Hey, guys, I'm back!
Sorry for taking super long to update. I didn't have anything to write my story in, but I finally got my own laptop! (Graduation present from my dad), so I expect to keep writing more often.
Let's get started!
Long ago, there was a huge war against the Huns which involved the Five Great Nations: Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, and Earth. After many hardships and tribulations, the five nations allied with each other, and together defeated the enemy. In time, they decided to create peace treaties by allying their forces when needed, calling themselves: China.
3. Trigger
3 DAYS EARLIER...
It was a very quiet night, the moon's light hit down on the Great Wall of Fire and the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire torches that were placed above. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Soldiers guarded the wall as they paced around, checking if everything was good and in perfect condition. It was so calm and quiet that even while the guards took watch, they still had time to have small talk with one another.
"Just another quiet night again, huh?" asked one of the guards to the other standing beside him.
"Indeed it is, it has even started to become a bit boring for the last couple of years too; nothing has happened," answered the other guard as he glanced around the perimeter.
The other guard nodded in agreement. "You got that right, it has been so quiet that we haven't even had our guard up for some time now, I mean, who would want to start anything when we had a small war just a few years ago?" Both guards agreed with each other as they looked down at the scenery displayed before them, the pearly white moon casting its fluorescent light down towards the earth, creating such a sight.
As one of the guards was looking around, he caught something moving in the darkness by the corner of his eye.
"Hey, look over there," one of the soldiers nudged the other as his head turned the other way, signaling for him to look in that direction.
"I think that's a newbie? He's wearing our uniform and he seems to be lost somehow. Think we should help him?" he asked again.
The other soldier turned to where he had been signaled to look. There, stood a man with a blond-haired ponytail that covered part of his face, who seemed confused somehow. "Hm, that's weird, it is always made sure every soldier knows their place before the night even begins. I wonder where he's supposed to be."
The guard made his way towards the edge of the tower, leaning over before shouting down, "Hey, you there! Where are you supposed to be?!"
The blond shot his head up quickly to where the voice had come from, and a gasp elicited from his lips, seemingly scared.
The two guards in the tower laughed at the action. So easily scared, ha! I can't believe he works here.
"We're sorry for scaring you, we didn't mean to do it." Both soldiers apologized and laughed a bit more before they fully calmed down.
The newbie seemed to have tensed down and let out a relieved sigh. "Oi, it's alright. I'm sorry for reacting like that, how embarrassing for you to see me like this, me, a soldier, haha. And I'm also apologizing for disturbing your guarding duties, but I need some help. I am not sure where I'm supposed to be at this moment, hm. As you can clearly see, I'm new, hm." The blond guard walked closer towards the tower, looking up right at the two soldiers.
The two soldiers looked at each other before they turned their eyes back down to the blond soldier. "Look kid, why don't you come up here and we'll see what we can do?" offered one of them.
The newbie wasn't a kid, but since he was way younger than both guards, they decided to call him that. The guards signaled for him to come up to the tower.
Immediately, the newcomer took the offer and climbed his way up in swift movements, the two soldiers getting surprised on how he climbed with ease and profession. He landed perfectly, with his back to the soldiers. He totally did not seem like a beginner at all, but with more experience.
"Hey, you got skills, boy, no wonder you got a position here. I thought you were gonna be a wimpy kid when I first saw you." Both guards burst out laughing at their comment.
"Is that so?" questioned the blond male, his back still facing the soldiers. The aura around him had suddenly changed. Immediately both soldiers stopped laughing; something seemed off. The blond man's voice had completely changed, his voice sounded much darker than when he had spoken a few moments ago.
"H-Hey kid, something wrong?" One of the guards started walking slowly towards the blond man, the other following close behind him. He was about to reach to him, when suddenly-
The blond man swung around at full speed, that the soldiers weren't able to see the turn.
"Is this wimpy enough for you?" asked the blond man as he took out two swords that were strapped on his back and swung them forward so fast, stabbing both guards in the heart, blood splattering on the floor and on his clothes. The guards, not having had even a moment to react, slid down on the ground, lifeless. Both their lives had been taken in a matter of seconds.
"What two idiots, hm. They made my job way easier than I expected, such fools, hm." The blond man laughed at how ridiculously easy everything had been! These guards were so stupid. And they called themselves guardians of the Great Wall of Fire! What a joke! He laughed even more.
After he was done laughing, the man took out a few matches and lit them. "Alright, time to light this thing on." He then threw the lit matches to the huge torch plate. He smiled wickedly at the fire.
"Deidara," a calm voice said.
The blond man turned towards the person who had said his name and smiled. "Hey, Sasori, my man! Came to check out my awesome work?" he joked.
"Deidara, don't be so full of yourself. We are only here because of the alliance we made with The Huns, and their leader, Orochimaru, offered us part of that power once we help him take over China. So stop fooling around and burn that flag."
"Geez, alright, old man."
"Don't call me that."
Deidara chuckled. With one hand, he took the flag with the country's symbol embedded on it by breaking the pole it was hoisted on, and slowly placed it over the fire.
"Hurry up, Pain and the others must already be done and are waiting for us. I hate making people wait."
"Alright, alright, burning flags takes time." Deidara looked towards Sasori with a smirk, who gave him a glare before Deidara continued, "We now hereby decree, the start of a new era! An era where we will be rulers, and everyone, especially the emperors, will bow down to our feet, for we will take over China and rule for the years to come!"
Both watched and waited as the flag burned down and turned to ash, before leaving to meet up with the others.
The war had begun.
"Your Majesty!" The huge double doors to the Emperor's throne flew open to reveal the General of the Land of Fire's Army, Itachi Uchiha.
"General Uchiha, it is certainly a pleasure to see you, especially now that it seems that some of our enemies have declared war on us." The Emperor looked towards where Itachi had bowed down.
"Your Majesty, it seems that The Huns and The Akatsuki have allied together to come against us. They have killed all our soldiers that guarded the Great Wall of Fire, and have burned down our flags." Itachi got up from his bowed position as he spoke.
"Yes, so I have heard. I think it's time that we start recruiting men again, just like we did for the previous war." Emperor Sarutobi started going down the stairs of his throne.
Itachi nodded his head. "I believe we will have to recruit triple the soldiers than what we had in our last war, a few years ago. This oncoming war against the Huns will be much bigger compared to the one two centuries ago, because they are back and stronger than ever. Not only that, but they have allied themselves with the new rogue organization, The Akatsuki."
"I received letters from our sister nations saying they were also threatened by the renewed Huns. Since war has been declared to all of China, the other emperors and I will have to have a meeting to talk about military alliances. The only way we can win against The Huns and The Akatsuki is if we all come together once again to defeat the enemy," answered the Emperor.
"Why should we involve the others in this? We didn't need to let them help us in the previous war against smaller rogue nations, because we could handle those," the Uchiha asked, confused.
The Emperor closed his eyes. "Just like you said earlier, the Huns and the Akatsuki are an even larger threat than before. They are huge in number and obviously stronger than ever. We cannot overestimate our own country's power now. We will need the help of our sister nations this time."
"But, your Majesty-" Itachi was about to protest when the Emperor raised his hand to silence him. "I will not hear any complaints from this General Uchiha, we alone cannot defeat the enemy. We will need alliances with the other lands. Do I make myself clear, General?"
Itachi bowed his head. "Yes, your Majesty."
"Good, I need you to start sending soldiers to all the villages in The Land of Fire immediately, in order to recruit more. We will need all we can gather."
Itachi nodded in agreement at Emperor Sarutobi's words. "You have my word, your Majesty. I will gather all the soldiers that I can." With that, Itachi bowed and turned to leave, but the Emperor called out to him and he stopped.
"General, if I may ask, who is it that you're going to give the duty of Captain-Commander for the upcoming war?" asked The Emperor curiously.
Itachi then smiled, his back still turned towards the Emperor. "I believe that you will know that very well, your Majesty," he replied, the smile still plastered on his face.
"Hmm, could it be, that it is...Naruto Uzumaki?" said the Emperor, a smile also forming on his face.
"I knew you'd know, your Majesty." And with that, Itachi took his departure.
Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto had proven great leadership in the previous war against small nations a few years back. He was the one who'd led them to great victory, along with Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, and a beloved friend he'd made during his training days, Neji Hyuuga, who had died bravely in battle.
He had gained recognition in all of The Land of Fire for his bravery, and had earned a medal of Honor from the Emperor himself.
And so it was decided that Naruto Uzumaki, the hero of the previous war, would become the Captain-Commander of the Land of Fire's forces for the upcoming war.
PRESENT DAY...
Hinata followed the sound of the drums all the way to the center of the village. She started seeing that all the villagers were gathering around. She tried to make her way to the center to see what the commotion was about, but all the people were packed tightly together, so she couldn't make her way through nor could she see anything at all. She tried to think of another way to see what was going on.
Hinata then got an idea. She made her way towards a rooftop that was near. She had a bit of trouble climbing with her kimono, but she finally managed to get on. Once she had finally made it to the top, she started searching for the source of the gathering. And of course, it wasn't hard to spot, more like it was hard to miss.
There in the center stood one of the emperor's council members. He was surrounded by a couple of army soldiers that were on their horses. Hinata tried to pay close attention to what the council member was saying.
"...Huns have invaded China, along with the Akatsuki!" A collection of gasps were heard. Hinata widened her eyes.
"So we have been ordered to recruit all old and new members for the war that's coming our way, from all villages in The Land of Fire!" All the people started talking among themselves.
The council member then took out a scroll and read it. "We will call out names of all the men of age in each family, and each will be given a scroll of identification. You'll be needing it to get to the training camp and show it to identify yourself. If you are called out but can no longer fight, your eldest son will be chosen in your place."
The council member then started calling out the names.
Hinata couldn't believe what was happening! Another war? Recruits? All this brought back the horrible memories of the death of her beloved cousin Neji. She couldn't take that and started climbing off the building to head back home, that is, until she heard something that almost made her heart stop beating for a few seconds.
"Hiashi Hyuuga!"
Hinata's head whipped with speed towards her father. No.
For the last couple of months, her father Hiashi had fallen ill and his body had turned weak due to the illness. If he didn't take care of himself properly, he would've been dead by now. But thanks to her, her mother and her sister, they took care of him and his every need, and he slowly started getting back on his feet. Right now he was in no condition to be fighting, any less going into a war.
Hiashi started making his way towards the council member, and stopped when he was right in front of him.
"I will protect this country and my family at the cost of my life. It is an honor to serve the Emperor." Hiashi bowed down towards Mizuki, the council member.
Hinata couldn't believe what she was seeing! Her father wasn't crazy enough to go to war in his state, was he? He was ill, he could- he could-!
Horrible memories of Neji's death started swarming her mind, but instead of Neji, it was her father that was dead this time. I can't let this happen again, I won't lose another precious person to me!
Without a second thought, Hinata climbed down the roof as fast as she could and ran all the way to where her father was. He was about to take the scroll from the council member's hand, when suddenly-
"FATHER, YOU CAN'T GO!" Hinata didn't intend to shout, but her terrified screams were filling her up and she had to let them out.
Everyone turned to look at her, even the council member and his soldiers. "What's the meaning of this?" asked Mizuki.
"Hinata! What are you doing here?" questioned her father in shock.
Hinata ignored her father and motioned to the council member, "Please sir, don't take him to war. My father is ill and in no condition to fight!" she pleaded.
"Ugh, someone get this woman out of here, she's interrupting our duties!" the council member signaled his soldiers.
"You can't do this! You just said if the man were to be ill, he's not to be recruited!" Hinata looked at the man desperately.
"I clearly stated that if they were ill, their eldest son would take their place. Do you have an older brother, Missy?" Mizuki asked sourly.
She was about to answer, "No", when the voice of her father interrupted her. "You're embarrassing me, Hinata. It's best if you just leave."
Hinata turned towards her father in surprise, only to see that he wasn't even looking at her. It was like if she wasn't even there, like he was talking to a wall. Why won't you look at me, Father?
She was about to call out to him when she heard the whispers among the crowd.
"Isn't that the girl from earlier?"
"Another troublemaker."
"Way to embarrass your father."
"If she were my daughter, I would've already disowned her."
I did it again! Now what will people say about our family? What have I done?!
And as if that wasn't embarrassing enough, the soldiers that were with the council member suddenly appeared in front of Hinata, only to grab her and started taking her away.
Hinata's mother then interfered and told the soldiers that she'll take care of her.
The Hyuuga heiress didn't say anything, nor did she protest. She just stood beside her mother, keeping quiet for the rest of the announcing. She glanced at her father, who kept ignoring her. She saw how he accepted the scroll and turned towards them. He started walking their way, but once he was near, he completely passed up her mother and her. Her mother then followed her father back home, taking Hinata with her.
All the young girl could do was try not to cry on the way home, even though the tears were threatening to fall. This was the second time she did something dishonorable in one day.
What can I do now? Hinata sadly wondered as they made their way back home.
Ok, so Deidara's little speech at the end was a bit cheesy, but I wrote it anyway!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and so, till next time!