[Chapter 2:]
It wasn't very difficult to find the Japanese camp. I simply followed the wide swath of trampled foliage from the site of the ambush back to their campsite, which was positively bustling with activity. The unit appeared to be a combination of smaller units; I could tell because some of them were wearing dirty, tattered uniforms and sporting injuries, whereas others were in freshly-ironed clothes, sporting equally fresh and energetic expressions. I thought I fit in with the tattered soldiers pretty well—small rips in the uniform, dirt everywhere, exhausted demeanor and a bit of blood as a bonus.
I walked up to a soldier who was sharpening his sword. "Excuse me, can you tell me what our assignments are?" I asked, lowering my voice slightly. I spoke carefully—the only other native Japanese speakers I had spoken to were my teacher and Uchiha Sasuke.
"We're just gathering the troops together," the soldier responded easily. (Take that, Lee! My Japanese was flawless. Good enough that commoners wouldn't notice an accent, anyhow.) "Major Haroku's troops are trickling in after their successful ambush yesterday."
Ah. Haroku. So that was the man responsible for killing my father…I would find him, and take his life in return. My hands clenched into fists as the memory of yesterday's battle replayed in my mind. Agonized screams, chaotic shouts…I hadn't even been able to find my father's body afterwards. Dying in battle is honorable, but death was still death.
"Who are you talking to? Another newbie?" a second man said, poking his head out of a tent. His eyes widened when he saw me, and I froze, wondering if somehow he was able to see through my disguise.
"Sir! Welcome to the Blue Camp, sir!" the man from the tent said, scrambling to attention and saluting.
"Eh?" the first soldier I had been talking to said, looking between his companion and me in confusion. His eyes trailed down to my chest (surely he wasn't looking where I thought he was. If he was, I was in trouble). "Ohh- oh shit!" He saluted quickly, a blush spreading across his face. "Captain! I meant no offense, I didn't realize—"
…of all the uniforms I could have chosen from, of course I would have chosen a major's uniform. Wait. That meant that the body I took the uniform from must have been Captain Haroku, the leader of yesterday's ambush! A little blossom of satisfaction mixed with disgust bloomed in my stomach.
"—I'm really honestly sorry, I was looking at my blade, you see, I—" the first man was still babbling, looking embarrassed and frightened at the same time.
"At east," I said, the unfamiliar words feeling strange on my tongue. "I was injured in the battle, so I was unable to arrive until now. Please update me on the current situation." I was at a loss for what to do, now that my original plan—hide amongst the many soldiers, steal the military plans, return to the closest Chinese unit—was kind of ruined. Curse those little dangly bits of metal hanging off my shirt. Perhaps…what were the chances that I could find an ordinary uniform without anybody noticing?
My musings were broken when I saw people around me saluting. Who were they saluting to? Looking around, I spotted a single figure walking in my direction. He had the strangest eyes—they were white, like a blind man's. But unless he had magical sensors, he didn't seem to be—oh wait! I squinted to count the bits of metal he had on his chest, and then looked down to count how many I had. Not as many as he did, it appeared. I snapped a sloppy salut just as he stopped in front of me.
"At ease," he said, his voice low and smooth. "I don't believe we've met before. You are Captain Haroku, correct?"
"Ah-yes, sir," I replied, mind racing. What if he expected me to know his rank? All I could tell was that it was higher than Captain, which still left a good number of options. Oh, wait. He was looking at me as if he expected me to continue. Maybe my name? "Captain Haroku Ten…ji. Uh, just back from yesterday's battle, sir."
"Welcome to my campsite, Captain Haroku. I am Sergeant Hyuuga Neji, of the 3rd division." He held out his hand to shake, and I took it. Sergeant Hyuuga had a firm, careful handshake. "Congratulations on your victory yesterday. From what I hear, it was a well-planned and well-executed attack."
"Thank you, sir," I said, forcing my scowl into a polite smile.
"You have very well-trained troops, too—they joined us in an orderly fashion, and meshed perfectly with the men already here, though their captain was not here to direct them," he said pointedly.
"My apologies, sir," I replied, ducking my head slightly. "I was injured in the battle and I'm afraid my men must have thought that I was killed. I had given them orders and directions to promptly come here after the battle. We were on our way here to begin with, and I only took the opportunity to execute an ambush after I noticed the Chinese forces."
"Ah," Sergeant Hyuuga said. "In that case, I am glad that you did not die in battle. Thank you for joining us." He paused. "To be honest, I expected you to be older."
"You're pretty young yourself, sir," I said, the words slipping out before I could stop myself. "But, uh, that just shows your own talent," I tried to cover. I crossed my fingers and hoped he wouldn't take offense.
Sergeant Hyuuga smiled. "I think you'll fit in well with the rest of the command staff here. Please come with me, we're going over our plans for the next few weeks."
I followed him through the tents, not really wanting to meet more officers but not really having a choice either. It looked as if I was to play a different role than I imagined… The campsite was set up in a very orderly fashion—neat row after row of identical tents. I thought of the campsites I had been in previously—basically a circular blob of tents vaguely centered around the command tent, with the chef's area more or less on the opposite end of the blob from the latrines.
The Japanese camp felt relaxed, yet energetic. There were soldiers sleeping, eating, and patching their clothes…leisurely talking with their companions. Even the soldiers who had clearly fought in a battle were smiling, conversing with the people around them. The atmosphere was not exhausted, the way I had grown accustomed to those of war camps being. These men were full of patriotism and excitement, but only because they had yet to taste defeat.
I was in a fairly dark mood when we arrived at the command tent, an unassuming tent like all the other ones except for the Japanese flag and 3rd division banner planted next to the opening. Sergeant Hyuuga ducked under the flap, and I tentatively followed him in.
My eyes took a moment to adjust to the relative darkness of the tent. There was a map on a table in the center, with small moveable pieces on it. The locations of all the Japanese troops! I made a mental note to memorize the information as quickly as possible. There were five cushions around the table with the map, and a rolled-up futon in the back—wait, no, that was a person.
"Shikamaru!" Sergeant Hyuuga said sternly, frowning at the rolled-up futon.
"Wha—oh. Neji." The futon sat up, not bothering to hide a wide-mouthed yawn. "I finished the paperwork you asked me to do, as troublesome as it was," he said, patting a pile of scrolls next to him. It was then that he noticed me, and looked at me curiously.
"Who are you?" he asked, not sounding all that interested.
I quickly counted his medals—uh, more than 'mine'. "Captain Haroku Tenji, sir," I said, saluting (a better salute than the one I gave the sergeant. What can I say, I learn quickly.)
"Pah, stop with that saluting stuff," the man/futon said.
"This is Colonel Nara Shikamaru," Sergeant Hyuuga said, gesturing to the futon-man. "He's my best strategist."
"Pleased to meet you, Colonel Nara. Was it you who planned the Battle of Qiyong?" I asked, the name Nara sounding vaguely familiar.
"Just call me Shikamaru. Uh…no, that was my dad," Shikamaru said, frowning slightly. "Do I look that old to you?"
A blonde soldier burst into the tent, saving me from answering. "Hahah!" the blonde yelled, a triumphant grin on his face, "I win!"
"Naruto you cheater!" a soldier with red markings on his cheeks said, huffing as he ducked under the tent flap to enter. His breaths came in short puffs as he said angrily, "I demand a rematch!"
"Ha, ha, you sore loser," the blonde said, dancing around the table. "Admit that I'm just a faster runner, Kiba."
To my side, Sergeant Hyuuga sighed quietly. "Uzumaki. Inuzuka. This is Captain Haroku Tenji. He will be joining the 3rd Division until our construction is complete," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I tensed, surprised by the contact.
"Ehhh?" the blonde (Naruto?) said, somehow suddenly right in my face. I stepped back involuntarily as he peered at me curiously, coming a little too close for comfort. "Nice to meet ya!" he beamed, grinning. "Captain Uzumaki Naruto, at your service. Call me Naruto." He paused. "Hey, can I call you Tenji?"
"Uh, sure," I replied, taken aback by this overexcitable fellow who was definitely standing too close.
"Oh, don't mind him," the soldier with the red facial markings drawled, slinging an arm over my shoulders. What was with these people and the lack of respect for personal space? "I'm Captain Inuzuka Kiba. Kiba is fine. Hey, you just came back from the ambush, right? I heard all about it, good job. You really sent those Chinese running."
I grimace-smiled in response. "Thank you. It was a simple matter of striking when their guard was down—they didn't see us until we were practically on top of them." I sighed mentally at how depressingly true that was.
"Aw, so humble," Kiba cooed. I caught a glimpse of sharp canines as he grinned; combined with the red triangular markings, the man looked quite feral.
"Alright, stop scaring Captain Haroku. You two," Sergeant Hyuuga said, glaring at Naruto and Kiba, "are late. Take a seat." Sergeant Hyuuga turned his strange white gaze to me. "I'm sure you know about the construction projects. The Third Division, which is us, is responsible for the construction and protection of a military base. Our base is the "blue" military base. "Green," the naval base, and "red," the other military base, are already being built by other divisions.
Why, thank you Sergeant, for telling me all of this. Now, if you could kindly point out the locations of these bases…
"As we start building, our teams will definitely come under attack by Chinese forces," Sergeant Hyuuga continued. He pointed to a blue marker on the map. "This is the location of the camp." I scanned the map for any green or red markers that might give away the location of the other two construction sites, but there were none.
"We're going to build the base here," Sergeant Hyuuga said, pointing to a nearby hill-like structure. "It has a good vantage point, and a small river runs right by it."
"The problem is, China won't just sit idly by while we build bases in Korea," Shikamaru interrupted.
"So we need to make sure their forces are otherwise occupied," I said, eyes widening slightly. Sergeant Hyuuga nodded in agreement. I quietly thanked my father for teaching me some basic strategy when I was younger, and mused lightly that I was really getting into character.
"Shikamaru here came up with a plan," Kiba said. "He's like a plan-making magician," Kiba leaned over to whisper to me.
Sergeant Hyuuga ignored Kiba. "We will create false construction sites, so that the Chinese will not know which one is to be the actual base. And we," he gestured around the table," will launch periodic attacks upon their forces. In addition, the false construction sites will be filled with traps and explosives, so that if they 'break through' our guarding forces, our fake base will take out a good number of their soldiers, too."
"Haroku, you will lead the scouting and information-gathering missions. I want you to keep track of their locations, numbers, and activities," the sergeant ordered. "I read about some of your past missions, and it seems that you excel at leading scouting groups."
"I won't disappoint you, sir," I said, hoping to myself that he wouldn't ask me about any of 'my' past missions, because I certainly didn't know anything about them.
"If you can identify their commanding officers, that would be great too," Shikamaru added. "Some of the older officers use very predictable tactics."
"Uzumaki. You'll lead the attacking force. I want you to keep the enemy troops in constant fear of attack. Be unpredictable," Sergeant Hyuuga smiled wryly, "as you always are."
"You can count on me!" Naruto chirped, pumping his fist into the air. "I'm all fired up!" (1)
"Inuzuka. You are in charge of guarding the actual construction site. You know what to do: make it look like the other ones, hide the activity as well as you can, and be prepared for a real attack at any time. You are also in charge of the construction itself," Sergeant Hyuuga said, nodding to Kiba.
"Got it, Hyuuga," Kiba replied, smirking.
"And Shikamaru, you will take care of our three false construction sites," Sergeant Hyuuga said, pointing at the positions of the false bases on the map. I tried my best to remember the locations.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered in response, but nodded at his orders.
"I want an update on progress and plans every three days," Hyuuga finished, standing up from his seat cushion. His long black hair, tied loosely at the ends, swung to the side. "If you'll excuse me, it's about time for today's training exercise. I'll let you work on your plans today, but afterwards you should be joining everyone else for training."
After Sergeant Hyuuga left the tent, there was a brief silent pause before Shikamaru yawned, turned away from us, and lay down on the ground.
"Hahah, the piggy is going back to sleep," Naruto said, laughing. "In case you haven't noticed already, Shikamaru here is a lazy-ass."
"If you guys are going to be noisy, go outside to do it," Shikamaru muttered.
"Hey! I'm not noisy!" Naruto exclaimed, standing up indignantly.
"Shh…loud…" Shikamaru said, his voice fading into a soft snore. Much to my amazement, the man had actually fallen asleep just like that.
"Let's leave sleeping beauty to his laziness," Kiba said, rolling his eyes. "Do you want me to show you around camp?"
"That would be great," I replied, smiling. These commanding officers were very friendly—and it looked like none of them suspected a thing.
As Kiba and Naruto pointed out the various parts of camp, I thought about how casual everyone one. There was certainly a sense of order and discipline amongst the ordinary soldiers, but Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru and even Hyuuga seemed to be very comfortable around each other. I watched as Naruto laughed at one of his soldier's jokes, and Kiba stopped to chat to a soldier who was injured. Maybe it was their cheeriness that gave the camp its sense of energy and motivation.
(1) Yes, "I'm all fired up" is a Fairy Tail reference. Natsu and Naruto kind of look similar. It's eerie.
A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! The reviews were really encouraging. Also, there's a logical problem in my story I didn't really bother fixing—how come none of Captain Haroku's troops recognize her as a fraud? Let's just say that Captain Haroku liked to wear masks, so nobody ever saw his face before. Or, if you can think of a better explanation, please share it with me XD
I also didn't re-read it after I typed it, so let me know if there are any mistakes.