I felt it would have been a bit unfair to have a buildup to so much action and not have the chapter have a lot, so I decided to put more action in. This version of the chapter contains that action. My dogfight chapter got some nice reviews, and more and more people have saved this to their favorites. Quite pleasing. Now I'm back with another chapter, the penultimate (fancy way to say the second to last) chapter of the story. So, while I listen to metal, I want you all to read the final fight scene in Fire Paved Skies, The Entrance. I think you will enjoy it very much.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the story,
Symbiotic
April 12th
Near Konohagakure
The sun was now setting, paving the sky a bright orange color among the small amounts of clouds that resided there. The last Blood Red airship had exploded hours ago, not any enemy was in the sky. No planes, no airships, just a large group of Black Swan airships and some planes buzzing around above them. Right now, it was just sort of a cleanup job. Making sure everyone was safe, making sure no one was coming after them, it was all in good nature. Still looking over the edge of one class ten airship, Kurenai felt good that this was all that was left to do, or so it seemed. "Good thing this is all over," she said, "This has been one very very tiring experience."
A few more planes flew overhead, making Kurenai's hair blow around in the wind they kicked up. She took one quick look back at both of them, but the planes were gone before she could even really see them. It did not really matter to her, but she was just thankful that she had so many planes at her disposal.
However, Kurenai had grown tired of standing around on the airship, and really wanted to tell someone that they had won. Someone that they had beaten their enemy for good and they were done with all the fighting. At least that was how it seemed. But she could care less right now, it was the fact that even though they were outnumbered that they won. That is what impressed her, and that is what made her happy.
As she reminisced about what had happened today, her thoughts were interrupted by a simple tap on the shoulder. "Yes," Kurenai questioned.
"It's Asuma madame," the operative who had tapped her said. A brick sized mobile radio was then passed into Kurenai's hands, after which Kurenai smiled and gave the soldier a nod, signaling him to leave. The soldier then walked away, and Kurenai put the radio up to her face. "Yes?"
"Ohayo Kurenai," Asuma said, "You alright?"
"Quite thank you," Kurenai replied, "Just a bit angry that I could not go out and get the last of those planes. How did that go over by the way?"
"Very nice," Asuma said, "Not one of them got away, and Naruto here claims to have got some Masao guy who was the second in command of the Blood Reds."
"Good," Kurenai said, "Now what is this about them in Bara hills?"
"Well they are hiding out there," Asuma said, "Should I organize an assault? I take it dad would not want us to just go and bomb the place to smithereens."
"Go start drawing up plans," Kurenai ordered, "Where are you know?"
"Just entered the city and we're headed back to the HQ building," Asuma replied. "Felt like telling Anko that she missed out." At the thought of her conflict loving friend realizing she had just missed out on the climax of the fighting, Kurenai felt herself starting to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"I'm thinking of Anko's face when you tell her we're done Asuma," Kurenai said, "Go on into the city, I'll see you later."
"Gotcha, Asuma out," he said. Asuma then disconnected from the radio, and Kurenai disconnected as well. After that, she set down the radio on the deck and looked out at the sky. When she did, she thought of Anko once again, and began laughing wildly.
After disconnecting from Kurenai, Asuma remained fairly silent as they went into the city. But the sky pirates that were with him were still talking about their exploits in the previous battle. In particular, they were asking Tenten most of the questions that were being spoken. "So Tenten," Sakura asked, "What made you want to fight again?"
"An old friend," Tenten said, "That's all that I'm saying."
"What did it feel like when you dove on that class eight and put the rocket right into the fuel hold Teni," Ino questioned, "That I really got to know?"
"It felt good," Tenten replied, "Felt real good. Alright enough questions here, since when did your imouto chan begin flying for us?"
"About the time that you went to hiding," Hinata replied, "Sensei gave Hanabi an Angel."
"No way," Tenten hollered, "That's amazing!"
"Yeah she's an ace already," Hinata said, "No thanks to flying one of the most advanced planes in the world."
"Eh I'm just doing all I can to help," Hanabi told Hinata, "But the plane helps." Hanabi then gave a small laugh as they approached the Black Swan HQ building. "Wonder what the kids will say when we tell them that we won?"
"I bet they'll be amazed," Naruto said, "They look up to us and everything, and I think they would really enjoy hearing that we won."
"I think so to Naruto kun," Hinata said. "I really think so as well."
One by one, each plane opened their flaps and descended down onto the runway built into the skyscraper. Each plane hit the runway with a small bounce, but each one came down with ease and no trouble. After everyone exited their respected aircraft, they then walked in through the stairwell and began walking down the flights of stairs to where they believed the children would be sitting.
"You guys go check up on the kids," Asuma insisted, "I'm going to check up on Anko. She's probably around here somewhere."
"Alright Asuma sensei," Ino said, giving him a nod of approval. Asuma then started to make his way back up the stairs while the others walked through the door at the flight they were on and walked into the hallway of the floor. This is where they believed Talia would have been taking care of all the other children.
"Talia," Hinata called out, "It's me Hinata."
"We won you can come out now," Sakura yelled. Despite both Sakura and Hinata calling for the children to come out, there was no response by any of them. No children running down the hall with open arms, no shouting by children's voices, not even a reply voice back. "Now this is very strange."
"Maybe they are on a different floor," Tenten suggested.
"Probably," Sakura said, "Lets split up and look for them. Ino and Tenten, you search upstairs. Hinata, Hanabi, and Naruto search downstairs. I'll take care of this floor and head some other direction when I'm done."
"Got it," Hinata said, "Come on Hanabi, Naruto, lets get looking." The three of them walked back towards the door near the stairwell with Ino and Tenten, while Sakura continued to walk down the hall. As she did, she proceeded to check every door that was in the hallway. The first one she came to was a hardwood door stained in a brown/crimson like color. She started with simply trying to open the door with a simple gripping of the silvery doorknob and jerking it around a bit. This was futile, for the knob was firmly locked in place and it was not going anywhere.
"I'm sure Kurenai will not like this," Sakura said to herself, cracking her neck and stretching out her arms around her back, "But hey, got to find what is behind that door." After putting her limbs back in place and taking a deep breath, Sakura then focused her strength of her right leg, which connected at high speed with the door. The sheer force with an extra boost from Sakura's foot was enough to knock if off the hinges, and the door came crashing down onto the floor. "That did the job." Peaking her head inside, Sakura noticed that the lights were off inside of the room. Reaching over and turning them on with the flick of a light switch, she was then given access to something she would remember for the rest of her life.
Inside were the bodies of six Black Swan operatives, stabbed and shot with their blood smeared all over the walls and floor of the room. They were either sitting in chairs or on two full size beds that were in the room, and they wreaked of rotting flesh. "Sure did a number on these guys," Sakura spoke, walking inside of the room. After she took a few steps inside, she noticed something else in the room that seemed highly out of place. A film projector was placed right in the middle of the room, loaded with a film reel that said "watch me" on the side of it, written in marker on a piece of tape. Across the room from it was a small screen.
Moving cautiously over, covering her mouth with her jacket to get rid of the smell, Sakura then turned on the projector and the movie began rolling. Rushing back over to get the lights, Sakura's eyes were greeted with something highly disturbing when she looked at what was on the screen.
Immediately, she reached for the phone and called Kurenai's office. What she told Asuma to do was to get the others and meet in the room.
They would be in for a gruesome surprise.
A smile had been stretch across Kurenai's face. At her own orders, and her desire to go see what everyone at the HQ building was doing, she decided do let most of the pilots and airships crew go back home for a rest. After waiting for the better part of about four hours, Kurenai finally had a chance to come home in a Fury, wanting to fly home and lay in her bed to rest. But as she walked over to the Fury sitting on the deck of the airship, she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. "Yes," Kurenai said, stopping her move towards the airplane sitting on the flight deck, waiting for her to take it and go off into the sky.
"Kurenai," Eiji said, taking his hand off the woman's shoulder. "I mean Black Swan san, we need to talk."
"I'll work on getting you back to your wife soon Eiji," Kurenai replied, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go." She went over to go towards the plane again, but she was then stopped another time. "Eiji, I..."
"It's not about me," Eiji told her, "It is about all of us." Confused by what her prisoner and friend was saying to her, the red eyed sky pirate turned around to see the whole crew of the airship and all the Black Swan pilots who had flown in the air to help make the battle go the way it had standing next to or behind Eiji. "We want to say thank you."
"For what," Kurenai asked. "I haven't gave any of you anything."
"You kidding me," Eiji exclaimed, "You gave me my freedom again."
"You gave me a chance to see the other elemental nations and more," a male pilot told her.
"I finally get to be around people who find it important that I am fixing machines," a mechanic said holding up a wrench. "No one ever did that for me."
"I found the love of my life here," a female pilot told her while wrapping her arms around another pilot which she kissed on the cheek, "Does that not constitute thanks?"
"We all just want to say thank you to you Black Swan san," Eiji said, "And I think we just did."
Kurenai stood there with her back towards the airplane she wished to get into, trying to take in all the information in a way that would not cloud her mind but so she could register all of it rapidly and coherently. Unfortunately, it did not go the way that she wanted to.
"Eiji," she muttered quietly, "Step forward now." Eiji then took a few steps forward and then felt himself in a tight embrace by the crimson eyed woman, who was now sobbing into his tattered white shirt.
"Something wrong?"
"No," Kurenai spoke through a few short sobs, "I'm just overwhelmed. I hope that you all find a place in heaven or hell, it does not matter which one you go to. Wherever you want to. But even after we all go, we're just Black Swan at heart, right?"
"That's right," Eiji told her, holding onto the woman tightly as well, "We're all Black Swan." Kurenai then ceased all crying and stopped all the tears that had flowed down her face and looked up at everyone else who was around her. All of them had smiles on their faces, and were all standing there being friendly with each other. It was at this time that Kurenai gave a proclamation that she was very happy to give.
"Black Swan," she spoke firmly. All the pilots and the airship crew went to a tight stance of attention. "It's been a rough day and I think we all need to go home. Fall in fleet." As Kurenai finished saying her command, the entire airship crew raced back to get back to their stations on the airship and the pilots hollered cheers all over. Kurenai then boarded the Fury that she wished to get into and was guided by the crew to take off and was flying away from the airship in a matter of minutes.
What she did not know was that her world of happiness was about to experience armageddon.
"I wonder what Asuma called us upstairs for," Naruto asked, rushing up the stairs with Hinata and Hanabi alongside of him.
"Maybe he found some clue as to where everyone is," Hanabi replied, moving rapidly up the stairs towards the next floor. "I know we did not."
"You didn't," Naruto panted,starting to get tired from running up the stairs. They had already ran up about fifteen flights, and there were still another sixty left to go before they reached the top, which is where they believed everyone would be. "What did you find?"
"Nothing," Hinata said, affirming Hanabi's claim. "There was nothing in any of the rooms on any of the floors we checked out."
"God you two are so lucky to have Byakugan," Naruto said quietly, but just loud enough for Hanabi and Hinata to hear it and make both of the sisters start to laugh a little.
It was then that they heard the sirens.
"What the hell," Naruto said, stopping to look out a window that was in the stairwell. What he saw stunned him. "Hinata chan, Hanabi, get over here." The two sisters approached Naruto and then peaked their heads out the window to see what was going on down below on the street level. Several cars in green and black with flashing lights were at the base of the building and "no pass" tape was being put all over the entrance. "I take it this is not a good idea?"
"Actually it's fine," Hinata said, "Kurenai sensei pays off the police every month. Besides, those are not normal cops."
"Where are they from then," Naruto questioned. Hinata closed her eyes and did a few quick seals. After saying the magic word, veins bulged from the side of her head and the lines in her eyes became much more defined then normal. With her family's kekkai genkai now activated, Hinata could see much more clearly, now being able to see what the insignias on the jackets of the police officers were. When she made it out though, it was rather shocking to her.
"They are from the coroner's office," Hinata exclaimed.
"Aren't those the people that the police send in to pick up dead bodies after a murder scene and take them apart," Hanabi questioned.
"Exactly," Hinata stated. "But what would the coroner's office be doing here?"
"I have no clue but this is definitely not a very good thing," Naruto said. "Could something have happened while we were gone."
"Something did happen when we were gone," someone spoke. All three of them looked behind them to see Sakura standing at the top of the stairs. "I called the coroner."
"What," Naruto exclaimed. "Why did you call the coroner's office?"
"For precisely what they do best," Sakura said, "To take away some dead bodies."
"What happened Sakura chan," Hinata asked. Sakura then reached over and picked up a large linen laundry bag, throwing it down the stairs to Hinata, Hanabi, and Naruto's feet. All three of them noted that the bag smelled much worse then any normal bag would.
"Ask what's inside," Sakura said walking away, "Then meet me up in Kurenai's office." The pink haired sky pirate then walked away from the stairwell entrance and went to go back upstairs. Meanwhile, Naruto reached to his belt and whipped out a kunai, which he used to cut the rope that was on the top of the bag. What came out was the body of one of the guards that had been found in the bed room with Sakura.
"Oneechan," Hanabi screamed, rushing over to embrace her older sister. "What is Sakura doing with dead bodies in these linen laundry bags?"
"I don't know," Hinata replied, clutching her own sister tightly as Naruto put the dead guard back in the linen laundry bag and tying the rope back up to keep it safe. Once he did that, he then walked up the stairs. "Naruto kun?"
"We really should think about seeing Asuma," Naruto told the two girls, walking up the stairs as he spoke. "Not a moment to loose, lets go."
Kurenai, Tsunade, and Shizune arrived a few minutes later to see the coroner's office workers taking all the dead bodies away. They had found more then the original guards found in the bedroom that Sakura found, numbering to about twenty guards that were all killed. The guns that were found beside them were still fully loaded, and it appeared that they had never been able to fire even one shot at all. Now all three of the ladies, all the Goddesses, and Asuma were sitting in Kurenai's office. "Dead guards, no children, I do not like the looks of this Kurenai," Tsunade said.
"Fucking shitheads," Kurenai cursed, slamming her fists on her hardwood desk. So hard were her blows to the desk that the hard redwood it was made out of cracked a tiny bit. All of them, especially Asuma could tell that she was very upset. "What the hell did they think they were doing?"
"I think this would be a good time to watch the reel," Ino whispered in Asuma's ear. Asuma nodded yes and then walked up to Kurenai's right head. A clear look at her face revealed a mix of sorrow and unadulterated anger was in her face. The sight of tears bottling up in her eyes and the look of the need to kill made this quite apparent, and it made Asuma grip her right hand tightly with his own.
"They left behind a little show for us," Asuma spoke. "Do want to watch it?"
"Yes," Kurenai replied. "I would like to watch it." Giving a small nod to Ino and Sakura, the two girls then did what they were supposed to do. Ino shut off the lights while Sakura began to roll the projector. Kinn and Tenten rolled the screen down for Kurenai to see what was going on.
"Is it working rolling," a man said.
"Yes it is," a person who was probably manning the camera said. "Go on Masao san."
"Didn't you kill him," Kurenai asked Naruto.
"I did," Naruto said. "This must have been made before hand." Everyone was silent after that and began to just watched the movie that was unfolding before them.
"Hello Black Swan scumbags," Masao said. "I would like to say that people really are good. You beat our asses to a pulp, you killed a lot of our men, shot down a lot of our planes, did a lot of damage to us. But you really are not so good at one thing. You are not very good at babysitting."
Everyone in the room looked at each other confused for a bit but then they saw what Masao was talking about, when he moved away from the camera to reveal what was behind him. What he revealed was all the children, every single one of them with Anko tied up in a massive bundle blindfolded and with men with rifles jamming their guns into the backs of their heads.
"Disturbing huh," Masao said. "We'll sell them all into slavery, and I think Satoshi wants to have a little run around with the Russian bitch and Serb bitch who can't stop letting go of her leg. Poor girl kept on screaming the Russian's name until we shot the Russian in the leg. You want to see the scars?"
Kurenai's eyes were bulging out of their sockets with what she was seeing from her desk. But she nearly vomited when she saw the camera move over to a clear image of the wound that was in Talia's leg, gaping wide open and clearly becoming infected from not being closed. "Just shut this fucking shit off," Kurenai demanded.
"Not yet," Asuma said. "I'm sorry if this hurts, but there is something you got to see." Kurenai nodded yes and then kept on watching, as the camera shifted to the blindfolded face of Talia.
"She has something to say to you," Masao said.
"Kurenai please help me I'm," she began to scream. A rifle butt then connected with the girl's back "Ugh."
"That isn't what you wanted to say," Masao spoke, "Tell her what you want to say."
"You can end this all," Talia said, "The Blood Red gang will leave the city and Black Swan will win. We'll be back as well. Just on the condition that...on the condition that..." Talia had a difficulty saying what she wanted to say, constantly swallowing to make sure she could speak. "You saw what they did to me. Put a hole in your head then!" Everyone in the room who was watching this homemade movie gasped. "Then when you do, put your body in a casket and send it to the Blood Red mansion in Bara hills. Only then will we come back. That is all." The movie then ended after Talia's words.
"Oh like Kurenai would put a bullet in her brain," Ino said. "She's not that into those kids." A gun then being cocked when through all of their ears, as Kurenai shoved the Luger she had taken from Eiji into her head, ready to pull the trigger.
"Ok take this easy Kurenai," Asuma warned, "Just take this easy and think about what you are doing."
"I know what I'm doing damn you," Kurenai screamed. "I know that I'm about to shoot myself in the head alright! God can you make it any worse?"
"Sensei please," Hinata begged, "Do not do this. There are other ways."
"What other way," the older woman questioned in a loud, rather frantic tone. "You saw that film, am I right? You saw what he will do to Talia, Natalija, and all the others if I do not do this." Tears had begun to form in Hinata's own eyes, and like her sensei they had a hard time staying inside of her eyes. With waterfalls of tears gushing from each eye, Hinata fell on her knees and just waited for herself to hear a gunshot. But it never came. All that was heard was the sound of a gun hitting the tile floor.
"Maybe this another way to this," Kurenai said. "Get up Hinata." Standing up slowly, Hinata then looked her sensei in the eye. "I want you to go get the finest casket you can find. I do not care if you have dig up a grave to get it. Just find me a casket"
"Why," Naruto said, "You aren't killing yourself. Why do you need one?"
"We'll have a lot of fun doing what I have in mind," Kurenai said with a big grin. "Oh we'll have a lot of fun."
April 18th
Konohagakure
After a two days of looking, and with some proper modifications on the request of Kurenai, the casket was delivered to the Black Swan HQ building for it's intended user. Satoshi was contacted and the arrangement was set. Three days after the casket made it to Kurenai, Black Swan would transport the casket containing their leader to the Blood Reds, from which afterwards the children would fall back into their hands and Satoshi and his organization would leave. However, another other thing happened.
Under the cover of a military funeral, armored vehicles and non armored vehicles would follow the Hearse into the Bara Hills compound. Along with this, a regiment sized Black Swan ground units would move in with them. Feeling no threat to the large group of armed units coming towards him, Satoshi went into the basement of his estate and personally went about the task of waking up the children Kurenai had adopted, along with Anko. "Come on kiddies," Satoshi said, the dim light giving his face an eerie demeanor as he walked by. "Your daddy is here to pick you up."
The words "Daddy is here" hit Talia like a ton of bricks. She knew it was not her real father hear to take her back, but it meant another thing. It had meant Kurenai had committed suicide.
"No," she muttered. "No! No! No! Why did she do this?" After her fit of screaming, she then fell on her knees to the floor, crying her eyes out.
"Talia što je to nepravda," Natalija asked, moving her brown hair behind her body and going up to the older Russian girl who had been her translator, babysitter, and almost sister for the past few days. "Je tvoj rana ranjavanje te opet?"
"Nijedan Ja pravedan izgubljen moj majka," Talia told the girl. "Kurenai killed herself!" All of the other children who were with them gasped at the words Talia shouted, words that seemed to wake up everyone in all of Bara Hills that was being held hostage by the Blood Red gang.
"She couldn't," Mary stuttered. "She simply could not have." Unconsciously, the English girl reached over and put her arms around Timmy, bringing him closer to her body without even thinking about it. The raw shock of the words that Talia had cried out were enough to make her to do this, not anything else. When Timmy was literally being crushed by her grip around him, she began to sob. "She is not dead!"
"If we are getting out of here Mary," Talia said. "That means she died." Hansi, Agnese, Amedeo, Isabella, Fabienne, Kristijan, Natalija, Mary, and Timmy all found themselves hugging each other as their tears simply flowed from their eyes and hit the floor. Anko stood silent with her head down and her hands folded. "Anko?"
"Leave me alone," Anko said, returning to muttering some words quietly, too quietly and too rapidly for Talia to understand. "I am now finished. I just wished to say a prayer."
"Get your kids to stop crying Red," Satoshi ordered, his men starting to break up the group of sobbing children with shoves of their rifles.
"Guys come on," Anko ordered, gently nudging the group of children along as the moved up the stairs and out of the house. As they moved through the house, all they got were stares from all the Blood Red soldiers standing around that had their hands on firearms that were fully loaded and ready to fire when needed. Those who did not were in more formal clothing and carried no weapons. They did not need to rely on their own skills to protect themselves, all they need were the soldiers.
Slowly, each person in the group walked out into outside. It was a cloudy day, looking like it was going to rain from the darkness of the clouds that lingered overhead. All of them could see the Black Swan convoy coming in slowly.
"Oh my," Isabella said, "It reminds me when Franco drove in to my town! He had lots of men and big metal things on tracks to. I did not know Kurenai had those."
"This is a bit different Isabella," Talia said, "It is in fact way different." The Russian girl flicked her hair out of her face and walked up to the line of Blood Red officers who were standing still as a casket came closer and closer into view. It was a redwood sort of color, but the top was very clear and allowed those who wished to look on to see the woman's body that was inside of it. As it was pushed up to the Blood Reds on a ornately decorated cart, everyone was silent on the Black Swan side. The Blood Reds laughed, and kept on laughing right up to when Talia, Anko, and all of the little ones went up to go see the inside. When Talia saw Kurenai, who was a pale white in face and had a bright red blotch on the top of her head lying in the casket, she immediately broke down in tears once again.
"Hey," Anko said, bending down with the girl and putting her arm around her. "I want you to know that this shows something very special."
"What," Talia shouted through her intense sobbing, "That it shows those guys won?"
"It shows how much Yuhi Kurenai was willing to go for you and all these children," Anko said. "How does that feel?"
"I didn't want her to die for me," Talia cried, "I'm not worth dying for."
"Everyone and everything is worth dying for," Anko told the girl, "Now come on, lets go." Nodding her head, Talia then looked back at the other children, jumping up at the moving casket to get a better look then what little they could see. In a gesture that made Talia laugh a little bit, she saw Agnese climbing on top of her brother's shoulders to try and see the casket better. Anko walked over and picked up the two children, making all of them follow her to the other side where Black Swan was. The first one they saw when the passed behind the Black Swan line was Asuma, who reached over and grabbed Anko. Setting the two Italian children down, Anko then told Talia to take them from there. She then started talking to Asuma.
"What is going on here," she asked.
"Something really big," Asuma said. "Now I have a request for you. Go back to one of the trucks, grab an M1 Garand and as many ammo magazines as you can."
"Why would I do that," Anko asked.
"Anko let me just tell you that what you saw with Kurenai is much different then what you thought," Asuma said. "It is much different. Now go grab the rifle."
"Asuma tell what the hell is going on here," Anko demanded.
"Grab the rifle and I'll explain," Asuma ordered, "Go now!" Giving a sharp nod of her head, Anko then ran over and went to go grab the weapon that Asuma had requested she grab. She had no idea why, but it was orders. Orders that were given to her were always carried out by her.
Mitarashi Anko had no idea how much of a fight she was getting into.
Bara Hills was noted for being a rich community that once held Konohagakure's nobles and large clans from 1100-1850. It was seated on a plateau that overlooked Konohagakure, one of many. The nobles could see most of the city from the high points if their was a problem in their controlled neighborhoods. They could see the schools where their children learned everything they knew and more, they saw the streets, they saw the markets, they saw a lot of things.
A think woods surrounded the plateau that was Bara Hills. The woods held history as a dangerous place, a place said to be a center of something very evil. It was said that a long time ago, a noble from Bara Hills went into the woods to go find a pack of wolves that had ravaged his home and certain poorer sections of Konohagakure that he controlled. He had several of his best soldiers and trackers with him, and one hundred of his best hounds to find this pack of wolves. Well they found the man eating pack, it was carnage. What had appeared only to be one wolf pack was in fact five, and nearly all the dogs were mercilessly ravaged and killed by the wolves. The men were tore off their horses and eaten. Even the noble who had gone to hunt the wolves was torn to pieces. It was his wife that designated the ground where all the men, horses, and dogs were buried. It has been said over and over again that the Bara Hills are haunted by incarnations of ultimate evil in those wolf packs, which have survived the centuries in countless generations. It is also said that to keep those who enter from suffering the same fate, the specters of the men and dogs torment those who walk in to the point in which they leave.
But for the Goddesses, they could not think about what was in the woods around the hills when they walked through it's neatly cut pathways that snaked throughout. Only infantry moved through this part, with all the tanks and other vehicles waiting with Asuma at the front of Bara Hills. Behind Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Hanabi, Hinata, Tsunade, Shizune, and Naruto was a two regiment sized force of infantry, armed to the teeth with all the most powerful weapons. M1rifles, new Thompson sub machine guns, Sten sub machine guns, Bren light machine guns, .30 caliber M1919 light machine guns, and .50 caliber Browning M2 machine guns. Carried all by some very strong soldiers, the group moved through the woods as fast as possible, trying to get to the starting point. But the woods and fear itself was taking its toll on those involved. No more affected was Hinata, who was shuddering while she clenched her Lee Enfield sniper rifle tightly as she moved through the woods with the others.
"Hinata you got to move faster," Sakura ordered, running along. Hinata nodded yes and kept on moving, but it was apparent to all the girls that something was not right. "Naruto!" Hearing his name be called, Naruto ran up to Sakura to hear what she had to say.
"Yes Sakura," Naruto questioned.
"Go see what's up with Hinata," she demanded.
"Why would I do that," Naruto asked, still running.
"Because," Sakura said, still moving with Naruto at a rapid pace, "You are her love. Go talk to her now." Naruto nodded his head and then ran back to go talk to Hinata and find out what was wrong. Meanwhile, Sakura made sure the other girls did not hear what she said. Luckily, it seemed none of them heard what she had said. Meanwhile, Naruto had gotten up to Hinata.
"Hinata chan," Naruto called out, making the white eyed girl look at him as he ran up to her, "What is wrong?" Getting up to her close so she could say what she wanted to quietly, Naruto began to listen closely.
"When I was little," Hinata said, "Kurenai sensei took me back here with a branch Hyuga member one afternoon for a walk. The sun was setting and it was becoming quite dark in the thick woods. We were attacked."
"By what," Naruto asked.
"The wolves," Hinata told Naruto, "The branch member was killed. Kurenai sensei eluded them with a genjutsu, but we all almost died that day. I'm afraid they are looking for us now."
"If there are still wolves back here Hinata chan," Naruto said to her, "They'll be going after the Blood Reds after what we do here. If they do come after us though, I'll make sure they pay for it." Smiling a bit, Hinata kept on moving briskly with the others until someone said the words she so desperately wanted to hear.
"We're at position," a male Black Swan officer who was commanding the operation with the Goddesses yelled out, "Set up all machine guns and load them up. When the signal goes, open up on those houses and anyone outside. Tsunade sama will lead the assault into the house."
"Gladly," Tsunade replied, "Sakura, come on lets get ready." Going up with her teacher, Sakura helped Shizune set up a .50 caliber machine gun with one gun team, then grip her Thompson in a prawn position. It was then that she sat down and waited, waiting to go in for the kill and make sure it was done.
"Hope you are ready boys," Sakura said in her mind, "Because fem fatale is coming right your way."
Anko couldn't understand anything anymore. Nothing seemed to be making sense at this time. From one minute she was ordered to go get a group of children out of basement by Satoshi, and the next she was grabbing a rifle. Why would she be grabbing a rifle at the time of her friend's death? If anything, she wanted to continue praying and just get all the sorrow out of her system that was being bottled up inside. Apparently though, that was not happening, or would not be allowed to happen any time soon. Now she was scurrying to grab as much ammo as she could for the rifle she had slung across her back so she could talk to Asuma and find out just what was going to happen. While she was doing this however, a soldier leaning up against the truck felt the need to start some small talk with the commanding officer in the Black Swan group, and he would be crucial to Anko in a very small period of time.
"You're sure taking a lot of ammo," the soldier pointed out, "You really think it'll be that long of a gunfight?"
"What gunfight," Anko questioned, still frantically trying to stuff her tattered yellow jacket's pockets with ammo clips, "I don't know about any gunfight."
"Asuma san didn't tell you eh Anko san? There is a big battle coming up in a few minutes," the soldier revealed.
"Why would there be a battle," Anko questioned, taking another ammo clip and putting it into her jacket pocket, "We got the children back, Kurenai is dead, what is there left to fight for?"
"I do not think you get the whole picture here Anko," the soldier hinted, "Madame didn't shoot herself." When Anko heard those words, she picked up her head and then made a steady and fluid motion to load an eight shot clip into her rifle and aim it at the soldier's head. "I take it you want the story?"
"Start speaking up soldier," Anko demanded, keeping a steady aim on the soldier's forehead, "I got a big problem with people who keep secrets, and you are definitely keeping secrets."
"Fair enough," the soldier said, straightening himself out a bit. "Madame came up with a good plan to get rid of Satoshi and make sure not a single trace of his organization gets away. We already took care of it in the air, now we just got to get rid of what is left of it on the ground. Madame wanted to do a bit of an undercover job, so she used the casket to get herself inside, knowing the Blood Reds would get around and gawk at it for a bit. When they are all around her, they'll be very sorry."
"What are you talking about," Anko asked, perplexed by all that she was being told by this soldier.
"You'll see," the soldier said. "Just wait for the red smoke."
His eyes transfixed on the casket as it resided in the house's study, Satoshi studied the body inside from behind its glass cover. His goldenrod eyes looked at the body of the woman inside closely. She was neat and straightly presented, wearing a beautiful white gown with the inside of her casket lined roses on the white fabric. Her skin was completely pale, her eyes were closed, and a straight expression was on her face. Her arms were also crossed over her body. The only thing that stood out on her was the splatter of blood that was on her head, and the apparent bullet hole that head entered.
It was under this state of content that Satoshi saw that she was apparently different to Satoshi. He had always envisioned Kurenai to look a bit more sadistic and evil, a bit more rough on the edges, but this was totally different. In this situation she looked like a fallen angel, a gift from someone from above that had been given to him in a casket. It made him smile, not just to see his enemy dead but to see that she looked apparently content.
"A lot different then I thought," Satoshi said to an officer standing next to him. "Much different."
"What," the lieutenant said, taking a sip from his glass of sake, "The body?"
"Yeah," Satoshi said, drinking some of his own Sake. "She is different when you see her up close. Different when she's dead."
"Good job Satoshi," the officer commented, "You defeated one of the biggest sky piracy groups in all of the elemental nations." The officer then began to lead his leader away from the casket so others could see the body inside, and that he could talk with his boss. "Now we think about getting out of here now. We got the body, we can send it back to your home in the Wind Country. We must get out now Satoshi, if we are to have any hope of continuing this organization intact. We should start finding some trucks or planes. We have little ammo for the soldiers, and we have no tanks. This is a very dire situation."
"I hear you," Satoshi said. "We spend three nights here and then we pack up and leave with what little we got and we split up. You will go with your own group, I'll go with mine. If one of us is caught, the other will continue on. Got it?"
"I understand sir," the officer said. Meanwhile, back over at the casket, two others were looking at the casket.
"And I thought she looked different," one of the officers said. I thought she looked a lot different.
"You know what this reminds me of," the other officer said.
"What," the first officer asked.
"It reminds me of this movie I saw a while back. In the movie, they put a dead body in a casket in a room and the body came back to life and turned everyone into zombies," the other explained, "Damn that would be crazy shit if that happened."
Much to the man's surprise, the "crazy shit" that he talked about from the movie did happen. But in a much different way.
As he turned his body to go walk away, his mind was jolted into attention by the sound of glass shattering, and a few shards becoming lodged in his back. Everyone in the study, all of the 40 Blood Red officers and 20 soldiers that were in the room whipped their heads around to see Kurenai Yuhi rising up from the casket, pale and all. Some of them simply fainted, but most were standing there with an incredibly shocked look on their faces. It was clear that this woman was dead. No doubt about it. A bullet hole was in her head. There was no way anyone could survive a bullet to the head.
Most of them just stood there, too shocked to reach for their guns. But the woman in the casket had a very nasty trick up her sleeve waiting for the stunned Blood Reds, thanks to the modifications made to her casket, this nasty surprise would be very easy to accomplish.
"Hi boys," she said, licking her lips, "I really like the color red. Most of all I love crimson, or blood red as it is more well known around here." As she said this, her hands latched onto a handle and she pulled up. As she performed this action, the series of mechanisms inside the hollowed out casket made a Bren machine gun spring up right Kurenai's hands, able to turn a full 180 degrees and move the length of the casket on a rail system by Kurenai's arms. Just like she wanted them to be, the Blood Reds were still frozen in place.
Then the trigger was pulled down by Kurenai's fingers and hell was brought up. In a few quick seconds the officers who had looked at the casket were cut in two from all the bullets, the soldiers trying to raise their guns were turned into a swiss cheese of flesh, metal, and blood. The same fate was met with nearly everyone else who got in Kurenai's way as long as the ammo clip was full. But eventually it ran out.
"It seems I've run out of ammo," she pointed out, "I guess I'm defenseless."
"Freeze Yuhi," Satoshi ordered, soldiers coming out from cover. But before they could even aim their weapons, the crimson eyed woman, still in her dress and with the crown of flowers that was around her head still on, she picked up an MP40 from the floor and opened fire with the gun. Two more Blood Reds fell in one burst, making her bend down at the soldier and pick up a grenade. Picking up the weapon, she then armed the stick shaped grenade and threw it into the room and hit the floor. Before the weapon could explode however, she saw Satoshi run towards the window and jump out of it. After the grenade exploded, Kurenai ran up to the window to see Satoshi running towards another house that was about 300 yards away through an open yard.
"That'll be a tough sprint," Kurenai said, tearing out of her white dress to reveal the vest she had under it that was loaded with grenades and ammo clips. Taking a folded Sten gun off the vest along with a smoke grenade, Kurenai bit the pin off the device and threw it onto the ground below the house. Just like she wanted to, it began to spew smoke.
When the grenade began to spew red smoke, explosions began hitting the first few houses in the long road that connected all of them together in the gated area. That was when the gunshots from the forest came.
Trembling with fear from the thought of wolves sneaking up on her, Hinata held her position with a readiness to get up and run when she heard the call of the feared creatures that had attacked her all those years ago with Kurenai. She began remembering the day like it happened yesterday again, the day that forever changed how she saw a human being again and again. She forgot all notions that humans were the supreme predators after that day, after she saw the branch Hyuga member accompanying them get torn to bits by the wolves. Now she believed that humans were nothing more then food. Food for wolves, food for wildcats, food for bears, food for other humans.
In a few few minutes, she would see humans become food for two other things. Food for bullets and bombs.
The signal that she was waiting for had not came yet, and she really wanted it to just come and make things end faster. There was no doubt that she was anxious to get out of the woods, but she was also anxious to put a bullet in the brain of a certain Blood Red leader, or anyone who came out of one of those fancy homes with a gun in their hands. Another thing that she was sure she would do, she would make sure not to miss a single shot with the .303 bullets that were loaded into her Lee Enfield.
"Hinata," Naruto screamed, "Across the yard, look out across the yard!" Jolting to attention in her prawn position, Hinata got up and knelt on one knee to better see what exactly Naruto was screaming about. What she saw was a tower of red smoke, a man running across the yard, and a group of tanks going down the main road. This all meant very big things for her. Especially the man running across the yard.
Aiming cooly and calmly, Hinata looked down the glass tube mounted atop the British made rifle and pulled the trigger on the weapon once. Inducing a sharp bang that echoed all around the perimeter of Bara Hills, it was a signal in it's own right to begin a barrage of heavy machine gun fire coming from numerous .30 caliber and .50 caliber machine guns all lined around the perimeter of the gated community. The side of the house where the smoke was coming from was quickly covered in bullet holes, but Hinata was just concentrated on the man, who she had befallen with her first shot. Cocking the rifle back again, she then took a more careful aim and then pulled the trigger.
The mechanism functioned perfectly, her accuracy was dead on, the scope did not lie to her. Hinata Hyuga had taken down her target with a bullet to the head. She had taken down the leader of the Blood Red gang with a bullet to the head. But the action here was far from over.
Still confused of what exactly Kurenai had in mind, Anko walked among the men and vehicles standing around to try and find Asuma. It seemed like only he was able to explain things at this time. But to find him, she did not need to walk far.
"Anko get down," Asuma yelled. Turning her head to the left slowly, Anko then felt herself slam into the pavement on the ground and a hand on her jacket pulling her back. "Are you crazy?"
"What the hell is your problem," she screamed.
"Fuck Anko look in front of you," Asuma shouted. Taking a quick look at what was in front of her, Anko clearly saw why Asuma had pulled her down onto the ground. A Panzer IV with a 76mm gun had fired right at her, and the shell had just grazed her own body, Asuma's body, a truck and a tank that were very close to them. Blood Red infantry began to pour from the homes, trying to get a hold of the situation that had taken hold in Bara Hills. It was a situation that they would not be able to contain if something was not done very fast, for they knew they had been hollowed out at their chain of command's core without question. But now they were desperately out to make off with what little was left of their group and just get the hell out of Konohagakure with what they had left.
Of course this would be much easier said then done. For right when Anko saw them starting to emerge from the houses, she began to open fire on them with the rifle she had picked up. Taking cover behind a tank that was moving forward to go take out the Panzer that had fired at it, Anko began to take individual shots at the infantry who were surrounding the armored tracked vehicle. With bullets zipping right over her head and fragments of the ground flying up all around her, Anko managed to hit each soldier with a bullet from the eight shot clip in her Garand, thanks to a combination of experience and a bit of dumb luck. Aiming tightly to try and get a killing shot on each one, she noted three soldiers were killed by her shots while the remaining five were probably wounded. Shots fired from all over to try and get the woman in the yellow jacket who had now climbed atop the tank to get a better view, but to no avail. All she saw were soldiers being cut down on both sides, but more on the Blood Red side then on the Black Swan side.
Right when she was doing this, the Panzer in front of her fired at the tank that she was standing on. In one fluid motion, Anko's knees flexed and pushed her right off the tank as the Panzer fired it's gun and the shell hit the T34 at a high velocity. Luckily the tank did not blow up, but it was clear to Anko that it had taken damage and was no longer safe to be ridden anymore. So from the ground, Anko loaded another clip into her M1 and kept on firing at the Blood Red soldiers that were in the houses firing down on them. Firing at the houses from the outside, even if they had large gaping holes in their sides was not really enough.
"I need some lucky volunteers," Anko called out, still shooting her rifle at soldier's on the other side of a window firing back at her from behind the cover of a car. No one was coming up to her. "I said, I need some lucky volunteers. Who wants to help me take a house?" Three soldiers, moving rapidly to avoid all the gunfire coming at them moved up to Anko's position behind the car she was behind. One of them had a Sten gun, one had a pump shotgun, and the final one had an M1 Garand like Anko herself. "Good to see you boys."
"Mitarashi san," the one with the Sten gun shouted over the gunfire, "What exactly are we doing?"
"On my signal we're going to bust into that house and take out any Blood Red fuck that is still inside," Anko vowed, "So who's with me?"
"We got your back Mitarashi san," the soldier with the M1 replied, "Just lead the way."
"You and me will provide cover fire," Anko told the soldier with the M1, "You with the shotgun and you with the Sten go up to the door and put a grenade inside. We'll come up after you guys clear the entrance and give you cover fire. You understand?"
"Yes Mitarashi san," the soldier with the Sten gun affirmed, "Give us the signal." Anko put three fingers up and put them down one by one. When she put the last one down, the two soldiers with more close quarters suited weapons raced up to the door and Anko and the other soldier fired their rifles up into the floor of the house where the other soldiers were firing machine guns and other small arms down onto the Black Swan below. Anko saw at least one man fall from getting hit by the bullets put out by her rifle, but plenty of men still lingered up in the upper levels of the house. But the one man that Kurenai had hit, the machine gunner in one of the upper windows, fell over and his partner took too much time to replace his fellow soldier's position on the gun. This was just the gap that Kurenai and the other soldier needed to get up to the door, which had been blown off by a hand grenade. The front entrance had been cleared by the two soldiers Anko had sent up to do the job.
"Ready to go in?" Anko questioned.
"The room is all clear," the soldier holding the Sten said, "Lets go." The four walked inside of the messy and dusty room, finding no one to be inside. Giving a signal with two fingers on her left hand and a quick wave of her arm, the four soldiers and Anko moved towards the stairs, when a small clanking sound was heard against the floor and wall. "You hear that?"
"I did," Anko replied, "And it means that we need to duck!" All five people of the group dove in separate directions and hit the floor just as a grenade exploded and sent shards of sharp, searing, and deadly metal shards flying through the air. Luckily, no one was unlucky enough to take a hit from any metal shards.
"Everyone ok," the soldier with the M1 questioned.
"Yeah," Anko I replied, "Now lets go start clearing this place out. I feel a chill coming down my spine, like there are little ghosts here."
"Don't look haunted to me," the soldier with the shotgun agrued, "I know haunted when I see it."
"You don't see haunted soldier," Anko asserted, "You feel it. Now lets get moving. We got to go clean out the house." The four men and the one woman started to move up the stairs, moving rapidly to make sure they were not in a tight spot for a very long amount of time. Getting to the top, they soon discovered a six different doors. "Okay," Anko said, "What do we do? Six doors, five people, any ideas?"
"I got it," the soldier with an M1 said, opening one door with a hit from his rifle's stock and throwing a grenade inside. Exploding within the confines of the room, screams penetrated the air as well as all the heat and flame from the explosion and hot shards. "One room down, five to go."
"I like the way you think son," Anko chuckled, going up to a door and standing by it. Each of the other soldier's took a position at one of the doors. "On my mark we go in. Three, two, one, mark!" All of them each kicked down the doors of the rooms, finding no Blood Red soldiers inside. Only Anko found anything remotely dangerous, and it was just a Luger sitting on a table with a few extra bullet casings lying around it. None of the other soldiers found anything else. Each of them coming back out of the rooms, the group then began to walk up the stairs, where they saw the extensive damage the T34 had done to the house with one shell. "I will never underestimate the firepower of tanks."
"Well I don't think our soldiers are underestimating the power of that MG42 over on that ledge," the soldier with the Sten shouted over the gunfire, aiming his weapon to take a shot. Just like that one soldier, all of them people in the group raised their weapons and fired, cutting down the gun crew in a hail of metal. The machine gun was silenced, and soldiers finally began moving up. "Pretty good job eh Mitarashi san?"
"Yep," Anko replied, "And just call me Anko boys. Now lets go clear out another house."
"I don't think we need to," the soldier with the M1 said. "Look." All of them looked out to see the Blood Reds running into a massive retreat into the woods around Bara Hills, desperately trying to get away from the onslaught. Tanks fired out into the streets, blowing up any truck or other vehicle trying to get away. There was no escape for them.
And it made Anko smile. "Listen tonight boys. We'll hear the wolves."