Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I own a nice pair of socks
I hope chapter two will be enjoyable
Chapter 2
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The shadows had grown long, when Unit 06 reached a forested area, after days out in the open. The men dreaded these places, for a good reason. Most shinobi had eerie stealth capabilities and where true masters of camouflage. A forest was the perfect stage for any shinobi, a sanctuary and home. So by deductive reasoning, that would be the places to search for them. On the other hand it would be like walking into the lions cave, and they all knew it all too well.
"Move out! Fan formation, gunners up front!"
At the barking orders from Lieutenant Hakenshou, the men scrambled out in the well know formation. Koji hurried to the back, feeling slightly sorry for the poor guys assigned to the front. It was always like this. Every time they were called out in battle formation, he praised the Gods that he was a support trooper, and not a frontliner.
"In the rear, with the flare" was Koji's motto, and when in battle formation, he had developed the nervous habit of repeating it to himself like a mantra. A support trooper was just like a frontliner, with the exception that he carried a number of flares. Shinobi were deadly, but in the dark that increased ten-fold. So in the event of a contact, it was Koji's job to fire one a the flares, to light up the surroundings, and alert any other unit in the vicinity of their position. Other than that he was armed and equipped just like the regular trooper. One standard issue R-3 Repeater Rifle with a lever-action breech mechanism that allowed for 7 rounds to be fired before it had to be reloaded. In addition, they were issued 3 sylindracal shaped eksplosive grenades with wooden handles, and a bayonet. They bayonet was really just for show. If you got close enough to stab a ninja, he was close enough to dodge your attack and slice you in half. Koji, felt an all to familiar feeling as they started to advance through the forest.
Fear
Unknown to Unit 06 a pair of cold, calculating eyes, hidden from view, were watching them. The unseen figure, moved without a sound, like a cat in the forest canopy. Like a shadow it made it's way to vantage point overlooking three troopers on the prowl.
With practiced instinct, the shinobi silently drew three blades from a pouch on his right thigh. Feeling the familiar weight of the steel in his hand he raised them eye level, and gazed at his prey between them. Unconsciously he calculated range to target, wind correction, trajectory and target movement. The muscles in his arms tensed, like a steel spring ready to go off. Taking a final deep breath, he was ready to strike. Twisting his torso slightly to the side for maximum momentum he let loose with a violent but fluid motion
But at the last second he aborted the moment. Behind his three targets, eight others emerged from the brush. Quickly assessing his chances, the shinobi placed his blades back in the pouch and blended into the shadows.
No contact yet. With a bit of luck this area would be clear, and they would be back in the comforting column. The forest loomed over them like a towering giant, and Koji could see that his brothers in arms were very much on edge. Combined with the deafening silence it was an explosive cocktail. He hated the silence. The shinobi moved in it, the silence was their pathway. Whenever it grew silent, someone usually died. The only thing Koji could hear in this accursed place was the wild beating of own heart.
"In the rear, with the flare" he whispered to himself
"Contact!"
The silence exploded with a cry from the frontline. Koji could feel the sickening sensation as adrenaline shot through every inch of his body. He clutched his rifle tighter than ever as everybody around him shot into action. A second later he saw the first shot being fired, although he never saw a target. As if on cue, all the men around him opened fire, seemingly aiming nowhere. The sound was deafening, and in a few seconds the air around them where filled with strong smelling gunpowder smoke. Over the noise Koji could hear the roaring voice of Lieutenant Hakenshou
"Cease fire! Cease fire, damnit!"
The lieutenant ran to the front line screaming, and after a few more rounds the forest fell silent once more. A shot fired on the right flank, caused the same volley of wild firing all over again. The Lieutenant was furious and ran around screaming at the top of his lungs. After the noise died down, once again, their commander continued screaming
"Get a hold of your self damnit! We can't waste ammo on targets that exist in your mind!"
He had succeeded in getting everyone's attention, and calmed down a bit.
"Now, witch one of you called out the contact?"
"Ehm…I—I did sir!" The answer came from a frontliner. Koji didn't remember him; he must have been one of the new guys. There were always new guys in the frontlines
"Now son" the lieutenant said calmly "What did you see?"
"In the tree, j-just up ahead, I saw a figure moving, sir"
"Could you be sure it was a person? Isn't it possible it could have been an animal or bird for that matter?" The lieutenant looked at him quizzically.
"I guess so, sir," the frontliner said meekly.
"And there you have it" Hakenshou said, addressing everyone
"I know you are under a lot of stress, but you can't let your imagination get the best of you! We are professional soldiers!"
Koji winched at that last remark. There was nothing professional about them. They were all farmers and merchants that happened to have rifles. Any idiot could be thought to fire one.
"We need to pull together, and.."
His last sentence was cut short by a whizzing sound, followed by a sort of thump. As he turned back, he saw the panicked eyes of a man with a pair long metallic needles trough his throat. The wounded frontliner tried to speak but only gargled as blood was filling up his throat and lunges. With a helpless look on his face he fell over dead.
Koji tried to breathe, but it seemed he just couldn't. He tried to move, but it seemed he just couldn't. A million things went through his head, but his body was just not responding. A good three seconds went by without anybody saying or doing anything; they just stared at the dead trooper in front of them.
Hakenshou was the first to snap back, and barked out orders. Panicked men, ran to their places in formation, frenzied looks on their faces. Koji started muttering his mantra to himself, faster and faster, feeling sick to his stomach.
Suddenly the lieutenant raised his rifle high and fired a single shot. A yelp could be heard from a branch of a tree some 30 meters away. A figure fell, hitting two branches before crashing to the ground. Koji felt sick. And that made him very uneasy, considering he should be feeling good. They had taken down the enemy, but something felt wrong, very wrong. As they advanced on the wounded and immobile enemy, Koji could see that that the form was small. Too small, it couldn't be a grown person. The enemy was on its stomach, face down in the dirt, a large part of the right calf was torn out and bleeding profusely. Long straight black hair covered its face. As they closed in, rifles towards their target, they could hear soft whimpering as the little form tried to drag itself away.
"Oh dear God, we have shot a child," Koji whispered to himself in horror.
"Check it out" Hakenshou stated totally emotionally detached.
One of the frontliners closed the distance nervously and poked the wounded child in the head with the barrel of his rifle. A small pale hand shot up, and closed around it. The frontliner tried to pull it out, but the child did not let go. After a few good yanks he managed to free it, and looked at the lieutenant, as asking for what to do next. Suddenly the child turned its head towards them, and they all gasped in horror.
Koji unconsciously took a step backwards. It was a little girl, looking at them with utter hatred. Her eyes….
Her eyes were white, totally white, with veins bulging out around them. Koji felt she could look straight through him. It was horrible. Nine of them did not get much time to remain shocked though. The girl twisted around and her little open palm connected with the stomach of the frontliner closest too her. The punch looked like a child's slap, but to their collective horror the trooper collapsed, blood flowing from his moth. The furious little abomination tried to leap for the next one, but her wounded leg broke under her, and she fell to the ground with a howl of pain.
"Restrain her" Hakenshou said in the same stern and cold manner as before.
A nervous trooper raised his rifle and went over to her talking with a stammer all the way there
"P-please lay s-still girl…. I won't harm y-you, just l-lay still"
She didn't. She clawed after him like some sort of wild beast. She grabbed his leg, as he screamed at her to please stop. Her palm grazed him and he fell over screaming. Everybody watched this unreal scene unfold before them, awestruck and horrified.
It came to an abrupt end when Lieutenant Hakenshou raised his rifle a second time and shot her through the head. Her whole body jerked backwards as the back of her skull was ripped out, and she slumped over with her eyes still wide open.
Koji vomited on the spot by the absolutely gut-wrenching, ghastly sight before him.
"You fucking bastard!" one of the horrified troopers screamed and lunged at the Lieutenant, who gracefully sidestepped and gave the trooper a solid backhanded punch to the side of the head
"Get a hold of yourselves, all of you! I did not kill a little girl! I killed an enemy, I killed a ninja. And that is what we fucking do!" He was fuming, and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"See what these godless bastards make their kids do? A 10 year old, all ready a mindless, brainwashed killer! I did what I had to do, and I expect nothing less from any of you! Do you get that?" he paused for a second eyeing each and everyone, for confirmation that they had gotten the message.
"Bury the dead, and move out!" He snapped as he walked off.
After 2 hours Koji laid the last bit of dirt on the three graves they had dug. He couldn't stop staring at the last grave, only half the size of the two others. It made him hate their kind even more. Had they no shame in their lives? Making killers of little children? And forcing other people to murder these very children was the most horrid thing he could ever have imagined.
He laid a little wilted flower on the smallest grave and spat at it.