A Long Road Ch 13
A Naruto Fan Fiction
I do not own Naruto
Ch 13: Dark Tower
He slipped back into the forest that surrounded the village as if he had never been there at all. Well that wasn't all true; the two dead people that he had left behind were the only evidence, but he had sealed the bodies in plastic and melted the openings so they wouldn't smell when decomposing. He had also paid to stay 10 days so no one would go into the room; hopefully they would be gone long before that.
The trek up the small mountain was challenging with his broken ankle, and the gash in his shoulder wasn't to deep even if he had lost a lot of blood. The bandages helped but it was still leaking more then he would have preferred. Their base camp wasn't visible from the ground and he had a hard time finding it even when he knew he was close.
He limped into the opening and was greeted by a knife against his thought. "Shit, Naruto. You scared the crap out of me." Since he had left apparently Kiba had been assigned to guard the entrance. He pulled the knife away and studied his comrade. "What the fuck happened to you? Did you blow our cover or something?" Kiba complained. "No, but I'm fine thanks for asking." Naruto replied with spiteful sarcasm.
…
The ringing in his ears was unbearable and his eyes were open half way dully looking out over the chaos. What had happened to him? How did he get here? He sat up to see a barren desert for miles around. Putting his hand up to rub the side if his face he felt something warm and wet on his cheek. It was blood, but it wasn't his blood; he didn't look for any wounds he just knew it was the truth. This all seemed very familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Looking around he could see there was fresh blood soaked into the sand, and body parts, lots of them. Legs and arms severed crudely from there respective owners, he even saw a man lying in the carnage; well the top half of him at least. Giving more attention to the scenery he spotted something that puzzled him and shook him to his core at the same time. The man didn't have a face; it was as if the skin on his forehead had been pulled down seamlessly masking his features. He stood and walked over to him leaning down to examine his face. This was so familiar to him; it was on the edge of him mind refusing to spill over into reachable thought.
Around his neck was a dog tag, but just like the mans face it was a blur. Naruto felt much more willing to touch and examine it then the mans face and he picked it up. The words appeared the moment he tugged it off of the corps. "Corporal Dillon Smith 3rd Victor Company." Now he was sure that this was a dream. The ringing in his ears was beginning to subside. He looked to Dillon's face and he could see his features now. Cold dead eyes looked back at him never hesitating.
A sharp whistling noise caught his attention and he was struck down by a figure in white garments. The space he had occupied erupted with a blast of sand and pre-shredded gore. "Get the fuck on your feet private!" he looked over to see the woman that had saved him but her face was just like Dillon's had been; covered in the flesh mask. It was starting to come to him now; what was her name? "Angela?" she looked over at him and he could see her face now. This was a memory of the raid on one of the empires outposts during the war. Everything was so vivid he couldn't believe it was a dream. His company had been demolished by one of the enemy mortars during the battle. Naruto had been the only survivor of the 3rd but the outpost had been captured in the end.
The rest of Angela's team moved up to the position behind one of the dunes and she gave the orders. "We need to provide a distraction while the others sneak up from behind the enemy. Private you're with 2nd company now. Do you still have all your equipment?" "Yes." "Provide cover while we move up a bit." Naruto was left with two other men who were each given another pistol. They were single shot but easy to reload. Naruto cracked open both letting the front end hang from the hinge making sure they were loaded, he found the butt end of the bullet sticking out at him and with a flick of his wrist closed them again. The team was ten in total and the eight other members moved up leaving the three of them to provide fire.
The outpost they needed to capture was protected by a circle of concrete wall that was a little to high for someone to jump and reach the edge. The buildings inside were out of sight but a snipers nest in the middle of the compound rose above looking over the surrounding area. Solders would pop their heads up above the wall and fire on their attackers. Naruto was able to take down two of them before an explosion on the opposite side took their attention. The two men with him took the chance to run over the dune and charge the compound. One was struck down almost instantly and the blood from the exit wound hit Naruto in the face.
The other eight members of the team ran and pushed themselves flat against the wall. They set a pile of explosives and took cover at a safe distance. Once the makeshift doorway was opened they rushed inside and a volley of gunfire could be heard inside. He jumped up and ran for the opening as fast as he could. There wasn't much of a fight when he arrived inside, fire from both teams on either side cut down the enemy quickly. The eight that had rushed inside were now six; counting Naruto and the man he was with the team totaled eight once again. The other company took heavier losses and there were only five left.
That was when the dream seemed to pause. Everyone stopped moving and stood still. No one fired their weapons; they had also stopped breathing. He was the only one that still moved. Walking to the middle of the compound he did a quick 360 to take in the surroundings. But when he faced back at his team the wall behind had disappeared. Leaving nothing but open desert his allies were still there but they looked dead and pale. In the distance he could see a stone tower that looked pitch black. Suddenly the ground started to shake and what was left of the compound started to decay at unnatural speed. The sand around him was being drained into an unknown break in the ground underneath. Looking to the sky the sun had disappeared behind dark clouds. It began to rain but not with water; hundreds of dog tags came down. Stretching out his palm he caught a few of them, he looked and saw that each had a name he recognized. Bringing his head up he saw that the black tower in the distance was closer now, or maybe it was his imagination.
…..
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P.S
I've started a new story that I wont publish until its finished. So it may take longer to update this one sometimes.