Chapter 15: Siege of Kiri Part 1

Itachi stood infront of a group of 9 Shinobi huddled under a small ten all sat silently.

"Thank you all for joining me, all 10 of us are the anbu assigned to the fourth company. Our mission here in kiri is an important one. Recon and assassination our main task while in country will be probing deep into enemy territory and assassinating targets of high priority that come from command. We will always operate in teams of two seeing as Kitsune is the newest member I will pair up with while the rest of you have your partners." Itachi finished dismissing the anbu who returned to their daily duties. After a few hours Itachi called upon the first platoon.

"We have new orders after me." Itachi said as he jumped into the forest as the platoon took off after their leader. They followed him for about two hours before coming to a halt perched near a village.

"First platoon searched the village." Itachi ordered as the shinobi jumped down and into the village. There seemed to be no one as Naruto searched through a house family portraits lining the walls.

"Everything ok in here namikaze?" One of Naruto's fellow chunin asked as the boy nodded.

"Yeah! Nothing seems to be out of place." He said as he moved down to the basement where there once again was no one. Frowning, Naruto closed his eyes forming a ram seal. He felt a chakra signature but it felt small underneath a piece of tarp.

"Is anyone there?" Naruto asked, kneeling before the tarp on the ground the boy heard sniffling. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said.

"That's what those scawwy nin said before." He heard a voice say from underneath the voice. Naruto's frown deepened as he carefully opened the tarp to see a small girl clutching a doll. The girl had light red hair with purple eyes and she wore a simple blue dress.

"You're a nin too." She said trying to back away as naruto looked up at his headband slipping it off into his back pocket.

"I am but for right now I just want to help you out. What symbol were these shinobi using?" Naruto asked as the girl frowned.

"They had three… no four lines on them they demanded everyone to gather in the square mommy and daddy said to wait here." She said with a sniffle. "They never came back." She said, causing Naruto's stomach to drop as he went into the hole slowly.

"Why don't I help you get somewhere safe?" He asked as the girl nodded before running into naruto's outstretched arms crying into his chest as naruto held the girl shushing her. Standing up Naruto carried the girl who must have been three up the stairs and out into the rainy island that the fourth company had been sent to.

"Naruto where did you find the girl?" asked a chunin from second squad as naruto held the girl tightly.

"She was hiding in the basement. She said kiri shinobi came through here rounding everyone up… She's the only chakra signature I can feel in the area." Naruto said as he tried to cover the girl from the rain the best he could.

"Here take my poncho for the girl." One of Naruto's squadmates said as they slipped the rubber protection over the girl keeping the rain off her. Itachi seeing the commotion finally came over.

"Looks like we found someone at least." He said before stepping close whispering into Naruto's ear. "We found a mass grave close to here. We believe it came from everyone in the village." Itachi said, causing Naruto to frown and nod getting the idea.

"We're moving out!" Itachi shouted as the platoon formed backup heading to rejoin their company which was tasked with conquering one of the many islands around Kiri to allow for the safe movement of supplies to the main island.

Arriving back at camp Itachi motioned for Naruto to follow him leading the teen to the company commander who had long brown hair over which wears a bandanna-style fhiate-ate. Two strands of his hair hang down on either side, framing his face. Customary of all Hyūga he has the featureless white eyes of the Byakugan. He wears the standard Konoha shinobi attire complete with a flak jacket. This was Iroha Hyuga.

"Itachi?" He asked, staring at the two who were in his quarters.

"We're reporting back from our scouting mission no sign of the enemy however we did find this little girl." Itachi said motioning for Naruto to report.

"She was the only chakra signature I could feel within the village. I also believe she might be an Uzumaki and maybe the whole village was Uzumaki refugees." Naruto said as he shifted the sleeping girl.

"Alright we'll send her to konoha I'm sure Kushina-sama would be delighted to have another Uzumaki jounin konoha." He said plainly. "She leaves on the first boat for Hi no kuni any questions?"

"No Sir!" Both Itachi and Naruto said before leaving. Naruto spent the next day with the girl who became the mascot of the first platoon showing off a vibrant smile and personality after opening up to everyone. Everyone took a group picture with her before she was put on the boat steaming towards Konoha.

Third company spent a week searching the island only to find similar scenes but with no survivors which soured the morale of the company who were hoping to find at least one survivor of these massacres. To make matters worse since they stepped foot on the island it never stopped raining there wasn't a single dry spot to get good rest.

Dear Mother

The war is going well so far we haven't made contact with any enemy on this island. I can't say the name for security purposes but it's been raining the entire time we've been here. Everything feels damp and muddy with no place to rest. I miss konoha and my friends and family.

We found a potential Uzumaki who should arrive shortly in Konoha. I think you will like her. I'm sending a picture of first platoon with her. She and anyone like her has become the reason we're fighting to end the reign of the bloody mist who seems to kill its own people with no remorse.

I've heard Zabuza's company, which is the 8th company, has experienced heavy fighting a few Islands over but it's quited down now for the most part. Resistance has been light but as we make it closer to Kirigakure we fear the worst.

I have to go now please wish father Aiko and Kaito well and tell them we shall see each other soon.

Love

Naruto

The boy looked up from the letter he wrote just barely managing to keep it from getting damp as he handed it off to one of the messenger shinobi who was picking up correspondence and dropping them off.

"We have some new orders kitsune we're scouting the main island tonight." He heard the voice of itachi who entered the boys tent. "We leave at dusk." He said, looking at naruto.

"The main island? Won't that be hard to make it through?" Naruto asked as itachi nodded.

"Yes that's why Inu-taicho and a few other Anbu will be joining us; we have to find paths for the main invasion." Itachi said as naruto sighed.

"I'll be ready." Naruto said as itachi nodded panting the boys leg before leaving

the muddy tent as naruto attempted to get some sleep. Rest didn't come easily before Naruto was in his anbu gear at the edge of camp. The camp rested near the shore line for quick loading and off loading of gear for the company of shinobi.

"Ready Kitsune?" Weasel asked as naruto nodded as the two took a small row boat out to see before they paddled through the ocean around the islands. It didn't take long for the two to reach the main island as they stopped the boat gently being rocked by waves.

"Glad of you guys to join us." Inu said as he reached the rally with Neko and Kuma.

"Disembark we're going to go by foot." Inu ordered as the anbu teams left their boats walking towards the island.

"Before we get further we're to be silent the entire time understood?" Inu asked as everyone nodded as they finally made it to shore, halting and crouching down to scan the area.

The anbu team said nothing as they made their way towards the inland halting to let patrols pass by marking on a map fortifications and patrol paths. Stopping they came upon a large base that the team watched for a few hours. The base held three large buildings that were four stories each, guards rotated in and out of the building every hour. Satisfied with their intel on the installation the team continued onwards past the base finally reaching the outskirts of kiri which looked like it was more of a military installation rather than a Village.

They stayed studying the village for another hour or so before they back off making their way back to the shores of Kiri. The group made it mostly there before Inu stopped running through a series of hand seals to the team.

"We're being tracked, 5 Anbu level shinobi are hot on trail." He signaled as the team doubled timed it blowing past patrols the guard posts that littered the country. By the time they made it to the shore and back to the boats a team of anbu burst onto the shores looking for the Konoha anbu who hid in the darkness watching the kiri anbu.

Seeing that they lost their targets the kiri turned leaving causing naruto to release a breath he didn't know he was holding in as Weasle laid a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. Backing away slowly from the shore line Inu signaled them to stop.

"Good work this morning team. Now then return to your camps and get some shut eye we're going to need it." Inu said as the boats began to paddle back to their camps.

(Kawa no Kuni)

A tanigakure shinobi stood peering over the top of a ravine that was being held a mixture of tanigakure and otogakure shinobi.

"Anything?" Another shinobi said as the man shook his head.

"No it's pretty clear." He said the area he was looking at came from Hi no kuni where they expected an attack to come anytime now.

"I'm so tired of watching this way Konoha has so many fronts. Why would they focus on us?" The shinobi said with a sigh.

"Well Kumo already secured shimo from what I've heard and they have a direct route to Iwa so why not attack here?" The shinobi said, annoyed by his comrade.

"Because of the terrain when they could simply go through ame." He said as the other man frowned and shrugged.

"Hey wait a second what is this?" The man said snatching a paper out of the air.

"You fucking idiot!" Shouted the other man but it was to late as the paper bomb exploded killing the two man instantly as rocks went tumbling towards the encampment below.

Neji watched the explosion from afar before nodding to his company commander.

"Forward!" He shouted as the fifth regiment charged forward out of the forest and down into the ravine engaging the enemy shinobi within. The fifth regiment dispatched the small company stationed there easily before continuing on.

"Neji, are you doing ok?" Gai asked his student as the fifth regiment moved through the landscape of Kawa no Kuni.

"Yes sensei… I just wasn't expecting to be sent out so soon is all." Neji said wearing the standard chunin uniform.

"Your doing fine for your first time in war just keep your head up and your flames of youth strong!" Gai said before returning to his own company as the fifth regiment fought company of company through the rocky land.

The regiment fought for three straight days with very few breaks as they kept their forward momentum. Tanigakure was a small village and had little to no support from otogakure, arguably the main forces of the war. Most of the shinobi that Konoha knew about surrendered rather than die.

Casualties did however start to mount as they pushed onward, breaking a path straight through to the desert whose heat bore down on the konoha shinobi who were exhausted. However their mission was accomplished, setting up a path to reach suna and relieve their lines.

Neji lay resting under the shade of a tree just on the edge of the desert as he took a swig from his canteen.

"I wonder what Tenten and Lee are doing?" Neji wondered aloud as Gai approached them

"Genin are placed on guard duty while chunin and above are sent off to fight in war. The third made this the law so that the way of things so that no children had to fight… However it seems that despite this you and the naruto-kuns generation still had to fight." Gai said with a sigh before laying a hand on neji's shoulder.

"You shouldn't have to see the horrors of war so young I will protect you with my life." Gai said with a smile an actual smile not one of his large creepy ones that Neji couldn't help but return.

"Thank you gai-sensei!" Neji said a gai hugged the boy much to his annoyance as he felt the mood disappear.

(Temari)

"Keep moving, shelter is almost near!" Temari shouted as she helped direct refugees into Taki, She had been assigned to the fourth regiment and sent to Taki with fu.

"The stream just never ends." Fu said as she landed next to Temari the two had become rather close during their time together in taki. The vanguard elements of the regiment and Iwa had pushed the enemy out of the land before Temari ever got close to taki.

"A lot of homes were destroyed by oto and then by the fighting." Temari said with a frown lots of families clung to the clothes on their back some of their last possessions. Some adults carried small children who cried for the parents it was obvious that they were now orphaned by the war.

All of this caused despair to form in temari and Fus hearts that war could cause sadness in others.

"I hope this war ends soon." Fu said seeing the smoke in the distance from previous battles or homes that were burned down.

(Sasuke)

Sasuke stood before orochimaru who held a sick smile on his lips.

"You're learning well my young pupil soon you will have all the power you wish for." Orchimaru said as Sasuke nodded before leaving him with a bow. The war had not gone at all the way orochimaru had thought it would. All his allies had retreated to their one villages once every major nation joined the war.

Oto which was probing Hi no Kuni was trapped within its own borders as they had lost a lot of their manpower to the fighting within konoha itself along with Hi no kuni. Orochimaru had hedged all his bets in a quick end to the war and now it was all falling apart.

However as sasuke had learned the snake sannin was not finished he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Tricks that sasuke was quickly trying to dismantle so he could continue on to the second phase of his mission.

Frowning the boy received a mission from the anbu HQ with another assassination target causing the boy to release a tired sigh knowing he would once again have to sneak away to be taka without alerting the sannin.

(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru jumped to another tree branch as he and his platoon raced through one of the many islands that surrounded kiri. The third regiments initial task was almost finished which was to make sure a path to the main island was clear as kumo landed more troops and the rebels readied their own.

Shikamaru scanned the land around him nervous about being attacked at any moment. Unlike Naruto's island which from what he heard was hit by storm after storm this island was hot and humid all the time. There wasn't much cover or vegetation and very few signs of the enemy having ever been there.

"Calm down, you'll be fine no one has been reported being here from kiri since we arrived it seems they are focusing all their troops in Kiri." He heard a familiar and gruff voice say next to him.

"I know asuma-sensei… I'm just nervous is all." Shikamaru said as he felt his fingers brush against his kunai holster as Asuma lit up a cigarette.

"I'll protect you kid don't you worry!" Asuma said with a smile. Asuma had been assigned to his company as the commander and had taken a liking to third platoon normally out on patrol with them.

"Asuma sir! This is the end of the island and I think we can say its clear." The platoon commander said with a salute causing asuma to nod.

"Good signal to the rest of our forces that the invasion can commence." Asuma said as a runner dashed off to the other side of the island.

"Tomorrow is going to get very chaotic. Everyone return to camp! Get some rest, we're going to need it." Asuma said with a sigh, taking one last drag from his cigarette puffing out a shaky cloud of smoke.

(Naruto)

The teen shook the rain water off him as he stood under the cover set up moral in the third company had dropped after all the rain they had received. Naruto shuddered trying to keep warm as no fires were able to be made.

"I'm tired of cold grub." Claimed one of the sarutobi clan shinobi in his squad his name was takiyo as he tried to force down more cold rice.

"We all are but it's not like we really have a choice in what we eat." Naruto said with a sigh as he forced down his own food.

"Good news the operation is entering phase two. Pack your stuff we get back on the boats tonight." Itachi said coming back from an officers meeting. Everyone cheered as they were ready to leave this village of perpetual rain. They had spent a month there without ever even seeing the enemy though they had seen a lot of massacres similar to the first on they found.

The day passed in a blur as they went from the rain back onto the boats that launched off before joining a fleet of ships that held both kumo rebels and konoha shinobi.

The fleet was huge with what seemed to be hundreds of ships carrying thousands of shinobi.

"I just got word we're in the first wave hitting the beaches tomorrow… keep your heads down and we'll make it through this." Itachi said with a tired voice but he offered his usual light smile.

Everyone could feel their stomachs drop at that they knew what could possibly wait for them as soon as they landed but they steeled themselves prepared for anything. Naruto lay awake staring at the stars as he wrote another letter.

Dear Father

Tomorrow seems to be the day of days as we hit the beach of the main island. I hope everything goes well and quickly however it doesn't seem luck is much on the side of third company at least that's the general thought going around.

Shikamaru is out there somewhere in our fleet but I have no idea where exactly. I hope that I run into him at some point. I miss everyone but I hope I do right by not just you guys but also konoha.

I'll see you soon

Naruto

He finished just as the sun began to peak over the ocean, the boat lurching forward at that moment.

"Don't worry Naruto we got your back." Kakashi said with an eye smile as he raised his hiate-ate to show his sharingan as Itachis flared to life. The boat hit ground as the front of it dropped everyone sprinting and jumping off the boat only to find no resistance.

"This is weird…" Mei said as her boat landed joined by Darui and Kakashi.

"I… we were expecting at least some form of resistance… this is just too eerie." Kakashi said with a frown prevalent under his mask.

"Be on guard we don't know what Yagura has planned." Mei ordered as the commanders nodded.

"Movement!" Itachi shouted as a rustle could be seen everyone on the beach took what cover they could holding their weapons at the ready.

"Don't attack us, we surrender!" A voice shouted as kiri ninja walked out of the foliage.

"How many of you are there?" Mei asked as the man frowned.

"Maybe a thousand… we couldn't watch yagura destroy our once proud nation anymore." The man said as mei smiled.

"Welcome aboard… I'm glad to have so many ninja join us at once." She said as the man returned the smile.

"We're just what remains of none fanatics… yagura still has at least 10,000 shinobi at his disposal not to mention civilians ready to fight to the last... At least some of them are." The man said with a frown which mei returned.

"We need to push inland whatever it takes!" Mei shouted as everyone roared before quickly moving forwards off the beach as another wave arrived. The shinobi moved slower than Naruto and the anbu team had just a few weeks prior.

Hearing more rustle everyone froze and came to a halt where they were before the world turned into hell. Water rushed from everywhere with shurikens and kunai being thrown.

Men and women alike screamed in pain or sometimes in their last efforts.

"Take cover!" Itachi shouted as the allied forces retaliated, throwing their own weapons and jutsu back at the enemy as fire ripped through the foliage causing a fire to rage within the forest. Explosions ripped up and down the line as naruto dove for cover.

"It's an ambush!" Kakashi shouted as taijutsu specialists charged forward through the hail of weapons. Ninjutsu specialists attempting to return the destructive power that was unleashed on them.

"Doton: Doryūheki(Earth Release: Earth style wall)! Kakashi shouted as a protective wall went up in front of the konoha shinobi.

"Everyone get ready to charge, we gotta break through this ambush!" Itachi shouted as he pulled out a katana as Naruto took a deep breath pulling out his katana. Yelling the shinobi jumped over the wall moving to help their comrades already fighting.

Kakashi ripped ahead with his chidori as Naruto cut through kiri shinobi after shinobi images of their shocked faces burning itself into his mind. The fighting was intense along the front lines as jutsus were flung, shuriken and kunai lay ever where embedded in trees and shinobi alike.

The shinobi kept pushing forward however their advance was slagged down an hour outside of kiri itself.

"We've taken to many casualties Kakashi-senpai!" Itachi shouted, taking cover from the onslaught of explosions and kunai.

"I know…" He said frowning.

"Kakashi-san it seems your not getting anywhere either." Darui said joining the konoha commander as did mei.

"We're hitting a wall here as well." She said her dress was a little torn.

"We should fall back and dig in. We can always get reinforcements but the shinobi that kiri has is all they have." Kakashi said as everyone nodded.

"Fall back!" Mei shouted as she rejoined her rebels who hid behind what they should. They looked to their leader before nodding, throwing weapons as they covered their retreat. This happened along the whole line before the fighting stopped. By the end of the day everyone was tired and wounded in one way or another as they dug in for the night.

Naruto lay exhausted in his own foxhole of sorts nursing a gash on his hand from a kunai that had slid across it.

"Naruto you ok?" A familiar voice asked sinking into the same hole as naruto.

"Shika? Man am i glad to see you!" Naruto shouted hugging the teen who was singed and had a few cuts on his body.

"Ditto what a troublesome day today was." Shikamaru said returning the hug as the two separated, leaning against the dirt.

"Not as troublesome as what the next coming days… weeks or even months will bring." Kakashis voice spoke out as he crouched over the two.

"Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru said with a smile despite the mans words.

"Get some rest you two I'm proud of you both." He said patting their shoulders before he moved on. Sleep came easily that night for naruto but so did the nightmares as the boy saw every person he had killed.

'What a curse war is on this world.' hiruzen remarked.

'Indeed it is old man indeed it is.' Kurama spoke up as he rested on his paws.

(Kiri)

"Damn that orochimaru messing my plans up here!" Shouted Obito behind yagura an invasion force was knocking on the door of Kiri and he was about to lose his pawn here.

"It is a shame obito-kun but we gained valuable knowledge while we were here… Maybe we could further weaken both sides for the plan." A white zetsu said as obito frowned behind his mask.

"Perhaps or we could let Konoha have this victory lure them into a false sense of hope… I'll ponder on it for a few months." He said knowing the war would not end by then.

"Quite a long time obito-kun." Zetsu said.

"I'll let them grind their manpower down for sometime. It will be at least a little entertaining." Obito said before sucking himself away leaving yagura to lead the war effort.

An kiri anbu agent watched the whole exchange with a frown before the man made up his mind.

"Perhaps zabuza was right… I am tired of being cooped up here." A shark-like smile said from behind the mask. "I could alert them that yagura is under a genjutsu meh I'll sleep on it." the man said before going back to being stoic.

Dun dun dun the siege of kiri has begun and with the beginning of the siege we have reached 100K words! I am so happy and excited to post this chapter. Never did I think I would get this support and love for the story that just started as a small idea of a more realistic war arc.

Anyways I tried to show all the chunins and where they are now which will continue to happen through the war. Next chapter should be longer but I couldn't think of how to continue it from here in the contexts of what I wanted for the set up of this portion of the arc. But not to fear I still have plenty of plot ideas for the war!

Anyways if you like the story please favorite and follow and feel free to leave a review of how to improve it!

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze101 out!