom through sheer psychic force, doing tremendous mental damage to the person in question destroying their sanity in the process. It makes them no good for anything but gibbering violence, but since that's what I have in mind, it works out. They can't feel pain, and are strong enough to rip through a brick wall. And it can't be undone, the moment a Renfield's mind breaks it has an expiration date. They grow more and more unstable until they eventually self-destruct about a year and a half to two years after their created. Luckily, it's not difficult to do and it doesn't take much time."
Sakon was quiet for a moment and said "So, basically you just threw a small, human looking version of the Incredible Hulk at them?"
Naruto smiled a bit and said "More or less, now let's get going." Then without another word, he led the way through another few side-streets before eventually stopping before a large fence. Without a word, the shadows cast by the iron bars rose up in tendrils and tore out a large section of the fence, the metal screeching with resistance. The shadows threw the section of fence in one direction and Naruto stepped through the resulting hole, the Sound Four behind him.
The graveyard was plain and ordinary, green turf, disturbed every few feet by a chunk of quarried stone inscribed with names and dates.
The only noticeable thing was that there were about four thousand graves.
Naruto led them to the back of the graveyard, where the oldest graves were located before he suddenly stopped and said "Here"
He turned around and said to Sakon "Start playing, just as I told you."
Sakon nodded and took the drum from his back, setting on the ground and kneeling in front of it. Then started to play out a quick, primal beat. The only problem was that it barely carried two feet.
Naruto looked at him in irritation and said "You'll need to strike it with greater strength, transform."
Sakon looked a bit surprised at the command, but obeyed nonetheless. The black shapes of the Curse Mark flowed around his head and neck before they covered his body and he changed into a red skinned, ogre-like creature with a single horn. Then, with his incredible physical strength, he started playing the drum again, and this time everyone across the village could hear it. Everyone from the civilians hiding under the Kage Tower, to the soon to be slaves in the cages, to the commanders of the attack.
The Soldier Zombies heard the beat and knew what it meant, and reacted with joy, throwing themselves into the fray and attacking the enemy without restraint, confident in the knowledge that their Master was soon to join the battle.
Likewise, several every ninja in Iwagakure knew what it meant, everyone had heard the reports of the Chuunin who escaped from Naruto that day three years ago. They knew that the enemy just gained a large amount of reinforcements.
Naruto closed his eyes and focused upon the music, channeling his power into the beat, connecting it with his will and intent, then channeled that into the ground, to the ancient bodies below them. One thing about Necromancy, the older the body, the more difficult it is to summon it, but once they were summoned they were stronger, faster, easier to control, and more resistant to damage. And the bodies in that section of the graveyard of the oldest Hidden Village were several hundred years old.
Naruto felt that power, and poured it into the ancient bodies, using his own power to call forth the matter known as ectoplasm, matter from the realm of spirit. He used his power to make that matter into what he wanted, flesh to clothe the bones of the ancient dead, to give them form when they had lost it, and to give them strength that they had lost.
Then he shouted into the air "Geister alt, hören Sie meinen Befehl, Schatten der vorigen Gewinn-Macht, und Gefühl-Heiterkeit in dieser Macht. Hervorgekommen von der großen Leere, um einem neuen Master zu dienen, seien Sie einer Taufe des Bluts und Todes erfreut, kommen Sie darüber hinaus zur Erde her Sie gingen einmal spazieren und das Leben lehren, fürchten, was gegangen ist!"(1)
The Sound Four watched in wonder and surprise as the ground over forty graves began to crack and move before hands shot out from the depths of the earth, these hands clutched at the ground and hurled themselves up, and the Sound Four got their first look at high level zombies.
Unlike the ones he had used before, these corpses looked like they could have been saved by a quick doctor. There was no indication that they weren't dead except for the fact that their clothes were several hundred years out of date, and the lack of intelligence in their eyes. They walked in perfect unison and stood before Naruto, perfectly willing to obey his commands without question, even if they could think of such an act. The Sound Four couldn't help but shiver as they walked past, the air around them was almost frozen. Their skin almost seemed to glow with a pale glimmer of power and they could tell that if Naruto told them to, those blank faces would stay just the same emotionless and unthinking as they ripped a person limb from limb, or punched through a brick wall.
Naruto smiled as he saw the result of his work, though he was visibly tired from the effort of summoning up even this many high level undead. Summoning merely forty of these took as much energy as several hundred lesser undead.
Naruto merely said "Come" and led the forty off toward the Tower, toward the home of the Tsuchikage.
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(1) Minds of old, hear my order. Shades of generations past take this power and take joy in it. Come forth from the endless abyss and serve a new Master. Be delighted in this baptism of blood and death, walk the earth once more and teach the living to fear what once was!
Okay, that's the end of the chapter. Naruto briefs and then leads an attack upon Iwagakure, using all of his forces to their best extent. Team Seven escapes death and continues on toward Suna in hopes of rescuing Gaara, and dozens of civilians are enslaves during the attack. The undead are summoned, and Naruto shows new techniques learned from the books of the ancient Necromancer Kemmler. What will happen next chapter? Find out then!
Until the next update,
Artful Lounger
