Chapter 72: Shattered Walls

There was a soft, almost silent, crackle from the rolled stick of tobacco that Asuma almost desperately pulled on to bring peace to his mind. His lungs filled with a thick cloud of smoke that brought the sweet hum into his blood. It was a hum that's been dulled over the years of smoking, but it was one that he was more than dependent on. A hum that he leaned on even more now that they sat only hours from the next Great Shinobi War. What could it really do to calm him, truly? Ai was bringing his forces to their gates, likely hiding behind the cover of darkness directly in front of him as Asuma stewed in silence, Onoki did the same in the west, Kurenai was still out in recon with her team, and his team was close to experiencing their first days of war. Too many things hung in the balance and Asuma was never one that was great at managing so much at one time. To the disappointment of many from his youth to now, Asuma was not his late father, he didn't have what it took to handle so many things with a calm composure.

As the cigarette in his mouth burned faintly to the skin of his lips, Asuma pulled the remains of the tobacco stick and flicked it over the wall he stood upon, keeping his gaze to the field that sat on the other side of his country's border. There wasn't much to see, no matter how hard Asuma strained his eyes to try and poke through the darkness that sat below him. The Moon above was still a dim crescent that provided no aid to his sight, the torches that lined the parapets of the wall did more to shroud his gaze outward than help him, and, at the end of the day, Asuma knew that the Cloud wouldn't be seen until they chose to be. Still, that didn't deter Asuma from joining the countless chunin that were set to stand guard at the top of the wall along with the samurai that were regularly stationed here. The camp below was of a tone much too cheery for him to find comfort and he wasn't willing to dispel what he already knew to be true for the sake of one more night of carelessness.

This time tomorrow, there was a good chance that there would be nothing left to cheer about.

Asuma took a step closer to the edge of the wall, letting the lowered seam of the parapet push against his waist as he gazed down the massive height of the border wall of the Land of Fire. It is a massive structure, one that took years to construct, even with the benefit of many practitioners of chakra, and it was their greatest strength in the coming war. It wasn't unyielding, it wouldn't prevent an entire shinobi village from entering their borders by its lonesome, but it could give them the advantage to match the outnumbering forces of their enemies. That advantage was not simply by virtue of a higher ground or a thick boundary for them, but because of what the wall also hid upon its surface. Gazing down the light-brown surface that led to the hard ground several hundred feet below, Asuma could make out the subtle black lines that were intricately ghosted over the wall's surface. Sealing wasn't a forte for Asuma, like many things, but he understood the basics of the art. Still, there were many things that escaped him as he tried to comprehend all of the defenses overlaid on the surface.

If one were to look merely days ago, not a single spec outside of the usual dirt and grime would've been spotted on the wall's surface. It wouldn't do to display all of one's secrets unbidden, but when the threat of an attack loomed over them, a few hand seals and a surge of chakra down the wall's face did well to reveal all it was that protected them. Any shinobi that was a month out of the academy would be able to climb and best a wall that stood before them, no matter how tall, but when that wall was inlaid with barriers and chakra-triggered seals, it was much harder to simply climb to its top. Asuma couldn't say how long it took for sealing practitioners to smear their works over the broad face of the wall, but he knew that it likely outmatched the time it took to build the wall itself. If he could, Asuma would thank them for their patience right about now.

The jounin righted himself once again, taking a step back while sliding past a samurai that walked the wide path of the wall stoically and reached down to pull another cigarette from the pack in his flak jacket, but before he could retrieve a stick of embered reprieve, he was interrupted by the voice of a chunin just over half his age.

"Jounin Asuma, Lord Hokage has summoned you to the command tent." The voice was choppy, unsure, but it got the job done as Asuma looked behind himself to see a young man stiffly looking at him. There was nothing about the boy that stood out, nothing that showed he was any more than a regular kid that found stability in the shinobi corps only to find himself in the worst case scenario. Asuma tried to find more than a little pity for what the fate of this boy would likely be, but he couldn't. Not when he's seen it all before already.

"I'll report to him immediately, then." Asuma responded, allowing the chunin to go back to whatever grunt work he was left to for the rest of his shift. With a sigh, Asuma pushed the half-grasped pack of cigarettes back into his jacket pocket and he turned to walk down the opposite side of the wall than the one he gazed so solemnly at. Quickly, that walk turned into a sprint that flowed into a Flicker that carried Asuma through the camp that was resting at the base of the wall and out toward his Kage's tent.

The camp wasn't all one singular unit like a samurai's camp would be. The initial camp was the first line of defense and actively working shinobi that were on patrol on that given shift, a mixture of young and old faces of varying ranks and backgrounds that made them the most diverse camp of the corps. Past that initial camp were the various established teams and circles that naturally grew during the time served under the Leaf Spiral. Generally speaking, these smaller camps were made up of those that grew up together and only had a few years separating them with the occasional older member mingling within it. Flanking these miscellaneous camps were the clan camps, camps of the lesser active shinobi that did more within their cans than they did on active duty. They were still shinobi, it wasn't as if Kakashi had thrust stay-at-home parents into the army, but they held more congruity with their clan heads than any others. Bypassing this layer of camp was the command tents. These tents looked onward to their forces and were generally populated by the frequently passing elite jounin that the Hokage held in high standing along with clan heads that gave better insight for their own clansmen. It was this section of the camp that Asuma found himself more than any other, hearing the various plans and contingencies Lord Fifth had established for the coming fights.

The command tents were three tall and broad swaths of red cloth that towered in a line, with the center tent being the largest of the three. In front of these tents were a line of torches that gave an ominous haze under the Leaf Spiral that hung above the entrance of the center tent. Even with night firmly set in place, the tents were humming with sound and activity, as they always were. Asuma added to this activity as he wasted no time to enter the center tent without so much as an announcement of himself. Upon entering, it was the usual company that filled most of the tent space. Kakashi stood at the head of the table facing Asuma, the Kage's eye focused solely on the map that represented the Land of Fire. Atop this map were several pieces that represented both their forces and their enemies', but Asuma couldn't help but notice that more pieces had joined the opposing side on his glance at the map.

Kakashi stood in his shinobi attire that held no indication that he was the Hokage of the Leaf Village, showing that it wasn't merely his political clout and authority of rank that he planned to utilize on this field. To Kakashi's right was Tenzo, a jounin that was only known as a life-long Anbu operative, and on either side of the table were the handful of jounin that worked high in Kakashi's trust. Shikaku Nara pinched the end of his pointed, triangular beard that extended from his chin as his face pinched in focus as he gazed at the map from the table's left side. Two scars that marred his face, one reaching from the left side of his jawline to just under his left eye and the other following a similar path up his hairline above it, looked deep in the flaming shadows that danced across his face. At Shikaku's side was Inoichi Yamanaka who possessed the same level of stern thought on his angular face. Bright green eyes danced across the map as the long blonde ponytail that flowed out of his head did with the light head shakes in the silent appraisal of the world before him. Both Shikaku and Inoichi were supreme strategists and renowned for their sharp minds. It was fair to say that nothing good came from the pair of them looking so troubled within their own thoughts.

On the other side of the table, clad in a large armored plate that dangled from leather straps over his shoulders to sit atop his pronounced gut that separated his dress from the jounin fatigues the rest wore, was Choza Akimichi and the final member of the esteemed Ino-Shika-Cho of Asuma's generation of shinobi. Large arms covered in shinobi sweats crossed themselves over a barreled chest while squinty eyes focused on the Hokage himself. Choza wasn't the thinker that the other two in his team were, but he was no less formidable. The large, lightly spiked bo staff that the man carried along with the mane of red spiky hair that complemented the purple wavy lines that mirrored each other on each cheek of the man. Rounding out the usual company of the Hokage was the comparatively ordinary shinobi that stood at Choza's side; Raido Namiashi. The man was a long-time bodyguard of the Hat of the Hokage that hid under short, spiky brown hair, dark disinterested eyes, and a tightly pulling burned skin that extended from the center of his nose's bridge to the entirety of his left cheek.

Nobody said a word as Asuma entered and approached the end of the map directly across from the Hokage. It was there that he did his best to restrain the thick flood of relief at the body that stood less than a foot to his right. Kurenai had made it safely back to them, ending one of the many bouts of anxiety that dwelled within him. He had no more than a glimpse of her through his periphery, but that was enough for Asuma to conclude that the woman was unharmed and relatively healthy outside of the fatigue that flooded her face.

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?" Asuma addressed his leader stiffly, returning his mind to the task at hand. Despite his freedom of worry, as brief as it would be, Asuma also knew that his summons here meant that something else had gone awry in the reconnaissance that was sent out some time ago. Given the extra indicators of enemy forces on their border, it was no puzzle to be solved.

"I have. Kurenai and her team returned to us within the last hour with some concerning news," Like any news nowadays was anything else but concerning, ''and I have a task for you." Kakashi finally raised his eye's gaze from the map to drill into his own. Asuma had known Kakashi enough to know what to expect when he saw that gaze. As off-beat the man was, as disinterested as he seemed to be on a normal day, Asuma knew that when that gaze was drawn from the man, nothing good followed. It was the look of a man that spent a lifetime in the tensest situations doing the most precarious jobs their line of work had to offer. Many would be hesitant to respond to the man's statement, but Asuma was not.

"What would you have me do, Lord Fifth?" Kakashi's hands fell to the pieces on the map that represented their own men, that represented just a shade under a thousand men that were pulled from the walls of the Leaf, and a large portion that nearly reached half of the Leaf's men were dragged over to the border just south of the Land of Sound. As his hands fiddled with the wooden pieces, Kakashi's voice carried his orders.

"You will leave your team and those under your command here for you and Choza will lead a portion of our shinobi westward to interfere with Orochimaru's march forward. You will prevent those that the Snake sends our way from reaching the Leaf or interfering with our fight with the Cloud, is that understood?" Kakashi's voice was hard and left no room for indecision on either of their parts. Kakashi's voice represented exactly what it was that separated Asuma from the Hat. What separated Asuma from his father. Whatever it was that leaders contained that hardened their resolve when such toilsome circumstances crossed their paths. He was much better at receiving orders than he was giving them.

"It will be done, Lord Hokage." Asuma let his eyes meet Choza's squinted gaze, knowing that he was paired with one of the most proficient warriors that made up the Leaf shinobi corps, before he bowed his head to his Kage. Sure, it bit into his mind that he wouldn't be by his students' side for the coming fight, but luxury was abandoned in war. He could only trust that Kakashi had a plan for them to persevere in the coming says.

"Good. I have already had Tsume and Choza inform their clansmen that they will be joining the forces you lead to the west." Asuma nodded in acceptance, knowing that there had to be a reason that the Hokage administered those two clans specifically for this task but no question came from him for clarification. Asuma would trust that his leader provided what was necessary to see his assignment done. It had been Asuma's attention to take his leave immediately, perhaps sharing a passing look to Kurenai to silently to pass what he wouldn't have the time to say verbally, and light his next cigarette as he prepared the shinobi to move, but there was an abrupt interruption to the jounin's steps toward the flaps of the command tent.

That abrupt interruption came in the form of a green-clad, heavily breathing, and thoroughly ragged doppelganger of Might Guy. The youth on the boy's red face gave away that he wasn't the audacious jounin, but the name of the boy evaded Asuma's brain as he looked at the top of the chunin's head while the boy sucked in breaths with his hands on his knees. There were no words said for a few stagnant moments. All that filled the tent were dramatic flares and flickers of flame and shadow that bathed the tent's interior and the aggressive sounds of the boy regathering himself. There were several attempts to address the boy that launched himself into the Hokage's tent so freely, but Asuma couldn't find himself to do so.

"Lee?" Ah, that was the boy's name. Rock Lee, protege to Guy. Asuma craned his head to look behind him with an eyebrow raised, relieved by the fact that Kurenai's face matched his own as they caught each other's gaze before Asuma turned focus back to Kakashi. "What happened at the western border?"

There wasn't worry in Kakashi's voice. A sense of alertness? Yes. Urgency? Of course. But nothing in the man's voice betrayed concern in what could've happened with the border of the Stone and Rain forces.

"Guy-sensei sent me," Lee flung his upper body up right with intensity, almost to the point of sending him backward, and the boy rested his hands on the top of his head as his mouth hung open to gather more breath before continuing, "there was an explosion." Another pause for a gulp of air. "We are to act like the wall has fallen before the Sand made it into position."

Asuma could tell that the final string of words weren't the boy's own but likely Guy talking through him. The words were specific and followed a rhythm that meant more than the jounin knew outright. A sound of ruffling came from the Hokage's position behind him and Asuma turned to see what the man was doing in response to the report. Four separate scrolls were already splayed on the table atop a map as Kakashi's hands flowed through a set of hand seals. The jounin around Asuma only watched the Hokage go through actions that were undoubtedly premeditated, undoubtedly following a plan already in place before the news was broken. Before they could've known that two positions would be compromised so soon and in such quick progression.

"Summoning Jutsu." Kakashi's command was followed by four distinct popping sounds that each revealed separate canines with headbands and vests already on as they sat in a line looking to Kakashi for orders. "Pakkun, take this to Naruto." Kakashi let a scroll fall into the mouth of a small, droopy faced brown dog whose muzzle and ears were ner-black. "Urushi, you're to find Tsunade." A dog with sharp eyes, razor teeth and spiked light-brown fur with a white underbelly growled as he retrieved the second scroll from Kakashi's hands. "Shiba, yours is Jiraiya." A wild-eyed canine with a light-gray pelt that bled to white like Urushi's did nothing as the scroll found a place in its mouth and the dark gray mohawk atop its head was ruffled. "Biscuit, you have Danzo. I need these messages in their hands before sunrise and you're to de-summon immediately. There are no discussions to be had with these orders. Go."

After the short, brown, round-eyed dog was handed the final scroll and the Hokage finished his orders, the canine shinobi disappeared from their stationary positions in a whirl of movement that left nothing behind. There was a single, deep breath taken by Kakashi before he turned back to the men, and woman, that filled the tent. Namely, the Kage focused back on Asuma as the next command fell out of his mouth.

"Take Lee with you to the camps, get him food and a cot to recover from his arduous and demanding journey across the country. I expect to see you, Choza, and your shinobi leaving camp soon after. As you can see, the Land of Fire has no comforts of idle time any longer." There were no more delays to Asuma's exit of the command tent as he pulled the dangerously fatigued chunin by the shoulder to follow him to camp. When Asuma exited the tent, however, he was made aware by how oppressive the air had been within the tent as he walked out to join the men that still carried on care-free conversations as they wouldn't be made aware of the happenings around them until the Hokage decided that they would know.

There was a certain numbness that Asuma walked with, a numbness that couldn't be soothed away or relieved by the heavy tugs he took of his recently lit cigarette, after hearing the news shared in the tent. Asuma was a kid during the last Great Shinobi War, a kid that was dragged into combat but not one that understood the world around him. He did what his cell was ordered, their blades were wetted, and then they returned. As a member of the Twelve Guardians that were tasked with protecting the Daimyo in his years of personal rebellion under his father's shadow, the duty was important but the scale of the threats were low. Yes, the life of the most powerful man, outside of the Hokage, within the Land of Fire was at stake, but the most he would worry about were would-be assassins that were paid to do the dirty work. Hearing the first news of their country being attacked, infiltrated, and under immediate threat was a new experience that had yet to properly weigh on Asuma.

It was heavy steps that led Rock Lee to the cot and tent that Asuma had assumed when they built camp and only heavier steps led Asuma back toward the command tent to join with Choza in grabbing their forces. To his surprise, Tenzo was awaiting the jounin's return with a scroll open as dark eyes trailed over its contents. When Asuma stood next to the man, peeking at the small words written over a broad scroll, there was a good amount of surprise that accompanied the realization of what he was reading.

"Lord Fifth already outlined which contingents I have to take?" The list on the scroll that Tenzo and Asuma silently read was filled with names brushed by long dried ink, which both specific teams and groups of the Leaf corps that would follow the two jounin westward. Another order that was written out before it was needed. An order that strayed from what Asuma was told in the command tent before Lee's arrival.

"Plans for this war began being planned years ago," Tenzo answered with a tight voice, a tight voice that somehow brought a sense of peace to Asuma's mind. Maybe, despite the terrible position they've been thrust in, there was a way that they could see through this war. "Perhaps I should've considered the possibility that all our contingencies would be needed at once."

With those damning final words, Tenzo passed along the scroll to Asuma as he stepped forward to begin collecting their shinobi. A harrowing chuckle escaped Asuma's lips as another cigarette was placed between them and the flick of his lighter briefly filled his ears. His eyes looked on from the rear of the camp's bulk as he heard the hum of life through it. As early as tomorrow, that hum of life could be replaced with nothing but a dull, grieving silence. Those thoughts are what allowed the words that flowed from a newcomer's mouth to catch him by surprise.

"This might be one of the only times I couldn't care less about that cigarette or the dejected look on your face." The hum of dark amusement wasn't well hidden in Kurenai's voice, at least not to him, and Asuma couldn't help but genuinely chuckle at her words. His eyes danced to his left, sneaking a look at the woman through the corner of his eyes, but red eyes were already waiting for his gaze.

"If this is what it took to get you off it, I would've been a little less enthusiastic in the Guardian Twelve. Probably would've made my life easier." His eyes crinkled and a smile spread across his face at the look she graced him with and Asuma made sure to remember every tiny detail of it. From the tight line her lips were pulled into to the unimpressed drop of her eyebrows and accompanying gaze, it was all perfect enough to carry him past whatever the hell he was facing from the Sound.

"Be careful over there, Asuma. Hinata saw things she couldn't even understand. A lot of numbers and bizarre chakra signatures." Genuine worry came flooding through the kunoichi beside him, but Asuma couldn't allow himself to bask in it. He couldn't let himself be tugged into something so tender when he was about to face whatever the hell it was he was going to face. Instead of matching the woman's concern with warm reassurances or declarations, Asuma kept a cocky smile on his face as he flicked the small remnant of his cigarette away.

"I'm Hiruzen's son, remember? I think it's them that should keep an eye out for me. I'll come back with Kakashi's men soon enough, and when I do, we'll send Ai back to his mountains before doing the same to Onoki." Asuma made sure that it was his smile that Kurenai saw last as he walked back into camp, not wanting her to see the grim frown that he replaced that smile with a second after. Sure steps arched over littered bags and packs as Asuma started finding all it was that was assigned to his and Tenzo's command.

Just as they were asked, Asuma and Choza had pulled their men from the main body of the Leaf camp before the Sun was peeking over the horizon. The brief beginnings of the Sun's light had the land covered in a gray haze, and it was that gray haze that filled with the echoed stomps of hundreds of shinobi that blazed a trail to the west to cover those who would wish to storm into the lands of the Land of Fire. Their trek was fast, pushing a pace that wouldn't be required of many outside of Anbu on pressing assignments, but this was more important than any assignment asked of a black ops squad. People tired, and yet nobody asked to slow their pace, or none of their complaints ever reached Asuma's ears. The Sun was setting when the gate that dispensed into the Land of Sound became visible to Asuma at the front of the horde of Leaf shinobi.

It wasn't a warm welcome that greeted Asuma, Choza, or the men still filing in behind them when the gate was reached. Even from the ground, echoes of desperate yells from those that stood atop the wall was clear in Asuma's ears and not a single man, samurai or shinobi, had taken the time to greet the new manpower. It took no time for Asuma and the Akimichi to take the initiative to join the men at the top of the wall, and what they were greeted with matched the sounds that made it to their ears below.

"More pitch! Burn the fuckers!"

"Arrows, more arrows"

"Where are the explosive tags?!"

Not a single person addressed the joining jounin as Choza and Asuma watched the hurried bodies push every which way as projectiles of every kind, chakra charged attacks, and oil were launched over the edge of the tall wall. Rushing over to a narrow free edge of the wall, Asuma tried to spot what it was that the men were hurrying to put in flames, however he wasn't ready for what his eyes made out through the limited light around them, he wasn't ready for what it was that Kurenai warned him of.

Countless monstrosities filled the wide road that led directly to the gate that entered into the Land of Fire. Large spikes, grotesque wings, gnarled claws, and a gross purple blanket of energy covered the giant bodies that threw themselves at the reinforced gate in their way. Fires flared all around the beasts that pressed forward at the wall they defended, and yet it meant naught to any of them. Growls and roars could be heard over the desperate voices around them and when Asuma finally pulled himself from the sight below he looked to Choza in a hurry.

"Bring all we can up that we can spare while those that are too tired recover for a few hours. We have a long night ahead of us." Asuma passed along gravely to the large bellied man, who was already on the move by the time Asuma finished his sentence. The jounin took a deep breath before he joined the men of the wall in their frantic patterns across the wide walk path. Time was lost to Asuma and he didn't think about stopping for a moment once he started. He didn't have the luxury to stop any longer.

Even moving as he was, as unstopping as they all were atop that wall, there was no promising that the stout defenses they laid on the beasts below would stop all their work from crumbling down as they broke through.


The air was heavy in the tent of the Raikage. It was a small, humble tent that was there simply as minor cover from the world around them to keep the conversations private and concentrated. Off-white tent flaps blew in the steady wind of the night, the camp around them, a standing shinobi force of over 1000 strong, was eerily quiet to maintain the cover of night from those that were mounted on the wall directly ahead of them on the road to the Land of Fire. Darui was resolutely positioned just behind the seated shoulder of his Raikage, just as Cee was over Lord Fourth's left shoulder. Neither moved since the Raikage took the modest seat behind an equally modest desk within the tent and called two more of his trusted jounin within the Cloud.

Cee, like Darui, was a jounin, given by the matching Cloud fatigues the man wore with the addition of leather bracers covering each arm and minus the sword that Darui toted on his back, and was assigned as the Raikage's personal bodyguard. The pair of them were never seen too far away from their kage with their eyes darting every which way as they climbed their way from the mountain top of the Cloud Village to the doorstep of the Land of Fire. Frankly, it was Cee's swooping blond hair and keen dark eyes that he was used to seeing more than anyone else's outside of Ai's hard features, and he could only hope to say the same once all was said and done.

The flaps of the small tent snapped open to reveal one of the two summoned kunoichi that the trio behind the desk were waiting on. That kunoichi came with a stoic face and stiff, measured movements that took a position at the center of the tent in front of the Raikage as her head bowed in deference to Ai without any words. The Raikage said nothing of Yugito's entrance to the tent, offering no more than a glance to the woman before his gaze turned back to the tent flaps in wait for the other awaited guest. Darui was much less dismissive of the kunoichi before him than his Kage was, and if Darui had to guess, Cee matched his gaze being sent at the Two-Tails Jinchuuriki. Affiliated to the Cloud she might be, but it was never trust that a Jinchuuriki would be treated with in front of the Raikage unless that Jinchuuriki was Lord Bee.

Darui's eyes tailed over the rigid figure of Yugito, keeping an eye on the planted feet, tense posture, and stiff fists. The Jinchuuriki was easily seen amongst the rest of the Cloud shinobi core, wearing a dark green uniform that was patterned with a large, pale cloud that ran up her left pant leg and right arm sleeve that sat under a gray piece of body armor and a tied red band of cloth around her waist. The woman had sharp, dark eyes that peered just under looping dull blonde hair that was tied to the back of her head. Long, sharp fingernails of her left idly danced with blue beads that intertwined with her fingers and crossed up her bandaged forearms. Darui could never tell if it was just him that felt the tension rise anytime Yugito stood before the Raikage, but the occasional glances of her eyes that bore into his made him believe it was no accident that he felt that tension.

It was only a few moments later that the second summoned kunoichi entered the tent to take a position in line with Yugito's with more than a couple feet separating them. Samui held a similarly keen gaze within her sharp blue eyes as she too bowed her head to the Raikage much the same as Yugito did. Samui was dressed similar to that of Darui and Cee, as was to be expected of a jounin in the Cloud, with the exception of her white flak jacket being relegated to more of a girdle that protected solely her midsection and the skirt that replaced traditional pants. Many would assume that Samui preferred the girdle to the flak jacket because of the generous chest that she wasn't afraid to show off under her tunic, but Darui wouldn't know the truth to such things and probably would never. Samui wasn't a woman you made a fool of yourself in front of or intruded in on her bad side.

Just as Samui's shoulder length straight blonde hair resettled and as her bangs refined into a uniform line just above her eyes, Ai addressed all that stood quietly in the tent.

"Thank you for showing up so soon, Samui, there is work to be done." Ai addressed the pair before him directly, but Darui knew that Cee and himself were a part of what was to be said all the same. The Raikage's most trusted jounin along with one of the Cloud's Jinchuuriki stood in one spot, meaning that they weren't to be hidden in the cover of darkness much longer. All that was missing was Lord Bee to have been able to leave the Land of Lightning. "I want our shinobi to begin advancing on the Land of Fire. They've had their rest, now it's time for action and I want the Land of Fire to be open to all of our men come morning."

"Yes, Lord Raikage." The four that surrounded Ai spoke unanimously and without pause, and when Darui was sure that nothing else was to be said, he was the first to move from his place and exit the Raikage's tent.

A breeze blew Darui's hair, giving his left eye the freedom of unobscured sight from behind his white hair, as he tried to make his way through the camp. Not a single fire blazed in the open, any sparks being relegated to small embers within closed tent flaps. They knew that the Leaf probably suspected that they were there,they knew that their cover was more a protection from physical detection more than anything, but that gave them the benefit of stealth all the same. Scouts that kept their eyes on the walls, or specifically those perched at the top of the well-lit wall, and made note of scrambling that overtook the activity of their blind watchers. Something had happened. Whatever it was, Darui, Ai, or anyone else on this side of the wall couldn't quite say, but they all agreed that this would be the time to make their move.

Darui moved through the eastern portion of the camp, waking up jounin and chunin that were designated to his direct command, as granted by the Raikage. He gathered them all at once, even if he couldn't use them all at once as Darui knew that a majority of their strength would be needed to punch through the boundary ahead of them. It wasn't a fast process, waking up so many or making those that rested to stand at attention and aware, but within a few hours, just as the deep darkness began to lift around them, the Cloud stood strong. There weren't firm lines in front of him as Darui fell back to his Kage's side at the back of the Cloud shinobi, but instead a mesh of different shinobi tasked for different things. To many, their army would appear to lack discipline and order, but shinobi didn't need such rigid rules in their warfare.

All waited, tense and silent as a few more men and women filed into the mass of bodies. They all waited for the order to enter their ears and for their war to begin. To Darui's right, Cee stood just as stiffly and was matched by Samui who was a few paces ahead of them with her students gathered around her.

"Hit them strong, hit them hard." The rough voice of the Raikage spoke at an even tone, addressing only one person and one person only as the sharp eyes of the Two-Tails Jinchuuriki met the Kage's eyes and bowed her head before rushing toward the front of the lines in a blur of speed. Darui could hardly make out the woman's head standing at the front of the sea of shinobi by the favor of the slightly elevated ground under his feet and the dim light slowly brightening. For several moments, nothing happened outside of the increased rumblings of the men ahead of them, only for them to all go silent in an instant.

Flames, the traditional kind, were warm, hot even, and bright. The flames that went alight along Yugito's arms were undoubtedly hot and bright, but in none of the ways that flames tended to be. Subtly glowing blue flames danced along the slender arms of the Jinchuuriki as they danced through a string of hand seals, drawing the ghastly embers toward her hands and building into something more. With words that didn't make it to the rear lines of the gathered shinobi, Yugito dispelled those flames forth and allowed them to take shape as they flew toward the high reaching wall before them in a massive blaze. Darui watched with a sense of discomfort as a feline's, a large feline, growl echoed from seemingly nowhere and the accumulated blue flames morphed into a large, grating paw that dug trenches in the face of the wall that they wished to bypass.

Yells echoed from the top of the wall as the foundations undoubtedly shook and were felt from so high up as cheers gathered from behind the Jinchuuriki. It was no secret why Jinchuuriki were untrusted naturally. None should be able to produce so much chakra without so much as a heavy breath falling from their lips, and yet, Yugito still stood tall ahead of all the other Cloud shinobi. Today, however, that distrust could be set aside as they pushed forward under one banner, one symbol, into the Land of Fire.

"Attack that damn wall! Climb over it, burrow under it, and break through it! From here, we blaze a trail to the ashes of the Great Tree!" Ai roared fiercely out to those that stood with their backs to them, and in an instant his calls were met with louder cheering. With the order given, a see of movement rolled over the crowd, a symphony of voices called out ninjutsu, and long arcs of lightning were launched from sprinting hands to drill into the scarred face of the wall, but appearing as no more than pinpricks in comparison to the deep claw marks.

The Raikage didn't burst forth, neither did many of the higher ranked shinobi of the Cloud. Bodies were needed to push through the barrier, strength in numbers needed to push through their obstacles, and it was the higher ranking men that would be needed once the wall was bypassed and they met what was on the other side. Darui was forced to wait as water, rock, wind, lightning, and fire flooded downward to clash and overwhelm the same that was directed upward. He watched as feet triggered small explosions as they attempted to climb upward. He grimaced as boiling pitch was hurled over to catch the slow footed and left unlit. Flurries of blue flames bombarded the bare, unpopulated portion of the wall, but it was an ugly sight to see so many bodies charge, clash, and be felled in a single spot in the ground.

Still, Darui watched as his countrymen pushed forward to see through their Kage's wishes, he stood silent as screams overtook what were cheers only minutes ago, and he gripped the sword that was mounted on his back as more and more of the wall fell to the ground in crumpled pieces into the earth. His sword gleamed in the light as the morning, clouded sky peeked through holes that drilled through various portions of a once great structure.


Well, classes have started again, which is a real drag in terms of mental output and the ability to bum around my apartment, but I only got 3 semesters left so there can't be too much bitching, I suppose. Nothing will happen with update scheduling or anything like that, I'm simply too good to be kept down or something like that.

Back on topic, the next chapter starts the fighting. We got grimy shit coming up. Boxing, battling, and fighting is here and we're starting with the Sand. I'll be back again on the 20th, whatever fucking day that is.