Chapter 5: Blood Stained Plains
The world exploded in fire for the Konoha genin. Buzzing, screams, and the roar of flames drowned out everything else.
It all happened so quickly that Nawaki hadn't been able to keep up, but next thing he knew Shiori's ninja wires were pulling he and Katsumi out of the inferno.
Turning back to where they had just come from the young Senju saw Mui, the guard of the Blood Prison, eviscerate an Iwa-nin with what looked like a flaming sword jutting out from his hand as the flames danced around him.
"Shit, he's good with his fire, huh?"
The comment only brought a shake from Shiori's head, "He made it but he released control of it when he got into melee, this whole place is going to go up we need to be careful!"
Katsumi was hastily patting out some smoldering portions of his clothing, "I think he singed me pretty good, I'm grateful to be out of the honey and all but..." he flexed his fingers, "Yeah I need a med-nin, guys."
Nawaki nodded, "Stay back then, we're going to try and help Mui finish these last few off so he can escape, he saved our lives we need to return the favor if possible. Shiori can you use the flames now that he's let go of control?"
Grinning she started going through hand signs, "Half the chakra usage is making the fire, so I'm going to get to use something pretty amazing that I copied from my uncle. I'd never have the chakra to make this much fire!"
Nawaki's eyes widened as she passed her seventh hand seal, it was quite the jutsu she was going for.
"Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" She called out and little wisps of embers shot out of her mouth and connected with three of the largest pyres burning in the vicinity.
Those flames swirled around each other, immediately controlled by her jutsu, and twisted into three serpentine shapes that launched forward seeking out the remaining Kamizuru clansmen fighting Mui.
Cursing they scattered, hundreds of their bees being scorched into the trails of the flames.
But the flames kept coming, and so need Mui, using the distraction to his advantage he put on a burst of speed and appeared right behind one of them, his fire sword technique stabbing him right out through his middle. Next he kicked the corpse towards another of the evading ninja, causing him to stumble and fail to continue evading Shiori's technique.
Both he and the corpse were slammed by the fire dragons and with a scream they were incinerated.
This left only one remained, and Nawaki had it covered.
"Fuuton: Wind Bullet!" A rather basic technique it flew out and hit the final fire dragon, accelerating the speed of the technique and multiplying its size.
The man's lungs were ash before he even had a chance to scream.
With a nod of acknowledgment for the help Mui suddenly appeared in front of them, "Come on genin, we need to get back to the prison. If they are using the Kamizuru on the offensive then they are desperate for a quick victory by overwhelming us with numbers."
Grimly the group made their way back to Hozuki Castle, only four survivors of the ten that left.
As they finished their report Hiroku's typically cheerful demeanor drooped, "I cannot say this is good news. I will have to ask the Hokage for reinforcements. Ones that are sorely needed elsewhere...but..." the man contemplated the situation quietly to himself for a moment.
"Perhaps I can request specific counters to this clan that they seem to be deploying out here, to lessen the need for numbers. A few Uchiha and Aburame could perhaps be extremely effective in dealing with these...Kamizuru?"
Mui nodded in affirmation.
"You are dismissed, I'll have you genin working at the castle until Kurama-san is properly healed."
Thus they spent the next week doing menial night watch, kitchen, and inventory shifts. Things usually left to genin of less talent than they.
Until Shiori got a very disconcerting report from home.
"They're coming! An entire squad of my clansmen! A jonin, three chuunin...and six genin including my sister and cousins!" She seemed desperately worried for her younger relatives.
Katsumi winced, "I've got a lot of family serving out on the Kumo and Ame borders, I'm really sorry, Shi."
Nawaki nodded and put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey! I'm going to be Hokage right?"
She nodded back at him.
"Then I'll practice by making it my job to make sure every single Uchiha younger than us returns home safely! Protecting the citizens of Konoha so we can all grow stronger like the great trees my grandfather grew! That's my ninja way!"
Shiori smiled up at him, "Thank you, Nawaki, that actually makes me feel a lot better. They might not all enjoy help coming from a Senju, but I know I appreciate it!"
That skirmish may have been over, and they may have escaped it alive, but the war dragged on.
Two weeks later a small squad of Uchiha and Aburame ninjas arrived for deployment against the Kamizuru Clan being heavily deployed in the area. Their stone hives and quick flying bees being much better for the plains and shrubbery of the Land of Grass than the almost perpetual storms of the Land of Rain.
Amongst them were Shiori's cousins, the young Fugaku and Mikoto, as well as her sister Naori and a distant family member who was very close with her younger sister, Naka.
Fugaku and Mikoto were very young, though they were also very talented, having been promoted to genin at eight years old. Naori and Naka were older, only a year younger than Nawaki and his team, but they were not heightened prodigies, merely reasonably talented Uchiha clansmen, and thus hadn't been graduated early until it became obvious that the war needed all hands on deck.
It was nice to have a few more genin their own age around, but having Fugaku and Mikoto near was extremely uncomfortable for Team Orochimaru. Due to their young age and their relation to Shiori the entire team felt extremely protective of the two young prodigies. They were primarily, however, used for protection of messengers and supplies running between the castle and bases further behind the front lines, a fact that was quite relieving to the older genin.
There were not too many major skirmishes for the next month or so, the Uchiha and Aburame jonin had seemingly caused the Iwa forces to reassess the situation on the nearby portion of the front after a rather one-sided battle that had occurred soon after their initial arrival.
Much to Nawaki's dismay his team hadn't been in that fight. Whenever it got brought up he would still complain about it.
"Man, that must have been a really cool one! I would have loved to have seen those stupid bees all up in flames!"
Katsumi snorted in response, "Aburame bugs versus those bees would have been pretty cool too I wager!"
Naori glanced over from where she and her sister were practicing with their shurikenjutsu, "I imagine Shuji-sensei had a lot to do with it. He's one of the best Katon-jutsu users in the clan. He even sets up self-combination jutsu the way you do, Nawaki-san, with his secondary wind-affinity!"
Distracted she almost missed ducking a kunai thrown over from Shiori.
"Huh," Nawaki said blinking his eyes, "I may have to ask him for some tips then! In fact, Shiori!"
The girl glanced over at her name, "Yeah?"
"We should talk to him together! Since fire is an affinity I am never gonna have he might have advice that's better for our team combinations!"
As Shiori nodded an affirmative a rich chuckle emerged from the shadows, "Not thinking of replacing your teacher so soon are you Senju-kun?"
Whirling around Nawaki let out a yelp followed by, "Orochimaru-sensei! You're back!"
The pale jonin slinked out of the shadows, "Indeed I am my...precious students," he extended the syllables in the last two words in an oily manner.
"In fact I have a mission that I believe you can even join me on. While my primary target is someone you should not ever wish to come in conflict with...her subordinates on the other hand are well within your abilties if Hiroku-san's report was anything to go by."
"You can count on us!" Nawaki exclaimed loudly, pumping his fist for emphasis.
"Absolutely, Team Orochimaru is back in action!" Katsumi added, grinning.
Author's Note: Alright so I'm just updating and posting whatever strikes my fancy at this point until I get out to the badlands for the summer and have more focused writing time for specific stories and rapid updates. Also for clarification I do not like using a whole lot of Japanese in my Naruto-fics. It often feels forced and messy when I see it in other writings. My exceptions tend to be:
1) Elemental classifications when speaking of techniques.
2) Specific honorifics in formal dialogue in the formal tense, something that English does not have great commonly used terms and tenses for.