The Wanderers
Chapter 77 – Death in the Sands
A/N: I should probably stop doing warnings about content, but after writing some things I do feel some sense of obligation. Things get pretty dark, just to warn you. I've edited out the really bad stuff I wrote, mainly because it was far too graphic. But the settings and situations are still there.
A/N2: I was originally writing this chapter as one big chapter, but it got WAY out of hand, so I split this battle into two chapters. It's still really long…but not obnoxiously long.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be multiple shinobi using the same summon groups. So much potential right there.
***Previously-On***
In their relatively secure position in the Land of Fire, the Otogakure shinobi waited for the arrival of the allies that they need to break through the Quiraji barriers. As anticipated, the Kazekage arrived ahead of a contingent of three hundred Sunagakure ANBU and the Konoha survivors. After them, Sasuke and Fiore arrived with the Mizukage and her four hundred Kirigakure shinobi, joining their temporary alliance. Itachi later arrived to tell Neji that there are many more Quiraji soldiers than they'd first thought, but Neji tells him that they have to keep to their plan. He's aware that there was a Quiraji force heading towards their position, but when Kakashi and Konan arrive with a Kumogakure force he brings them all and tells them of their plan. The plan is to attack the five nodes that power the chakra-nullifying field before a strike team comprised of their best fighters to go to Konoha and take out the Quiraji leaders.
But there are things going on in the shinobi world beyond the Land of Fire.
***End Summary***
Even on the shifting sands of the desert plains of the Land of the Wind, the stomping of armoured boots and clapping metal made a thunderous noise. The slapping of weaponry on shields, matching with the constant grunting of war marches.
The village of Sunagakure was surrounded on all sides by thick walls that had been erected by the Kazekage before his departure with the hardest materials underground to protect his people. It still sat inside the cliff opening it always had, but with the Quiraji proving that the desert was not a discouraging factor, they'd decided that they required greater defences. The primary wall sat thirty feet tall and was reinforced on top of the cliffs looking down upon the village, with sand ramps that allowed easy movements to the wall edge. In addition to the primary wall, a secondary wall had been constructed a hundred metres away from the village as a buffer to enemy invasions. However in the third month of constant attacks, the Quiraji were able to break through the wall and destroy large sections of it, until the Sunagakure shinobi were forced to retreat back to the primary wall. They'd kept up attacks to the point that the Quiraji weren't able to push past the secondary wall, but all efforts to rebuild it had been halted when the Kazekage hadn't been present.
Behind the secondary wall that divided the village of Sunagakure from the encroaching desert, the shinobi watched as the Quiraji army moved into position against them. At first, it seemed like the gathered soldiers were mustering for a small scale attack as they had weathered for months now, but the Quiraji stopped just in front of the secondary wall that they'd taken from the Sunagakure shinobi several weeks ago and continued to swell in size. Unlike previous battles where they had met on the field, the Quiraji had always outnumbered the shinobi of the Land of Wind, but rarely more than three-to-one. That was clearly not the case as more and more soldiers began to appear in front of them.
At the top of the wall, Shikamaru stood in his full Sunagakure attire with a tired look in his eyes as a pair of Suna generals adjusted the defender's positions on the wall. With the Quiraji army gathered in front of them, they decided that they needed every shinobi that wasn't in the reserves for the first attack as a show of force. Just as their enemy was doing.
It soon became clear that they were outnumbered by a more significant margin than they had expected.
"They appear to have gathered a few troops," observed Baki with his usual desert humour.
Shikamaru grunted in response and crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't like the look of this. With all those troops here, I was expecting one of the Four to be present. But we've not seen anything. It feels off somehow."
"Maybe the Kazekage's movements have forced them away from the battlefield," observed one of the other generals in the group. "Or they're being cautious."
Staring down at the gathered Quiraji army, Shikamaru wasn't sure what to make of what he was seeing. There was a large gathering of specialist Quiraji troops from Red Guards to Black Robes, with a golden armoured warrior that appeared to be leading the others. "We are the ones that have to be cautious here. They've got some tricks up their sleeves they haven't revealed just yet. This isn't just a show."
"They won't break our defences," said Baki stubbornly, but even he could see that it was going to be a hard battle. "They've brought siege weapons this time. They've learned."
The Quiraji army had attacked Sunagakure, primarily with infantry and specialist troops, for months, since the terrain of the Land of Wind was not conducive to heavy machinery. However, the enemy of the shinobi had gotten inventive and were using the beasts of burden from the desert to move the siege weaponry necessary to break through the Sunagakure defences. Now, just in range of the main Sunagakure defensive walls, were large catapults and ballista capable of punching through the stone barriers, with massive beasts keeping them steady on the shifting sand floor. They weren't loaded, as it was clear they were there for show, but their presence said much for how determined the enemy was to get rid of one of the last bastions of shinobi power left in the world.
"Have there been any sightings from the other parts of the village?" asked Shikamaru to one of the nearby communications shinobi.
The Sunagakure placed his hands into a seal for a few moments before shaking his head and releasing his technique, "None reported, sir." He was listening to reports from the other communications officers through an earpiece, but his sensory technique allowed him to check the validity of the information.
The Nara clan heir bit at his lip in annoyance. His mind was racing through plans after plans, adapting to the new information as it came to him. For several seconds he made his decision and pulled out a vanilla cigar from his jacket pocket. Without saying anything he cut off the end and lit it with his lighter and took a long drag.
"Since when did you start smoking cigars?" asked a Sunagakure general at his side.
Shikamaru let the smoke sit in his mouth and savoured the taste for a few moments before breathing it out with a long sigh, "Since my wife hasn't been able to get out of the bed and stop me. Bring every shinobi from the other walls here, besides the scouts and reserves."
"Is that necessary?" asked the general, but the look from the Suna commander was enough to answer his question. He bowed in respect to him regretfully, "I'm sorry for doubting you, sir. It won't happen again." Even though the general had decades of combat experience, he had worked with the Nara shinobi long enough to recognise when he was tactically outclassed and knew the brother-in-law of the Kazekage wielded much more power than a single person should in the village.
Shikamaru ignored the general's comment as he gave the order to the communication shinobi, looking down at the Quiraji army gathered. The golden-armoured leader had started to rile up the Quiraji soldiers in a thumping cheer just in range of the shinobi defenders, clearing setting them up for a dramatic first charge. He stepped forward and pointed his bladed spear towards the village, causing an even louder cheer to thunder throughout the area.
"What is he doing?" asked Baki, confused at what they were seeing.
"Showing courage in face of the enemy," said Shikamaru with a large puff of smoke. "If we were to kill him, we would be cowards that deserve the righteous punishment they want to give us. Even at the secondary wall, he's aware that he is in range of our longest techniques."
The Quiraji leader placed his hand on the outer wall and began a chest beating cheer that was starting to make some of the Sunagakure shinobi sweat under the Land of Wind's dry heat.
"Are we just going to stand here and let them mock us?" said a clearly furious Suna shinobi bodyguard at the general's side. His knuckles were turning white within his gloves as they watching the strange scene in front of them.
Shikamaru turned to one of the ANBU that had stayed behind in defence of the village, "No, we don't. Would you be so kind as to give us an indication of what that Quiraji soldier ate for breakfast? I'm curious."
Even with the mask on, the smirk that was on the Sunagakure ANBU's face was clear, "No problem." He placed his hands together in a handseal as a small metal ball rose up in front of him. With a pushing motion with his hands he sent the ball screaming down towards the Quiraji leader, driving it into his stomach before he could react. It was a seemingly innocuous attack, but the meaning behind it was just as crushing as if it had exploded on impact.
The Quiraji leader doubled back at the impact before dropping to his knees and violently regretting what he had eaten before the battle. The image caused every Sunagakure shinobi watching to burst out in laughter, as the Quiraji cheering died down to a whisper. Several Quiraji soldiers ran forward to help their embattled leader to his feet, but the psychological damage had already been done.
"Good work," complimented Shikamaru before turning to one of the other generals. "Now we should show them how we really do warfare. The shinobi way."
The general grinned and raised his arm high into the air, "Catapults!"
Behind the main defensive wall, rows of siege weapons rolled into place and Sunagakure shinobi rolled large boulders into place. The Genin that weren't experienced enough in combat to be on the walls plastered the boulders with explosion notes before the shinobi stood near the triggers and waited for the signal to fire.
The Quiraji general in the distance had recovered from his embarrassing stint for the most part and had reached the Quiraji army lines, barking orders at his subordinates to get ready to charge. Beneath the golden helmet it was impossible to read his expression, but Shikamaru and the other Sunagakure generals weren't about to let the Quiraji dictate the pace of the battle that was to come.
He waited until he was positive they were in range, then lowered his arm and gave the order. "Fire!"
"FIRE!" yelled out the nearby Sunagakure shinobi to the catapult shinobi below.
Within seconds, dozens of massive boulders were sent flying into the air, while Sunagakure shinobi on the wall they flew over used Fuuton techniques to increase the speed and velocity of the projectiles. Shikamaru and the other generals watched as the Quiraji army moved as one and spread out their ranks to minimise the damage from the falling projectiles, despite each catapult boulder crushing several Quiraji at once. A few of the boulders were blasted away by coordinated efforts from the Black Robes accompanying the Quiraji army, but with the shinobi directing the attacks with ninjutsu the majority of them found their mark.
Once every boulder from the first wave had been fired, the Quiraji recovered quickly and began preparing for their first assault.
"Do it," commanded Shikamaru from the defensive wall. At once, fifty shinobi put up their hands and activated the explosion seals on the boulders. Within a second, almost a hundred boulders exploded in the midst of the Quiraji soldiers, killing hundreds instantly while hundreds more were covered in flames from the explosions. The devastation was horrifying to observe, but the shinobi were steeled against such an image and they had to remind themselves of the horrors the enemy had inflicted on their own people.
The momentum of the first charge was disrupted, but by doing so the Sunagakure shinobi had expended all of their large boulders and weren't going to be able to replicate the devastating volley.
"That won't stop them," warned Baki as he glanced over the Quiraji casualties. "We barely made a dent in their ranks."
"That wasn't the point," said Shikamaru knowingly. "The Quiraji had to know what kind of power is at our fingertips. Any hesitation that we have put into their minds can only help us." He leaned forward and puffed on his cigar, "What are they doing now?"
One of the Sunagakure shinobi that had been designated as their lookout focused his technique down on the enemy army, "They appear to be bringing up a large number of dogs to the front lines, sir."
"To assault the walls? That makes no sense," said one of the Sunagakure generals. "They'll just get cut down with our projectiles."
"No…it doesn't make sense…" Shikamaru wasn't sure what to make of the Quiraji move, until he saw how far away from the main wall they were and the armaments of the first few ranks of soldiers. They were armed with heavy shields that were taller and wider than they were, with longbows being held by the Quiraji soldiers behind them. It was a slow moving formation that wasn't ideal for the first wave of a siege. Yet the enemy soldiers were both confident and furious as they moved towards the shinobi village.
There were hundreds of dogs that were now at the front of the Quiraji army, barking loudly and straining against their spiked collars. The Sunagakure shinobi at the wall were similarly stumped at the move by the Quiraji army, even as they released the hounds and they charged across the desert plain towards the fortified positions of the enemy shinobi village.
It was only when the first dog ran over a specially-planted landmine and exploded into tiny pieces, that Shikamaru realised their folly. He bit through his cigar and let it fall to the ground as he turned to the general in charge of the front line defenders.
"Order everyone to shoot down the dogs, right now!" he said in a panic, but from the sounds of the explosions in the background it was clear that the damage had already been done. Of the hundreds of dogs that had been sent against the main wall protecting the shinobi village, none made it further than a stone's throw away. However, in the desert plains between the Quiraji army and the Sunagakure defenders, the dogs had triggered almost every single buried trap and mine that had been carefully and precisely planted over the previous few weeks in anticipation for an attack such as what they were suffering.
The devastating of the animals was horrifying, but Shikamaru was more disgusted by the fact that he didn't see the extremely simple counter to his traps until after it had already happened. He swore loudly and slammed his fist into a nearby stone uncharacteristically. He'd told himself constantly not to underestimate the enemy general, yet he had done just that. Now weeks of work and planning had been undone in a simple manoeuvre that he could have come up with and countered in his sleep.
"They've started advancing on the walls," came the voice of the lookout. "Their siege weapons are out of range, but near the back of their ranks there appear to be large box contraptions and ladders that are slowly being moved closer to the middle of the army."
"We can't worry about those at the moment," said Baki quickly. "They're almost in range of our longest techniques. I'm calling for our attack to begin." He didn't ask for permission from the Sunagakure advisor, he held the same position as Shikamaru did and was more than capable of commanding the shinobi. With half of his face covered by a sheet he tended to have a frightening visage even to his own shinobi, but as a general Baki had come into his own and become a rather popular figurehead among the shinobi population.
So when he called for them to use any and all ninjutsu and weapon-based techniques to attack the approaching enemy army at his discretion, the Sunagakure shinobi snapped to attention and obeyed him immediately. Within moments of giving the orders, hails of shurikens and kunai rained down on the heavy shields of the Quiraji soldiers. Most of the projectiles bounced off harmlessly, while several ricocheted into open parts of the Quiraji armour and cut deep into their skin, however barely any of them were actually fatal.
But the torrent of projectiles was unrelenting, as many of the more powerful Sunagakure shinobi were using the Shuriken Kage Bunshin technique that Shikamaru had taught them. The sheer number of projectiles they were able to summon was so loud that they were cutting apart the air itself. The technique had been one that Asuma had found in the Sarutobi family scroll after they discovered the destruction of Konoha, and Shikamaru had recovered it from the charred remains of the house they'd been living in. Shikamaru hadn't wasted time in teaching the technique to his subordinates, figuring that out of the other techniques in the scroll it was for the best to teach rather than to keep them to himself.
"Their formation isn't going to break just from projectiles," observed a Sunagakure general on the wall. "But they aren't moving that fast, or much closer to the wall. We can't maintain this forever."
Shikamaru nodded and turned back to the catapult engineers, "That's what the next stage is for." He put up a hand to ask whether they were ready and nodded in satisfaction at the responses he got. With a slow breath he turned back to the slowly approaching Quiraji force that was weathering the storm of projectiles. "I want a big line down the middle. If you can clip some of the leaders that would be nice too."
"What are you planning?" asked one of the generals next to him, but Shikamaru ignored him to light a cigarette to replace his fallen cigar.
Using a small amount of chakra to boost his voice, Shikamaru gave the order to all of the catapult crews at once. "Bolas! Fire on the centre target! Range at 400 metres, bearing 4-1-2-9."
At his word, the catapults behind the wall fired at his target. In place of the large boulders that had been fired just before, the projectiles that were screaming towards the Quiraji soldiers hiding beneath their heavy shields were quite different. Each projectile was comprised of three containers bound to each other with a heavy chain, spinning wildly before crashing into the shields of the surprised Quiraji soldiers.
Instead of the explosions that the Quiraji had been expecting, instead each container released a thick orange cloud of gas that spread in a thick line of soldiers deep into the middle of the Quiraji army.
"Would you like to do the honours?" asked Shikamaru to a nearby Sunagakure shinobi. He gave her a knowing smile and pointed his cigarette in front of her.
The Sunagakure kunoichi smirked back and put a hand to her lips to summon up a powerful burst of wind. She blew through his cigarette butt and caught the spark of flame on the end before sending it straight down into the Quiraji ranks below. She almost lost the flame on the way, but a nearby Sunagakure shinobi put his hands together and increased the size of the flame with his own chakra.
The moment the spark hit the orange gas cloud that was covering the confused Quiraji soldiers; it ignited in a furious rush of fire and ash.
Unlike the previous explosions, there was no sound when flames consumed the Quiraji soldiers in a straight line down the middle of their army. The gas that had been ignited was silent, but burned at a terrifying temperature that it cooked the soldiers within their armour and burnt through their heavy shields quickly.
The first volley had been devastating, but the second volley had broken the Quiraji soldiers' spirit. It didn't take them long before they began to quit the field, recognising when they had lost the momentum of the morning. If it had been a large-scale battle between shinobi villages, then there would have been a concession given to retrieve the dead from the battlefield for the proper rites to be given to the dead.
But the Quiraji didn't have any interest in their dead, and they had a history of desecrating the bodies of the shinobi they killed. Sunagakure wasn't in the mood to give any concessions to the Quiraji army at all. They came to bring death to the village and the shinobi were only interested in giving them that back.
The Sunagakure shinobi had spent most of their long range siege weapons to break the first charge and hadn't lost a single casualty in the process, but Shikamaru wasn't about to break out in celebration. While they'd killed almost a thousand Quiraji soldiers in the past hour alone, the real battle had yet to start. Even from those gathered against them, he could see that there were several Quiraji warriors at a nearby vantage point counting their shinobi on the walls. There were easily thirty thousand Quiraji rallied against them, though he suspected that estimate was conspicuously low.
Now would be the time when their first trick would come into play.
That was what he was worried about.
Just like the previous day, the Quiraji army mustered on the battlefield just at the destroyed secondary wall with the intent on invading and destroying the village of Sunagakure.
Unlike the previous day's battle, they had brought a new weapon onto the battlefield. Being pushed side-by-side with the Quiraji catapults and ballista were large boxes made of wood that were as tall as the wall they were about to assault. It was clear that they were packed to the brim with soldiers and were designed to unload the soldiers onto the walls with impunity.
There was no showboating or demonstrations of bravado at the start of the battle this time. The moment they came into range the catapults unloaded their payloads straight into the wall, while the ballista moved closer and prepared barbed bolts to pierce through the stone walls. The siege weapons of Sunagakure had been run dry for the most part, so the Quiraji siege weapons were able to fire unopposed on the Sunagakure wall. For the most part they were unable to break down the Sunagakure wall, but the projectiles that landed on top of the wall reaped a terrible toll on the Sunagakure shinobi.
The defenders of the village did their best with their ninjutsu abilities to stop the large projectiles, but even with their generals directing their efforts the Quiraji were able to march on the main wall mostly unimpeded.
As they did on every part of the wall surrounding the village. The Quiraji had concentrated their siege weaponry on the main southern wall that was the most heavily defended, but the boxes that were the main danger were spread out across all four parts of the battlefield.
To oppose the Quiraji invasion, Shikamaru and the other generals had spread out their shinobi as best they could. Out of the seven thousand Sunagakure shinobi that were currently defending the village, nearly five thousand manned the walls all around in groups dedicated to their specialisations.
Even so, Shikamaru wasn't too confident at their ability to defend the village, though he kept that thought to himself. With the Quiraji soldiers pressing forward and the boxes getting closer, he gave the order for the archers with oil-dipped arrows to fire as many as they could into the closest boxes they could strike.
His forward position that he and some of the other generals had taken was close to the southern wall that was the most heavily fortified, and that had come under the heaviest attack. The communications officer that had been assigned to them had told them that the other walls had come under attack by armies accompanied by five boxes at each wall. At the southern wall, there was over twenty.
"We won't be able to stop all of them," observed Baki grimly. "We shouldn't have used all our siege ammunition, or we should have found a way to stockpile more."
Shikamaru pulled a kunai from his pouch slowly, "We didn't have a choice. Their tactics imply arrogance and we haven't shown our hand completely yet." He gave a signal by throwing his kunai straight into the first Quiraji soldier on the ground that had come into range beside one of the boxes.
"Fire those boxes!" he called out to the Sunagakure shinobi that were able. At once dozens of shinobi activated ninjutsu techniques of various kinds and lit up the oil arrows that had been fired into the boxes, while their companions turned to deal with Quiraji soldiers that moved to mount ladders on the wall.
At once the three closest boxes to the wall lit up in towers of fire, causing a loud cheer to echo across the Sunagakure lines. Even a few of the generals that were commanding the shinobi cheered, though the Nara heir was silent as he observed the boxes collapse to the ground. He wished he had Neji or Hinata's eyes so he could get the information he needed, but with his shinobi at his side he knew that he would be able to get it eventually.
Despite the destruction of the boxes, the Quiraji continued their attack relentlessly. The golden-armoured warrior stood in the middle of the Quiraji army surrounded by a bodyguard of Red Warriors and directed the battle with, what Shikamaru assumed was, a booming voice of command. He'd been given no indication on skillful a general the enemy was, but he refused to underestimate his foe this time.
This battle felt different from the others that had been fought at Suna. Their best fighters were not present and they were diminished after months of constant fighting. If there was a time to strike at Sunagakure with all their enemy's might, it would be now.
The fact that none of the Four had shown up was also a problem for Shikamaru, though he hoped it wasn't because they weren't needed. He hoped that whatever ploy Neji and the others were planning had worked, but with the information he had to work with, Shikamaru was uneasy.
A few moments after the closest box had collapsed and crushed the beasts that were carrying it, Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw that there had been no soldiers inside. The generals at his side made the same observation and one of them turned to the communications officer to tell everyone to ignore the boxes and concentrate on the ladders that were relentlessly being mounted on the wall.
"Hold that order," said Shikamaru quickly as his eyes noticed a pair of boxes moving dangerously close to their position. During calmer times he'd discussed with the Kazekage the reason behind his ability to predict how battles would come came from his knowledge of tactics and shougi, but Gaara had offered a different opinion. He'd observed that Shikamaru had the ability to think of what he would do if he were in the enemy's position, and the Nara heir realised that his leader was completely right.
So when he predicted that only the first wave of boxes was empty, and that the two that were bearing down on their position were full to the brim with soldiers, he knew that Gaara had made a good point.
"Ready yourselves for battle," he warned, though it was clear that he didn't need to say that. There were rows of Sunagakure shinobi that were between them and the edge of the wall, but Shikamaru and Baki both pushed their way to the front to be on the front line.
It wasn't a tactically sound decision, but the moral boost their appearance had given rise to was enough to justify the risk. A quartermaster that had been attached to their group handed him a long sword, to which the Nara heir held back a chuckle at the idea and brandished it expertly. He would normally stand back and use his clan's ninjutsu to support his subordinates, but for the moment it was far more powerful to get down and bloody with his shinobi as one of the boxes came within a few metres of slamming into the wall.
He also needed his chakra for the more dangerous parts of the battle. For now, there were enemies that were determined to kill both him and his people.
And for that, he would fight until his body ran out of strength, and then he would fight some more.
oOoOoOo
The eastern wall of the village had suffered the least from the box assault that had come against the walls across the village exterior, however the sheer number of Quiraji soldiers had threatened to overwhelm the fortified position several times and with the enemy ready to begin pushing with ladders, the shinobi were almost ready to drop.
"How are our projectiles?" yelled the commander of one of the garrisons to any shinobi that might know the answer to his question. "I want numbers."
A bloody kunoichi at his side clutched her head to stop herself from bleeding out from her head wound while her other hand shot him a quick salute, "We are low on projectiles, food supplies and soldier pills, sir. The reserves have been concentrated on the other walls."
"So we're screwed," said the commander with a curse. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and went to point at a nearby shinobi to begin giving orders when he realised that his hand had come out bloody and with a clump of hair. "Damnit…"
"What are we going to do?" asked an exhausted Sunagakure shinobi nearby. "I don't have it in me to keep fighting. I can barely hold my kunai anymore."
A medical shinobi came up to the commander to tend to his wound, but he waved her off and turned to the Genin that had been running messages back and forth across the wall all morning. "Boy, what is your name?"
"Hiroi Takamura…sir. I'm in Gariyui's squad."
"Takamura, I need you to go the village, find any other Genin you can and get them to bring anything they can carry right here." The commander didn't wait for the boy to respond, turning to his other shinobi, "We're going to hold this wall even if it kills us."
"It's definitely going to kill us," said a Chuunin with an awkward laugh.
The commander resisted the urge to punch the shinobi just for the sake of it and leaned over the wall to see a large cluster of Red Warriors moving among the Quiraji ranks. The specialist troops had reaped a terrible toll on the Sunagakure shinobi without them making much of an account for themselves, but the commander knew most of that was circumstance.
"If we had a few hours rest, we'd be able to beat these bastards back." The commander knew that the enemy wasn't going to give them that time, but it was a nice thought.
A group of shinobi that had been manning the wall longer than anyone else walked up to the commander and removed their hoods in synchronisation. They revealed red tattooed faces that everyone recognised instantly. There weren't that many clans in Sunagakure in comparison to some of the other villages, but that was mainly due to the close-knit nature of the village and the willingness to share hidden techniques for the betterment of the village.
"We can distract the Quiraji for a few hours if you think it'll help," said one of the clan shinobi.
"Don't be ridiculous, you guys wouldn't last five seconds out there," shot the commander back quickly. "I know the Shioro clan is very powerful, but barely any of you have much chakra left."
"There are other means to fight a war," said another of the clan.
Before the commander could stop them, the five Shioro clan members leapt off the wall down onto the desert ground below. It was a steep drop, but with chakra they were able to land softly and press their backs to the wall behind them. The Quiraji army that was charging at the wall was less than a hundred metres away and threatened to overwhelm them in minutes.
The five of them all swiped at respective battle wounds with their thumbs before biting down on their last soldier pills. They ran through the five necessary hand seals in turn before one of their group stepped forward and placed his hand on the ground first.
"Ninpou Kuchiyose: Myoushu Kosasori!" (Summoning Technique: Great Master Scorpion)
Unlike regular summons where the animal would emerge from a cloud of white smoke, the Shioro summons simply pulled themselves out of the sand below. A massive black and red scorpion as tall as the wall behind it stood in front of its summoner, with giant pincers clapping loudly as they crushed the air between them. Its long tail dripped with green poison that sizzled on the desert floor, while its sets of eyes squared off against the Quiraji army that hesitated once it had arrived.
"You'vvvvee calllled me onccccee morrrre," said the boss summon with an alien voice.
The Shioro summoner behind the giant black and red scorpion nodded quickly, while smaller scorpions began pulling themselves out of the ground beside their leader. "Desperate times, Yuurai-sama. I know we're breaking our pact…"
"Thhhatttt matttterrrsss notttt nowww." The boss scorpion opened its claws up and drove them into the sand in front of it. As they recognised what their boss summon was about to do, the Shioro shinobi turned on their tails and began scaling the Sunagakure wall with chakra on their feet. While they left the battlefield, legions of man-sized scorpions began emerging from the sand just as they had summoned, until there were over a hundred of them standing against the now-charging Quiraji army. With the scorpions facing against them, the Quiraji had pushed their ladders back to the middle of the army and the Red Warriors that were usually manning them moved to the front to deal with the chakra-based creatures.
"She's not going to like us after this," commented one of the Shioro shinobi as they scaled the wall.
The leader of the clan that had summoned the lead creature breathed out slowly as they leapt over the top and landed on the stone floor beside their companion shinobi, "That's a risk we have to take. With that many Red Warriors against us, using any other summons would have been deadly."
They'd learnt early on in the war that when they used summoned creatures against the Quiraji specialist troops, their animal friends would get slaughtered, and unlike when defeated by shinobi, they were actually killed when the Quiraji did the deed. Upon learning that fact, the Sunagakure shinobi had sworn to their respective summoned creatures that they would only call them in under the direst of circumstances.
The boss scorpion seemed to recognise that now was one of those circumstances, as summoning her had almost killed the Shioro clan leader. He buckled and dropped to his knees just as he turned to see what was happening, with his clan members immediately moving to his aid.
With their summoners out of immediate danger, the summoned scorpion army with its leader at the head, watched their enemy with the patience of their species. The Quiraji began to converge around them, but before a single projectile could be thrown at them, the scorpions all pointed their stingers in an outward sphere as they hugged the wall.
Without waiting for the Quiraji to get into range, the scorpions unleashed a spray of poison from their tails, covering the area in a green cloud. The enemy skidded to a quick stop when they saw that it was strong enough to melt a few of the discarded weapons that were in the area, while the scorpions were immune to its effects. The cloud grew until it completely covered the scorpions and their leader.
Above the battle the shinobi watched carefully to take advantage of any openings the Quiraji offered them, but their main priority was to rest and recovery long enough to push the Quiraji back once the battle turned back to them once again.
The boss scorpion swept its giant claws through the poison cloud and dug them into the sand before aiming its stinger straight towards the Quiraji soldiers. Unlike its children, it had no interest in creating poison clouds or holding back. With a shudder through its plated body, its stinger swelled momentarily before firing a concentrated burst of chakra in the form of a dark green beam that cut a swath through the Quiraji soldiers in front of it before dissipating in the middle of the air.
Dozens of Quiraji melted in their armour from the attack, while their leaders pushed their soldiers into attacking the scorpions quickly before the boss could repeat the attack. The soldiers were hesitant to enter the poisonous cloud, but a pair of Black Robes pushed their way to the front ranks and started using their spiritual energy to dissipate the cloud.
The boss scorpion summoned up its strength to fire another beam of energy into the enemy army, but when it aimed its stinger it saw a single Red Warrior brandishing a large broadsword in front of it. With a multi-eyed glare, the boss scorpion lowered its stinger and fired its energy blast straight into the Red Warrior. For a few seconds it maintained the beam attack, but dissipated when it became clear that the chakra-based attack was being easily deflected by the Red Warrior's broadsword as if it were a volley of arrows.
It glanced around to see that her children trying to recreate the poison cloud, but the Quiraji were already pushing through and attacking them with their weapons. She had no serious issues with her children fighting and dying; it wasn't as if she didn't have legions of them in waiting. That didn't mean she wanted to ignore their plight, but she had a job to do and the Quiraji were more difficult to fight then the regular foes that she was summoned to fight.
Just as the giant scorpion had appeared on the battlefield, it drove its claws into the sand and disappeared underground just as two score Quiraji soldiers tried to charge at it from all sides. There was no movements underground even as the massive scorpion reappeared in the middle of the Quiraji army. Its claws killed clusters of soldiers at once with unbelievable strength, while it spat out globules of poison that melted them in their armour instantly.
The boss scorpion roared as it tore through the Quiraji ranks; their weapons bounced off its chitinous plate armour when they tried to avenge their comrades' deaths. It was a terrifying image to beyond to the Sunagakure shinobi on the wall, even though many of them were happy that the Quiraji soldiers had been forced to concentrate their attacks on the summoned creature and its children.
However after nearly half an hour of the giant scorpion killing dozens of soldiers with each swing and clench of its claws, eventually it became clear that the Quiraji soldiers were getting the better of the creature and a pair of Red Warriors had slashed through three of its legs and its stinger had been burnt off by one of the Black Robes.
"You have to unsummon it!" said one of the Sunagakure shinobi to the Shioro clan leader. "It's going to die!"
The statement was echoed by several of the shinobi nearby, but the summoner shook his head grimly. "She knows what she's doing. I couldn't unsummon her even if I wanted to."
He saw that there were now Quiraji soldiers that had clambered on top of the giant summoned creature and were stabbing through the gaps in its chitinous armour, while the Red Warriors were slashing through its body with their massive broadswords.
The Sunagakure shinobi at the wall could only watch at the sacrifice of the leader scorpion, their hands gripping the edges of the wall until their knuckles were white. Even when supplies and reinforcements arrived, they refused to take their eyes off the battle until it was over and the boss scorpion breathed her last before collapsing into the sand.
The Quiraji leapt off the dead summoned creature and turned their attention back to the shinobi on the wall. They'd only been distracted for less than an hour, but something in the demeanour of their enemies had changed.
When they began to charge once again with their ladders and tried to swarm the walls, they discovered that the shinobi fought back with twice the fury that they'd previously defended their village with. They were still exhausted and their numbers hadn't increased by much, but the sacrifice of the giant powerful summoned creature had inspired them and they weren't about to let that be in vain.
oOoOoOo
The team of Sunagakure shinobi landed next to the armoury and were immediately on their guard when they saw what was in front of them. When a Genin ran screaming towards a group of shinobi about to reinforce the wall, they weren't inclined to believe his ridiculous story, but now that they could see it, the team of four Jounin knew that something had gone terribly wrong.
The armoury was a small, single-story building that counted much of the munitions and weaponry that the village had stockpiled in preparation for sieges. There were several spread out across the village in concealed locations so that they didn't draw unwanted attention, and always had a pair of highly trained guards to keep them safe.
But here were the two Sunagakure guards, lying on the stone floor in pools of their own blood. They lay in front of a door that looked like it had been ripped off the hinges, and the Jounin already knew what to expect inside.
"Should…should we tell the generals?" asked the Genin who had first noticed the bodies on his seventh run of bringing water to the shinobi on the walls. He'd only recently graduated from the Academy and been given his forehead protector and had no personal combat experience.
The lead Jounin of the group shook her head and knelt down beside one of the bodyguards to examine it, "There are no defensive wounds on this body. They were ambushed."
"Teleporters?" suggested the male Jounin in the group.
"Let's hope so," said the lead Jounin grimly. "If not, we're in a bigger pile of crap than we already are."
"Why would that be a good thing?" asked the Genin meekly to the Jounin he was hiding behind.
Breathing out heavily, the lead Jounin stood back up and walked towards the open door, "Because if it's normal soldiers, that means we've been breached and nobody knows about it."
"Looks like the door was slashed apart," observed the sensory Jounin in the group. He placed a finger to the ground for a moment before nodding to their leader, "The armoury is clear."
Just as they'd suspected, inside the armoury were a pile of dead bodies that had been dragged from the places they were killed and stacked on top of each other in grotesque positions. The Genin, who had tried not to look and failed, felt his knees grow weak at the sight and before he knew it he was on the ground emptying the contents of his stomach onto the bloody stone floor of the armoury.
The Sunagakure Jounin had stronger stomachs than their younger counterpart, but that didn't lessen their disgust at what they saw. The quartermaster and armoursmith of the armoury had been quartered, by serrated blades post-mortem it looked like, while their apprentices had been bound and gagged before having their throats slashed.
The sensory Jounin swore loudly and brought up his shirt to cover his nose from the developing smell, as they'd experienced some severe desert heat over the past few weeks the bodies had already started to decompose. "They butchered them…"
"And made the younger ones watch," swore the lead Jounin. "This is monstrous."
The male Jounin of the team walked around the bodies carefully and checked the inventory before confirming their second suspicion upon arrival, "All the weapons are gone."
In the background all they could hear were the flies slowly coming into the room to continue their feast on the decomposing bodies and the violent retching of the young Genin that would never sleep soundly again.
"It must have happened overnight," concluded the sensory Jounin through his shirt. "If they found this one…"
"…then they've probably attacked the other armouries as well," finished the lead Jounin. "We have to tell the generals."
The female Jounin that hadn't commented yet on the situation walked over and yanked the male Genin onto his feet, "You have to inform command that we've lost one of our armouries, and that we're going to investigate the others. Talk to either a council member or someone from communications that can get in touch with them."
"I…I don't think I can…"
Without warning she slapped him across the face so hard that two of his teeth went flying and his mouth began to fill up with blood. "You are a shinobi of Suna! Get a grip or I will kill you where you stand for being a coward!"
He blubbered incoherently at her for a moment before turning and stumbling out of the room. He didn't look back at the team he had brought to the armoury, for fear of several things that existed in that room. In a moment he leapt away as fast as possible to find someone to tell the bad news to and hoped he didn't encounter any enemies before he was able to deliver his message.
Back in the armoury, the other Jounin in the group said nothing about her treatment of the Genin; they all knew the horrors of war and how quickly it can turn if you weren't prepared to do anything to secure victory. Part of being a Jounin was the knowledge that both you and your companions were ultimately expendable for the greater good of the village.
"Where is the nearest armoury from here?" asked the lead Jounin, breaking the silence after the Genin had left.
"Fifteen blocks south-west, near the hospital," said the sensory Jounin quietly.
"What about the bodies?" asked the male Jounin.
The lead Jounin shook her head and began walking out of the armoury, "Their troubles are already over."
oOoOoOo
A Quiraji soldier leapt up off the top of the siege ladder and roared out a battlecry before jabbing his spear at the nearby Sunagakure shinobi. The trained shinobi was able to parry the strike and stabbed at the soldier with a kunai in hand, but the civilian-turned-enemy leapt forward past the attack and headbutted the shinobi with its helmeted head. The shinobi cried out in pain as it dropped to its knees, but was quickly silenced as the soldier stabbed through his throat with his spear.
The soldier was quickly swarmed by four Sunagakure shinobi determined to avenge their fallen comrade and was thrown off the wall with the ladder it scaled, but the situation was replicated all along the western wall of Sunagakure.
"Concentrate your fire on that box," yelled a Sunagakure Jounin to his shinobi subordinates. At his command, six shinobi threw kunai with attached explosion notes towards the siege carrier that was ponderously moving towards the wall, and the subsequent explosion ripped a massive hole in the middle that brought it crashing down on its carriers.
"Sir, we haven't been able to kill the Black Robes that stand at the base of the wall," said a Chuunin to the Jounin commander. She pointed to a cluster of three Quiraji specialist troops that had been standing conspicuously close to the wall for almost ten minutes, while a large group of Quiraji soldiers protected them from outside attackers.
The Sunagakure Jounin swore and glared down at them from his vantage point, "If we had a bomb I'd drop it right on their heads…but that would break apart the wall."
"What are we going to do?"
He reached over and grabbed her by the shoulder before shoving her back into line with the other shinobi, "Get down there and kill them with your bare hands if you have to! I want them away from my wall!"
"Sir!" called out one of the sensory shinobi nearby. "There is something happening in the Quiraji lines near the secondary wall."
"There's crap happening everywhere," said the Jounin quickly. He moved over to the sensory shinobi and glanced out at the attacking enemies, "What am I looking at?"
"The Black Robes are gone!" came another voice nearby. "They're retreating back to their lines."
The Sunagakure Jounin frowned and glanced back at the wall, seeing that the report was accurate. The soldiers that had been protecting them were still there and growing in numbers, but there was a wide gap between the wall and the secondary wall, almost like a make-shift path.
While the Sunagakure shinobi threw off the Quiraji soldiers that were continuing to try and scale the wall, the Jounin's eyes widened when he saw what the Quiraji had planned and were about to execute. Seemingly out of nowhere, a giant creature had appeared under the chains of its Quiraji masters, breathing so heavily that the Jounin could almost hear it. It had a leathery hide that would have made it impossible to live in the desert, but clearly it had been brought to the Land of Wind for a singular purpose.
"Is that…a rhino?!" exclaimed one of the nearby Sunagakure shinobi. She leaned forward on the wall to get a better look and almost lost her head as a Quiraji soldier shot an arrow up at her. Her Jounin commander pulled her back by her Chuunin jacket and threw a small cluster of shuriken to take the archer in the neck and face to kill him.
"What the hell is a rhino doing here?" asked another confused shinobi nearby.
The Jounin ignored their inane questions and turned to the sensory shinobi that had alerted him, "Are there any long range attackers still on the wall?"
"Two, sir," replied the shinobi quickly. "Poi, the Fire Lancer, and Tamatsuri."
"The Longshot? Contact both of them and order them to take down that rhino, right now!"
The sensory shinobi nodded and tapped on his earpiece to try and contact them, but after a few moments he took his hand off his ear and shook his head, "Tamatsuri had one of his arms disabled while in combat with a Red Warrior and can't use his techniques."
"And Poi?" asked the Jounin commander hopefully, but he already knew what the answer would be.
"Is on the end of the wall, fighting against a group of Quiraji that had overwhelmed that outpost. Her exact response was…"
The commander put up his hand to stop the shinobi; he knew exactly what she would have said. He bit at his lip angrily as he saw the rhino had begun to build up speed as it moved through the opening in Quiraji army lines towards the wall. He glanced at the exhausted shinobi at his side for a moment before formulating a plan.
"I want any explosive materials to be used as projectiles and targeted at that creature. We have to kill it before it reaches the wall."
"The wall is strong enough to survive a single animal," said one of the Sunagakure shinobi that had been roped into the group. "Surely we should concentrate on throwing off the ladders."
The Jounin's expression darkened and he grabbed at the Chuunin's vest, "Obey my orders, or I'll throw you down the wall to fight the Quiraji soldiers with just your crappy taijutsu!"
"Hey, my taijutsu was the best of my class…" started the Chuunin, but the Jounin had already let him go and was running through a long set of handseals.
The shinobi nearby quickly went about obeying his orders, wrapping explosion notes around kunai and throwing them as hard and as accurately as they could at the charging rhino. The projectiles were easily deflected by the three Black Robes that had spread themselves along the rhino's path, using wind-based spiritual energy techniques to deflect the explosive projectiles into the nearby Quiraji soldiers. The explosions took out large clusters of soldiers as they had gathered in not-insignificant numbers, but the rhino continued to gain speed as it drew closer to the wall.
"Kill it! Kill it!" ordered the sensory shinobi, recognising the imminent danger they were now in, as they were directly above where the rhino was going to hit.
However their combined efforts continued to fail, even as the Jounin completed his technique and drew the pair of swords from his back and concentrated his chakra into them. They began to crackle with lightning, while shining so brightly it was almost blinding to the nearby Sunagakure shinobi.
As the rhino came dangerously close to the wall, the Sunagakure Jounin leapt off the wall and shot towards it with a greater speed than he was normally able to achieve, having unlocked the second gate, the Gate of Healing. His increased strength and speed allowed him to bash away the projectiles that the Quiraji soldiers shot at him and drive straight at the rhino through the air. The Black Robes tried to erect an invisible air barrier above the charging creature, but through sheer strength the Jounin was able to bash through it and get close to the rhino as it got to just under twenty metres from the wall.
With a loud roar the Sunagakure Jounin slammed his lightning-drenched swords into the rhino's head, the swords easily able to penetrate the animal's thick hide and cause it to cry out in pain. The rhino began to stumble in its charge as the life quickly drained from its body, but the Sunagakure Jounin knew he was too late. Even his best effort wasn't enough to stop the creature as its head lowered and its giant horn slammed into the weakened part of the wall.
The Kazekage's strongest materials had gone into making the wall, but with the Black Robes weakening it before it was directly struck by the large creature, even the strongest walls could fall. The Sunagakure Jounin that had killed the rhino even as it broke through the wall into the village leapt off the creature as it slid to a bloody stop inside the village before glancing back at the wall. The hole was much larger than it should have been from the animal's strike, but it was about to get worse as the supports for the wall collapsed and the section he'd just been standing on collapsed down to the ground.
Once the dust from the falling sand stones began to settle, the battlecry of the enemy sounded throughout the area and Quiraji soldiers began to swarm through the hole.
oOoOoOo
"Breach! The wall is breached!"
Shikamaru and the other generals immediately turned to the communications officer that made the declaration, their expressions demanding more information.
"The western wall has been breached, close to the Gaoma markets! The commander has been killed and Quiraji soldiers are flooding into the village."
"Son of a…" started one of the generals, while Shikamaru turned to one of his assistants quickly.
"Pull up the cloth lines to that section," he ordered before telling the communications officer to calm down and order the reserves from the centre of the village to the breach. As he went about obeying the general's order, the long wires that had been spread through the village began to unfurl to reveal large cloth lines that spread from their position at the wall to the western section.
"What are you doing?" asked Baki as Shikamaru was running through a long set of complex handseals. He was aware that the reserve force that had just been ordered to the breach should be able to fight off the Quiraji soldiers, but with the cloth lines being used he knew what the commander had in mind.
"Intervening," said Shikamaru as he finished his technique and attached his shadow to the one that had been created by the cloth line. "Someone has to command and I'm the only one that can get there quickly."
The older Sunagakure council member let out a tsk and turned away to continue commanding the defence of their part of the wall, "I'm not going to tell your wife if you die."
Shikamaru smirked grimly, "I wouldn't ask that of anyone." He placed a hand on the dark shadow that linked him to the one that stretched over the houses within the village. Well Dad, let's see if this technique of yours actually works. "Kagejouto no Jutsu." (Shadow Jump Technique)
As he activated the technique, the shadow that usually sat at his feet sprang up and swallowed him akin to someone falling into quicksand and being consumed instantly. In an instant, Shikamaru disappeared from the general's post and reappeared at the other side of the village, emerging from the shadow with a gasp. The transition felt like emerging from being underwater, but Shikamaru grimaced as he felt his bones struggle under the pressure of the advanced Nara technique.
"Damnit…that technique is a pain in the…" His complaint was cut off as a roaring Quiraji soldier charged up towards him and aimed a sword slash at his head. Never one for much talent in taijutsu, nevertheless Shikamaru was able to recover from the transition enough to block the strike with one kunai while driving another into the soldier's face.
The Quiraji soldier sunk to the ground as Shikamaru sighed in despair. He knew that the soldier wouldn't have been one of the original Quiraji that had travelled to their land. It was likely he had been a civilian that had lived in one of the small villages in the Land of Wind that had been turned to the Quiraji cause. Whatever traces of reasonability had left those that had joined the Quiraji army due to the machinations of their scientists, but that didn't depreciate the fact that he hated the fact that he had to fight and kill people that he might have talked with or shared tea with. Perhaps even played a relaxing game of shougi with.
Recovering from his transition and subsequent battle, Shikamaru glanced around to see Quiraji soldiers fighting in close quarter combat with Sunagakure shinobi that had fallen off the wall from the alarmingly large hole, while the Genin that had been designated as messengers and suppliers were being dragged into combats that they clearly weren't prepared for.
Despite his normally calm and relaxed demeanour, Shikamaru found himself furious at what was unfolding in front of him and began moulding large amounts of chakra in response. He placed a hand over his expanding shadow at his side, summoning up a solid form into a black bow. In front of him a pair of Sunagakure Genin were being overwhelmed by three Quiraji soldiers with swords, but Shikamaru wasn't about to let them die. He pulled at the shadowy string of his ninjutsu-created bow and rapidly shot three arrows made of solid shadow into the backs of the Quiraji soldiers, piercing through their armour and killing them instantly.
As their attackers fell to the ground, the pair of Genin looked around for their saviour before remarking at the appearance of the second most politically powerful man in the village in their part of the battle. At the distance between them, Shikamaru wasn't able to hear what they were saying, but when one of them pointed at him with fear on her face, he didn't hesitate.
Dissolving his bow into a more liquid form of shadow, the Nara heir spun around and constructed the shadow into a thick shield to block the decapitating strike from the White Assassin that had appeared behind him. As the dagger-wielder was using weapons that were able to bypass chakra-based techniques, the White Assassin's strike went through the shield with relative ease, but it was enough to deflect the strikes long enough for Shikamaru to roll away and stare at his opponent calculatingly.
He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could defeat a Quiraji specialist troop without a pre-set plan, but clearly he'd cultivated some type of reputation among the enemy army as the White Assassin glared at him for a moment before disappearing as quickly as it arrived. Shikamaru was suspicious of a follow-up attack, but none came as he heard a tirade of fighting at his side that indicated that the reserves he had ordered to the western wall had arrived.
Quiraji soldiers were still pouring through the breach, but with their concentration of the hole in the wall they'd freed up the shinobi on the wall from their ladder-based attacks and the Sunagakure shinobi on the wall began raining down projectiles on the clustered soldiers and reaped a terrible toll on their enemies.
Once he saw the Sunagakure reserves, Shikamaru turned and regarded the Quiraji soldiers that was attacking the village he'd come to love angrily.
A Jounin commander from the reserves moved to his side with a kunai in hand, "I'm surprised to see you here, Councillor Nara."
"One can't expect to lead if he won't get his hands dirty," quoted Shikamaru, taking a moment to control his breathing and re-centre himself. "How many shinobi do you have with you?"
"Five hundred, armed to the teeth," said the commander as they were joined by Chuunin and Genin alike. Most of them were support-types with a few combat monsters that had been held back specifically for instances such as the one they now faced.
"The moment there is an opening, I want engineers fixing the wall," said Shikamaru as he sunk to a crouched position and placed his hands in his thinking pose.
The Sunagakure reserve glanced at him with confusion, but when their commander ordered them to attack the Quiraji invaders; they did so with fury as they ran past the ex-Konoha shinobi and slammed into the clusters of Quiraji soldiers that were suddenly offset by the appearance of the Sunagakure reinforcements.
With his shinobi moving around him, Shikamaru was able to use the few moments of peace to formulate a plan of attack. The intelligence surrounding a group of White Assassins going around killing people within the village was concerning, but there was nothing they could do about it except reinforce their positions and prepare for the next attack. He had to concentrate his efforts here, and a plan came to him just as he wondered how to remove the Quiraji playmakers on the western front.
He stood up and watched as a pair of Sunagakure shinobi from the reserves were running up to the exhausted defenders during lulls in the chaotic melee and were distributing soldier pills and new kunai and shurikens. He nodded to himself and quickly caught up with the pair of Genin.
"I need any flash bombs that you have in stock," he asked, thanking the pair when they handed him a handful of the small round balls that would allow him to turn the tide of the battle heavily into their favour.
With a burst of chakra in his feet, Shikamaru leapt over the fighting shinobi and Quiraji soldiers onto one of the edges of the partially destroyed wall, glancing out over the edge to get an understanding of what he was dealing with. As he'd suspected, the Quiraji were converging heavily on the breach, under the guidance of three Black Robes that were directing them in battle. By his observation, there were nearly two thousand Quiraji soldiers that would be inside the village within minutes, and even their reserves wouldn't be able to push them back. They needed a way to take a minute to build a barrier where the hole was, and he hoped his plan would provide that.
He took a deep breath and calculated the distance between himself on the wall and the three Black Robes that were conveniently close together at the other side of the Quiraji horde. He pulled out three kunai from his pouch and hurled them towards the Black Robes, intentionally missing his mark and letting them land behind the Quiraji specialist troops, who were too distracted to notice the attacks that had clearly missed them.
He fingered the four flash bombs he'd been given carefully before moving one to his other hand. He would have created a Kage Bunshin to do it with the best possible timing, but every piece of chakra was vital for his plan and the technique he planned on using required every bit of his concentration. With a long breath, he hurled one flash bomb down on the Sunagakure side of the wall into the melee before turning and tossing one into the breach and the last two into the area just above the Quiraji army converging on the breach.
"BLIND!" he called out as loud as he could while covering his eyes with his arm. At his word, every Sunagakure shinobi in earshot immediately understood and replicated the move, while the Quiraji soldiers hesitated at the strange development.
That was enough time for the flash bombs to explode. With the brightness of a small sun, every Quiraji soldier on the Sunagakure side, in the breach and almost a third of those on the other side of the wall was completely blinded, including the three Black Robes that had so arrogantly underestimated Sunagakure ingenuity.
"RECOVER!" called out Shikamaru as he put his hands into a handseal of his own creation. His arm hadn't been able to block all parts of the light and his eyes stung a little bit, but he had enough sight to stretch his shadow across the battlefield as fast as he could until it stretched just past the three Quiraji specialist troops. Around him the Sunagakure shinobi uncovered their eyes and began pushing back the enemy soldiers as fast and as brutally as they could, while the enemy troops were barely able to defend themselves at the sudden blinding attack.
Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he activated his most recently acquired technique, one that he'd taken from two separate techniques from his father's scroll. He was sure that his father would be intrigued by his inventions and innovations on Nara techniques, but would also lament the fact that they were essentially made because of the war that had killed so many shinobi.
"Kage Samurai no Jutsu," he muttered quietly as his technique activated. (Shadow Warrior Technique)
From the edge of his shadow that had stretched from himself to the area behind the three Black Robes quickly took the form of three man-like forms, while picking up the kunai he had thrown earlier. Similar to the weapons he was able to create, they were made of solid shadow, however for the task he was using them for; he needed physical weapons that weren't entirely made of chakra.
With their eyes temporarily blinded, and their efforts concentrated on the events happening in front of them, the Black Robes had no defence as the shadow warriors drove the kunai into the backs of their necks, killing them instantly. While completing the strikes they made contact with the Quiraji specialist troops' bodies and dissipated instantly, but the damage was done as the enemy leaders crumbled to the desert floor.
At the same time, the pressure of the Sunagakure reserves and appearance of the senior-most shinobi currently in the village boosting morale had turned the battle of the breach to their favour. Within a minute all the Quiraji soldiers that had pushed into the village had been killed and several large scale uses of advanced ninjutsu techniques had thrown the enemy soldiers out of the breach as they recovered from the flash bomb attack.
Within moments of being given the order, a group of twenty shinobi from the reserves clapped their hands onto the ground and brought up a large amount of sand from the outlying area and drove it into the breach to create a makeshift wall inside the hole. Several other groups of reserves shot forward and began throwing seals onto the wall to reinforce its strength.
The retaliation of the Sunagakure army and recovery of the breach was enough to break the morale of the Quiraji army that was still recovering their eyesight, and within minutes of constant attacks from their enemies, the Quiraji soldiers were in retreat.
The battle for the western wall was over, for the time being.
Shikamaru took a moment to breathe out in relief, while Sunagakure shinobi were cheering in praise at both his intervention and their victory. After a minute he grabbed one of the Genin he had gotten the flash bombs from and acquired a soldier pill that he bit into quickly. He knew that the wide use of the soldier pill would cause serious burnout among his shinobi in the coming weeks, but they'd been given specific instructions to only do so in the direst of circumstances.
"Would you like to sit down for a moment, sir?" asked the Genin with a smile on her face.
The Nara heir chuckled in exhaustion and turned his gaze back to the other parts of the village, "I have to get back to the command post. Tell the reserve commander to leave one hundred shinobi here and everyone else to get back to their positions and await further instructions."
"He's not going to take orders from me," said the Genin with a look of shame on her face at her low status in the village ranking.
"Then tell him I sent you, and that if he doesn't do it I'll personally throw him into the next message run to the outside civilian villages."
The Genin nodded quickly and snapped him a quick salute with pride on her face, "Yes, sir!"
Shikamaru clapped her on the shoulder to show that she was doing a good job before he began running across the tops of the Sunagakure buildings back to his original position.
The day wasn't over yet.
Author's Note:
And the war continues. I hope you guys enjoyed what I've put into this battle so far; there is another chapter to go for this particular part of the war. I know I took a few liberties with the abilities of the scorpion summons, but if slugs can heal, scorpions can fire poison beams from their stingers. That's my logic.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.