Hello everyone I'm back once again to bring you another chapter of my story; I hope you all enjoy it and continue supporting my work and with nothing else to say let's begin.
Ashigaru Kitsune: Chapter 20
Kirigakure out skirts: nighttime
Naruto, Inoichi and Konohamaru were looking off into the night as they saw the burning village; it reminded Naruto and Konohamaru of their assault of the lightning capital.
"I never seen anything like this" Inoichi said gaining both boys attentions "on a ship, in battle; you see fire and smoke but only on individual ships. This is horrifying" he said.
"It was worse in the lightning capital" Konohamaru said "thousands of out boys died over a pile of rubble and burned-out buildings" he said.
"And yet here we are" Naruto said "doing the same shit but in a different war" he said. "And the men we are fighting are just like us" Naruto said "veterans of one war fighting in another one" he said.
"Assaulting a fixed and fortified position" Inoichi said "no flanking, no sneaking just a head long assault; I may have been in the Navy but this seems suicidal" he said.
"Just a normal day for the infantry" Naruto said getting up "lets get some sleep; we have a big day tomorrow" he said as Inoichi and Konohamaru got up and followed him.
The Next day: before dawn
It was still dark out when Naruto, Inoichi and Konohamaru stood at attention with the rest of the regiment as the commander began his briefing:
Men this is it; this is what we've been trained for, what we have been waiting for. 2 miles away from us is the citadel; a heavily reinforced stone and concrete fort stretching back to the warring states period. The Kiri Loyalist Army or K.L.A has repurposed the old fort as a defensive position; they have put up some Trebuchet batteries that can rain down artillery anywhere in the village. Our objective is simple; assault the citadel, silence the enemy's artillery and repurpose it for our own use. We will be alone as all shinobi forces have been rerouted to attacking the Northern Gate; gentlemen today we make history. When we storm and take that fort we will effectively cripple the enemy's capability for artillery and we will be one step closer to victory; gather up your gear and prepare to march.
"Regiment; attention" The Sergeant Major called "Who are we" he called.
"The Black and Tans" they all shouted.
"Who are we" the Sergeant Major repeated.
"The Black and Tans" they shouted once again.
"Black and Tans" The Sergeant Major roared "dismissed" he shouted.
1 Hour later
Naruto, Inoichi and Konohamaru were all waiting in their make shift fighting positions several thousand yards away from the citadel. The enemy had cleared the area of foliage making the ground like the soft wet mud of no-mans land that many of those present had seen during the war.
"Damn" Naruto cursed "we have to go across that" he whined.
"Quiet complaining" Konohamaru said readjusting his flamethrower "you're not the one carrying 50lbs of flaming death on his back; one hit and I'm toast. Literally" he said.
"I'm sure that's just a myth Konohamru" Inoichi said "after all don't you think that-" Inoichi began until Naruto raised up his hand.
"Wait do you hear that" Naruto said as all 3 listened intently "is that singing" he asked; as Naruto listened closer he heard that it was coming from the citadel.
"Come out you black and tans
Come out and fight me like a man
Show your wives how you won your medals down in Kuuuumo
Tell 'em how the K.L.A
Made you run the hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Kiiiiiri"
Naruto, Konohamru and Inoichi all listened to the song in its entirety and by the end all 3 were stone faced.
"I'm going to kill those assholes" Inoichi said his pride taken a slight hit.
Just then a whistle blew; Naruto, Konohamaru and Inoichi rose up along with the rest of the regiment and charged across no-mans land.
As they charged and got closed artillery and bolts came flying left and right; Naruto saw dozens of men fall to the way side as they were killed or wounded. Naruto hopped into a crater and aimed his crossbow at the top of the wall; Naruto saw movement and fired off a bolt. He then saw a enemy soldier fall off the wall onto the ground below; if the bolt didn't kill him the fall certainly did.
Naruto then got up and continued with the assault.
Konohamaru was fairing slightly better; he was with a group of fellow soldiers who were approaching the wall. As he got closer, he saw the soldier in front of him fall dead with a bolt sticking out of his chest; he saw that there was a small bunker ahead with a ballista emplacement inside.
Konohamaru saw that they were in the process of reloading nad rushed forward; he raised the nozzle of his flame thrower at the bunker and fired a 5 second burst. Once the burst died down, he saw the back of the bunker burst open; 3 enemy soldiers ran out screaming as the fire engulfed them.
"Don't shoot let them burn" a soldier yelled as the others ran past the screaming men; Konohamru saw this and scowled. He then took out 3 kunai and threw them at the burning enemy to put them out of their misery.
Konohamru huffed and continued forward as he was now only a few hundred yards away from the outer wall.
Inoichi was up against the wall holding his hand on a soldiers' abdomen trying to hold his guts in; Inoichi saw the young man on the ground with his intestines hanging out. He picked him up and dragged him to the wall; he put the guts on the man's chest to get them off the ground.
"I got him; step back" a medic said running up; after looking at him for a few seconds the medic took out a dagger and plunged it down into the man's heart killing him. "He was too far gone" the medic said to Inoichi "only help those you can save" he said before he ran off to look for more wounded.
Inoichi looked down at the young man and shuddered.
"Inoichi" Naruto shouted getting his attention "focus; get into the fight" he said and Inoichi nodded; Inoichi then took out a grenade.
"Grenades on 3" Inoichi said as Naruto took out a grenade "1…2…3" Inochi yelled as both threw their grenades to the top of the wall. After several seconds the grenades went off "up the walls; use the wall walking exercise" Inoichi yelled and Naruto nodded.
Both Naruto and Inoichi scaled the wall and reached the top; one they reached the top they were greeted by the sight of blown apart bodies. Naruto took out his rope ladder and tied it to a stable support before throwing it down.
"Up the wall, up the wall" Naruto shouted; after a few minutes men began scaling the wall where Naruto and Inoichi created an opening. As more and more men began scaling the walls at multiple points Naruto and Inoichi began to make their way across the walls.
Naruto and Inoichi slung their crossbows as both took out their melee weapons; Inoichi dug his hatchet into the back of a soldier who was shooting down the wall.
Naruto ducked under a butt stroke from a enemy crossbow and stabbed the soldier who tried to hit him in the gut; Naruto took out the blade and performed a coup de grace by stabbing the man in the throat killing him instantly.
Naruto then turned and saw a stream of fire cover a section of the wall across from him.
Konohamaru after an agonizing climb with his flamethrower fired off his second burst; the entire section of the wall he was aiming at was engulfed in flames. The enemy soldiers covering the wall were all set alight; they began to jump off the walls to their deaths in order to end their suffering.
'2 bursts left' Konohamaru thought as he followed a squad of soldiers into the inner wall; upon entering Konohamaru saw a door be closed.
"Sarutobi" a officer yelled as he bashed in a grate on the wall "burn them through the hole" he yelled.
"Yes sir" Konohamaru yelled; Konohamaru then pointed his flamethrower at the hole in the wall and fired.
Naruto was nearly thrown off his feet as a explosion rocked the entire area.
"Goddamn it" a enemy soldier yelled "they blew up the east ammo magazine" he yelled.
Naruto hearing this got up and got back into the fight; as he continued his fight across the castle wall he saw 3 trebuchets. Him and the other soldiers near him all rushed in and started fighting the remaining soldiers defending the position.
The entire area turned into an orgy of violence as the melee grew more bloody and intense by the minute as the outcome of the battle relied entirely on the batteries.
"Halt stop fighting, stop fighting" a voice came up over the violence; a Loyalist officer was standing on top of the wall holding a white flag "the Fourth Mizukage is dead, Mei Terumi killed him; the battle is over. Put your arms down and surrender" he said.
Naruto was panting and looking around as he saw the enemy soldiers drop their hands and surrendered; Naruto sheathed his knives and began to collect the weapons.
Later on that day
Konohamaru was staring at a doctor as he talked "WHAT" Konohamru yelled. The doctor then pulled out a note pad and wrote in it; when he was done, he let Konohamru read it.
'You have lost your hearing; it should come back in a few days' Konohamaru read "THANK YOU" Konohamru yelled.
Naruto and Inoichi looked at the sight in disbelief "he survived a giant explosion and only suffered temporary hearing loss and several bruises" Inoichi said. "He is so fucking lucky to even be alive right now" he said as he looked at Naruto.
"How does this make sense" Naruto asked "we assaulted a fort, lost dozens of men and for what; the war to end mid-battle" he said. "Why… just why" Naruto asked "so many lives lost for a battle that wouldn't have changed anything" he said.
Inoichi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder "I thought the same thing during the last great ninja war; why couldn't the war end sooner. Why did so many have to die for nothing" Inoichi said. "Don't think about that Naruto" Inoichi said.
"What do I think about then" Naruto said.
Inoichi then reached into Naruto's pocket and took out his wallet "this" Inoichi said as he pulled out the picture of a pregnant Sakura "home" Inoichi said before he walked to Konohamru.
Naruto looked down at the picture of Sakura and smiled "home" Naruto repeated as he stared the picture.
2 weeks later
Naruto, Inoichi and Konohamru were all on board the transport ship as they approached the land of spring; they wore new dress uniforms made especially for their return. Naruto clenched the rail as the ship approached land; he was finally home at last.
"Listen up" a officer yelled "collect your gear and get ready to disembark; welcome home boys" he said.
Naruto, Konohamaru and Inoichi all went down and grabbed their gear. As the ship docked and everyone disembarked Naruto began to look around frantically; just when he was about to give up, he saw what he was looking for.
Sakura was standing with Koyuki, Ayame and Hinata; Naruto saw her and looked down to her belly. He then nervously walked forward and stood in front of Sakura; he then knelt down to her stomach and pressed his head against it.
Naruto then began to cry as he listened to his child inside his fiancé; Sakura also began to cry at the sight. She was watching the man she loved return home to both her and her unborn child.
"Sakura" Naruto sobbed out "I'm home" he choked out.
"Welcome home Naruto" Sakura said stroking his hair.
Ok another chapter done; I just want to point something out. This chapter is to show something quite common in war; it ends when you least expect it. I was on a deployment and I was told I was going ot be overseas for a long ass time; then one day not halfway through the deployment me and my unit were told to pack up and go home. We were happy to go home but we felt like we didn't accomplish our mission; it's common especially among Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Ok the we are nearly at the end people; next chapter will be the last. So please like, comment and share with your friends and until next time; bye