I am sorry, but I had many ideas of how to carry the chapter out, and many of them were really horrible. Plus, school is underway for me. Takes awhile when you got a lot to write up.
Alright, the large air battle. Wow, I know you all did not expect what happened last time to come, but I did not want Naruto to truly fall in love with Hinata. So while there was minor instances of romance to show what could come next, and they clearly became friends, they will not fall in love until later on. Come on people, I got a whole series for romance. I'm not wasting it all on the first story.
Soundtrack:
End Of Time: Holy Moses
Angel Cry: Holy Moses
Burning Bridges: Mystic Prophecy
Shadows Beyond My Soul: Mystic Prophecy
Sins and Sorrow: Mystic Prophecy
Be Without Fear: Behemoth
Riders: Outworld
I Thanos: Outworld
Beyond The Black Hole: Gamma Ray
Fight: Gamma Ray
Wanted Dead: Sodom
Exhibition Bout: Sodom
Magic Dragon: Sodom
Down To The Devil: Edguy
April 12th
Konohagakure
This was it.
This was the day of days.
It would be the time where two criminal organizations would clash, a couple of thousand feet above the very city they fought to control, and only one of them was coming out alive.
Right now, for Yuhi Kurenai, that was the only thing that seemed completely certain of what was going to happen. From atop the control tower of the airfield overlooking Hokage tower, the woman who had taken Black Swan from a gang of ex stunt pilots turned pirates to one of the largest "corporations" in the elemental nations got to see just how far her creation had gone, and she was more amazed then anyone else. "Ma'am," the officer standing next to her said. "Shouldn't we be going now?"
"Not yet," Kurenai said, still leaning on the railing of the tower and looking out, "I want to know something, and I think all these machines can tell me the answer."
"What do you want to know madame," the officer asked.
"How is it that I am the lucky one all the time," Kurenai questioned.
"Come again madame?" the bewildered officer questioned.
"I want to know how that it was always me. I'm the one who gets her grand vision into place. I am the one placed at the helm of a organization that stretches beyond what my eyes can see. I am the one who gets legendary. How come it was me," she asked. "How come it was me?"
"Guess it's just a combination of things too complicated to explain," the officer said. "You probably should brief the pilots and crews one more time. They are waiting for you."
"Good idea," Kurenai said, stepping up onto the railing of the ledge. "I should go brief them." Slowly and carefully, Kurenai leaned out over the edge of the railing and jumped off, falling to the ground. Worried that his commanding officer might be destroyed if she hit the ground at such a high speed, the man went to go down the stairs himself. But before he did, he looked over the edge of the railing and saw Kurenai walking away safely. The officer smiled, for he was happy to know that not one fall could kill his madame. To him, Kurenai seemed invincible, and he felt thankful that she seemed to be so.
"Naruto kun," Hinata called out, walking down the tarmac near the runway. "Naruto, where are you?" Walking a bit more, Hinata then felt herself walk straight into someone. "Oh I'm sorry," she said, going up to the person
"No need Hinata," Kurenai said, "It's just me."
"Oh it's you sensei," Hinata said, walking up alongside of her mentor. "Are you ready?"
"Not quite sure," Kurenai replied, walking along the tarmac with her student. "I am not quite sure. So, what are you doing just walking around? You should be on the Pandora."
"I can't find Naruto kun Kurenai sensei," Hinata said, "He just disappeared."
"Naruto," Kurenai said. An urge inside of her then came on that Kurenai felt she had to let out. "It's not right," she thought. "I have to tell her. I cannot let him keep on lying to her. But it's the eve of..."
"I'm over here," someone called out. The two females turned around to see Naruto running up to them, struggling to get on his flight jacket while running up to the two of them.
"Good thing he came," Kurenai thought, exhaling slowly. "I did not want to have to deal with her crying."
"Naruto kun," Hinata exclaimed. Naruto went to speak, but then he found himself being hugged by the Hyuga girl. "You weren't in bed when I woke up. Where did you go?"
"I wanted to get some fresh air," Naruto said, "Just a bit afraid of what lies ahead."
"What a load of bullshit," Kurenai thought, "This kid really knows how make me sick." Meanwhile, Hinata was buying all of Naruto's lie that he was telling her.
"Well no need to be afraid," Hinata told him, still holding the blond tightly in her arms. "I'll be up there, and all the other girls will." Naruto smiled when Hinata said this, for at least he knew he would have backup when they went in to fight the Blood Reds. "Now come, sensei is going to do the final briefing."
"Alright," Naruto said, "Lets go then. Lead the way Kurenai." Kurenai growled a little at Naruto, but it was too quiet for anyone to hear it but herself, so she walked towards the area where she would do the final briefing for the battle ahead, with Naruto and Hinata both in tow. While walking there though, she thought one thing.
"Guess you aren't as smart as I thought you were Hinata," she thought, "You definitely are not as smart as I thought you were."
Slowly the jeep pulled up to the iron gate, where two guards stood with their Sten submachine guns in their hands. When they saw the jeep, they raised their weapons to give the message that no one was going to pass. But once they heard the words "Open up" and recognized who had said the voice, they both moved out of the way.
"Alright boys," Asuma said, "We're going to be kicking some serious ass today."
"This my chance to become an ace sir," the officer next to Asuma asked, "I got three kills already, now I just need two more in the air and I'm an ace."
"Yep," Asuma said, "This will be your chance." Meanwhile, as Asuma's jeep rolled down the tarmac to the hangar that housed their aircraft, another sky pirate was contemplating what had been spoken to her the previous night.
"Not happy," she thought, "Would Arien honestly not be happy if I wasn't fighting?"
"I already am," a male voice said. The female voice looked around to see who she had been wanting to see for a long time. She had perceived him to be dead, but here he was standing right behind her. "Tenten, what's going on?"
"Arien," she exclaimed, getting up and running towards him. When she got to him she went to put him in her embrace, but it was impossible. Arien phased right through her arms, unable to be touched. "But you...
"I'm still dead," Arien said, "What's going on?"
"Arien," she said, "I do not know. I just cannot..."
"You can fight Tenten," Arien told her. "It's in your blood to fight."
"But without you I'm nothing," Tenten replied, "I just cannot fight. You made me feel in a place that no one else made me feel like before."
"Someone else will make you feel like you are where you want to be Tenten," Arien said, "And to do that you must fight. The organization that I owed my life to could die today. I do not want to see Black Swan fall today. I do not want to see Madame die. I do not want to see this great country come under the rule of evil. Isn't that worth fighting for?"
"It is," Tenten said, "So what do you want from me?"
"I will visit you," Arien said, "I can and will visit you. But you need to fight for me. If you do not fight, then I will not see you again."
"But where to start," Tenten asked.
"Today," Arien said, "When the bloody conflict that killed me reaches it's climax. A climax in the skies over the city." Arien then faded away into nothing, and once again Tenten was alone. But now she had a full sense of what could happen, and what she had missed out on.
The feeling of sorrow in Tenten was gone, and now the feeling of desire, a desire to win the battle at hand was driving her. As she stood there, all around her Black Swan pilots were running into the hangar, going to get into planes ranging from Furies to Brigands. Engines roared to life and gusts approaching speeds of 30 miles an hour kicking up, Tenten moved rapidly up to the side of her Black and red Brigand. It was when she began to climb up that she felt someone tugging on her shirt. Whipping around quickly, putting her fists up as if she were ready to fight whoever was touching her, she then found she would not even have to lay a fist on the perpetrator.
"See you're getting back up in the air," Asuma said, looking at Tenten and her Brigand.
"Yeah," Tenten said, "Just needed a little encouragement. What's this about a battle?"
"I do not know all the details," Asuma told her, "But I know this. It's going to be bloody."
"Good," Tenten said, "I need to wash away all this guilt I got with some blood on my hands. So, any other announcements?"
"Yes," Asuma said pushing one of his men up, "This guy does not know how to fly but he can shoot nicely. He's your tail gunner."
"Have him get in the back then," Tenten said, jumping onto the wing of her Brigand and opening up the canopy. "Because I am definitely in the mood to win a battle here."
As far as the eye could see, there were airships. Right over a small field near Konohagakure, a massive group of airships gathered to fight off the Blood Red air fleet. All of them were Black Swan, and all of them had some of the best pilots in the elemental nations on board, ready to take off in their aircraft to head off and fight the enemy. But one of them was a bit unsure of what was going to happen.
"Kurenai," Naruto said into the Pandora's radio. "I want to take some notes. You there?"
"Yeah I am," Kurenai replied from her flagship, one of seven class eleven airships in the fleet that Kurenai had under her control. "What do you want to know?"
"What exactly does it mean to put someone in a Canae during a battle," Naruto questioned.
"It's a surprise Naruto," Kurenai said, "But the formation we are in, and considering how stupid the Blood Red gang is, I know this plan is going to work." Alongside Naruto, Sakura and Tsunade stood in the same room of the Pandora, the two of them looking at the massive formation of airships that laid before them.
"Ba chan," Sakura questioned, "What exactly is a Canae?"
"It's a tactic that involves crushing your enemy from all sides," Tsunade said, "In lay mans terms." Sakura nodded yes and then stared out at the bright light with a pair of binoculars over her eyes. It was then that her eyes saw what she wanted to see, and that was the Blood Red's combined air fleet. Sakura began snickering, but it definitely scared her that such a large fleet was coming closer and closer to them. It was in a sort of triangular formation, as if they were going to ram the Black Swan fleet, and the amount of ships behind the initial advance of class six to eight airships was enough to frighten even the most experienced and lawless sky pirate.
"All I can say is this Ba chan," Sakura declared, lowing the binoculars from her eyes, "This better work out in the end. Because if it does not...""We'll all be dead," Tsunade replied, "I know, we could all die. But what is the point of life without taking risks?"
"Good point," Sakura said. Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting back in a chair with the radio headset on his ears and the microphone against his mouth when a loud beeping sound then went through his ears, making his jolt back into readiness.
"Ok who the hell did that," he yelled, "Who's making their radio get feedback?"
"Sorry," Kurenai replied, "It's my fault. Microphonic vacuum tubes. How close are they now?"
"Sakura," Naruto called back. Sakura looked back into her binoculars, noticing that the airships looked significantly bigger in the binoculars then the last time she looked. They were not in a position where they would be "on top" of Black Swan's air fleet, but their force was definitely much closer then before.
"To close Naruto," Sakura concluded, "Tell Kurenai that Naruto."
"Sure thing Sakura," Naruto replied. He then put the microphone back up to his lips. "Kurenai, Sakura says they are close."
"Confirmed," Kurenai replied, "All airships open fire. Center keep on falling back. Flanks, you know what to do. Naruto you still there?"
"Yes," Naruto said.
"Keep an eye on Hinata," Kurenai asked. "I don't care what you think about her, just keep an eye out."
"You got it," Naruto replied. "Naruto out." He then took off the radio headset and stood up, a Black Swan operative next to him setting a carbine down and taking his place behind the radio. He then took his place alongside Sakura and Tsunade, who were all looking out with binoculars. The Blood Reds were firing back, and they could hear and see shells going straight past them. "They sure got a lot of guns."
"Yeah but they do not know how to use them," Sakura said. Right after she said that, a smaller class three airship was then blown out of the sky from five inch, 40mm, 90mm, five inch, and ten inch gunfire coming from Black Swan airships making up the center of the formation. "Looks like Black Swan does." Tsunade then smirked.
"Yep," she said, "It's only a matter of time before they fall into the trap."
"When the flanks close," Naruto inquired, "Is that is what Kurenai's intentions are?"
"Yep," Sakura said, still looking through binoculars. "Kinn are the engines heated up?"
"Yes Sakura," Kinn replied, looking at the controls of the airship with her hands tightly on the wheel.
"Back full then," Sakura ordred.
"Got it," Kinn said, pulling back the throttle to the back until it made a final "kachank" at the level "back full". Slowly but noticeably, the airship began to pickup the speed, moving back with the other airships in the center in a closely synchronized backward movement. It was during this movement that Naruto noticed two key advantages and disadvantages on both sides. Those advantages were in the placement of aircraft on the decks of the airships.
"I'm seeing something here," Naruto said, "Notice the fact that Black Swan has all it's aircraft on the flight decks of these airships. Why would Kurenai do that with all this flak around?"
"I do not think you totally understand what will happen in a Canae," Tsunade spoke. Naruto looked at the old woman perplexed. "Encircling your enemy serves no point if you cannot crush them. The Black Swan airships are merely to contain the Blood Red fleet from moving anywhere."
"So the planes do the actually killing," Naruto said, "But the Blood Reds..."
"Do not stand a chance," Sakura pointed out, "You do not get how long it takes to get a plane ready to take off from an airship. In this kind of scenario, the Blood Red gang is going to have one hell of a time trying to get their planes into the air."
"Something still does not seem right," Naruto said, "Why would they put the planes below deck when they knew that there would be a massive air battle going to occur. It just does not add up."
"What are you saying," Sakura asked, the flash of a Blood Red airship blowing up from explosive gunfire making a shadow cross her face.
"I'm saying what if they knew what is going on," Naruto asked, "What if they could break the Canae with outside fighters? How do we know they even loaded the fighters onto these airships?"
"He's thinking like a sky pirate," Tsunade said, "You really did get this military puppy into the few, the proud, the sky pirates."
"I guess I did," Sakura said, still looking out with the binoculars. "But Naruto does bring up a point. Naruto go into the hangar with Hinata and Ino. Tsunade radio Kurenai and tell her that we need to launch all light fighters and half of our medium fighters. Tell her to keep the airship killers down."
"You got it," Tsunade replied, walking back over to the radio and placing her headset on. As she put her headset on, she began to say a prayer in her mind, and then uttered a few words before she called her friend.
"Let me just say this kami sama," she muttered, "They better be as stupid as you have shown they are as of now. If they are not, when I get to the afterlife you will not like it at all."
All Eiji could do was smile. From the edge of the command bridge of a class ten airship that he stood on, with shots being fired all around him from other airships that only had guns, the Sunagakure chuunin watches his captors be blown to bits, even though he knew that there was much more to come onto the horizon. "Yes," he screamed, the bang of guns echoing out through the air. "Nice shooting. Let them have it!. Make sure those SOBs burn in hell!"
"We'd appreciate you not screaming," a Black Swan operative standing next to Eiji. "You are after all a prisoner." Remembering that was his predicament at the moment, Eiji stopped yelling. The last thing he wanted to do was to get shot. It was already weird enough that he was working with Black Swan, but the fact that his enemy could be gunning for him and the fact that the people that he was voluntarily working with were not exactly on good terms with him, he knew that any false step in this situation would definitely end in something bad.
"So is everything going according to plan," Eiji questioned.
"Sure seems like it," the operative said, "We got everything under control so far."
"Anything I can do to help," the prisoner questioned, placing his hands on his Black Swan vest that Kurenai had given him and shook it with it, making some of the metal on it jingle as it clanged around. "I really want to make these guys pay."
"We know you do," the operative at the controls spoke. "But you are a prisoner, one who shot down Madame, and you are not totally trustworthy."
"Come on," Eiji moaned, "I should have made it clear already that I really want to see these guys die. I can kill them, I know I can."
"We know Eiji," the operative told him, "But like I said, you still are only a prisoner, and prisoners do not fight."
"I understand," Eiji said, looking down at the floor and putting his hand behind his back. The operative kept on looking out at the airships ahead of them, and the flanks that were moving to enclose the gap. "You think this will work?"
"Can't say Noruno," the operative replied, "I mean, I saw the first Canae work, but it wasn't against an enemy nearly this big." Eiji nodded yes and then kept on looking out at the airships, watching them get hit by shells and fall from the sky from all the damage that they had sustained. Though it was happy for him to see the guys who had put him through living hell to get shot, it was not exactly pretty to think of men dying inside of these hulking airborne behemoths being blown to pieces by shells. The mere thought of men roasting inside as their airships blew apart was disturbing to Eiji.
But the words of an agent next to him made him much happier.
"You know how to fly a plane right Noruno," the operative questioned.
"I can," Eiji asked.
"Good," the operative replied. "That was Madame. Said there are loads of little blips on the radar coming up. Blood Red aircraft trying to cut the snare apart. If they do, we are going to have a much harder fight."
"So she wants me out there," Eiji asked, making sure that was going on.
"That's the case," the operative told him. "There's a Devastator waiting for you down there. Get in it, get out there, and take down those fighters with the others. Should not be very hard for you I believe."
"Not at all," Eiji said, lying to the operative and a little to himself. But that didn't matter, for Noruno Eiji was getting his chance to directly blow his former captors out of the sky. It was this chance that made it all worth while, and made him want to go onto the flight deck, grab the Devastator waiting for him, and take off. Nothing was stopping him now.
"I can't believe I did not see it before," Kurenai said, looking through a sighting scope from atop the control bridge of a class ten airship she had chosen to go aboard.
"No one could have predicted they wouldn't have loaded their planes into their airships Madame," an operative standing next to her said, straightening out a bell hat he had on his head. "It isn't really like them."
"Usually I am good at predicting this stuff," Kurenai said, watching the large amounts of black dots that were Blood Red airships grow on the horizon, and only get bigger in their size as they neared closer and closer to the Black Swan airships that were now almost totally encircled around the Blood Red airships. Kurenai now realized, this was the time to begin the killing of their enemy once and for all.
"Listen to me," she said, "I want you to hang onto something."
"What Madame," the operative said. Kurenai then reached behind her neck and undid a small clamp that held back a silver locket that was around her neck. After it was unchained, the small piece of jewelry dangled down to her hand, which she pressed into the hand of the operative next to her.
"If I die," Kurenai said, "Bury it in the basement of the HQ building. If I live, just give it back to me."
"I think I'll be doing the latter when this is over," the operative said with a big grin on his face. "But I'm not one to defy orders."
"Good," Kurenai said, flinging herself over the edge of the bridge and down onto the runway of the airship. When she hit the ground, a sharp pain temporarily coursed through her legs and hips. But this feeling quickly disappeared, as the red eyed woman's body was filling with pain killing adrenaline, and she was now ready to be the one to bring death from above on her adversary.
Before she began her aerial onslaught however, Kurenai wanted to address her pilots one more time. "All of you," she shouted. Like it always had for her, above all the gunfire, above all the engines, above all the explosions, Kurenai's voice was heard by those who served under her, the backbone of her organization. Every pilot and operative heading towards a plane turned around and looked at their madame, their red eyed madame known as Black Swan 001, Yuhi Kurenai.
"Do you all remember the first day you joined the organization," Kurenai questioned loudly, "Do you?"
"Yes we all do Madame," a female pilot said.
"What did I say to you when you were being brought on your first missions with us," Kurenai asked.
"We'd be baptized in fire," a male pilot spoke, "And bathe in the flames. We would be brought into a struggle beyond our wildest eyes. We were a chosen few, and we were the best of the best."
"That's right," Kurenai said. "That is very right. Pilots have come and gone in Black Swan. Some wanted to settle down. Some were lost. Some were traitors, and still after that some of them paid the ultimate price for fighting with us." All the pilots then found looking at the ground, for all of them knew they had most likely lost someone over their tenure with the organization they knew and loved as Black Swan. "This not just another day, not just another fight, not just another adventure, this is a real test. But this is just another..."
"Victory for Black Swan," every single operative that stood before Kurenai cheered. After they finished their words, Kurenai felt a tear fall down her face. For her, to know that everyone in her organization was this close, was this into it's protection, was this willing to go out and possibly die, was amazing. It was definitely someone anyone would kill for, and Kurenai was happy she would just once not have to kill for one virtue.
After thinking a bit more, the red eyed woman ran over and climbed into the deck of a fury. After closing the cockpit and placing her earphones on, Yuhi Kurenai was the first Black Swan pilot to leave the airship, and head off into the lungs of battle.
Back on the Pandora, Sakura and Hinata looked from the flight deck and the swarms of planes leaving their airships. "It sure is a lot of planes," Ino said, "Wonder what they are going after?"
"Something," Hinata said. The need to ask a question burned inside of Hinata, but she did not want to ask Sakura about it. The question was not one that one of The Goddesses, some of the most skilled, most brutal, and most effective sky pirates ever would even consider happening to them. But for Hinata, it was happening to her. "Sakura chan?"
"Yes," Sakura said.
"Have you ever been in love with a guy?" Hinata asked. This question had completely thrown Ino off guard. Normally, she was very good at answering any of her friend's questions, but this was different. She had never really been in love with a guy since Sasuke, which was years ago. She had never really even thought about falling in love with a guy.
"Who's the lucky guy," Sakura asked.
"It's Naruto," Hinata said, "Naruto kun and I are in love."
"Naruto," Sakura exclaimed, "You're in love with Naruto! Why Naruto?"
"He confessed to me last night," Hinata said, "And when he did I realized I loved him as well. That is why I've been fending him so much. It feels so good to be in love Sakura chan. But I do not know where to take it. Do you?"
"Um," Sakura said, "I guess you got to take it where you want to. But subconscious love? That just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense Hinata. Are you sure you're in love with him?" Hinata was perplexed at first. Of course she was in l love with Naruto. Why would she ask Sakura for love tips if she was not in love with him? It was then that Hinata's mind began coming up with an explanation.
"Oh I get it," Hinata said, "You're just jealous that you couldn't get Sasuke to stay with you when you were in the military. That's got to be it."
"What," Sakura yelled, "Ok Hinata, let me tell you that while yes I did like Sasuke, I am totally over the guy now. It doesn't matter anymore to me if he dies or lives. It's all past me."
"Don't deny it. You still are in love with him," Hinata implied, "I can see it. I know you are."
"Hinata will you cut that out," Sakura ordered, "I'm not..."
"Deny it all you want," Hinata said, "I still know you are." Sakura was getting increasingly angry at what Hinata was pinning on her, but she held it in. Hinata was sort of new to the feeling of being in love, so if she wanted to be jealous Sakura would let it slide. It really did not mean much to her anyway. "Speaking of which, have you seen Naruto?"
"I'm right here," Naruto said, reaching from behind to grab Hinata. Though startled at first, Hinata then began laughing at what Naruto had done, and Sakura looked at the two with unsure feelings.
"Well they seem in love," she said to herself, "But something is really bugging me about Naruto being in love with Hinata. I don't know, but it is definitely bugging me." The crackle of loudspeakers then broke the silence of everyone onboard the deck, as the wind blew around from all the planes and the guns kept on firing.
"This is Kinn Tsuchi," the voice on the loudspeaker said. "I have a message for all pilots." Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata all looked up at the control booth. "The flanks have been closed. All pilots, man your battle stations and get up in the sky." All three of them had their eyes wide and ran to the front of the runway, where they saw it. The Black Swan airships formed a ring around the Blood Red airships. An absolutely perfect ensnarement. They had completed the Canae. But as they looked on, the saw two airships get hit with rockets and some gunfire. A group of Blood Red airships then flew up into the ring and flew back up high again.
"So they didn't have the aircraft in the airships," Sakura said, "I knew it."
"Lets go then," Naruto said, "What has happened has happened, and we need to finish this off." All three went to their respected aircraft. Sakura to her Devastator, Hinata to her Raven, and Naruto to his P5U1. It would be a real test for all of them.
About five miles away, another large formation of planes came closer and closer to the massive battle occurring over the fields. This group, which consisted of about forty Devastators, sixty Furies, twenty Brigands and twenty Ravens, was lead by Black Swan's co founder. Black Swan 002. This was Sarutobi Asuma. "I can see the battle coming up on us. Everyone get ready for an attack."
"Get them in a dive or a climb Asuma," Tenten asked, keeping her hands firmly at the controls of her Brigand, while her tail gunner tightly gripped the tail gun, being ready to take down any signs of an oncoming airplane.
"Dive Ten," Asuma said, "Then go in for the climb."
"Hai Asuma," Tenten replied. The group kept on moving forward through the sky, their aircraft's piston engines pushing air over their wings and keeping them aloft. But in this short moment of silence, a call went out that changed everything.
"Blood Red planes," a pilot called out, "Ten o'clock high!" Tenten's tail gunner then looked up and saw the planes coming on.
"Break ma'am," the gunner called out. Tenten then jerked the steering control in a tight left while pushing down on it and giving the plane plenty of left rudder. As the Blood Red Coyote's and Alpha Wolves came through the formation, letting their machine guns and rockets shoot off from the wingtips, Asuma formation began scattering. Some of the elements had slowly begun to reform, such as the Ravens and Brigands and some of the Devastators.
"Everyone alright," Asuma said.
"Yeah we're ok," Tenten said, "I'll take the rest of us who have reformed and we'll go in and blow up the airships. Can you provide cover fire?"
"Not a problem," Asuma said, whipping around his Devastator with a sharp jerk of the controls. He then sent it in a climb towards a Coyote and locked his gunsights. The Coyote pilot never saw it coming, as Asuma pulled the triggers and let loose four .50 caliber machine guns. The initial barrage of bullets missed the Coyote, but the second round of the bullets then hit in a small area in the back of the plane. The tail of the small aircraft began to catch fire, and the pilot bailed out as the plane was engulfed in flames. The older pilot watched from his plane's cockpit as the man in the parachute descended to the ground. After a short span of looking, Asuma then whipped the plane up to the right and began to look for another target.
"Sir on your five o clock," a pilot yelled. Asuma then did a barrel roll as a Coyote quickly flew over him, machine guns blazing. The other plane completely overshot his target, and flew off to go get another one. It was then that Asuma noted that his attacker had broken a cardinal rule of dogfighting. He had failed to follow through with his attack.
Hitting the rudder pedals against the floor of the cockpit, Asuma's Devastator did a hard left turn on it's axis, loosing a little altitude in the process. But a boost of nitrous oxide into the attention that was put into the Devastator's engine with the push of a button made him regain control of the fighter and shoot off after the Coyote. Because he hadn't bothered to turn around, the pilot of the Coyote did not notice the fact that his adversary had gained the advantage on him at first. Once again, aiming his gunsights, Asuma pulled the triggers and let all four .50 caliber machine guns go off. This time the pilot of the Coyote heard the deadly chatter of his adversary's automatics, and then pulled up in a power climb to avoid the fire. Due to the low quality of his Coyote however, the pilot found his aircraft stalling as he attempted to climb. But Asuma's Devastator was running just fine, and the bearded pirate ace had just the way to take care of his stalled opponent.
"So long," Asuma said, switching from machine guns to magnetic rockets. Taking a quick aim ahead of his target, Asuma let off one magnetic rocket from his Devastator. The rocket seemed to go over it's target, but the magnet inside the tip of the rocket caught on. When it did, the rocket swooped down and rammed into the top of the Coyote, blowing it to pieces. No one had bailed out. "Pity. I was hoping he'd actually get out and learn from is mistakes. Oh well. Just because you got your wings doesn't mean you can fly."
"I could use some cover fire Asuma san," someone on his radio called out. A Fury then streaked past him with an M98 Alpha Wolf hot on it's tail, firing of 20mm cannon fire and occasional rockets from it's wings. Asuma smiled, for he hadn't gone up against a Blood Red ace yet. This would really be a nice challenge for him.
Pulling a sharp right hand turn, Asuma then proceeded to line himself up with the Alpha Wolf chasing after the Fury. The pilot of the Fury was doing what Asuma saw to be a pretty nice job of attempting to keep the Blood Red off his tale, but it was quite apparent that this Blood Red pilot was definitely more experienced then the Fury pilot, and probably one of the better aces in the swath of normally sub par pilots. But before Asuma could go after the Alpha Wolf, the Fury needed to break off from it's attacker. This would not be an easy task, but Asuma knew it could be done, and he knew how to do it to.
"Listen to me buddy," Asuma said to the Fury pilot, "I can take care of this guy on your tail, but I need you to bug out of the fight."
"I'm trying to do that," the other pilot replied via his radio, "But I just can't. My guns jammed and I'm trying to get back to an airship so they can get fixed and I can get back out here."
"Are you new to flying the Fury," Asuma questioned, still keeping a tight chase on the two other planes.
"Yeah I am," the pilot replied, "Moved from a Devastator to this little thing. Handling isn't as tight but it's much faster as I can see."
"Listen to me and you'll be A ok," Asuma said, "Your Fury can out dive the Alpha Wolf. It is totally possible. I want you to go into the sharpest and steepest possible dive you can go into."
"I got it sir," the pilot said, "One deep dive on the way!" Just like Asuma had wanted, the Fury pilot then jerked his plane in a sharp dive, the nose of the plane almost pointing a full ninety degrees downward. Just like the older, more experienced pilot wanted, the Blood Red flying the Alpha Wolf could not chase after the Fury since the smaller plane had outdived it. Now the real dogfight was about to begin.
The engagement began with Asuma letting off two short bursts of .50 caliber machine gun fire. Though he had hoped to hit the Alpha Wolf in this time of a stall, the Alpha Wolf did an upward barrel roll and dodged all of his bullets. This was definitely not what Asuma had expected. What he thought would happen was that the pilot of the Alpha Wolf would be caught in a moment where he was practically sitting still in midair and that would be his place to hit the target. But this guy had seen through it, and had actually rolled upward. "Little smarter then I thought." He then began looking around, and didn't see his adversary anywhere.
It was then that he heard the bullets making their signature "kaching" of them bouncing off of metal, and Asuma knew he was in trouble. Putting some nos into the engine, Asuma then was thrown back into the seat of his Devastator as it gunned forward, trying to gain some distance between his adversary and himself. Though it didn't work as well as he hoped it would, the quick burst of speed did put enough distance between the two planes for Asuma to get a few seconds to think of what to do next, and then he got it.
Doing a Split S to turn around and face the other fighter, Asuma began what appeared to be a head on collision with the other plane. "Come on you," he said, "Take the bait you idiot." The other plane then began to dive down and start to shoot at him. "Not what I wanted." The bearded ace then did a barrel roll in his Devastator and then did an Immelman. The other pilot had apparently not noticed that his adversary had come up and over him. Which is just what Asuma wanted. Doing another Split S, Asuma found himself right on the six o'clock position of his enemy.
Right where he wanted to be.
"Been nice knowing you buddy," Asuma said, aiming his guns to get the other plane. When he felt that he had a good shot, Asuma pulled the triggers and let the guns loose. Just like he had wanted them to, they all hit their mark on the plane. The Alpha Wolf began to catch fire, and then it fell to the ground. The pilot however, did manage to bail out, and he floated to earth via a large white parachute.
"Been nice fighting you," Asuma said. He then turned away and went to go find another plane to shoot down.
While the dogfight between Asuma's fighter group and the Blood Red group trying to get into the ensnarement to break it, the heavy fighters that had come with Asuma had made their way into the group of airships clustered together. Right in the front of them was a red and black Brigand with six 40mm cannons and wings loaded to the brim with concussion rockets. This Brigand belonged to Tenten, and she was flying it right into the thick of all the flak coming from the airships.
"Everyone get into groups of five," she ordered. "Three Ravens and Brigands, two Devastators to help cover them."
"You got it ma'am," another pilot said, "Everyone, do what the woman says and break off. Hit every airship you can. Tail gunners in the Brigands, stay awake back there. You aren't in that position just for the fun of the ride."
"You hear that gunner," Tenten asked.
"Yeah I did," Tenten's tail gunner said, "Don't worry miss, I'll make sure no one comes after us." Tenten gave a small hmmm and then went to make an attack on an airship. In front of her was a Blood Red class five airship, all it's flak guns going off at one time at all the airplanes that were flying over it, like a child trying to swat away gnats on a hot summer day.
"Let me ask you something," Tenten asked, using nitrous to climb up high above the airship so she could dive on it, "Have you ever been in a diving plane before?"
"No I don't think," the tail gunner began to say. He was unable to finish, for as he was about to, Tenten put the plane into an incredibly sharp dive, the Brigand approaching a near critical speed. As the plane dived, three concussion rockets left the wings and fuselage of the Brigand, and a long burst of cannon fire raked the deck of the airship. The tail gunner grappled on for dear life, feeling as if he felt like he was going to throw up from the way the G forces were making his stomach feel. However, right when he was about to toss his cookies, Tenten leveled out the Brigand and did a quick barrel roll to avoid all the flak that was coming at them from the deck of the airship, from guns ranging to 88mm anti aircraft guns to MG15 7.62mm machine guns.
"How'd you like that," Tenten asked.
"How do you live through that kind of thing?" The tail gunner exclaimed. "How do you do it?"
"I just do," Tenten hollered. "And we're doing it again!" Right when he heard that, the tail gunner reached over on the wall for a bag that was conveniently placed there by Tenten with the words "tail gunner" on it. After he threw up in the bag, he tied it up and placed it on the side of him, right when Tenten did an Immelman to turn around and face the airship. But right when she did, two Coyotes shot right past her, shooting their tail guns. "They coming back?"
"Yeah they are," the tail gunner stated. "I got it ma'am." The gunner then began aiming the guns and leading the targets into the line of fire of the guns. Firing the twin 40mm gun mount in the back at the two Coyote's coming after them, his initial wave of shots. But when he began to fire off a second burst, he scored some hits on the second Coyote, turning it into tiny metal and wood chips. The second Coyote was still out there, but it had disappeared. It was simply out of the line of sight of his eyes. But then it reappeared, in the five o clock position, out of the turning radius of the tail gun position.
"Ma'am look out," the gunner yelled. Tenten went to turn the plane, but right when she went to move it, an explosion went out and the Coyote as seen falling to earth in a state of disrepair. Right after that happened, a P5U1 flew alongside of Tenten's Brigand, and the pilot gave her a small wave. "Who is that?"
"I know him," Tenten said, "How you doing Naruto?"
"Pretty nice," Naruto said, "Just roughed up that airship for you and took out that Coyote on your ass. Go in for the kill on that class five, it's probably week enough."
"Thanks," Tenten said, turning around to go after the airship.
"Tell me though," Naruto asked. "What made you want to fly again?"
"An old friend," Tenten said. "He made me want to fly again."
Every pilot made the work quick. The ensnarement got smaller and smaller. Each time, the Black Swan airships would push inward and close on the Blood Red airships. Each time they pushed, more and more of them would fall to the ground or explode in midair from all the damage. Black Swan knew that it was only a matter of time before they had completely crushed the enemy.
But for the leader of the Blood Red air fleet, the certainty was that he was going to loose. For Masao Nakasura, the man put in this horrendous position, he blinded himself to this fact. A truly arrogant and brazien warrior at heart, Masao had never been in a battle he had lost. But now it looked like this was the end. Yet it wasn't over for him, it would not be over for him. .
"Sir," a Blood Red soldier next to him on the airship said, "We need to get you out of here."
"I'm not finished yet," Masao snapped. "We have a chance, we can win this?"
"Are you insane," the soldier said, "You do not see it? Our planes are falling before our faces like flies, and our airships are being crushed over and over again. We need to get out of here with what vestiges of planes we have left."
"Then what will Satoshi think," Masao asked, "I helped him form this organization. We strived for sixteen years to get to where it is today. From a ragtag bandit group to a crime ring. There is no way I'm going to let a bitch take away my work."
"Well for a bitch she sure knows how to beat people into submission," the soldier said. A smirk then came across Masao's face, for now he would get his chance to have a good moment in the heat of a loosing battle.
"Let me see that Luger we gave you son," Masao replied. The soldier gave him the Luger without question, and Masao cocked it back. The soldier went to run, but it was too late. Before he could take two steps, Masao had emptied the entire clip of bullets into the soldier's body. He then threw the Luger onto the ground. In his damaged mind, Masao knew that Satoshi was always watching and that special help would come in. Even though around him airships were getting blown left and right from the sky, and planes were dropping like flies flying through clouds of DDT, he believed that they actually stood a chance.
"I say fuck you Black Swan," he screamed, "We are still here. We'll never die. We can win. We have the planes, the men, the airships, we got it all you bitch! We can win, and I'm not leaving until we do." Right after he said that, Masao saw a flat shaped plane diving towards his class ten airship, right in between all the flak. The plane came so close that Masao could see a blond little kid snickering at him as his plane let a single magnetic rocket off. As the rocket came in, Masao hit the floor and felt shards of metal and heat blast over him as the rocket exploded directly in the command bridge of the massive airship. Looking around, Masao saw everyone in the bridge either dead or badly injured. Masao himself was wounded, with metal and glass shards jammed into his charred back.
"Oh you little shit," Masao cursed. He then jumped off the edge of the bridge and onto the flight deck of the class ten airship. He then walked up to the lone Ravenscroft M98 Alpha Wolf on the deck, where he climbed up the ladder to the canopy, broke the neck of the pilot inside, and threw his dead body out over the edge and into the air. "Everyone follow me. We're going to get out of here." Masao then closed the canopy of the plane, started the engine and took off. Along with all the planes from his Class Ten, several more from two remaining class ten airships and one class nine airship flew off as well. It all numbered to about eighty remaining planes.
From the deck of her own Class ten airship, looking out at the sky around her, Kurenai could see the Blood Red airplane numbers were drastically lower then when they had first began to push in after they had enclosed the Blood Red airships and the planes had tried to break the Canae. But right as she had the feeling that she would be able to be part of the final push, something got in the way. "Madame," a mechanic said, tinkering with her plane. "We got a bit of a problem."
"Oh come on," Kurenai moaned. She then walked around behind her plane, where the mechanics were working. "What's wrong?"
"Take a look for yourself," the mechanic told her. He then opened up a top hatch on the wing of Kurenai's Fury, revealing the machine guns that were melded inside of the wing. What Kurenai saw was that the machine guns had become so superheated that they had melted the wings around them and damaged them internally. "You got no guns and really limited control over this thing. This plane isn't fit to fly, much less even fight. I would get you an extra but they are all out right now." Unlike Masao, who in a situation like this may have jumped into the plane and flew it away anyway, Kurenai realized that her plane was finished, and that her fight time was done.
"I get it," Kurenai said. "It's alright." Right when she said that, Kurenai heard all the planes. When she whipped her head around, she saw the swarm of planes that were attempting to leave the remaining Blood Red flagships in a desperate bid to get out alive. Kurenai knew that many of those planes would have officers in them that needed to be eliminated if the Blood Red gang was going to be taken care of forever. If they were to defeat the enemy, they needed to get rid of those planes.
"Now it is a problem I take it," the mechanic said. Kurenai looked at him with an angry face. "Sorry."
"God damn it how are we going to get them now," she asked. A Black Swan operative then came from inside of the airship and onto the deck, running up to Kurenai with a mobile radio in his hand. "For me?"
"Think your student has something to say to you madame," the operative said. Kurenai took the radio and put it up to her head.
"Hinata," she spoke, "Is that you?"
"We'll get them sensei," Hinata said, "It's obvious you aren't able to fly, but we'll finish them off."
"It'll be no problem kobito," Asuma said, "We'll have it all under control." Kurenai blushed at what Asuma called her, for he hadn't called her a lover since the siege started. But he just called her that, and it made Kurenai feel extra better.
"Arigato Asuma kun," Kurenai said with a big smile, "But where are you know?"
"Look above you," Asuma said. Kurenai looked up, but her hair prevented her from seeing anything. So with a quick brush out of the way, Kurenai saw and heard a massive formation of planes pass over her. In the lead was a black and red Devastator, a black and red Fury, a black and red Brigand, a black and red Angel, and a black and red P5U1 with many black and white fighters behind them. "We are more then ready for this. You just sit back and relax." After that, Asuma cut off his radio and the planes flew out of the ensnarement and towards the horizon.
As they flew away, Kurenai noticed there was a cooler at the mechanic's feet, it's lid open to reveal bottles of beer inside. "Can I have one," Kurenai asked.
"Sure go ahead," the mechanic said. "I was saving them for later but you can have one." Kurenai then walked over and took one, then went and sat on the edge of the airship runway, opened the beer bottle and let the alcoholic liquid flow down her throat.
"I've come to a new verdict," she said, "It really is a good thing that I am this lucky. It really is a good thing."
As the line of airships got smaller, Ino and Sakura began their chase by asking Tenten some questions. "So, why did you want to start flying again Tenten," Sakura asked.
"An old friend Sakura," Tenten replied, "He made me want to do it again."
"Who's this old friend," Ino questioned.
"Can't tell," Tenten said, "My lips are sealed. Naruto, thanks again for that save back there. Could have ended a bit too hairy if it wasn't for you."
"Not a problem Ten," Naruto said, "Good to have you back. Hinata, how you doing over there?"
"Give a second," Hinata said. "Hanabi, are you ready for this?"
"It's just a dogfight," Hanabi replied, keeping her eyes on the sky ahead of her, which was quickly becoming filled with more dots on the horizon. Hanabi knew that these dots were definitely a lot of trouble, and they were most certainly Blood Red airplanes.
"This dogfight could have a lot of the high up Blood Red chain of command," Hinata said, "According to Naruto, these guys are the cream of the crop of the Blood Red pilots. Right Naruto kun?"
"Hai Hinata chan," Naruto replied, "These guys are the best probably." As the group neared closer and closer, Hinata feared that eighty top notch pilots against Black Swan pilots who weren't all exactly top notch could be a one sided dogfight. Though she thought initially about having all of them dive on the formation, she now needed to think of a different idea. A quick look at the large, thin, black winged trident missiles on the wings of Hanabi's P54 Angel, and she knew she had an idea of what not only was totally possible to do, but was probably a better way to start off an attack.
"Hanabi," Hinata said, "I need you to go ahead of the pack and get right over the Blood Reds."
"That's suicide," Naruto exclaimed, "One plane alone can't do this."
"Just listen to me," Hinata said. "I need you to go up above them, keeping the sun to your back, and let loose two Tridents right over them."
"Two Tridents," Hanabi said, "I'm a bit afraid of this."
"If you do not do this many of us may not come out of this dogfight alive," Hinata yelled. "Do it now!"
"Alright oniichan," Hanabi said, "I got it." Hanabi then climbed up high so that she was concealed by the sun to her back. She then used some nitrous, and speed up her plane to go after the Blood Reds. All the other planes kept behind, but not far behind. The younger Hyuga girl had to coax herself a bit, but as she went in and got closer and closer, she then had a good idea of how important this was, and that made her mind change states. No longer was it afraid, but now it was in state of anger and assertion. The mission was going to be carried out, for if it wasn't then there would be some horrible consequences.
The Hyuga girl's plane was still concealed by the sun, and it was still unseen by the Blood Reds below her. Without even thinking, Hanabi switched from the Angel's cannons to the Trident missiles, and readied them to fire.
"Lets see how you like it," Hanabi said, "When an angel cries." Just like Hinata wanted, two Trident missiles then left the wings of Hanabi's plane, their rocket motors speeding them down towards the Blood Red below them. When the reached a point right above their targets, both of the weapons exploded, and many black spikes rained down. Due to the fact that they were bunched up so close together, many of the spikes hit Blood Red aircraft. But Hanabi still didn't feel that it was enough, despite the Tridents having taken down about sixteen airplanes. One more Trident left from under the fuselage of Hanabi's Angel, and it came down and exploded on the planes. This time, another eight planes fell out of the sky. Out of eighty planes that tried to get away, the Blood Reds were now down to fifty six. This had really begun to worry Masao.
"Where is the bastard that had the balls to shoot at us," he said, looking around from the cockpit of his Alpha Wolf. "Where are they?" Unknown to him, everyone in the Black Swan attack force was listening to him via their radios.
"He's still alive," Naruto said softly, "He's still alive!"
"Why is this guy so important to you Naruto," Tenten asked.
"I'm to kill him," Naruto screamed. Giving his P5U1 massive amounts of throttle, Naruto then sped down and went after the Blood Red aircraft below. As he went down, he then let loose his cannons at the first Alpha Wolf he saw. The plane fell out of the sky instantly when it was hit by all the 20mm cannon fire, but the Alpha Wolf was not Masao's. It was Masao's wingman's, and the wingman was certainly dead by this point. Meanwhile, from up above all the others had dove in on the planes that flew below them. The dogfight had begun.
As Naruto went around to go and kill Masao, Hinata went in with her Raven and began making passes with Sakura at her side to give her cover fire. "Lets makes sure these guys burn in hell Hinata. Make sure that their red blood is drank by the devil.""Good idea," Hinata replied. In front of her, two Coyotes and a Peacemaker attempted to make a break for it. As they did, Hinata began firing her Raven's cannons. Leading the planes into her sights, each one was hit with a withering barrage of explosive fire and was blown to tiny pieces. After letting up on the gunfire, Hinata noticed that Sakura had broken away from her. "Sakura?"
"I'm right behind you Hinata," Sakura replied, "Just taking care of some of the Blood Reds who thought it was perfectly alright for them to go after my friend." Hinata smiled and then went in to get more kills. As she flew farther into the group of planes, she let loose her cannons again and fired a few rockets out with them. Two rockets hit some Coyotes, taking them down easily. Many of her gun shots also were hitting planes. Three of them that were hit fell down, with another five of them damaged by cannon fire. Doing a quick immelman to get back into the group, Hinata then let off her last rocket, and with it took down a Blood Red Peacemaker.
Like she had promised her friend, Sakura then began to chase after the Blood Reds who had tried to chase after Hinata. There were of them, flying and shooting haphazardly, trying to just hit something that was moving. While they were doing this, Sakura took advantage of their confusion to try and take some of them down. As she moved in, she let off a magnetic rocket from her Devastator's wingtips, and right after it left she did a hard bank and began firing her guns in the middle of the turn. The magnetic rocket took out one fighter, and another one fell to the cutting barrage of .50 caliber bullets coming from the six machine guns on Sakura's Devastator. After she did that, she then did an immelman maneuver to put herself back in the face of her enemies. When she did, one of the Coyotes that she was shooting at then began to shoot back at her, hitting the nose of her Devastator twice with some small machine gun rounds. Before she could be hit anymore though, Sakura pulled up above the barrange and let loose yet another magnetic rocket. As she let off the rocket, she fired her guns again and took down the third Coyote. The fourth one, just like she wanted it to be, was struck by the magnetic rocket and was blown to pieces.
Sakura looked around to see Ino and even Tenten raking up their fair share of kills. But Naruto was nowhere to be found at the time. It was then that Sakura knew what was happening.
Naruto versus Masao had begun, and she would be unable to watch. "May kami sama bless your immortal soul Naruto," Sakura said, "I could not bear to see you fall from the sky filled with lead or on fire from napalm."
Masao had left the group behind. To him, they were all weak for being shot down. They were all weak to him. Even Satoshi was weak to him at this time. "If he had just come out of that mansion," Satoshi muttered, his shattered mind racing too fast for him to keep up. "We could have won this. Yeah we could have. But no, he didn't come back. Why couldn't he just leave and fight?"
"Because he's just as big of a cocksucker as you are Masao Nakasura," Naruto cursed. A burst of 20mm fire then came down on Masao, but the ace pilot did a snap roll to dodge it before he was even hit. Naruto then came around and tried to shoot at him again. He scored a few hits on the plane, but nothing really damaging. Masao had dodged the brunt of the fire coming at him, and had taken only bits and pieces of it. "You cannot imagine how much I want to kill you right now!"
"Kill me," Masao said, "Why not go after Satoshi? You can end this whole thing right now if you wanted to." Naruto didn't reply back to Masao, but in his plane he was thinking about what the Blood Red co-founder was saying.
"Speak further," Naruto ordered. "Make it quick."
"Satoshi isn't here," Masao said, "He's sitting in a mansion in Bara Hills. You could go in there right now and shoot a magnetic rocket at the mansion he was in and blow it right up, the battle would be over. It's the one with the Spanish style clay roof. He's in that one. All you got to do is let me go."
"You wouldn't come after me if I did," Naruto questioned.
"If you let me go right here I'll never show my face Konohagakure, heck even the Fire Country again," Masao said, "I don't lie to people man, and I always hold my bargains. Please, just do this for me?" Naruto began thinking, flying his plane along while keeping a close eye on Masao. After the thinking, he realized Masao had done something that he said he didn't do, and it made Naruto laugh.
"I just realized something Masao," Naruto said, "You said you don't fall back on bargains and always follow through with them. Well let me tell you something?"
"What," Masao snapped.
"You just fell back on your end of the bargain to Satoshi," Naruto said, "And you fell back on the bargain of convincing me to leave you alone!" Naruto then fired two rockets, both of which Satoshi dodged. Satoshi then whipped his Alpha Wolf around and fired two napalm rockets at Naruto. Both of them missed, as Naruto had done the move that Satoshi used to dodge Naruto's initial barrage of fire. That move was a snap roll.
"Looks like this is a gunfight," Masao said, "An old style gunfight."
"Doesn't mean a thing," Naruto said, "Lets go."
The two planes began flying around each other like a swarm of bees. Flying in wild and odd patterns, each pilot was desperately trying to get a bead on each other with their guns. Each one squeezed off small bursts at each other, each one missing the shots that could have taken down their opponents. For them, this was the most deadly form of combat. Two ace pilots, both with loads of experience, both with a blood lust out for each other, buzzing around each other in metal hulks that were running at high speeds. Each pilot struggled to get a bead on the other, each one shooting bursts of gunfire that were trying to hit the other one. Then finally it happened, Masao had gotten hits on Naruto's plane. Not just a few hits, but a large and sustained burst. Rips in the P5U1's metal flesh began to appear, and the plane was starting to smoke from the damage it was taking.
"You're finished," Masao said. "You are absolutely finished. There is absolutely no way you can win."
"Go ahead," Naruto said. Finish it off. Masao snickered and then put a final burst in the P5U1. The plane exploded easily, and there was no chute to come out of it. Masao smiled, for he had done his job well.
Or so he thought.
"Surprise you sick fuck," Naruto yelled. Masao looked above him to see another P5U1, guns a blazing, diving down on him. Holes began to appear all over the plane, and the glass became rapidly cracked and shattered. Then what Naruto wanted to happen happened, 20mm shells exploded in Masao's cockpit, tearing the Blood Red pilot to bits. When Naruto saw the plane begin to dive down, Naruto knew what had happened.
The blond bijuu carrier smiled. For him, one of his biggest battles ever, one of the biggest battles for everyone, had come to a much needed end.