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Key

"words" talking

Italics thoughts or simply italics

(words) authors notes/my thoughts

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January 1. Outskirts of Konoha. 7:09 Reign of the 3rd Hokage (2nd Term)

The enemy wasn't close enough to Naruto for him to be able to make out individual people. However, they were close enough for him to be able to grasp how big this army was. The entire hillside was seemingly coated in black dots. For a second, Naruto's legs froze. Fear grasped his chest, crushing it. He felt immediately confused. Unsure whether to run away or to go headlong into them. While he was contemplating this, he looked back at Konoha that lay to the west.

He would have stood there all day if Hinata did not catch his eye. She was walking in the same fashion she did months ago. Before he and her met. Her shoulders were now forward, slightly downward. She was holding her hands in front of her, her head tilted down toward her half of The Hearts Game that she handled affectionately. She was seemingly mesmerized. Fortunately, Hinata did not notice Naruto looking at her. She seemed to be thinking hard about something contained within the trinket.

"Hey man." Sasuke muttered.

Naruto jolted back to the present situation. He didn't even notice Sasuke was standing there.

Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Naruto, she's going to be alright. Neji will make sure she doesn't get into any big fights."

Naruto shook his head. "That's not what I'm worried about."

Sasuke immediately identified the situation, but decided not to mention it.

"Calm down. I'll have your back the whole time."

The left flank of the Shogun's horde opened up to mask the movement of Shintaro's squad. They would approach over the Southern hills after the horn was blown.
Shintaro felt the presence of someone to his left.

"So this is the attack force?" The voice said. "I'd thought that the Shogun would give his leading commander something a little bigger than this."

Shintaro turned to see Itachi. "You watch your tongue about the Shogun. Or I will cut you in two." The warrior growled menacingly.

Itachi drew back with a hurt look on his face. "I meant no offense. Surely you will able to defeat your opposition with your current limits."

Their pace blatantly quickened. Naruto felt the adrenaline seep through his body, into his muscles. Slowly, he sped his pace increasing every second until he jogged faster than those around him. An unseen force pulled him like a puppetmaster would pull a puppet.

Sasuke barelymanaged to keep with him. They both smiled. Naruto's attire was chosen for one purpose and one purpose alone; to stand out in the fight. Nobody would have any trouble finding a bright red shirt amidst black. Sasuke simply liked black. He would not stray from his favorite color.

Soon the two friends were at the vanguard, only a few ranks from the front line. They tried to get as close to their enemies as they could. Naruto knew it didn't matter. He had made up his mind. He would give this fight all he had and would not hold back. In fact, a majority of his earlier fantasies included a battle of massive proportions. Much like this one.

Besides, if there was a problem, he always had a back-up plan... he only hoped the situation didn't get that desperate.

The Shogun was easily noticeable as the only man in the area on horseback. This served two very useful purposes for his men. The one's behind saw him in front and saw him as a morale booster. The ones in front knew that they had the Shogun at their backs. This boosted their morale. Morale was half the battle. It was the fight in the dog, not the dog in the fight.

Shintaro pushed himself up onto his horse, and it neighed in exhilaration. It knew what was coming. It had been through many fights alongside his master. He was very loyal and knew better than too let Shintaro down. It was almost a love for his rider.
Neighboring Ashigaru stood up and stretched. Their fight wouldn't be too long from now…

Naruto did not know he could run so fast. Much less knock someone down with that much power. All he did know was that the man he drop-kicked was knocked off of his feet. It was an unusual feeling. It was sort of a split reaction. For a second, after striking the man, Naruto felt almost sorry. That was until he was the look in the man's eyes after he was knocked down. Then Naruto became all business.

It took a long time getting used to having to scan and identify the battlefield for those against you, and those with you. After what seemed like hours, Naruto was able to find Sasuke. Ducking a blade, he rolled and sprang to his friends' side. A rather short warrior lunged at Naruto. For a moment, he panicked. But then seeing the weapon, Naruto parried with his flat palm, spun, and knocked the enemy to the ground.

Adrenaline coursed through his body, a raging torrent of energy that would not falter.

A Yari sped toward him. Grabbing it, Naruto crashed his palm into the wood, leaving nothing but splinters behind. Now Naruto had a foreign weapon. It looked like a spear, and so he used it like such.

Shintaro was itching to fight. He spied at ground zero from his perch. "C'mon" he muttered. "Someone blow the horn…"

Naruto spied something oddly familiar out of the corner of his right eye. He knew that he saw the warrior before this. It hit him like a train.

The enemy he was the man who had given Hinata the drowning form "interrogation".

It was Kaine…