Chapter 3 – Breaking Point
He was already heading toward the chopper before the rocket launched. He heard Pad's Longshot bark a reply immediately after, which meant he had been watching the hills the whole time. This one had simply slipped past him. Naruto cleared the fort of the wall just as the rocket entered his field of view. His Hirashin kunai flew from his jacket, thrown in the same motion that drew it from its pocket. It embedded itself into the exhaust vent on either side of the rotor base, where the rocket was headed. He flashed to directly above the explosive projectile and swatted downward, striking the metal object hard and breaking a few fingers in the process.
He was too late to deflect it completely; the rocket slammed into the dirt instead of the helicopter, just fifteen feet below him. He braced himself, but the explosion still threw him into the air. The sound from the blast battered his sensitive ears, and shrapnel tore into his arms and chest, though he had shielded himself from the blow. It also rocked the chopper, causing it to bump him slightly and send him to the tough grass below. He landed hard onto his back, forcing what air was left in his lungs out into the dusty air.
"Gak!" He cried, blood spurting out as well from his punctured lung. His vision swam as his body struggled to compensate for the lack of oxygen. His breath came in slow, ragged gasps, but he could feel the wounds healing already. I don't have time to lie here. He thought to himself. Wincing from the pain, he slowly pushed himself to a kneeling position, still catching his breath. He spat out another mouthful of blood, but the smell of burning fuel caught his nose and forced him to stand.
"Ah, shit." He'd learned the word 'shit' had many different uses, and in this case it was reluctant annoyance. He stumbled around the nose of the chopper – noting with some concern that the pilot couldn't open the door – and looked at the impact crater he had created. The rocket had definitely been designed for armor penetration, as the hole was deeper than he would have expected. Still, what concerned him were the holes in the side and fuel tank torn by shrapnel from the attack. Helicopter fuel spewed everywhere, and there were still some fires here and there. The chopper didn't have long. He had to move.
He kept running forward until he reached the cargo bay, where Sam Byrne and another unknown Gear worked to offload the last pallet of food. By the time he reached them, his lung was stable enough for him to talk.
"Guys, you gotta get clear. The shrapnel punctured the fuel tank and damaged the engine. This thing's gonna – ack – blow..." Another spatter of blood painted the side of the chopper as he leaned against it, his legs suddenly weakened. Sam and the other Gear looked at each other, then moved to help him. Naruto held up a hand to stop them.
"Get those supplies to the fort. I'll... I'll get the pilot." He barely got the words out before he ran out of breath. Sam noticed this immediately. The sergeant pushed the last pallet of food toward the rest of the Gears and ran to Naruto's side.
"You need help for this one, kid. You're barely standing." Sam tried to reason with him, but Naruto just smiled, showing a row of bloody teeth. He always found it humorous that they didn't know exactly how old he was. He pushed Sam away feebly, already stumbling back into the chopper.
"You're a father now, Sam. You have to think about that." That comment made Samuel pause, and he gritted his teeth in annoyance. It was a dirty trick, reminding him of his wife's pregnancy, but it worked. He ran back toward the supplies, shouting orders to move them into the fort as fast as possible.
Naruto reached the cockpit, and finally realized why the pilot couldn't escape. The explosion had thrown a huge piece of shrapnel into the locking mechanism, bending the entire frame of the door around the handle and making it impossible for the young woman on the other side of the glass to escape. As he caught his breath, he got a good look of the pilot. She was young, maybe twenty five at the oldest, and her helmet was off. Her pretty brown hair was held back in a simple ponytail, her green eyes wide and pleading Freckles dotted their way across pale skin, and her pleading expression showed a set of dazzling white teeth. In Naruto's mind, she was quite striking, were it not for the circumstances she was in. Naruto made a shooing motion with one hand, indicating she step back. He planted his feet so he would have good leverage, then channeled chakra to his fist, just as Tsunade and Sakura had done in his youth. He thrust his arm forward, releasing the energy just as it came in contact with the lock, and punched right through it. Without the protective gloves that Sakura always wore, the metal mangled his hand, causing a sharp and steady pain to rise from his mutilated knuckles. He winced at the pain, but ignored it as he tore open the door, and the pilot limped out.
Naruto first noticed her name tag, Wilkins, and then he saw blood staining the side of her left leg, which she held gingerly off the deck. Some of the shrapnel must have penetrated the cockpit itself as well. He cursed inwardly, then held out his good hand.
"This chopper's done, let's get out of here." He said with a cough, though his voice was returning gradually. She took his hand and threw her arm over his shoulder, hobbling with him as they hurried down the cargo ramp. Smoke had begun to hover in the air, so they were greatly relieved when they escaped the confines of the Corva in favor of open air. Naruto kept going, though, certain of the imminent explosion. Wilkins was too busy trying to hug him.
"Thank you, oh thanks so much! I was a goner in there!" She said gratefully, though Naruto shook his head. His steps quickened as the last of his chest injuries healed, and he grabbed her forcefully. With too little time to ask politely, he picked the startled pilot up bridal style and jumped as far as he could, just as the vapors within the gas tanks of the chopper ignited. A wall of force and heat slammed into him in mid air, sending him farther than he had intended. Sam and the others looked up in time to watch his smoking body sail over them, before the shrapnel followed and they were forced to duck. Naruto curled his body around the pilot's as the ground approached, and his head was the first to hit. A terrible crack echoed through the aftermath of the explosion, and Sam came sprinting up to where the two had landed. He found them lying on the ground, Wilkins worriedly shaking the blonde in an attempt to wake him.
"Stop stop stop! Don't move him!" He said quickly, waving his arms to get her attention. Wilkins stopped, her eyes fearful as she backed off from Naruto's still form slightly. Medical first aid obviously wasn't her strong suit. Sam knelt down next to Naruto and put his ear to the blonde's mouth, and heard the faint sound of breathing. He was still alive.
Sam chuckled and backed off with his finger to his ear. "Lieutenant, we need a medevac for our new friend down here. He pulled the pilot out, and now he's got quite a concussion." The mic keyed up almost immediately.
"I just watched him fly across the front yard. Medics are on the way. How are the supplies, sergeant?" Leave it to Hoffman to put his garrison before one man. Still, they all knew Naruto was one tough son of a bitch. Sam looked back at the wreckage. The bird was a mess, its rotors contorted and bent among the flames as the frame of the body fell in upon itself. In the light of the fire, however, he could still see four Gears shuffling away with twelve pallets of food and water. He grinned.
"No fatalities, sir. And the supplies are on their way up. What did we do about the shooter?" He knew that precautions had been taken, though it was plain for all to see how that had turned out. There was a pause, and two clicks of the mic came over the fort-wide channel. Hoffman came back on after that.
"Pad says the guy who fired the rocket is thinking all over the rocks behind him. The Pesangas are combing the rest of the cliffs as we speak. It SHOULD be safe this time." Everyone could hear the regret behind Hoffman's growl. He blamed himself, at least partly, for allowing the attack to happen.
"Roger that. We'll get the supplies and our two wounded fliers inside. Byrne out." He let his hand drop and knelt beside Wilkins again. She still clung to Naruto with worry, but part of her military bearing had returned. Sam held out a hand to help her up, and she took it. Her eyes softened when she looked back down at her unconscious savior.
"Will he be okay? We flew so far, and he was already hurt to begin with..." The pilot trailed off, and Sam just chuckled.
"You wouldn't believe the trouble this guy's gone through. I think he could take a tank round and live; he's a tough one. Let's get you two inside so Doc Rosa can have a look at you." He threw her arm around his shoulder and waved over two Gears that had already brought their pallets into the fort. They saw Naruto's unconscious form and quickly set about lifting him up, one looping his arms underneath the blonde's while the other grabbed Naruto's legs. Sam and Wilkins both looked down at the shinobi, their emotions polar opposites. Sam looked down on with with mild humor, while the pilot saw Naruto through the eyes of an awed disciple. She had never seen his incredible talents, and Sam had only been privy to a few himself. But no matter his special skills, he still couldn't stay out of trouble.
"Seems like every time you come into the fort, you're unconscious." Sam said to the incapacitated shinobi, who predictably did not reply. Together, the four plus one followed the trail of Gears hauling their prizes back into the relative safety of Anvil Gate, the burning carcass of the Corva behind them.
Hoffman had mixed feelings about his slightly less-than-fresh sandwich he chewed through, the bread so moistened by the water he had dunked it it that very few crumbs survived to scatter across his desk. And upon that desk, he had amended the caloric regimen for the civilian populace. With the supplies brought in by the Corva, he had upped each citizen's caloric intake by five hundred calories a day, and nearly doubled the water ration. The food was obvious, but his decision on the water came from an offer by Naruto, delirious though he had been.
An hour prior, Hoffman had dropped by the medical bay to personally thank Naruto and Wilkins for risking their lives as they had. Naruto had been upright when he had arrived, and thoroughly oblivious to the enamored gaze he was receiving from the Corva pilot.
If Hoffman had been partial to literature, he'd have called it a schoolgirl crush. Second Lieutenant Taylor Wilkins was a supply pilot; she'd never had to fight someone for dominance in close quarters or look her attacker in the eye as she took his life. Her ignorance to the hardship of war was almost precious, though now it seemed as if she would jump Naruto's bones now that she knew what he had done. In that regard, Hoffman could only wish him the best.
Naruto had offered, in layman's terms, a solution to the water problem now that he was sure no more water was coming. At first, Victor had thought the blonde was joking, but the determined look in his eyes had nipped that prospect in the bud. Without going into vague details, Naruto had asked for two Gears to follow him north to examine the exact collapse. After he had recovered, of course.
Hoffman had told him he'd think about it, and had left the blonde to fend off his new admirer while Rosa laughed from afar. Now that he had time to think over it, though, his memory of the attack flashed through his head repeatedly, trying to determine exactly what the blonde had done. They'd all seen him jump from the walls of the fort – a feat in and of itself – but he had disappeared behind the chopper right before the explosion. The rocket had obviously connected with the ground instead of the chopper, else they would have been staring at a smoldering wreckage. Whatever it had done had obviously hurt him; he had healing wounds to his chest and arms when he had entered the infirmary, though the bleeding that had obviously been present had ceased, a testament to his incredible regenerative abilities.
Regardless of what Naruto had done, he'd earned the garrison more food and water, and had promised more once he was upright again. Hoffman wasn't a religious man, but somehow he knew without the blonde godsend fighting off a somewhat naive pilot in the medical ward, his garrison would be much worse off. Still, while Naruto had just become invaluable, his miraculous abilities did not steal away all of Hoffman's responsibilities. And now, the lieutenant had a difficult decision to make. Did he trust Naruto and expand the number of resources allowed to the civilian populace? Or did he play this close to the chest and wait to see if Naruto was good for his word?
The guy DID take a rocket for our supplies, though whether it was for the pilot inside or the food doesn't matter. He's been honest so far; I guess I can trust him here. If Hoffman was wrong, he'd be passing out a quantity of rations that would hasten the end of their supplies. And with the thief or thieves still on the loose, they stood on the brink of starvation already. Hoffman rubbed his bald head as the idea rattled around his skull. He'd already allowed Naruto access to all but the most secure of areas within the fort, though it wasn't a matter of trust so much as it was a moot point to try to contain him. Every lock he'd pick and every wall he'd climb. He'd become so popular that there were even rumors of other abilities. Civilians and Gears alike claimed he could multiply himself, others said that he could scale walls simply by running up them. Most of these rumors Hoffman had dismissed entirely. He could assume increased stamina and ability simply from Naruto's vitals, but some of it was just hogwash; incredible nonsense derived from mystery and paranoia.
Victor rubbed his temples in a vain attempt to fight off his oncoming headache. All normal medications handy for dispelling headaches had been seized as emergency medical supplies. Even the mild painkillers would come in handy in case of an attack, but the unfortunate side effect left Hoffman with an irritating migraine. He was about to dial the intercom for his adjutant, a squirrel of a man that was sharp as a tack, when he nearly knocked over a cup steaming hot tea that had suddenly appeared on his desk. His fingers brushed the foreign dish and he jerked back in surprise, only to see Naruto leaning up against the wall, arms crossed and gazing out the window. The small cup clinked from the action, and Naruto looked over with a grin.
"Drink it while it's hot: the heat blocks the taste." He said, gesturing toward the cup. Hoffman returned his glare to the mysterious beverage. It was transparent, a deep green color with several trails of steam curling up from the surface in a simple white cup. He picked of the small drink using his thumb and forefinger, feeling the warmth seep through the porcelain and into his fingers. He looked at Naruto again.
"For some reason, I'm half hoping this is poisoned." He groused, earning a chuckle from the blonde man. With one last grimace, he knocked back the small drink in one go, eyes watering at the temperature. He didn't actually expect it to be poisoned, but neither did he expect the calming warmth that flooded him almost immediately. Naruto had been correct; the heat of the drink had blocked all taste, but he could feel a warmth in his belly, and his migraine eased to a manageable throb almost immediately. Hoffman didn't know where Naruto had gotten the ingredients, and frankly he didn't care. It was miracle tea as far as he was concerned.
"I'll have to get the recipe from you." Hoffman said with a smirk, setting the empty saucer down next to a pile of inventory reports. Naruto shook his head and kicked off from the wall, pacing the office more out of boredom than anything.
"The herbs are not from around here. I brought them with me, along with half a million other things." He reached down and grabbed the cup, slipping it into his coat quicker than Hoffman could blink. The lieutenant just rolled his eyes and staved off the obvious question of where he hid it all; would the answer really matter.
"Alright, mister magician, how can you guarantee that you can get our water back?" Victor asked, not one to beat around the bush. He had to be sure that Naruto would go through with his promise. Naruto shrugged, an apathetic look on his face.
"I can't guarantee anything until I see the blockage. I've seen siege tactics like this before: they took away the one constant you couldn't plan for, and now you're suffering for it. If they simply collapsed rock onto it, I can remove it in a matter of minutes. If they set up protection, it may take longer. I need some of your guys to go with me so they can act as intelligence." He walked back over to the window, his hands jammed into his coat pockets. "I can infer the purpose of a lot of things, but this is still a strange land to me. I'll need someone seasoned enough to recognize equipment so as to avoid any surprises." Hoffman crossed his arms and spun his chair around to face the blonde. With his headache soothed away by the tea, he could stand a little wordplay.
"You keep saying that you are unfamiliar with this region, yet I can't think of any place nearby with people such as yourself," Victor said, prompting Naruto to turn around. "You've got outstanding anatomy, you're lightning fast, and you bounce back from injuries that would kill any normal Gear. Where are you from?" He didn't want it to sound like an interrogation, but there wasn't really a different way to ask the question.
Naruto sighed heavily; he'd put off this topic for sometime, but Hoffman was stubborn and sharp. He pulled his experimental kunai from his coat and twirled it absentmindedly around the forefinger of his right hand, the left running through his unruly blonde hair.
"I keep saying I don't know how I got here, but maybe I should be clear. I have no idea where we are relative to my home. I could have crossed dimensions, gone backward or forward in time... hell, I could have even traveled to a different planet." He tossed the kunai into the air and held his pocket open, allowing the knife to slide in smoothly and stop when it hit the reinforced fibers.
"So, you don't even know how to get back home, do you?" Hoffman seemed a little disappointed at that, though whether it was out of pity for Naruto or the loss of potential allies, he wasn't sure. Noticing Hoffman's look, Naruto waved him off.
"To be honest, going back isn't very high on my priority list. I just sat around and moped back home, all my friends... moved on. There's nothing for me back there." He turned to hide his face as the small lie left his lips. It technically was true, if death counted as moving on. The lieutenant was sharp, and he knew when boundaries weren't to be crossed.
"Well, if you think you're up to the task of breaking this seige, I'll send Sam and Pad with you; they're the closest to what your looking for without digging up a few graves." Hoffman winced at the dark joke. "Not that the dead could help us now." He stood and walked over to the window, beside Naruto as the two gazed out over the fort. The perimeter walls prevented a wide view of the surrounding area, but they could see most of the village from their vantage point.
Below them, people went about their daily lives, scraping by with what little normalcy they could hold on to in this time of strife. Their faces were haggard and sunken in, their bodies eroded by hunger, disease, and a faint hopelessness. Shoulders were slumped and sobs could be heard here and there, yet there were still a few more resilient citizens carrying on with determined glares. Even with the revised rations, people would still be dying of malnutrition.
"I've got food, gasoline, and ammunition by the crate. I can issue those supplies with little difficulty." Hoffman looked over at Naruto, whose gaze remained fixed on the people carving out their existences below. "But I need you to bring the water. Because if you get that water going, we'll start seeing some hope too." He frowned deeply. "I've never been good at inspiring hope."
Naruto patted him on the back, startling the lieutenant from the sudden contact. "I guess it's a good thing I'm here then; I practically radiate the stuff." His grin collapsed into a confident stare that he leveled at Hoffman, looking the bald mine right in the eyes. "I'll get this done, Vic. No worries."
For some reason, Hoffman believed him. He wasn't normally one for the whole inspirational folly. Every motivational speaker had a moment of somber reality, every politician a question they wouldn't answer. Yet as he looked Naruto in the eye, he couldn't help but fall in line. And that scared him. No matter how much he hated to distrust the blonde man heading for the door, that little pessimist in the back of his head told him that Naruto was still an outsider. He had bled for them, nearly died to save people he had known for only days, and yet Hoffman couldn't trust him. It sickened to feel that way, but the responsibility of everyone within the fort prevented him from giving Naruto the benefit of the doubt. If he succeeds – that's when I'll trust him. What would Margaret say about him? She's better at this than I am. Not wanting to let the blonde have the last word, Hoffman called out.
"Naruto." Said shinobi stopped in the doorway, looking over his shoulder at the commander of Anvil Gate. "Bring my boys back. Sheraya would kill you if Sam got hurt." Naruto grinned and shook his head, and then he was gone.
"You know, if I wanted a suicide mission, I'd just volunteer to go with the Pesangas." Sam said dryly, gazing down at the gorge that followed Anvegad's river before it went underground. "We'd sneak around, they'd hear my clunky ass, then BLAM BLAM, game over." Pad rolled his eyes, and Naruto just smirked.
"Good thing this isn't a suicide mission then. I mean, there's only sixty three of them... wait, make that sixty four. Short bastard near the cave entrance." Naruto said as he pointed. When they'd arrived at the site of the explosion, they had expected a measure of resistance to ensure the fort's supply of water remained cut off. What they had not expected was that the UIR would commit so many men, as well as three armored vehicles, to the protection of their asset denial.
The armored vehicles were long, broad carriers, each with six wheels and thick armor. A fifty-five millimeter cannon rested towards the fronts of the vehicles, a major point of concern for Naruto and his two cohorts. The infantry were also equipped with a variety of weaponry, obviously ready to combat any retaliation from Hoffman's forces. Pity they couldn't predict Naruto's involvement within a thousand years.
"I can get one of those APCs, maybe even two if I timed it right," Naruto said with a frown. "But I would need a distraction to get them all at the same time without alerting everyone else down there." He didn't want to mention the fact that he could probably cause said distraction, but he knew that Sam and Pad, as good as they were, reported to Hoffman. Victor was a good, honorable man, but enough witnesses would force him to spew everything he knew about Naruto to some men in white coats. He couldn't take that risk. The only thing confirmed about Naruto's abilities was his strength and speed. All else was impossible to prove.
"I can slot the drivers easy. The two blokes next to that high one," Pad indicated the two masked men standing next to an APC that was up on a heightened ridge, capable of getting level with their current location, "are easy prey. We could even sneak up on them without alerting the rest. And they have the expertise with the vehicles."
"Yeah," Sam chimed in. "Without them, two of the APCs wouldn't even be able to start. And it would only take one of us to do it." He hefted a Gutpuncher grenade rifle, it's hardened tips perfect for ripping into thick plating from medium range. As opposed to a rocket launcher, the grenades also had the added perk of being near smokeless, the entire force behind the shot being a charge. It was the sequential detonations that tore through armor, not velocity. This was the unfortunately the reason why they had to be within fifty meters of whatever they targeted.
"If I can get near the edge of the overhang, I should be able to get good firing positions on the APCs. I only brought a few armor piercing rounds, though. The rest are high explosive for infantry." Sam said with a frown. Naruto, however, was grinning. A plan had formed in his mind. They – or at least, Hoffman – knew that he had traveled space and/or time. So his Hirashin jutsu wasn't entirely out of the picture. At the very least, he could use it once or twice without too much notice.
"I can escort Sam to the ridge, and then take down those drivers," Naruto said, then looked to Pad. "Where's the best vantage point for you to provide over watch?" As he asked this, Naruto's eyes fell to Padrick's Longshot sniper rifle. The South Islander examined the riverbed below them, and he grinned when his eyes fell on a small tin shack. It was obviously a tool shed of some sort, but it had been repurposed to provide shade for the UIR troops. It was also nearly surrounded by low shrubbery.
"That little shed over there has a nice vantage point, and propping the door open would make hiding my silhouette easy enough. There's only one or two Indies there as well."
"You think you can handle them?" Naruto didn't want to sound over bearing, but one on two was never good odds. Pad scrunched up his nose, though the glint in his eye indicated that the scowl was insincere.
"A knife between the ribs solves a lot of problems, blondie. Do you doubt me now, after I slotted the bastard that hit the chopper?"
"That was with a rifle, not a blade." Sam pointed out in a deadpan voice. Pad shook his head.
"Just shut your gobs and take your positions. What will the signal be?" The tattooed man seemed anxious to be done with the conversation. Naruto didn't really blame him in that respect. Even he was eager to see the deed done.
"Once you two are in position, I'll take down the drivers." Naruto said as he twirled one of his Hirashin kunai around his index finger. "Once that is taken care of, I'll try to remove as many of them as I can without raising the alarm, but once I've cleared a few out you two can pick your targets." Sam and Pad both nodded; it was a sound plan, if a bit simple. The two Gears exchanged grim looks, but turned and went their separate ways without another word. Sam went left, skirting the thin brush along the high ground as he tried to reach a decent spot for his Gutpuncher to be effective. Pad dropped down to a lower elevation, and began treading a shadowed path that led behind his targeted shack.
Despite their lack of shinobi training, Naruto was surprised to see that the two men moved quite stealthily, both disappearing from sight and remaining very quiet. Sam seamlessly blended in with what little brush and cover he could utilize. Padrick's odd Islander features, from his pale skin, red hair, and blue facial tattoos did nothing to ruin his sneaky advance, even going so far as to brush past an Indie soldier like a ghost, inches separating the two men for a split second before Padrick disappeared behind the shack.
A brief moment of calm fell over Naruto as he watched the two very different men ply their trade. Despite his reservations about their superiors, he knew that the two were good men, both on and off the battlefield. The weeks he had spent with the two newlywed Byrnes told him that much, and Padrick was just another smiling comrade, always happy to help. He could see that it was not malice that drove the men, but rather a determination to protect their comrades and the civilians of Anvegad. Had it been any other case, Naruto would have let the whole place burn.
A flick of his wrist sent his Hirashin kunai into the silt of the riverbed, behind the two large APCs and out of sight. The soft dirt absorbed what little sound the action generated, leaving the UIR forces blissfully unaware of their impending doom. With a muted flash of light, he was gone, appearing right next to his kunai an instant later. He drew an ordinary kunai and held it in a reverse grip, leaving the Hirashin version behind should he need an escape later on.
The shinobi crept forward slowly, channeling chakra to the bottoms of his feet to avoid making noise. He silently made his way around the first APC, noting with some relief that both were inert; engines cold and off. He continued around until he finally found the two technicians, since drivers seemed too crass a term. They wore black jumpsuits over what looked like a buttoned uniform, a series of numbers running across their left shoulders. They also wore thick gray helmets with goggles, which were slid up on top of the helmets since there was no perceived danger. The two men talked animatedly for some time, their sharp and flowing language a mystery to Naruto. He made his way behind them in shadow, until he could reach out and touch the man on the right. And touch him he did.
Before the man knew what was happening, Naruto's hands had gripped his chin and the back of his head. With a sickening series of pops, the blonde had turned his head completely around, falling forward while his look of surprise stared into the sky. His partner barely had time to gasp in horror before a kunai dug into his throat and tore its way sideways, silencing him as it opened his trachea to the world in a squelch and spray of blood. A wheezing choke escape his lips as he fell to his knees, hands already red as they clutched his neck in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding. The look of total horror on his face slackened, and the light soon died from his eyes as he slumped to the side, joining his fellow driver and friend in oblivion.
Naruto had torn away the lives of two men in as many seconds, and that old thrill threatened to creep back into his mind. The sharp, coppery smell of blood and the adrenaline of the kill sent such a rush through him, he felt invincible. He quelled the intoxicating feeling as he slid underneath each APC, explosive notes slapped to the undersides. He timed them for thirty seconds, giving him enough of a chance to slip out from underneath and down the hill, coming to rest in the riverbed near the block. The water was cool, and came up to his neck in height, an obvious circumstance brought about by damming up the river at the mouth of the underground cave system. He slid under the water easily and anchored himself to the bottom with chakra as he scrambled toward the bulk of the forces, near the entrance of the tributary that fed Anvegad's underground river. Just when he reached a shallow place near the cave, a muffle explosion above him started the ambush.
Twin columns of fire accompanied the explosions as the rounds within the APCs' magazines added to the eruptions, sending armor plating and every other piece of shrapnel and vehicle power into the air. Sam watched in amazement as the UIR forces scrambled like ants for their weaponry, all trying to find cover despite the fact that they knew not where the attack was coming from. Most chose to hide from the two burning wrecks that used to be personnel carriers, leaving their backs open to Sam and his Gutpuncher. He grinned, knowing that Naruto had expected as much, and loaded a high explosive (HE) round into his grenade launcher. He took aim carefully, the velocity of the HE rounds much lower than the armor piercing (AP) rounds he also had. He aimed above the men closest to Pad's vantage point, three unfortunate soldiers clutching carbines while taking cover behind a large boulder. They still had partial cover, so Sam tried to put the grenade behind them. He pulled the trigger and sent the explosive on its way with a hollow thump.
Almost two whole seconds passed before the grenade landed just behind the middle soldier, detonating with another loud blast and tearing the Indies to pieces. Dirt, cloth, and human flew into the air, and what discipline that had existed broke. Chaos reigned as the UIR forces struggled to regroup, displacing from cover and trying to find better protection, while their commanders barked orders in vain. Sam's face split into a full blown grin as he loaded and fired two more HE rounds. The explosions sent three more Indies to meet their maker, and added to the carnage.
Across the way, Sam's grenades provided excellent cover for Pad's Longshot, the explosions drowning out the sound of his rifle. The South Islander targeted men close to the blasts in an effort to prevent detection. The longer they went without realizing there was a sniper, the more of them he could drop. He put down two more after Sam's final grenade, and the Indies final began to realize that there was more than one attacker. A single man managed to corral his troops into a decent amount of cover, his beret signifying that he was a tad more important than the others, and in a position of command.
"Can't have that, can we?" Pad whispered rhetorically, and took careful aim. The Indie commander had bristle short hair and a full beard, his black beret decorated with some unknown symbol as he barked orders. He was in the middle of calling more men when Padrick's Longshot put a round into the base of his neck. It tore right on through, tearing a decent hole into his respiratory system and cutting off whatever he had to say as the wind literally left him in the dirt, collapsing to the ground in a heap. His troops all turned on instinct toward Pad's position, but he was well hidden. They couldn't spot him yet. Another HE round from Sam's Gutpuncher divided their attention, as well as a few of the men, allowing Pad to continue his fire support.
Not one to be left out of this symphony of chaos, Naruto vaulted over the sandbag defenses erected earlier, driving his heels in the chin of an unfortunate man that had seen him coming. The Indie wobbled drunkenly before collapsing, his Markza DMR falling from his limp grip. Naruto scooped up the weapon and attached it to his back with its accompanying sling. He pilfered the long rounds of ammunition and their magazines from the unconscious man as the firefight raged, if Pad and and Sam's efforts to keep the UIR forces panicked and confused could be deemed such. He was about to leap into the melee when he got a very familiar feeling.
A cold shiver ran down his spine, the hairs on his neck standing up as he sensed a foreign danger. The shouts and screams of the Indies faded to mere echoes, the blasts from Sam's grenades became pops. With his years of experience, Naruto's hearing pierced the veil of battle to hear the heavy clanking of a turret rotating. He turned to look at the third APC, just as its main gun took aim at Pad's sheet metal hideout.
"Oh shit!" He cursed, a Hirashin kunai already in the air as he heard the gunner shoved a round into the chamber. Everything else snapped back into focus as he let the kunai fly, the men around him dying and screaming in their barking languages as he flew from the riverbed. He disappeared in his signature flash of light, reappearing next to Pad in the hut. The sudden change from bright sunlight to near darkness stunned him for a split second, but not enough for him to stop. He grasped Pad's shoulder, or what he thought was his shoulder, and locked on the the knife that had put him behind the other APCs.
"What in the bloody hell do you-" Was all he heard before he tore himself and Pad away from the shed. When he reappeared behind the two burning wreckages, he heard two things: a loud BANG as the APC fired its gun into the now empty shack, and retching as Padrick lost his lunch all over the ground in front of him. Naruto winced in sympathy, noticing a particularly chunky bit that had landed on the South Islander's scope. No matter their discipline, training, or mental fortitude, everyone threw up the first time they went with him through a Hirashin jump. Pad gasped and waited until he was sure he wasn't going to spew any more, then turned on Naruto with wide eyes.
"What the hell was that?!" He yelled indignantly, wiping his scope off while keeping his eyes on the man in front of him. "First you grab my arse, then BAM, it's the time warp all over again eh?! Warn a man before you pull some shite like that!" He burped and doubled over again, though at this point little remained to be thrown up.
"Look, we can discuss this later." Naruto said impatiently. "Right now, they're probably zeroing in on Sam." He pulled Pad to his feet and grasped him by the shoulders. "I have a plan, but you've got trust me on this one." He kept it vague at best; it involved more Hirashin usage, but he didn't need to bring it up again.
"Yeah yeah, just go pull him out of the fire. We'll discuss your magic tricks later." Pad said with another, smaller belch as he propped up his Longshot on the destroyed frame of one of the first APCs. Naruto nodded and took off up the hill, adhering to the side with chakra. When he reached the top, he saw now how swiftly the fight had turned.
With only one source of fire on them now, the Indies had figured out Sam's location quickly, and what had been a mass of confused soldiers had turned into a hardened defensive wall. The APC in the back barked again, sending a large shell over Sam's head as he hunkered down beneath the curve of the hill. The sergeant ducked instinctively as the round sailed over, before catching sight of Naruto's admittedly outlandish form. He waved once, but that single action earned him an intensified volume of fire from the Indies. Naruto returned the wave, then tossed the kunai below Sam. If the Gear was surprised to see Naruto just randomly throw a knife at him, he was absolutely baffled when Naruto suddenly appeared in a dull flash of yellow in time to catch said knife.
"I don't even want to know." He said in a deadpan voice. Naruto smiled sheepishly, then unslung the Markza from his back and tossed it to Sam.
"Trade ya." The Gutpuncher and its accompanying rounds were pretty much thrown into his hands as Sam hurried to employ his new precision weapon. Naruto left the spare ammunition on the slope as Sam began firing down below, Pad's fire a second later again confusing the surviving Indies.
With their attention planed towards the blocked riverbed, Pad's destroyed APCs, and Sam's hilltop, Naruto had plenty of room to sprint downhill and across the river before someone took notice. The pair of soldiers that did see his battle coat fluttering in the wind sprinted after him, intent on capturing him or some other impossible venture. He slid around a boulder without breaking stride, a clear line of sight on the APC as it turned to fire on Padrick's position. Now that he had an avenue of approach, Naruto turned to face his pursuers as they came splashing around the boulder. Just as the first was a bout to come into view, he leaped high into the air and out of direct sight. The lead man passed right under him, but the second wasn't so lucky. Naruto came down onto him like a ton of bricks, forcing him to the ground and crushing the air from his lungs. A quick follow-up stab from a kunai rendered that threat silent just as the front man turned around, his submachine gun coming up to bear. Moving quickly, Naruto hit the man in the sternum with a chakra-enhanced palm thrust, the force of the blow turning his rib cage and spine into the world's dullest blender as his insides were pulverized beyond recognition. The man gave one sharp cry and fell back before lying still, silent as the grave.
Naruto sighed and took off after the APC once more, loading the AP round into the Gutpuncher as he sprinted. He covered the ground in three seconds, coming up within twenty feet of the vehicle. He was close enough to hear the man (or men) moving about within. He brought the Gutpuncher up to his shoulder and aimed toward the front, where the gun working and crew were likely to be. Once he was sure he'd at least hit something, he pulled the trigger.
A hollow poof came from the grenade rifle just before the armor dented from the high-density tip slamming into it, making a horrible, if short lived screeching sound. Naruto cursed and loaded the second round as the first dropped to the ground, its charge undetonated. By the time he had the rifle up again, the APC's main gun began rotating around to face him. Naruto cursed and fired again.
This time, the round his the APC and punched right through its thick plating, tearing a hole the size of a grapefruit in the armor. A single second passed as the crew inside processed what happened, then the entire APC belched fire as the grenade exploded inside. Naruto pumped his fist in success and stashed the Gutpuncher inside his coat as a few bullets pinged off the APC that were meant for him. He doubled back toward the boulder, leaving the burning APC behind as he flanked around again.
When he reached the boulder, he peeked around to see how the battle was going for Pad and Sam. It appeared that a few Indies had now taken up Sam's position and were firing down on the APC wrecks, where he could see both Gears firing back defiantly. He cursed and ran through his options.
A clone attack wasn't out of the question, since they wouldn't expect ten guys to burst from one person's hiding spot. It would also give him cover to get back to Sam and Pad. But why waste an opportunity just to get stuck in the same predicament the other two were in. Shaking his head, Naruto put his fingers into that familiar cross-shaped seal.
Ten puffs of smoke heralded the creation of his shadow clones, and they all exchanged eager grins as he pulled out a kunai.
"Alright guys, you know the drill; back of the line forward, keep them off balance, and don't stop. GO!" He ended it by pulling two smoke bombs from his coat, tossing them over the boulder and into the cluster of Indies. The nonlethal grenades detonated with a bang, send twin clouds of thick, white smoke everywhere and obscuring the vision of the UIR soldiers. Naruto and his clones moved in as the men coughed and hacked within the smoke, which was so thick one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face. The shinobi and clones used this to their advantage, taking a leaf out of Zabuza's book and striking silently. Each man was stabbed or cut with the utmost secrecy, no sound escaping him or his attacker as one by one, the Indie forces were purged within the cloud.
A mere thirty minutes had passed before the smoke dispersed, but the damage had been done in twenty. Every Indie in the riverbed had been slain, with only the few men on the hill left alive. A few thrown kunai dispatched them quickly, and Naruto's clones dispelled with the smoke. When Pad and Sam peeked out, Naruto was the only one standing. As the memories of his clones flooded his mind, something moved within his consciousness. A throbbing pain in his head forced Naruto to wince, and he could hear a voice, a memory from long ago.
'Get Ino away from him, she's the only one who can do the jutsu!" Sakura's voice. Naruto frowned as he tried to recall more of the memory, but the pain magnified as he did so. He gasped in pain and forced himself to calm down. As his memories settled, the pain lessened gradually until it disappeared. The hell was that about? He thought to himself. Again, he tried to recall the memory, but nothing new came to him. Disturbed by the chain of events, Naruto didn't notice Pad and Sam until the later spoke up.
"That was unbelievable, Naruto! You took out a platoon of men and an APC all by yourself!" The man said with a grin. Pad held up the Markza along with his own Longshot.
"Yeah, and this little toy right here may convince me to forgive that little arse grab you did earlier." He said with a smirk, though Naruto did not return it. He ignored his troubled thoughts, too private to share with the two Gears, and instead focused on the pile of rubble that sat in the waist-high water before them.
"So... how to bring water to the needy?" He mused aloud. The other two looked at each other and shrugged, but then a sound caught his attention. Off to the side, toward the burning yet intact APC, he could hear faint popping noises. It was roughly seventy five meters away, and yet it troubled him. Sam, however, recognized the sound immediately.
"Ah, shit!" He said roughly, looking around for cover. "The rounds are cooking off inside! If they hit the fuel-" He had no time to finish as the world burst into flames, the vapors of the fuel tank within the vehicle igniting into an inferno that burned Naruto even at the distance he was. A great explosion shattered his ears, and a huge flash of light blinded he and Sam as the two shielded their eyes. So stunned was he from the explosion that he didn't see that nearly the entire turret – with the exception of the barrel - had blown clear of the wreckage and came hurtling towards him.
Naruto looked up just in time to count the rivets on the warped vehicle compartment before the trunk-sized vehicle compartment slammed into him, sending Naruto into the rocks and the air from his lungs. He bounced from the wall and into the water, sinking with the heavy turret mount on top of him. To his surprise, he didn't sink the mere three feet he was expecting. Trapped underneath the warped metal, Naruto sank at least ten or twelve feet, the pressure building in his ears as he sank. He gritted his teeth in irritation.
The rocks hadn't been the blockage – they had originally been an overhang. He mentally berated himself even as his lungs began to burn for the air he'd had just seconds earlier, and he looked around in earnest. He tried to shift the turret off of him, but with only rock beneath him and behind him he couldn't get the leverage. He was too deep for Padrick and Sam to help, so that left only one option. Naruto looked behind him at the true blockage: a giant boulder with smaller rocks surrounding it. He channeled into his hand, forming his father's technique even as the water began to swirl around it. A condensed ball of swirling chakra appeared above his hand, and he stretched backwards for the push.
They had come to clear the way for the water, and that was exactly what he was going to do. As his vision began to darken around the edges, Naruto slammed the Rasengan into the boulder, cracking it and shattering the massive rock almost instantly. When it gave, so too did the rest of the barricade.
Naruto fell with the water, his metal trap falling to the wayside instead of being pulled in. The shinobi climbed upward as the water rushed past him, gasping loudly as he broke the surface of the water. He gulped the air greedily, coughing and choking as his oxygen-deprived body struggled for air. Suddenly drained of energy, it was all Naruto could do to pull himself onto the small, wet walkway that had been revealed once the water level had gone down. He pulled his sopping wet body from the current and rolled onto his back, propping himself with his elbows. Naruto continued to pant heavily, but this time with a satisfied smile. The blonde sat there and grinned as the water rushed on to Anvegad, where Sheraya and the rest awaited its blessed return.