A/N: first of all, I'm so sorry, actually my year and half exchange program finished few months ago, but it didn't turn out well, I was depressed for some time that can't write anything, even if the activity actually would lift my spirit. And the thing that finally kicked me to wrestle my author's block into submission was Erwin's death. I didn't make it a secret that Erwin was my favorite character in the series, which was really the only reason why I made the main character to be Erwin and Naruto. Now he's dead and I couldn't be more motivated to write a story where Erwin will have a better chance of surviving.
Sorry for the rant (for anyone's bothering to read this) now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Beta status: has yet to pass any (unbeta-ed)-open to suggestion
Previously: The unionized Elemental Nations' special squad with very high profiled individuals just embarked on a journey to the Onion Land, or we know them previously as humanity last civilization until Rai came into the picture. The ninja's known purpose for this journey was to initiate an alliance between the two nations.
To tickle your interest: being a nation with shinobi as the main force of their military defense and offense, Rai Country literary has army of spies, which capable to take down a country with no more than a quarter of their main force and they can even be subtle about it. So, even some smart people in Onion Country realize this, and they're very sure that the Ninja Nation has a hidden agenda somewhere, some-when.
Chapter 5.1: The Mist Commander
The battle, after Chouji arrives with hordes of Class 1 and Class 2 Evolved Giants (EG) was sort of terrifying for the civilians and soldiers alike. Meanwhile, the Young Akimichi Leader immediately deflated his gigantic form and with haste skipped on top of StingRai, out of the battle.
At the same time, Mei watched, with some satisfaction, the gasping, puking, trembling, and basically cowering people of this country. It sparked some sort of sadistic glee in her, (something that she was trying to hide) As these people get a look of what Rai had to deal for years on almost weekly basis. But looking back at the Onion's history -based on their first two spies in the country's report- they erected these layered walls roughly a century ago, and other than the occasional expedition by the Recon Corp. no one's ever going out of these walls; it was no wonder they're weak mentally.
All of them, sans of select few, were lulled by the security of these towering walls that they forget what their world actually hold for them. They forget the things that were keeping them away from the outside world, (not that they think about outside world much-she bet), were actually caging them inside, oh sure they were safe from the giants but they were also stuck with little to nothing inside. Most people in this country might just content enough to live like this, surrounded by walls; they don't even know what an ocean looks like!-As a native from Water Country where large bodies of water were easily within line of sight she can't even begin to understand what these people are dealing with. Salt must be something of luxury here. If anything, that bit was the thing that made her pity them.
Her eyes then caught the sight of their initial members, Sai and Sasuke, each of them standing near different individuals, must be the sort of people worth noticing. It would turn to their favor if there was a young eligible bachelor among them, she giggled to herself at the thought. As her eyes go back to the battle below, she mused about the plan.
Honestly, the Supreme Commander was correct to use this as a show of intimidation, fear, and hope rolled into one. It was all started with the Uchiha and the former Root ANBU; they serve the purpose of introduction into a great power which, if the Onion Country trade carefully, could be tapped to further strengthening their force. But just two of them make them doubt the credibility of Rai and they called it, so Naruto would bring their strongest assembly here, kick their beliefs into their hearts, bring fear, make a spectacle so epic and gruesome at the same time to instill the fear, but with enough grace to prompt respect that somehow make them believe in the back of their head that these shinobi could protect them if they ask nicely enough.
Unfortunately, the treatment to the first Rai Country men in their court hall was far from acceptable as they all know; they would need to work hard to go back to Rai's grace. Another thing that the Supreme Commander didn't miss in his calculation was that with these hordes of giants where the giant dominate the shinobi at least 3:1 there are a lot of chance of one or two giants to get away from the carnage, where they could communicate to others about this place location. With the introduction to EG's abilities, the Onion Country inhabitant will soon realize just how vulnerable they will be after this. That was a bit cruel on their part, but she's sure it was all within calculation; the Nara-boy-Advisor was with Commander Uzumaki when he cooked up this entire scheme after all.
Like it or not this country will need their help. They have to play nice if they still want to live, since no matter how many layers these bastard has to take down to get human flesh, they'll do it. So they really need to tread carefully while dealing with Rai, maybe even to the point of playing nice.
'What a plan Supreme Commander Naru-chan,' she thought with thrill and anticipation. Maybe after this they would be able to get rid of these giant bastards for good.
Looking up from her musing, she finds a fellow commander stands calmly near the observation window with one eye closed. Gaara's spying—god knows what, probably something that she would eventually hear later. For the time being maybe it was time to get involved into the fray and prevent those giants to dent any more part of the wall, since they won't last long at this rate, and with that thought she walked to the hangar and jumped.
Before her feet even landed, she let out a stream of lava to coat over the wall without really touching the wall itself. The attack instantly dissuaded any giants from badgering their way into the wall. The smell of burnt giants filled the already vomit worthy air from the previous giant massacre. Then she proceeds to release jets of flaming lava into the class twos, she exaggerated her moves so that the spectators can see what a freak of nature shinobi really are. The purpose?
"…Make it spectacular, the flashier the better, and then they'll forget just how shadowy we can become. Plus, civilians in general like entertainment, flashy carnage is our way to show them a glimpse of the shinobi power, make them imagine wild things, that they'll be hard pressed to come up with rational theories about us in general. And when the time is right they will just accept us as we are and will not try to even rationalize a shinobi. And remember, we are not to endanger the mass; we are here for a mission. So get out of there to start the second phase, light up those fireworks, my friends!"
That was what Naru-chan said. So, flashy it is.
Chapter 5.2 : The Military Police Brigade Commander
Newly appointed Military Police Brigade Commander Nile Dawk never imagined his afternoon would start like this. He just heard the words two days ago that finally, those shinobi's friends would grace them with their presence at the south gate, that meant they'll arrive at Shiganshina, it was just a stroke of luck that he was already inside Rose when the news reached him. They raced towards this southernmost district only to find that the other country's entourage is in the middle of slaughtering titans that inevitably followed them. They couldn't even open the gate for them so that they can get inside without risking few titans will follow them through. But, looking back carefully, this battle was a one sided massacre, with the human on the slaughtering side! What in the world are them? Those birds, the popping trees, the paper-bombs, and those gusts of winds, slicing titans left and right like nobody business. They were all something else. Looking up, he noticed for the first time the flying contraption above their heads, it was a massive air-ship floating lazily, crossing Shiganshina and already on its way to Wall Maria. Was this some kind of infiltration? Incapable of ignoring this thought he asked the Commander in Chief Dallis Zackly, what he got in reply was not what he had in mind.
"Don't you see what I am seeing? Those shinobi can just start a massive scale attack against us if they want to, and they'll finish in few hours flat. That ship just has two people in it and they might be looking for a landing space. Isn't that right Mister Shinobi?"
"You're quite right, Commander in Chief, except that there are only two visible people in the airship," the palest shinobi answered Zackly inquiry with that fake smile of his.
Nile shuddered, as if that smile was cloaking him in cold embrace. Looking away quickly from the pale ninja his eyes catch the sight of the other commander, Keith Shadis, mouth hanging open shamelessly at the display of power, his squad leaders didn't fare any better except Erwin who was able to keep a somewhat stoic face. Really, his friend was really something. To be able to react invisibly to this kind of things is achievement enough, but Erwin had to go and keep his emotion from surfacing, maybe he was saving face in the presence of that shinobi beside him? Uchiha Sasuke if he didn't mistake him for the other.
There was no casualty on the shinobi side so far and the battle was almost finished. But just as he thought the last of the titan killed, another appeared, with hordes of other hot on his heel.
For the Walls' sake!
Chapter 5.3: Captain Erwin Smith
Contrary to Nile's assumption, Erwin's apparent poker face in reality was just his default face when he was in inner turmoil. His troubled mind was actually trying to see underneath the underneath, as well as confirming some of his suspicions about this world.
First, he heard that Rai was divided into six regions, with five military division and one big metropolis where the non-shinobi people live. Each of the military division had a commander with one of them also held the title of Supreme Commander. And this Supreme Commander was leading this operation. So this small scale of humanity was important enough for the most important person in Rai's military side to take notice and deemed it important enough for him personally invest his time here, even after their rather improper conduct in the court towards their representatives few weeks back. Rather than sending the other commanders to deal with the treaty and whatever side objectives they had with them, the Supreme Commander came here in person along with two other commanders. Was it because they are the first civilization they find in the past seven years?
With Rai's power and resource it was not wrong for Commander in Chief to say that the other country can demolish them if they choose to. So, why was it with the display of power? It almost felt like courting ritual, he personally felt intimidated with a dose of fear in the center, but half his mind was amazed, he could feel the giddy anticipation inside, of what he didn't know. But still there was something nagging in the back of his mind trying to tell him that this was not what it appeared to be and he had yet to find the real picture. It was almost as if he was caught in illusion...
Then realization struck him.
Just like the walls, these shinobi were trying to steer them into a particular way of thinking. While the walls were erected so they all have a sense of security and contentment, these shinobi represent a wild card. Something they could not rely on, and even something that might turn against them. And yet, if they play their cards right the shinobi might become their greatest ally in this long overdue war against titans. Is this what they want them to think? If so, what's the hidden message? The civics would either regard them as heroes or monsters, the soldiers might regard them as tentative ally, the higher ups though, would not like them much but will try their hardest to manipulate things to suit their purpose. He wondered if this opinion about shinobi would even affect the ninjas, for the most part both Sasuke and Sai ignored the civilians, gave no acknowledgment for the soldiers other than the Recon corp. members (but that might be just because they were in the recon corp care), and even less respect for the higher ups. So, he doubted the others would be any different. If their opinion won't matter, they were not here for diplomatic mission, or at least that was not the primary mission. 'What are you up to Sasuke?'
Erwin turned to Sasuke which prompted the ninja to give him his attention. His face must have conveyed some of his thoughts because Sasuke's stony expression broke into a half smirk.
"You are something else Captain Erwin."
"The Commander will like you," Sai quipped from his other side so suddenly that he tensed involuntary.
He didn't reply to the comment, opting to stay silent as he didn't really know whether the commander favoring him would be a good thing or a bad thing.
The only sure thing he got from this spectacle was the solidification of his theory since childhood that they were never alone in this world.
Chapter 5.4: The Recon Squad
In the end, with Kurotsuchi and her team departure from the Main Squad, there were 49 shinobi for this mission. There were thirteen from leaf division including the commander, the rest of team 7, and Orochimaru. From Sand, there were thirteen including the Commander and his siblings. From Cloud there were Killer B and his students as well as eight other Jounins, with Killer B as their default leader as A could not make it what with the Daimyos in a state of unrest, it should have been Naruto's duty to go to the capital, but Naruto manage manipulate the former Raikage to go instead. As of Mist division, Mei Terumi was accompanied by ten of her best jounin. And from stone there was only one representative. Among them, fifteen members belong to the Recon Squad; twenty with the Hunters and the rest were either medics or commanders.
With the second round of massacre right on schedule, the Recon Squad was ready to be dispatched into Onion Land. The fifteen members of it gathered in the sideline but hidden from their spectators, they would be divided into five teams then will immediately took off to distance unseen by untrained eyes. Among them are Hatake Kakashi, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino, as well as another recon expert from Mist. Each of them will lead one team that will spread around the walls.
Well it was rather overconfident of him when he said that he was another recon exert among legends. His name is Kazunari Ryuu from Mist and he was the only one outside Leaf Division to be a squad leader and him being here might just because no one from Iwa had show up other than the rookie Hunter… along with that thought, cloud of depression crept above him; he needed to stop thinking about it, since it just made him more depressed than before. It was not because he had no self-esteem in his ability to gather information or even to lead—he got his share as leader in a lot of mission thank you very much—but after frantically rebuild their nation almost literally from scratch, the nation as a whole rely on Leaf Division as their information collector from the outside of elemental nations because they still have the best bloodlines for such need, like the byakugan and kikaichu-colony adept bodies. Where those bloodlines were mostly used from tracking before the Fourth Great Shinobi War, they're now very useful for reconnaissance purpose. That's why the other four was like leagues above him in term of experience outside the elemental nation. Not to mention the Captain from this Recon Squad was Kakashi of the Sharingan, a war legend.
Ryuu shrunk when the gravity of his position set in, but then he raised his head and meet the others' eye with respect (and fake confident), which got a reassuring smile from the Hyuuga, a grin from Inuzuka, a nod from Aburame, and even an eye smile from Kakashi himself. With such acceptance from his teamates he slightly regaining his self-esteem, so he nodded back.
"So, this is it. Let's do our best shall we?" Kakashi addressed them as a whole. Fourteen heads nod in affirmation and not a moment after, they split up, took off to the direction of the walls camouflaging their movement with their surrounding lest they'd be seen by ones with keen eyes. Their first mission was to infiltrate the walls undetected, an easy feat. The next mission was a bit harder; to investigate certain individuals who might have the clue on what was happening to this land.
For two years Rai spent more resources in exploring the world they were hiding from than in any other activity, even more than research. Their expedition outside Elemental Nation rotated counter-clock wise; starting from the Leaf border going 3000 kilometers south—where they found nothing but water and small uninhibited archipelagos— followed by sweeping the area until they were on the east side of Mist, found nothing of importance the Recon Squad continued their journey north, up till this point it seemed like the elemental nation really isolated from the rest of the world or so the tome said. They then flew west after taking a break in Sand for a few weeks, and found out that the area contain more giants than in any other places they'd seen. Feeling that they were up to something they sped up their pace, it was then that the byakugan caught a sight they've never seen; population of human surrounded by gigantic walls.
Not wanting to risk early exposure, they only observe from a distance for three days. They found out about the few people that would venture outside the walls, about the significant drop of evolved giants in the area, as well as that they cannot use a reverse summon in this land to ask for instruction. Therefore, they cut short their expedition and flew as fast as possible to Leaf—which led to their current situation.
There were three original members of the said squad in this mission, the rest was needed elsewhere. But they all have the same thought; they can't wait to find out what secrets this land has to offer.
AN: new character's POV and another background story. Well don't forget to tell me what you think.
