Chapter Two: Smoke over the Land of Waves
The mist was hanging heavily around the vessel as it slowly but surely cut through the water. Cloud Strife peered out over the side, looking for any sign he could find of the land behind. He'd hate for them to shipwreck and die horribly drowning in the cold waters. He'd only just gotten this uniform; he wanted to wear it in a bit.
Not that it was the uniform he'd wanted. Looking to the other, blue-clad soldiers of Shinra, he saw them checking weapons. Most were taller than him, and one looked to the distance. "So this is the Land of Waves?"
"Strife, you see anything?" asked one.
Cloud looked out at the shore and saw no sign of any watchmen. Though, as the mist began to clear a bit, he thought he saw trees. A lot of trees and... not much else. Raising his binoculars, he scanned for any sign of an enemy. Eventually, he lowered it.
"Nothing," said Cloud. "No one on the shore."
"So no lookouts?" asked a larger man, polishing his gun.
"These are common thugs, after all," said Cloud. "Gato is a criminal, not a general. And the Land of Waves has largely relied on its isolated position to save it. Being so far out to sea did it a lot of favors, I guess." What were their names? Cloud had been introduced to them before, but he'd forgotten. Now no one introduced themselves, and he hadn't felt right asking.
He'd been working with them for weeks, after all.
"So what changed?" asked the first.
"Technology," said Cloud, remembering reading all about this. Back before the Nine-tailed Fox attacked, anyway. He'd wondered what the Leaf Village looked like for a long time. Now he'd never find out. Even if it was all rebuilt, it wasn't the same place. "Ships are more reliable and move faster. With fewer risks, more trade can get there. And more thugs. Gato was able to ship a lot of hired goons out here and unofficially take the place over. Which is why we're here."
"Well, where'd you get that many hired thugs?" asked another.
Didn't these guys read? "The samurai class is obsolete. Most of them lost their lands and privileges. And the ones that didn't hire professional soldiers. So you've got a lot of hungry samurai who'd do anything for a paycheck."
"You know a lot about this stuff, don't you?" asked the normal-sized one.
"I do my homework," said Cloud. "Back in Nibelheim, we had a library that Shinra built. And everyone was taught to read. You can find a lot of stuff out if you just pay attention."
"Then what are you doing in the infantry?" asked another. "Why not join a ninja village? Or become a scribe?"
"It wouldn't be a very good fit," said Cloud, who'd failed his attempts at jutsu miserably. "And I wanted to see action."
"Cut the chatter, you lot," said Sarge, clad in red and holding an officer's sword. "We're nearing our objective."
Sure enough, there it was. The mist was clearing just in time, and they could see smoke from cooking fires rising up over the trees. A little way beyond, you could see buildings. But no lookouts in this direction, if there were any.
Sloppy.
"...So uh, can we go over the plan now?" asked one.
"Gato has established one of his major bases over that ridge," said Sarge. "He uses it as a center of power and crushes any attempts at resistance from it, though Gato himself isn't present.
"Our job is to attack it and kill everyone there."
"No arrests?" asked one.
"The Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves is weak," said Sarge. "And Gato is a major problem for Shinra. He keeps funneling drugs into the mainland using the Land of Waves as a base. It's interfering with our factory workers. And it is causing major sickness among the natives.
"President Shinra wants an example made of these. And once we liberate the Land of Waves, we'll be able to arrange a favorable trade deal. Once we land, we scale up, confirm the enemy location, and, once assembled, attack.
"Once we finish, we will withdraw back onto the boat and leave."
And so they waited as the shore drew nearer. Cloud kept dreading the prospect that the bandits would come over here and see them. He even kept his rifle ready, just in case. But, no one did, and soon they rushed off the boat onto the beach. All fifteen Shinra soldiers scaled up the ridge quickly and quietly as they had been trained. Cloud stepped over a loose twig and came to the top.
Crawling forward on his stomach, he came to the edge of the ridge and saw the bandits. There were more than a hundred of them around cooking fires. They were drinking and laughing and paying no attention. Not in Cloud's direction or the direction of the village. Didn't the Land of Waves have militias or armies?
How could a few hundred thugs keep an entire country suppressed? Had no one tried to resist?
It didn't matter. Shinra was here to foot the bill for interest later.
"Did you see that hot innkeeper before? I think I outta insist on that ones' hospitality," said a man nearby. Cloud saw his comrades lining up. Together, they lowered their guns on Sarge's signal and made their targets.
"You'd better wait your turn," laughed another. "I mean to have a go at her."
They were talking about rape as entertainment—what a bunch of animals, the worst of an inferior race. Cloud aimed for his heart, and Sarge signaled.
Cloud fired, and so did everyone else.
Cloud's shot was badly done. It hit the back of the throat instead of the head. But, fourteen other thugs had their blood spattered over the dirt. Screams of agony came as Cloud reloaded, aimed, and fired again, kicking up more smoke. This time, he killed another by getting him through the stomach, and plenty others joined them.
Keep your breath steady, aim and fire. But don't take too long, or you may never get your shot.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
In this Shinobi world, there were thousands upon thousands of jutsu. They ranged from mere convenience to world-shattering. But all of them had something in common. If you killed your enemy before they could use them, they weren't any use at all.
Not that these thugs had jutsu. Some of them were figuring out where the shots were coming from. A few were even realizing it was Shinra doing the shooting. Now many of them were rushing toward their position.
"Activate flash materia!" said Sarge.
Cloud raised his and looked away as a bright light shone out and blinded the enemies. Many of them fell to the ground, clutching their eyes. Cloud and company went back to shooting them. Aim, fire, kill.
This was not what he'd wanted to do when he'd left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER.
But he wasn't part of SOLDIER, was he? And if he was ever going to qualify, he had to perform well. Maybe Tifa would be impressed by some stories about all this.
At last, it was over.
Corpses upon corpses, upon corpses, were all over the base camp. Cloud peered out and got to a crouch. His gun was empty. At that moment, a man leaped up from where he was playing dead. Holding a huge cleaver-like sword, he swung it at Cloud. Cloud raised his gun and blocked it, but the metal bent.
"Cowardly bastards! Fight us fairly, you honorless westerners!" said the man.
Cloud pushed the sword aside, drew out a knife, and jammed it into the man's throat. He gurgled as he sank to the ground, and Cloud shoved him back. Looking at his useless gun, he picked up the sword, walked to one side, and brought it down to behead the man. Then he spun the sword around and propped it on one shoulder.
He'd always wanted to do that.
"Nice work, Cloud!" said one of the men.
"Enough of that," said Sarge. "We're getting out of here now! Back to the boats!"
Cloud took the sword, but he also took his broken gun. These things were expensive, and he hoped they wouldn't take it out of his pay. He shouldn't have been so careless; if he'd been doing things, he'd have reloaded immediately. Then he could have shot the man as soon as he appeared.
"Strife, that was amazing," said a soldier as they got onto the ship.
"The technique needs work," said Cloud. "I'll keep the sword as a reminder."
Soon they pulled away from the shore and were heading out at full speed. It had been a hit and run tactic. Cloud, however, was bothered by how easy it had been.
"That was easy," said a man.
Cloud looked up and decided to learn their names. Even as he opened his mouth, however, Sarge came forward. They were going back into the mist now. "Of course, it was easy. We did our job and didn't get careless. Our enemy wasn't expecting us and were stupid-"
And then something cut him in half. Cloud leaped for the deck and saw senbon plant themselves in the deck where he'd been. The men were standing up, and two of them exploded into the blood as a shadow cut them down. Raising his sword, Cloud grabbed the gun and threw it at the shadow. Even as two more men fell dead from the senbon, he grabbed an oar.
"Get off the ship," said Cloud, realizing that most of his crew were already dead.
Leaping off the vessel, he took a deep breath and felt something tear through his outfit, and dove into the water. If he went on the surface, he'd be gunned down. So instead, he swam deeper and along, hoping to get under the mist. With luck, his enemy would see him sink and think he drowned. The sword made a pretty good weight to drag him down, actually.
As he swam, he felt currents as his air supply lessened. Looking up, Cloud saw his boat breaking to pieces. A huge wave, probably a jutsu had done it. Swimming all the harder, he began to force his way upwards with the oar as help. Kicking, he felt his lungs burn, and then he emerged with a gasp.
Idiot.
His shoes were filling with water, it was making it difficult to stay afloat. Cloud ought to have kicked them off first thing. But then he noticed another thing, a lantern, and swam toward it. Best not to cry for help; it could attract his attacker.
If he could keep his shoes, he would.
So Cloud swam with all his might, beating his way through the waves and clinging to sword and oar. As he did, he wished he could have learned the names of his fellows. But they probably wouldn't have been friends anyway. Anyway, if he completed their mission like this, it would make him look far better.
He might be able to fulfill his promise to Tifa then.
Anyway, he was fourteen. He had time to join SOLDIER.
Stop thinking and move.
"What was all that noise out there, Kakashi-sensei? It sounded like thunder," said a curious voice from the light. It looked like a boy, blonde-haired with whiskers on his face.
"No, not thunder Naruto. Gunfire," said a voice, presumably Kakashi. "Tazuna, does Gato have firearms?"
"Some," said Tazuna, a gruff-sounding voice. "But his men lack the discipline to form any kind of organized formation. If they had it, they'd be working more glorious careers."
"Good to know," said Kakashi. "But that many guns and then the water jutsu... I think Shinra Corporation may have become involved here."
"Shinra corporation, what's that?" asked Naruto.
"Don't you know anything, Naruto?" asked a whining female voice. "Shinra corporation is a huge western company that does a lot of business with the ninja villages. They also hire out mercenary infantry as private security."
"Well then, what would they be doing here?" asked a reserved tone.
Cloud was watching up on the boat, but it was becoming more difficult to swim.
"It's a good question, Sasuke. Can you shed any light on this, Tazuna?" asked Kakashi, sounding accusing.
"No," said Tazuna. "I've heard nothing of anything like this. It may have happened while I was absent-"
Cloud got to the boat and grabbed the side of it, dropping his oar. Then he pulled himself up to show himself to them, gasping for breath. The girl screamed. So did Naruto, who looked pale as a sheet.
"Ah! Pirate ghosts are attacking us!" said Naruto.
"I find it more likely he's a survivor from the shipwreck," said Kakashi.
"Help, please..." gasped Cloud.
"Naruto, Sakura, help him into the boat," said Kakashi.
The girl and boy both moved forward to grab Cloud, pulling him out, and a moment later, he was seated before them. Sakura was pink-haired and looking on in concern. Naruto looked curious now, while Tazuna was afraid and trying to hide it. He kept glancing into the mist. The rower wasn't important.
Sasuke, however, was looking at Cloud with an impassive look. He probably wanted to appear very perceptive and understanding. Or perhaps Cloud was just reading him wrong.
"Who are you?" asked Kakashi, who wore a mask over his face and a green flak jacket. "I judge by your uniform that you are Shinra. And I'm guessing that little skirmish out there didn't go well for you."
"My name is Private Cloud Strife of the Shinra Mercenary division, First Class. And we completed our mission," said Cloud. "Who are you?"
"Kakashi Hatake of the Leaf Village and Team 7," said Kakashi. "With me are Naruto Uzumaki."
"Nice to meet you," said Naruto, as though nothing had happened. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"
"Sakura Haruno," said Sakura. "I'm uh... glad you're okay." She didn't meet his eyes and looked away. She lacked confidence.
"And Sasuke Uchiha," said Kakashi.
Sasuke remained where he was, arms crossed, and said nothing. Not even making a greeting was a stupid move. For all Sasuke knew, Cloud Strife was going to be someone important someday. Snubbing random strangers was never a good idea; you never could tell who they turned out to be. But maybe Cloud was reading too much into it.
He should have known they'd be pursued. If he'd been on his guard, they might have seen those ninja coming. Ninja could walk on water; that was a trick Shinra hadn't figured out yet.
"Anyway, those are my students," said Kakashi. "We're acting as bodyguards to Tazuna, a notable bridgebuilder.
"Might I inquire as to the nature of your mission?"
Cloud considered whether he should tell Kakashi. Then he decided that by this point, the mission was probably dead in the water without help. And no one was going to take offense to Shinra trying to liberate the Land of Waves. "I'm part of an effort to break Gato's hold on the Land of Waves. We were dispatched to wipe out a base camp of Gato's minions. We took them off guard, disoriented them, and killed them all.
"However, while we were retreating, we were attacked. Our boat was sunk, and to my knowledge, I am the only survivor."
"I see, we had a run-in with them before," said Kakashi. "I'm sorry to hear about your loss."
"Wait, what's so private about all of that?" asked Naruto.
"Private is a rank in the Shinra military, Naruto. It means that he's a basic infantryman," said Sakura in a know-it-all tone. Naruto listened and without taking offense. Which meant he was ignorant and lacking in pride—either that or desperate.
Silence.
"So uh, what are you going to do now?" asked Naruto.
"My orders were to withdraw back to the shore and regroup," said Cloud. "However, I don't think that is an option. My commanding officer is dead, and we were supposed to hold positions and wait for further orders. Orders that might not even be coming after what happened here.
"Could I go with you? I could help you guard the bridgebuilder in payment. And I might be able to get a telegraph out to Shinra."
"That seems a fair trade," said Kakashi. "But what exactly was the contract you made to bring Shinra down here?"
"The Feudal Lord was sick of being a puppet within his own Land," said Cloud. "He made contact with President Shinra and requested military aid. In exchange, he'd provide favorable trade options to Shinra corporation."
"Why would you know about this, Tazuna?" asked Kakashi, looking to him.
"I'm a civilian," said Tazuna. "The people of the Land of Waves came up with our own plan. We did not consult the Feudal Lord in making it.
"Why would you think you could take on ninja?" asked Sasuke abruptly.
"Yeah," said Sakura. "Ordinary soldiers are never a match for high-level ninja."
These idiots really didn't get geopolitics much, did they? Although he noticed that the only thing Sasuke had said so far was an implied condemnation. Could that indicate something about how he acted?
"We didn't know we would be fighting ninja," said Cloud, which was true. It also made him appear weak. "And seeing as you three are genin, I can only assume neither did you."
Why had he said that? That was needlessly confrontation and could wreck things.
Kakashi blinked. "That's actually a good point."
Fine, run with that line. "Besides, if Sephiroth was here, he'd have massacred Zabuza and all his men in minutes."
"That much I can believe," said Kakashi.
"Sephi... who?" asked Naruto.
Sasuke and Sakura stared at him. Cloud realized he was staring as well. "Sephiroth.
"The One-Winged Angel.
"The most deadly person in the entire world. Stronger than any of the Kage."
"No way!" said Naruto. "Nobody is stronger than Old Man Sarutobi! Right, Kakashi-sensei?!"
"Sephiroth has never fought any of the Kage," said Kakashi. "And we should all hope it never gets put to the test. It would mean the beginning of a major war."
"It doesn't need to be put to the test," said Cloud with a shrug. "You can't exaggerate Sephiroth's abilities. And anyway, the Hokage is pushing seventy, while Sephiroth is at most thirty. It wouldn't even be a fair matchup."
"No way," said Naruto. "The Old Man knows every single jutsu the Leaf has ever had, except Kekkei Genki and clan abilities. He fought and won every single Shinobi World War despite being at a disadvantage.
"And he's been fighting way longer than Sephiroth has. Even if he is old, he'd still destroy this Sephiroth guy, no question."
"Someone's a fan," said Sasuke, voice scoffing.
"What if I am?" asked Cloud, annoyed at his dismissive tone. Best to dial things down a bit. However, Sasuke turned away, and Cloud noticed the Uchiha Clan crest on Sasuke.
So he was Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor of the Uchiha Clan except for Itachi Uchiha. He'd had his entire family butchered or something. Cloud vaguely remembering reading about that in the newspaper. He'd found it boring and opted to read cartoons instead.
Was that callous? Maybe.
Did it have any bearing on the situation? Not really.
"So um... this Sephiroth guy runs Shinra, then?" asked Naruto.
"No," said Cloud. "Why would he? President Shinra runs Shinra corporation, Sephiroth is his chief lieutenant."
"Why don't we keep it quiet for the rest of the boat ride, Naruto," said Kakashi. "Our enemies could still be about."
Cloud looked to the shore and reflected that things were going to get very interesting. At least he knew the names of these four and a bit about them. It was something to work with.