Lost

by Senyor Fier Mensheir

During the 3 year training trip Naruto gets separated from Jiraiya. Will he get to see his sensei and Konoha again? Only time will tell. OOCs and OCs abound, as well as powerfulNaruto. you have been warned. AU. !Unfortunately on Hiatus...nigh inefinitely!

24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any reference to any other thing owned by someone else.

Claimer: The OCs are mine. If any are sue-ish, well…they're still my sues.

Warning #1: Characters may sometimes be OOC. You have been warned.

Reminder: Rosuto Juushu = Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Lost

Chapter 24

A large force was spotted north of the Rice Field border. The stationed Oto Anbu could see a line of ships out on the horizon, a massive army steadily making its way toward the coastline of the country. The Land of Rice Fields was ruled by Orochimaru himself, after receiving information that Hi no Kuni had suffered from mistakes made by some of the Elites in the country, he had disposed of the daimyou of Rice Fields, taking up the mantle for himself.

Having full control of the land, he had access to the military of the somewhat prosperous nation, one could say that military diversity wise he was somewhat on par with Rosuto no Kuni in that regard. His numerous experiments making up a large bulk of his foot soldier forces. The man had a habit of not really giving much importance to lives other than his own. To him all life was expendable, save for his own. He had delusions of granduer, believing in his superority over whatever obstacles would stand in his way. He still had many aces up his sleeves, but did not think that any of them were needed to repel the forces planning on attacking his own country.

He had received some reports from psychics in his employ that attacks against Hi no Kuni had already been launched. The reports told the story of Hi barely holding onto their position as the strongest nation in the continent, they were losing, slowly, and pitifully. The invading forces prooving to be far too much for them to handle. While the fighting did look like it was progressing slowly, that was simply just the tip of the iceberg. The invading Rosuto no Kuni forces were simply battering down the resistance, in a relaxed manner. They were sure of their victory, they fought with the ferocity of true warriors while the defenders simply fought for their home, a home that had been hit hard in its very heart.

Hi was being pummelled on it western borders as well as on its southern border, so Orochimaru decided that it would be a good idea to help the invaders, maybe curry a little favor from them. He would send some of his forces to make minced meat out of the defenders of the northern border of Hi no Kuni. An action which he hoped would place him in the good graces of the invaders, well enough within it to be granted some of the secrets of the Land of the Lost, a land forgotten by history and time, and the rest of the continent.

After reports from his northern border were sent to his office, he immediately sent out orders to his shinobi forces, orders to attacks the Hi no Kuni border. Take no prisoners, and slaughter them all. Incentives were issued out, the more of the Hi forces that were dealt with the more of the helpless members of their families were spared the horrors of experimentation and war. Orochimaru may not know how to value the lives of others, but he knew that others valued the lives fo their loved ones. Unfortunately Orochimaru never really got to understand the concept of having a loved one. His goals were always geared towards the acquisition of power, and all that came with it, including a form of immortality.

The forces that he ordered to be sent to the northern border were made up mostly of the lower ranked shinobi forces as well as the regular soldiers in the country's army. They could be considered simply as the meat shields of the military of the Rice Field nation. They were ordered and sent out to attempt to delay the inevitable from occurring, Orochimaru's standards, as well as any other minor country's standards, for their military was a lot higher than the Five Greats. They had to contend with the might of the Five Greats, which prompted them to have a more quality based training than a mediocre one, like the other larger nations. The truth was that the Five had good quality and the numbers to be great, but the minor lands did not have the numbers, but they more than made up for it in their quality. They were a force to be reckoned with, if they were only given a chance to shine.

The impending invasion of Rice Field would give her warriors the chance to shine. Their mettle even greater than their Greater counter parts. They had more to lose than the larger nations, as they had so little to begin with. The little that they had in possession of, was far greater than the tracks of wealth that the larger nations sometimes chose to squander about. So, they would fight with their all, not holding back in the slightest, as all they had was in danger of vanishing from the face of the world. There was everything to lose, but the future to gain.

Orochimaru's experimentations with the Blood of the Shodaime Hokage were not all failures, there were a select few samples that had been kept in stasis for such an occasion, he only made the first successful creation known to his compatriots in Konoha, but the others he hid away, waiting for a time that their talents would be needed. It would not do to have all of one's pawns go out in battle, all of one's strategies be known, for the world to form counters, and prepare against their use.

Since the Rosuto Navy was still a few miles out at sea, even though their numbers were something not to look forward to facing, Orochimaru deployed his Mokuton users, and had them create a fortified barrier. One that would prove challenging to break through, even for the invading Rosuto forces, whose abilities were still mostly unknown to the Roce Field men and women.

Orochimaru had fifty men and women, and a few more along the way, as well as a few more in reserve. In recent years, the sepentine man had found some ways to make his experiments more of a success, which helped bolster his power. He also had some of his agents steal some technology from countries steeped in advanced technology like Snow, Lightning, and Rain. His forces had some machinery at their disposal, like cannon, and weapon launchers. His genin forces, which were at least chuunin in strength, were equipped not only with their chakra attacks but also with these so called launchers.

From the the Hidden Village known as Hidden Sky, a nation whose technology allowed them to gain the power of flight through the use of chakra had also been stolen by agents of Orochimaru. The man had incorporated their use in the training of the forces of the Land of Rice Field. Most of these things were done while the former ruler was still in power, all of which was in preparation for Orochimaru's bid for international power.

He was a serpent that liked to plan things out. He made sure that he had contingency plans for all the likely events to happen during his lifetime, a life that he believed would span til the end of time. He knew that there would come a time in his future that someone out there in the world would challenge his supremacy. He had planned, and done things in preparation for such a likely event. His planning had apparently pulled off, and he was more than ready to take on the unknown forces of the Land of the Lost.

The flying, or more like gliding, technology would allow the military forces to proceed to have aerial assults on their adversaries. He made sure to send some competent people to lead his armies, having hand picked them himself.

The barrier that the Mokuton users were to create had three levels. As Orochimaru had received word of how the battle at the southern end of Hi no Kuni had gone about, he decided to have his northern border defended in three layers. The first layer being built out at sea, the first wall was to be formed a couple of meters away from the shoreline. Canons were to be mounted on them, and manned by non-shinobi personel. To help defend these soldiers would be the gliders that would provide aerial support.

The second layer of defense was to be set up on the shoreline, right where the sands met the salt water. Another set of canons would be mounted there, once again manned by non-shinobi personel. Their support would be made up of men with launchers as well as a few gliders.

The third defense line, the one before and other manner of defense, before the fighters of a land battle, was another wall, another barrier, one that also would have cannons mounted on it, manned by the same class of personel as the other two walls. But this time there would be a lot more support for the wall. As this third wall was to be considered the more or less last line of defense of the coast.

Orochimaru knew not to underestimate his enemy, just as his former home had underestimated their enemies. So sure of themselves and their daunted power that they had not fallen to many of life's adversities, but when faced with the unknown, they had overestimated their own worth, and underestimated the unknown which resulted in the war that was about to take the known parts of the continent by storm.

As Orochimaru surveyed the running of his country, as well as the denfense preparations, and the attacks that had commenced, Tsukiko, her daughter, and their forces were also preparing for the battles ahead. They too knew not to underestimate the serpent and his armies. They knew what a cornered animal was capable off, which was further enhanced by the cornering something or someone, that was not a mere animal, but a monster of a man. One that was worthy of their attention, but not worthy of a continued existence. The war, the invasion and decimation of Hi no Kuni was the perfect excuse to rid the world of the abomination known as Orochimaru.

The Navy had yet to begin the invasion, as the preparations, as well as all the checks were still incomplete. Even though word had reached them that the signal to start the invasion had been received, they decided to take their time. They had the confidence in their capabilities, as well as their troops abilities, that they would win the battles ahead. They knew that even though they were granting their enemy a longer time to prepare, to better their forces, to become harder to beat. But they also knew that they loved a challenge. They weren't all Juushu, but they were good enough to be assigned the task to eradicating the serpent menace: Orochimaru.

The ships were all lined up, but not in a single line like the one that the Southern navy had formed. These ships were lined up in three layers just as their enemy had chosen to be. The front most line of ships consisted of the speed boats, whose sailors and soldiers concentrated on getting in and out of situations the quickest way possible, while still being able to deal a significant amount of damage. The second row consisted of ships that were slightly slower in speed, but were in charge of dealing the most amount of damage from a rather long range. These ships hosted a number of powerful canons, whose elemental chakra firepower was enough to level a small village with little to no effort. The third and last row of ships, consisted of all the cargo and personel ships, these things contained all the man-power and supplied of the northern attack contingent.

Tsukiko and Yoshiko's flagships were among these ships, it was the biggest one of the lot, as well as housed the main communications department of the navy.

"Preparations are complete Commander," one of the officers that had entered the Commander's cabin reported.

"Assess the field of battle, we still need more information on what we are dealing with," Tsukiko ordered.

"Orochimaru is still one of the unknowns in this war, no matter what information we have been working with, we still need to make sure on what we are dealing with," Yoshiko added.

"Hai!" the officer said as he saluted and left the cabin to send out underwater patrols to see what the defenses were actually like.

The super crocs were mobilized, along with their diver partners, they were then ordered to go as near as they could get, without starting the fighting, to assess the defenses of the country that they were preparing to assult.

The corcs and their partners that were sent out, were given explicit instructions to remain undetected, but even with this warning, they were not aware of all the things that were happening. The aerial support that the navy had was rather limited, the rocs were not to be deployed before the land campaign had commenced. The sensors, and scouts that the navy had at its employ were not perfect. They were unaware that they were being watched from the skies.

Some of the glider units had been sent out to survey the invaders, they were high enough to not be detectable by their enemy, and fortunately for them, they witnessed the deployment of the crocs. Assuming that it was an attacking force, they made their way back to base camp. Travelling faster than the underwater scouts were.

Arriving at their base camp, they informed their superiors of the impending attack force that was being sent to the first wall. The officers reacted by ordering their lesser officers to send out some people that could attack from underwater. Drop some mines into the water, cloaked or hidden under illusions, that would automatically detonate and blast the attacking force out of the water, way before they would reach the wall.

The Oto-nins that were adept at fighting in, on, with water, were sent out with the explosives that would be used as traps to blow away, and up, the invaders long before they would be able to do any damage to the walls. This action would impede the information gathering efforts of the invaders greatly, as not only would the Rosuto forces lose a number of its underwater attack force, but also valuable information that they would have been able to collect had they survived the impending explosions.

The crocs corps were cautious in their approach, knowing that there was a possibility of being found out, or that their enemy had laid some traps for them ahead of time. On their way, they encountered little to no resistance. They were able to swim close enough to survey the walls, and the armaments found on them. But as some of them decided to move closer, some of them were surprised with what they had found. There were some underwater patrols, which they assumed had been there for quite some time, this prompted the scouting force to beat a rapid retreat. But in their hurry they were unable to avoid some of the traps that had been set up in their escape routes.

The explosions overrode some of the conditioning and training that the croc corps had undergone, which caused a significant number of them to panic, and react by swimming into the traps. The apparent plan of the Oto-nins had succeeded and they were able to rid themselves of a considerable number of invader forces.

Once the explosions were seen and heard, and the first sign of bloodshed was witnessed, the Rice Field forces prepared themselves for succeeding attacks, while at the same time deploying a few aerial units to send some death dealing to the enemy forces while they scrambled to assess the situation that they found themselves in.

"What the hell happened out there?" Tsukiko asked her officers, "They were only meant to scout out the defenses, not run into them!"

"Calm down Okaa-sama," Yoshiko said, a little bit frustrated at their first number of casualties.

"We..were able to get some information from the survivors of the scouting party, but not enough to properly form a strategy or plan of attack with," one of the officers said.

"Well..at least we have something to work on," Tsukiko said, "Inform us then."

"The first wall that we have encountered is defended by a number of illusioned and underwater mines, that explode on impact, there are also a number of canons mounted on the wall," one of the officers reported.

"Some of the divers were able to spot what looked like gliders in the air, which possibily means that the enemy is capable of aerial attacks, making them on par with our forces," another officer continued.

"There is also the technology which some of the gliders looked to have in their possession," another officer said.

"What technology would that be captain?" Yoshiko asked.

"Some kind of miniature canon, an artilery launcher if you will," the officer answered.

"So they have a kind of gun..interesting.." Tsukiko commented.

"What are our orders Commanders?" the officers prompted.

"Add at least one mage per speed boat, we need sensors to pick up any abnormalities in the water, as well as another mage to monitor the skies," Tsukiko ordered, "Send in the first wave, with as much speed as possible, I want to lose as little as possible."

"Blow up any detected explosives, have someone on board with firepower to spare to do such actions," Yoshiko said, "We could use their defenses to our advantage, make it seem like some of our forces were annihilated by their traps."

"A slight change in plans, I want three mages per boat, one to detect mines in the water, one to monitor the skies, and one to cover the boats in illisions should the mines be triggered by one of our troops," Tsukiko stated.

"You have your orders, dismissed!" Yoshiko said.

"Hai!" the officers said and departed the cabin.

After being equipped with mages, and some additional firepower, the speed boats were signalled to begin the real initial attack that had been planned by the Commanders of the Northern forces. The boats made their way swiftly towards the first wall. It had to be breached before the second wall could be accessed.

They made their way across the water, cutting across the waves, creating ones of their own. They were machines of true speed, speeding their way towards their targets. Aside from the three mages, each boat had a unit of five soldiers each one with a rocket launcher, the rockets were packed with explosives charged with elemental chakra, the resulting explosion would be able to blow a hole in wall that defended Konoha, not a big hole, but enough shots could bring down a part of the wall.

The boats made their way to the wall as fast as their engines could move them, the mages doing their jobs, some successfully blowing up the mines and covering themselves, preparing for a stealthy attacks. While others weren't as lucky, the mages still being human, were not perfect and in some cases were unable to shield their boats from the mines that they were tasked to find. The mages that monitored the skies were luckier, as they were simply the guide for the pilots of the boats, informing them when a glider was closing in on their position for an attack. The boats had been instructed to focus on the wall, and avoid the gliders and the mines. Unescessary use of ammunition was prohibited.

In that regard there were some boats that were unable to escape their pursuers, they were able to damage the wall, but in turn they were killed in action. Not all of the deployed boats were able to safely make it back to the rest of the navy, some that escaped did not escape unscathed. Damage to the boats was almost unavoidable, and some lives were lost on the way forward and back to the rest of the fleet.

"Report!" Tsukiko said.

"We have unfortunately sustained a heavy number of casualties, fifty seven percent of the the personel that we sent out, are unable to fight, while thirty-five percent have passed on," an officer stated.

"The mages were able to keep damages to the boats to a minimum, but some lost their lives defending their commrades," another officer reported.

"The speed boats are good for getting in some hits, but it seems that the enemy has some intel on our forces, we need a change in tactics," another officer supplied.

"Okaa-sama..?" Yoshiko said, unsure of what her mother was thinking after hearing such reports.

"I want five men to a boat, send them in, one full powered rocket to one launcher, three mages to a boat, one to detect the mines, one to monitor the skies, and one to erect shielding," Tsukiko said after some thought, "One soldier to man the launcher, the target is still the wall, the speed freaks are to control their boats to the best of their abilities, make the hit, and return, one shot per boat."

"Hai!" the officers said.

"Once a boat returns to the fleet, I want them rearmed and sent back into the fray, we need a steady stream of fire hitting that wall," Tsukiko continued, "It doesn't matter where the rocket hits, as long as it hits the wall."

"Hai!" the officers confirmed their understanding.

"After the speed freaks have left the line, send out the second row, I want them to bombard the wall with continuous fire, hit the first wall with everything they've got, I want that wall brought down," Tsukiko said.

"When the second line runs out of fire power, they are further ordered to remain in place, we will send additional supplied to them, but they must remain in place to hold the line," Yoshiko added.

"Hai!"

"You have your orders," the mother and daughter team said, "Dismissed!"

The speed freaks were then deployed, and were harrassed by the gliders, but due to their having shields protecting them casualties were lessened significantly. The defenders were unable to land any more solid hits. The walls stood firm under the ant bite like fire that the speed freaks were employing. No matter what the defenders did, they were unable to do any more damage to the attackers. The mounted cannons commenced firing once they realized that the gliders were no longer doing any more damage. Try as they might, they were unable to even dent the boats that were speeding here and there all across the aquatic battlefield.

They started the battle as the winning side, and ended up defending themselves like mad. The best defense is a great offense, and the defenders no longer able to employ such a tactic. The invaders were starting to do a better job of it.

Then they had to defend against the raining balls of cannon fire coming from the second line of ships. The long ranged artillery doing massive damage to the wall, as well as the morale of the enemy. There wasn't Rice Field officers scrambling to turn the tide back in their favor.

The days went by in slow succession, the tide of battle traded from one side to the other, neither having a firm hold on the title of the winning side. There were hits and misses, but eventually after exhausting half of the supplies, the Rosuto forces were able to shatter the first defensive wall.

Before the ships made their advance, after learning from the error of their first attack, Tsukiko had all the mages erect shields on all the ship, no more scouting parties were needed, or would be sent out, the croc corps had lost too many valuable members as it were.

Once the fleet was substantially protected by shielding, the fleet moved onwards, and inwards. They took the place of the first wall, within striking distance of the second wall.

"Form ranks and fire at will!" Yoshiko shouted over the PA system to all the ships.

Once the ships had all formed ranks, their shields powered to the max, and the shells having been set into the barrels, all ships were ordered to hold their fire, as some of the frontilners noticed that the second wall was evolving.

From a wall simply made with a heavy dose of chakra enforced wood and some sand, the second wall gained an additional shell, this one made of metal, and some rocks here and there.

Orochimaru had deployed another one of his experiments, these people had the power to simply create metal out of the earth around them. The manipulation of the earth was refined enough that they were able to coat the wall in an additional shell, of chakra enforced and enhanced metal.

The gliders were taken out of the skies, and the launchers formed ranks on the wall, ready to overturn any approaching boats by hitting the water underneath with explosive kunai, and other such things.

"Second row, Count of one to six," Tsukiko ordered over the radio, "Every number one power up using fire, two water, three earth, four wind, five lightning, and six neutral."

"Hai," was heard over the radio.

"We need to see the strengths and weaknesses of that wall, do it stat!" Yoshiko added, "One round, one start, ten minute intervals between elements."

"Begin!" the officers could be heard from the ships' radios.

After the number one ships fire their fire elemental chakra powered shells at the wall, there was no visible damage.

"Assessment," Tsukiko called out through the radio to the frontliners.

"Heat levels have simply skyrocketed in the areas hit, rapidly cooling due to the people on the other side," an officer radio'ed in.

The second set of shells were launched and hit the next to the first indentations. The water had a cooling effect, but somehow some of the gunners had added a freezing effect to their shells.

"Assessment," came Tsukiko's voice over the radio.

"Some parts are visibly falling off, the hot and cold areas that are touching are looking to be a little bit fragile," an officer observed.

Then the third round was fired, the reulting damage was simply some deeper indentations on the wall, normal damage was dealt to the wall, nothing more, nothing less.

"Asse.." Tsukiko was cut off.

"What a regular shell would do to any old wall," the officer reported in.

The fourth set of shells sliced cleanly through some parts of the wall, but were sealed up quickly by the metal users inside. The damage could be great, but due to the speed of the repairs, it would be a waste of valuable ammunition.

The fifth set of shells did not visibly affect the metal shell surrounding the wooden wall. But on the wall, some of the Rosuto forces could visibly see that some of the soldiers had been put to sleep due to the electric shock delivered by the lightning enhanced shells.

"Hold fire number sixes!" Tsukiko ordered, "Aim for the areas where the hot and cold touch."

The regular shells hit their targets spot on, the resulting damage were scars on the wall, the inner wooden wall had been exposed for some reason. In those places the metal users were unable to repair the damage as quickly as when the wind powered shells hit.

"Alternate between lightning, fire, water, and regular shells," Tsukiko ordered, "When the wood is exposed some cease the lightning and water on those areas."

"You have your orders commence the attack!" Yoshiko announced.

The bombardment of the second wall lasted for two whole months before the metal shell had been destroyed completely. It was thicker in some places and thinner in others. Behind the thicker places, once exposed were holes already in the wall, there the Rosuto forces found some caches of weaponry, weapons that lost their use when the regular and fire shells hit them. The explosions helped the Rosuto forces, while at the same time caused the metal and wood users to construct defensive barriers behind the exposed areas instead of reinforcing the second wall. The walls behind the second wall were created to hinder that invading froce from moveing further, and causing more damage to the camps behind the second wall.

The destruction of the second wall cost the Rosuto forces one fourth of their supplies in ammunition. While they were able to conserve on food and water due to its abundance in the surrounding waters. Communication transmissions went back and forth between battle areas.

"Kira here, Tsukiko do you read me?" Noufu Kira said from the mirror used by his clansmen, since radios could not reach that far.

"Tsukiko here, what's up Kira?" Tsukiko asked her commrade once her face became clear on Kira's end.

"How goes the battle on your front?" Kira asked, he was performing a survey of all the battle fronts.

"The Rice Field forces were able to set up three barriers, we're at the second one, it seems that the serpent was able to pull a fast one of the world, he's got more firepower than intel suggested," Tsukiko reported.

"I see...Will you be needing some assistance? Juushu-sama is overseeing some bases built, and the like here in the souther front," Kira said.

"We need not resort to such a thing at this time, we're nearly through the second barrier as it is, landing will commence probably within the next month."

"Good to hear, well that's about it, unless you need something."

"We could use some more supplies, everything other than food and water is starting to run low."

"Affirmative, I read you loud and clear, I'll have some sent over to replenish your supplies, but it'll probably get there in about two to three months tops."

"Thats fine," Tsukiko said, "Well I got a battle to oversee, Tokage clan over and out."

"Talk to you later Tokage-dono."

Once the second wall had beem shattered to smitherines, the Rice Field forces knew when to retreat, but they left some of their people, as sacrifices, to hold back the impending landing of the invasion forces. By the time that the supplies arrived for the Rosuto forces, they were still locked out of the land area. Complete landing had yet to commence, but thanks to the arrival of the added ammunition, the boats were able to make short work of the defending forces.

Upon landing the Rosuto forces let loose the dogs of war, or in this case the wolves of war, along with the rocs. Orochimaru had decided to break contact with the northern border trusting them to hold that front, while he joined the Hi border attackers, as he believed that he needed some workout, he enlisted his protege to aid in the fighting down there.

The third and last wall, had no choice but to further fortify themselves, seeing as the last wall, was the last line of defense against the invading army. An army that had already landed, and were busy setting up a campsite of their own. Unloading troops and supplies, while making strategies and plans on how to deal with the last obstacles in their quest of entering the country officially.

The Rosuto forces decided that since the wall was inland somewhat, they would be able to use the cannons on the ships to minimal effect. Which resulted in the decision to use regular shells to add some indentations to the wall.

The wall had received an updrade, it had a double layer of metal, as well as a triple layer of wood. The mounted turrets were littered all over the top of it, with soldiers carrying their launchers on either side of the turrets, ready to fire on any suspicious character that made to even touch the wall.

"New plan," Yoshiko announced to the gathered officers, her mother leaving her in charge of the operation while she saw to the needs of the fleet, "We will be using the rocs to drop some of our people on the other side of the wall."

"What will that accomplish?" an officer questioned.

"By placing our people on that side, they will be vulnerable to attack, they will be looking for a frontal assult not a backstabbing attack from their flank," she supplied, "Once we have confirmation of a commencement of attacks from the inside, we begin scaling the wall. Our new goal is not to destroy the wall, but to get over and into the rest of the country, leaving most of the wall intact."

"What do you mean by most of the wall?" another officer asked.

"Parts of the wall, once we have taken control of it, will be converted into gates that will allow our people to get inside, instead of being used to keep us out, we will use their wall to keep them in."

"We'd be caging them in further," an officer observed.

"Precisely, but once we do get control with the wall, we will await further instructions from command."

"Hai."

The rocs had one rider, but carried in its talons a speed boat that had been converted into a cargo hold, one that would instead of just supplies, would also hold people. Once the boats were filled with people and supplies, the rocs took to the skies, way above the clouds, and over the wall, dropping off their loads, and flying back over the walls to base camp. The boats dropping to the ground with parachutes to make sure that the descent would be slow enough. The rocs flew over at night, to make sure that they and their precious cargo was not found out.

Once the Rosuto forces had made camp on the other side of the wall, they swiftly made preparations for storming the wall. Alongside the people were the wolves, ready to bring the soldiers into the camps near the walls, ready to tear into the flesh, muscles, and bones of the defenders.

They were not armed with launchers or any kind of modern or advanced technology, the soldiers had opted to go in light. They had light weight armor, leather armor mostly, along with blades, bows, and arrows, to be used in the fighting. They all knew how to use them, and they all knew what their objective was. They had their orders, all that remained to be done was to commence the actual attack.

The flank of the defending forces had no sentries, no defence at all to speak of, there weren't any traps either. It seemed that they truly did not expect to be attacked from their flanks, assuming that beyond the vegetation was only rice fields and their homes. But they were wrong.

Stealth was used greatly by the invaders, the wolves were an asset in that regard, as they were predators to the core, they stalked their prey, with s soldier or two on their backs. Silently blending into the shadows of the night, amongst the plants, and the rocks. The sky added some more cover for the invading forces, as the stars and the moon were blocked out by clouds themselves. Dark clouds filled the already dark sky.

As the Rosuto forces moved ever closer to the camps, they noticed something moist land on their faces. It had started to rain. This was something that they could use to their advantage, their enemy would not be expecting an attack in such weather, as not only rain hit them, but winds. A storm had been brewing, and it seemed that it had decided to begin.

The torrential downpour, and the stormy winds, added more cover for the approaching army of invaders. The defenders that were not on the wall were retreating to their shelters in preparation for the continuation of the storm. The winds were strong enough to deter and aerial strike, and they were also strong enough to keep cannon shells at bay, not that the Rosuto forces were planning on using such things in their present course of attack.

Beyong the wall, along the beach, the Rosuto camp knew that the attack on the inside was about to begin. They knew to expect something to occurr, so they prepared their troops, and when all were ready they set off in the direction of the wall, leaving enough people in the camp to look like they were still there in case some scouts were sent out to observe them. Even though the Rosuto forces knew that that was not the case, it was still better to be safe than to be sorry.

Each group stalked the wall camp in the night, slowly yet steadily making their way towards their goal. They prowled in the night, and even in the day, setting up their positions, the dark clouds overhead continuing to pour floodloads of rain, and the winds continued to blow ever stronger. The storm that had appeared had apparently decided to watch the massacre that was sure to take place.

Without anyone out watching the camps, the Rosuto infiltrators rushed into the camp, making their way to the tents. When all of those assigned to the tents were in place, the others, the ones left in the foliage, went about their assigned task. Which was to shake the camp up, sowing a little bit of confusion and chaos into the minds of their enemy.

Explosions rocked the camp, the turrets on the wall were made to face inwards instead of outward, the defenders on the wall, rushed down to see what was happening in the camps. There was a need to know what had occurred. When they arrived, they were met with jaws filled with incisors.

Once the turrets faced inward, the Rosuto forces on outside, the ones that had planned on scaling the wall, began their wall scaling plan. Launching grappling hooks, and pushing up ladders, they made their way onto the walls, killing the turret operators before they were noticed.

They descended from the top of the wall killing all that opposed them in the process, leaving not a single man or woman alive. When the rest of the defenders realized what was happening it was almost too late. But what could they do, they had already been infiltrated. But due to the severity of the consequences of allowing the invaders to continue on to the rest of their beloved country, they decided that even if they were to die, they would be taking a lot of their enemy with them to the afterlife.

The retaliation of the defenders was a vicious one, they knew that they were going to die, so they decided to die fighting. They all entered some kind of berserker state, and just jumped into the fray not caring how much damage they were receiving, all that mattered was that they battered the invading army. They went for suicide attacks, while at the same time taking out a sizeable chunk of the attackers.

When Tsukiko and Yoshiko decided to enter the battle, they used their own blend of teamwork against the defenders. They weaved in and out of battle, taking off heads left and right, with their four Katanas, not bothering slash or simply strike any other part of the bodies of the defenders.

Some of the defenders realized the importance of the two women, as a lot of the invaders were making sure that most of the defenders were unable to really make it difficult for the two women to go about slaughtering the defending forces. These people that noticed that importance of the two women strengthened their resolve to take down as much of the invading army as possible. Their main target were the two women. If even one of them were taken out of commision, then the invaders would lose some morale.

The defenders were somehow able to signal their allies into converging on the pair of women. Attacks growing faster and stronger as each man and woman realized what their targets represented. The Rosuto forces were not too quick to notice the change in the battle atmosphere, until it was too late. The two women were surrounded, their protectors dead around them, and they were surrounded on all sides by the defending army of Rice Field Country.

The two women realizing that they were stranded in the midst of a helluva lot of the defenders defended each other as best as they could, which was saying a lot considering that they were vastly outnumbered. Katanas flashing in the light of the lightning, heads rolled or flew off of shoulders. Still the defenders advanced, brandishing their weapons, and blindly attacking, not caring if they died, all that mattered was that they take they lives of the two women that were fighting for their very lives against the odds.

The Rosuto mages were the last to go over the wall, they were also the last to enter the fray, not finding much opposition, they were also the first ones to notice their commanders being surrounded and assulted by the defending forces. The ones closest in position to their leaders charged up the magic that they held control over, and charged up attacks which they then sent in the direction of their foes, those that would dare try and harm the Rosuto Royal Family.

Some of the other mages notified the rest of the ground forces on what they was occurring, this news made the invaders themselves grow bloodthirsty. When the battle first began they were simply following orders, as well as believing in the cause of their superiors, and rulers. But now, due to the decision of their enemies, they found a reason to become more violent, no one singled out the Royals of Rosuto no Kuni at any time and at any place that a Rosuto citizen was also present in.

The defenders realized too late that their strategy had in some way backfired on the, but even though they knew that their time was almost up, and that they would not be able to really take out a considerable number of their foes, they knew that they still had a chance of crippling their enemy by taking out the two important women that were surrounded by them.

No matter how many heads were separated from bodies, they just kept coming. It was as if the sea had turned into people and had decided to try and swallow them up in the waves, send them underwater, and drown them painfully. Tsukiko and Yoshiko were finding it harder and harder to keep fighting, when they were not allowed any form of rest from the constant attacking and defending that they had to continously peform. They were battling for their life, but such was war, an experience that they had thought that they had long forgotten. It had been roughly one thousand years since they had experienced such a battle. The warriors of this new age did not seem to have what it took to be a match for the war veterans of a thousand years ago. But it seemed like they two women just had the bad luck of finding an entire nest of the beastrs.

They concentrated on defending one another, when one decapitated a soldier, the other defended from any attacks. All four blades moved as one, but they did not know for how much longer they would be able to keep up their attack and defend tandem.

The mages positioned on the wall were doing all they could, but it seemed as if there were just too many defenders converging on that one spot. They may have been concentrated, but he magic died out every twenty people or so, and there were still a few hundred more.

The invaders try as they might could not go any closer to their leaders without losing a limb or a life, each case being a terrible loss to the army, it also greatly lowered morale a lot. The invaders were losing, and they didn't know how long they had been fighting, the storm hadn't let up, and it was chaos.

Left, rght, and center, lives were being lost, on all sides of the conflict. Who knew that the Rice Field troops could be so ferocious in battle. The Oto-nins remembering what they were turned to tide of victory in favor of Rice Field country, when they started using ninjutsu on the invaders. Elemental Jutsu were being flung here and there. Fire and all the rest were being used to down scores upon scores of Rosuto troops.

The mages were being forcefully thinned out, their numbers quickly dwindled with every shinobi that rememebered his or her training. The mages had poor defenses against such attackers, they were long ranged fighters, which was why they stayed away from the close combat fighters, and decided to stick to the wall as much as possible, raining down death from above.

But they did not count on the Oto-nins to remember their training, and employ it in repelling the attackers. The Rosuto forces appeared to be losing, their chancse of winning steadily going down with each mage killed, and each platoon of troops taken out of commission. But the biggest blow was dealt when someone was finally able to pierce the flesh of both the female commanders.

When each woman was struck, it seemed like friend and foe alike knew that the blow had been dealt. As each woman fell to the ground, their strength finally leaving them, everyone felt it. The feeling coursing through them lasted for but a moment, but to the Rosuto forces, it seemed to last for nearly an eternity. All of the Rosuto forces visible turned to the direction where the two strongest fighters amongst them fell to the ground, for all intent and purposes dead to the world.

They did not know what to do, their apparent distraction and loss of will to fight, encouraged the defenders to attack, gathering strength from the apparent weakness and unwillingness to fight of the invaders. The mages started to power down, and all the invaders seemed to lose the will to go on. They had failed their commanders, they had failed their country, they had failed themselves.

The defenders that had converged around the two women had spread out to take out the rest of the invading force, believing that the two women were down for the count, that they were no longer a threat, that they were no longer alive, and if they were the attacks on their persons, as well as the stress and the fatigue of the battle were far too much of a strain for them to handle, and that if the blow hadn't already killed them, they would die due to everything else instead.

The storm above the battlefield grew more intense after blows that downed the two women were dealt, none of the two forces noticed it. The defenders were too empowered by such an actions that they were too busy butchering defenseless Rosuto troops to notice the anger that emanated from the storm that presided overhead. The Rosuto forces were in turn too busy in their lack of life, in their loss of the will to fight to notice the monster that was looming overhead, they were also too busy dying to notice anything else, but the feeling of the blows that their side had received.

No one of the battlefield noticed the intensification of the storm overhead. Lightning and thunder clashed against one another. The lightning gaining a seemingly life of their own, visibly doing battle with the thunder that also seemed to have gained a life of their own. The storm clouds grew ever darkers, the rain growing more and more by each passing moment. It was as if the oceans of the world were pouring down on the battlefield. The winds from simply being strong were gaining power and intensity, in some part around the battlefield tornadoes began to form and touch down on the ground.

Following the intensification of the storm, the earth beneath the feet of the two opposing forces began to tremble, at first weak but as each moment passed, grew in intensity. In some places, under the wall even, some cracks began to form. The earth began to split beneath everyone's feet. Something was splitting the earth apart.

From the cracks in the earth, putrid gas began to seep out, this was the only time that both sides noticed that something was indeed wrong. Some of the defenders that were able to breathe in the gas immediately succumbed to their effects, which was instant death. Their lives instantly drained from them, their essenses flowing out of their bodies to join the countless others that had died in the months that had passed since the declaration of war.

But when any of the Rosuto troops inhaled the gas, none of them succumbed to the same fate as the defending forces. Instead, they were revitalized somewhat, which allowed some of them to make their way towards the downed forms of their commanders. Those that were able to make their way close enough to check for a pulse, were able to find one, a pulse that is. Their leaders were alive, information which they announced to their commrades, which made morale rise.

But the battle did not commence anew, the Rosuto forces knew that they had won, they also knew that the defenders were as good as dead. For even though they were unable to defend their commanders, someone else had arrived just in time to do such protecting.

After the gas had taken more than three fourths of the lives of the Rice Field defenders, molten rock started to seep out of the cracks, boiling, burning, and consuming all in its path, taking bodies of the fallen into its eembrace, forever to be consumed, and made to fuel the fires of the world.

The remaining forces of Rice Field were gathered up by the Rosuto troops, as if compelled by some otherworldly force to do so, which in a way it was. The elements that had gone crazy, and chaotic over and under the battlefield converged on one spot, they coelaced and began to take shape, to form something that looked human. Then when all the elements had taken a solidified form, the heavens could be seen overhead. The winds were calm, and the cracks in the earth were filled. The stars shown brightly in the night sky, and a vision on the moon smiled.

The solidified visage, the solidified figure, the being that had risen from the combination of all the elements present had been formed right in front of the two unconscious forms of the mother and daughter pair. Rosuto Juushu was on the scene, and he did not look pleased.

"I hope that next time, I will not have to intervene in such a battle, my wife and step-daughter are not so weak as to fall prey to such a meager attack," Juushu scolded his troops, especially with the tone his voice took, "They cannot be killed so easily, and you men and women of Rosuto no Kuni are no so weak yourselves that you would really lose to such a pathetic bunch of insects."

"We...its just that..well...they seemed to be so invincible...seeing them fall...it was like a crushing blow.." one of the soldiers said.

"I know, but instead of wallowing in the self pity and disappointment, you should have used the experience to strengthen yourselves, not stand around idly by, and allowed your allies to fall defenseless at the blade of your attackers."

"Forgive us, Rosuto-sama," the soldiers more or less all said, their heads bowed in shame.

"Forgiven," Juushu said, "Tend to the wounded, and one of you remind them that they are not as immortal as I."

"Hai, Rosuto-sama."

Juushu then turned away from his forces and faced the remaining members of the defenders, these people that were at the moment trembling in their boots, shaking in fear and of fright. They did not know what fate awaited them, as the gaze of a monster landed on them all. It was as if a whole world's worth of people and power were gazing down on them disappointed at them, and seeing their worth plummet down to negative infinity. They knew then and there that there was no hope for redemption, that there was absolutely no way in heaven, purgatory, the crossworlds, or hell, that they would be leaving the battlefield alive. They knew that leaving the battlefield was the only option that they had, and that no matter what, they would have to take it, no matter what other choices they wished to have. The only question that remained was that if they would be able to actually pass on, or if their very souls would be burned by the being of fury and contempt that was staring right at them, his gaze not only lingering, but boring a hole through their very souls.

Rosuto Juushu was not happy to find out that his wife and step-daughter could have been mortally wounded, had he not given them a significant portion of his luck. He was not delighted to see their unconscious bodies lying on the muddy ground. The ground which had been flooded by the tears of the heavens, and the blood of the children of the earth. There was nothing good about seeing his own wife almost face down on the ground, and those that were committed to defending her were doing nothing but looking on, looking completely lost. But now that he was faced with some of the people responsible for her state of being, now that they were about to die out of fear, he did not know how to properly proceed.

So instead of exacting revenge in a manner befitting his station, he decided that he would simply feed them to the wolves, allowing only their heads to be able to move, while the rest of their bodies were paralized.

"Enjoy your meal, my direwolves, by not halting in your attack, you have earned this reward," Juushu said calling out to the wolves, "Leave not a bone intact, or left, the only remnants of their corpses that I want to be left are anything that comes out of your asses."

As Juushu walked away he could hear the screams of men and women, crying out in the night, calling out for help, receiving none, and ultimately giving into the cold embrace of the shinigami. Juushu simply walked away, and was blown away into dust by the wind, carrying him back to the south of Hi no Kuni.

After Juushu left, and the two commanders were laid down on a bed, the wall was secured, and gates were forcefully formed into it. The supplies were brought in, along with the rest of the troops that were left outside.

The plan of attack was being formed by the officers that remained, the invading force was fewer in number, but they were still strong. They had their resolve, they would destroy the serpent that saw himself as a god, that saw himself as an immortal, one that cared not for the lives of others. There was still some land ahead of them, a few innocents that need not be pulled into the war. They needed a plan of action.

Having enough scouts to scour the land, the officers decided to send a few of them out to survey the land, and to see how to proceed, if there were any bases or the like scattered around the land. Intelligence reports gathered said that Orochimaru had a fondness for not keeping all of his things in one place at the same time, having his things separated, and spread out in order for not all the things to be compromised. The officers of the Rosuto army needed to know where the locations were, and what they held, as well as locations of innocents, or those worth saving. Then there was the number of troops at the Land of Rice Field's daimyou's disposal. There was an innumerable number of things that were needed to be known. Due to the number of unknowns encountered in the entry battles, the officers decided to utilize more caution. Intelligence was half the battle as it were, and they wanted to win.

It took a few weeks for the scouts to return with whatever intelligence they were able to gather. There were nine bases scattered around the countryside, three of which help prisoners, which was another way of saying experiments or future experiments, test subjects and the like. The other bases held the Oto-nins that were in reserve, as well as some facilities that varied depending on the base. The scouts were also able to find an actual Otogakure no Sato. Orochimaru was apparently one who constantly strived and sought out knowledge, this proved to be an asset to his people as there was a great library in the city-like hidden village. There was a populace to match the size of the village, but there were no fighters in it. It seemed as if all the fighters were in two places, the first place was the northern border, or what was left of it that could still be deemed to be under the direct control of Rice Field. The other half, or more like third, of the Rice Field fighters were battling it out with the Northern Hi no Kuni defenders.

All of Orochimaru's finest were at the southren parts of Rice Field, they were battling it out with Hi no Kuni, killing, maiming, and simply destroying all that could be destroyed over there. One of the scouts went so far as to swear that that was where Orochimaru had holed himself in. The battle between Rice Fields and Fire was being fought personally by Orochimaru and his strongest forces, one of whom was Uchiha Sasuke.

The Land of Rice Fields truly was a land filled with rice fields, there were a number of patties almost in every place in the country. Rice was a staple food in the country, and there were clearly a lot of people that were sustained by the production of rice.

The officers decided that for once they needed their enemies to remain strong, so they would not be sabotagin the food source of the nation, and would be avoiding the patties as much as possible, along with the civilians that had really nothing to do with the monstrosity that is Orochimaru.

The army had to be divided, there was just not enough diversity to come up with a more complex and workable attack plan, a more staged or layered battle plan. The officers had come up with plans revolving around dividing the remainder of the army into nine groups, each group would be incharge of relieving Orochimaru of his bases of operations. The Hidden Village would also be relieved, but not after the bases. Military strength of a madman came first before anything else, including texts of knowledge.

Each group was given an equal number of human troops, rocs, crocs, wolves, and everything else. The officers divided themselves amongst the groups, leaving a few to remain by the wall. Their commanders had yet to get back to fully healed condition, apparently the fighting had worn them out far too much.

Due to the battles that they had so far faced, the Rosuto contingent had gained much experience, they were now more adept at fighting in a relatively unknown land. Their officers had given then the duty of infiltrating the known bases of operation of Orochimaru's faction. Once inside they were to salvage any salvageable materials, resources, information, and people that they could find. Should nothing come up that would be of use to them, or should no one be found that should be allowed to live, the soldiers were tasked with the eradication and destruction of all else that lay within.

As much as possible all the troops were to come out of the exercise alive and well, complete with all body parts, and mental functions. They were permitted to expend all their available resources, but only if nescessary. They were given their time limits, within which they would operate and obtain their objectives. There was nothing left stopping them from moving forward.

Once all of the bases had been infiltrated and all the nine groups had succeeded in their dealings, they were to meet up at the Hidden Village, and assess the situation, and see if the village was worth attacking or not. For all intents and purposes that village could be a home of neutrals, such a side, while not needed in a war, did not need to be attacked, but rather needed to be watched. Should there be any that did not wish to join the fighting whatsoever, or those that did not deserve to be caught in the fray, they were going to be extracted similar in fashion to what had occurred in Konoha.

The first group made it safely to the first base that was assigned. It was hidden underground, which unlike the country's hidden village, really was hidden. Infiltration was easy as anything easy, there were no defenses, there were no traps, there was nothing special about the base at all. When the rest of the troops made their way into it, they noticed something strange. For a base of operations it was rather empty, even the mages thought that it was barren, and they scanned the place for anything hidden or not, and yet nothing was found.

But there were some signs of equipment and the like having previously being housed in the base, but there was also evidence that it had recently been moved out. The initial reports about each base was that they had something of value to the highest higher up in the land, as there were some people seen moving around, and going in and out of the facility. But by the looks of things they were moving things out, one sealing scroll at a time.

Due to the emptiness of the base, they decided to simply blow it up, its value skyrocketting downward at every turn. They found absolutely nothing inside of the hidden facility that was of use to them. So the mages and some soldiers set up their explosives in places that would bring the house down more efficiently than simply dropping them all in one place. When all preparations were complete, they left the base and moved a few meters away from the mouth.

If there was one thing these soldiers was, it was mortal, being such they were relatively imperfect as opposed to those that had gained some form of enlightenment. Due to their previous battles one would think that they would have exercised more caution, and made sure to always be on high alert in enemy territory. But like many mortals, their faults had a tendency to bite them in their rears when they least expected it.

They may have checked for traps within the hidden facility, but they had failed to check for traps in the surrounding area. Traps that would detonate or activate once the facility had been breached by unauthorized persons. The soldiers didn't know what hit them, as they watched the underground base get blown sky high, they too experienced a similar event.

There were ambushed as they were celebrating their victory, small as it were. They were swiftly assulted by creatures that they did not expect to have the ability to move at the speeds that they were moving. Sure the Land of Rice Fields was one of the nations that held within its borders an abundant diversity of shinobi, chakra users, and the like for even her samurai had the ability to manipulate this latent energy to a degree.

The monsters that sprung out of the ground were made entirely of stone, powered by crystalized chakra placed deep within their chests, they were human in appearance, or they would have looked the part had they not been made entirely of what they were made of. Where eyes should have been there was nothing, simply blackness, but the Rosuto forces knew one thing, then and there, it was time to fight for their lives.

The main attackers and defense of the the group were the mages with their vast knowledge on manipulating the elements to doing their bidding. These golems of stone were no match for the conventional weapons that the soldiers were armed with, and there was not enough space for their avian comrades to help crush the constructs, without harming one of their own in the process.

Aside from the mages, the crocs were able to be of some help as they bashed away the golems with a swing of their mighty tails. But still it was not enough to even shatter the golems. Trial and error would not work in this situation as it was one beyond their limited ability and control. They simply had to keep fighting until someone figured out a plan of action.

The mages with their love for logic had forgotten the other aspect of their craft which was the use of their imaginations, the use of the power of creation. Creativity was one of the reasons why magic was more powerful than conventional weaponry, as it did not nescessarily have to conform to the definitions and structures that had been formed through the centuries. Belief is a powerful thing, coupled with imagination, and magic, there was a lot of things that could be done. But these battle hardened mages had no time to dwell on such things, they simply stuck to what they knew, that the earthen element had a weakness, and they were using it to no advantage.

"If the usual wont work why not usea neutral!" one of the soldiers shouted to the nearest mages before having to roll out of the way of a descending fist.

Teleporting out of the way a mage that heard the suggestion decided that if direct assults on their beings was not doing much othere than slow them down, then the indirect approach might prove useful. The mage from high above a golem, standing on a platform of air levitated a nearby boulder and had it drop on top of the golem. The result was that cracks were visibly forming along some part of the golem's head, which was the most damage any of the fifty of the lot that were attacking had sustained. The Rosuto forces were able to not lose a member of their unit so far and due to the most recent success, they were able to do a bit more than just run and dodge.

Once the other mages witnessed what had happened they decided to follow suit with a similar mode of attack. Half of them recalling that they had the ability to teleport not only themselves, but also other things and people, got their people out of the way and placed them on the backs of the rocs in the air. The crocs need not be protected as they were doing fine as they were. The wolves were boosted in their speed and were made to run as fast as they could away from the following golems.

With all friendlies out of the way, the mages dropped chunks of the base that they had just blown up on the golems. Being larger in size, the sizeable chunk did more than just crack the hardened shells of the attacking golems.

Then there were those few mages that remembered their training, their lessons in gravity manipulation. Using this knowledge they held the golems in place. While some others either dropped chunks of debris on the unsuspecting golems, or forcibly crushed them with pressure, air pressure and the like, until all that was left were dust particles.

Once the fighting had ended, the troops were rewarded by the sight of the crystalized chakra that powered the golems, they had found something of note. Collecting all the pieces, and due to the battle and brutality of the golems, they discovered that there were some defective ones still hidden underground, there were even some that had stopped half way out of the ground. Fortunately for the invaders, these others had not activated properly, had they joined the fray, the Rosuto forces would have to deal with a lot more things, and would have probably lost more lives in the process of escape. The golems only looked human, but they were huge monstrosities, had there been more than a hundred of the things running around, then the Rosuto forces were sure to not have the ability to even fight back.

While the first group made their way to the designated meeting point, the second group were busy having the time of their lives as well. Their base happened to be full of inmates, meaning that their target was none other than a prison. The prisoners being people that were against Orochimaru, the former daimyou, test subjects, some failed test subjects, pathetic experiments, and simply people that had yet to be used by Orochimaru in any way at all. The local guard was the best find that they could encounter in the whole facility, not only was she against Orochimaru, but she was also a sensor, a chakra sensor, one with the ability to track people down with by the flow of their chakra, that and help others regain their lost chakra.

The Noufu assigned to their group had received some information from the first group, the second group had arrived just after the first group had leftthe site of their target. As the second group was still in their planning stage, and had yet to move to engage, or whatever they decided to call it, their target they were able to send out some of the troops to survey the surrounding area for any traps of any kind. It was truly a better safe than sorry strategy.

After a weeks of searching, scanning, and scouring the surrounding area, no one was able to find anything that was in any way truly hostile or would be a danger to the Rosuto group. As they knew that the base was a prison facility, they sent in the wolves to assess the inside, accompanying them would be some of the Noufu, so that there would be some form of communication between the infltration squad and the outside troops.

Getting in was easy, hiding in plain sight was also easy, the infiltrators took note of the number of cells that they had found, the number of rooms that there were, and the number of prisoners that could be seen still alive in the place. There were so many of them, not all of them looked anywhere near being worthy of staying in such a hell hole.

They knew that sooner or later they would be found out, but that was the reason why only the Noufu were sent to go with the expeditionary force of direwolves. After a few hours one of the teams was found out. An alarm was sounded and some of the prisoners were given the choice of fighting the intruders or simply dying. The warden was still under the impression that Orochimaru would be coming to see how things were doing, she was not aware of the intentions of the intruders, and the prisoners, the ones that were let out of their cells, couldn't care less as the only thing on their mind was survival.

"Noufu Yamada here, we need back up, we've been found, the wolves are holding out as good as they can, but even the wolves big as they are wont be able to last much longer," the communications guy of the spotted team reported to the troops outside.

The troops reacted instantly to the report, gathering their armaments they rushed into the facility, armed to the teeth with paralyzing substances and weapons. They were going in for the kill, not literally as they needed the people to talk and to chose a side. Rosuto or death. They struck the first blow, neutrality was no longer an option.

As they entered the building they simply began their attack once they found a target. Grabbing onto a wolf some of the soldiers were able to move a whole lot faster, and hit more prisoners than they would have been able to while running on foot. The Noufu members coordinated with one another leading the second wave of Rosuto troops around the base.

When all was said and done, the Rosuto forces had captured all of the prisoners, and had brought them out into the world, where they summarily tied them all up into bunches, and waited for whatever concoctions they used on them to wear out.

Then once people started waking up, and regaining the use of their bodily functions, they were fed some real food, and the like, they were brought back to near peak condition with the aid of the mages and the medics in the group. They needed to be sane, coherent and able to make decisions that they would stick with. As those would determine whether they lived or they died.

It took around two weeks for all the prisoners along with their warden to get back into some manner of what could be considered as good shape. Some had to be slapped awake for some reason, but all in all they were all awake and ready to make the decision that would either let them live or kill them, or both depending on future actions and choices.

"We are members of the Rosuto no Kuni army, and you lot have a choice to make," the officer of the unit spoke out clearly, "Either chose to join our ranks or join Orochimaru or Hi no Kuni."

"To clarify the difference between the two choices is this," another officer decided to elaborate or explain, "Either you join us in our quest for the destruction of Orochimaru and the further humiliation and possible destruction of Hi no Kuni, or join one of those two and well I'm sure a number of you get the picture."

"We die either way!" one of the prisoners shouted.

"You're just going to use us!" another one shouted.

"Either side is a fight waiting to happen!"

"What kind of choice is that!?"

"Choice? I see what you're trying to do, you want us to either serve you, remain prisoners or die!" one analytical prisoner stated.

"At least we're letting you chose whether or not to join us," one of the Rosuto solders said.

"Letting us? Letting us? You are forcing us in making our decision," one of the prisoners said.

"Fine, you want to think of it that way then you can just.." one of the soldiers whose patience was growing thin was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Incoming transmission from the Southern front!" Noufu Iro called out, all attention being directed at him.

"This is Noufu Kira, the Southern front is ours, I repeat the Southern front is ours! Hi has lost a fourth of its sum total of power!"

Cheers met the proclamation, some of the soldiers lost their impatience and simply cheered due to the victory of the forces led by their daimyou himself.

"Second, Konoha has fallen, but there is still some resistance left within, get in here!" Kira stated, "The western front is still at it, and the eastern movement has yet to land."

"What?!" one of the soldiers said, "What about the Northern border? Any word on that part?"

"Hi is losing ground, while Orochimaru is gaining, you guys better get there fast before the snake-man makes it to the Root of the problem before Rosuto-sama does!"

"We're still making some last minute decision making over here," one of the officers said.

"Well move it, just get to at least the border," Kira said, then asked, "Do you lot know how the Tokages are fairing? I've contacted the other groups and there is no word, base camp is out of range for some reason."

"Last we heard base camp was moving south, silence is the word, no need to be spotted, they're moving slowly in plain sight," the officer incharge informed the elder.

"Well as soon as you know of their condition contact us over here," Kira commanded, "Southern front over and out."

Once the transmission ended the Rosuto troops faced the prisoners once again.

"We'll make it easier," one of the soldiers said, "Join up with us, and in the future gain the possibility of simply walking away once the fighting ends, or join our enemies and see where that takes you."

"So its join up or die?"

"Either way we lose.."

"If you chose to join Orochimaru or Hi no Kuni, we will permit you to do so, but while you are still not committed to their side, but while you are still in the position that you in right now, no harm shall befall any of you, had we wanted to we could have just blown up the prison and killed all of you," the officer incharge informed the group of prisoners.

More than half of the prisoners decided to join the Rosuto forces including the warden, they were better off with people that had actually helped them get back on their feet in a way, than join the army of a madman that cared not for their wellbeing, or a country that did not bother to rescue them from their hell. These men and women that chose life were give some more comfortable clothes as well as some weapons to use in battle, as well as the standard first aid kit.

These new recruits were led away in the direction of the Hidden Village, while the wolves were left with those that had chosen the other side.

"I'll be unbinding you, as you have now chosen the side you wish to be on, it was your choice, once your bindings are removed you are free to go to your new masters," a lone mage in the area said, the wolves hidden in the shadows awaiting their turn, "When the binds have fallen you will be the enemies of Rosuto, be happy with your choice."

After the mage left them, the bindings did not come off, some of them believed that they were being left for dead, and while some of the shinobi sensed for the lone mage, and found that he was walking away and catching up with the rest of their unit.

"Looks like those soldiers really aren't going to come after us," one of the shinobi said, "I can't sense any hidden humans around."

"I can't either, but do you think we've been left to die here?" another asked.

"Probably, but that one guy said.." another said, but didn't get to finish his statement as the ties that bound them came off.

"Well what do you know, we're free to go, its not our war, we get to go our own way now."

Before any one else could say anything, they heard growls coming from the shadows around them. Soon the growls were accompanied by yellow eyes in the darkness, and since it was already dark, night had already set, there was no way for them to tell what was making that sound. They were so focused on the humans, that they failed to notice the wolves that were members of the army, they were not soldiers, but they were still Rosuto citizens. The promise was that they would be treated as the enemy, yet no harm would befall them as long as they remained tied.

Once freed from bondage they were free to go where they wished. But who said that life was fair, and that such things were easy. It was like learning how to run, first one had to learn how to roll before anything else. There were many steps, there were many obstacles in the way of progress. These former prisoners simply had to get away from the horse sized wolves that were prowling the night, waiting for the perfect chance to strike.

Some of the former prisoners decided that they were better off without the rest of the group, so they ran into the darkness, never to be heard from again. While some others decided to run back into the familiar surroundings of the prison, a place which would soon become their final resting places. While a bunch of them decided that there was safety in numbers and just stayed together in a group.

The growls suddenly stopped, the night grew silent, not a single sound could be heard, not even a cricket. None of the humans knew what to expect as they knew that in any area with a lot of vegetation is was unusual to find such a quiet place.

An explosion lit up the night sky, and the shockwave forced the people to drop to the ground, the explosion came from behind them, where once there was a prison, now there was nothing, the whole underground had come crashing down on all of those that had chosen to stay inside. Then the first blood curdling scream was heard, echoing in the dakrness, followed by another, and another. The final straw was when an arm fell from the sky all bloodied in the place that it had been separated from its body. It fell on the head of one of the grouped prisoners, it didn't fall down hard, but it fell, the person was knocked on his or her back, feeling around, the person grapsed the arm, and brought it to eye level, realizing what it was, as well as finally getting what kind of predicament they were in, the former prisoner screamed.

Upon hearing the scream come from within the group of people, the wolves rushed out of their hiding places and ripped into the grouped humans, tearing limb from limb, shattering and breaking bones. Blood flew everywhere, covering the ground in a crimson sheet, and the air being permeated by the stench of blood, gore, and death.

The rocs high above like vultures waiting for their turn, and at the same time like other birds of prey swooping down and taking apart those that had chosen to run. There were a few crocs waiting for some runners to try and cross nearby rivers, catching those that dared with their jaws, clamping down, and halving the humans even before a scream could escape them.

Once daybreak hit nothing was left in the area, there was absolutely no trace of anyone having died there. The shadows did another cleaning job, they swallowed up any of the remains that the beasts were unable to digest, every evidence of their having been there had been swallowed up by the shadows right before dawn arrived. They also had the pleasure of sending all the beasts back to their respective units, clean of any organic matter that did not belong to them.

The third group found a base, though not underground, it was situated as a village that posed as a bunch of farms. The technology that Orochimaru had been studying there was mostly about food, ingestible material that could prove problematic to people when swallowed. So, not food exactly, more like slow acting, and nigh undetectable poisoning. Food poisoning, the man was a snake, snake venom normally came from a bite which is done with a mouth. The snake man decided that he would be using the mouths of people, their hunger against them. His studies figured out how to make the poison do what he wanted it to do, what he didn't figure out was how to make people need the extra food. The snake man did not need to further survey the study as he had his lesser henchmen do the studies for him.

The initial intelligence that the scouts had provided stated that the village scientists had found a way around the making people starve first problem, they had found a way to spread the poisoning. Problem was that it worked so well, that they had managed to infect every living breathing entity in and around the village, excluding rats, insects, and any kind of bird.

More recent intelligence reports made by roc riders brought to light were that the village was no longer salvageable. It was the safety of the world at stake, and the third group was unlucky enough to be the ones that would save the world.

They needed advice, therefore they contacted the main force.

"Oto invasion group three, Southern front do you read me?" a Noufu clansman called over the mirror.

"I read you loud and clear, what's your situation?" another of the same clan answered.

"Base three infected with deadly disease, in need of strategy guidance in dealing with a poisonous zombie population boom, humans and any land animal, save for rats and insects."

"I'll patch you through to the Science Academy."

After several transfers from mirror to mirror, the third group of the Rice Field front were finally connected to the Science Academy.

"Rosuto no Kuni Science Academy how can we help you?" Noufu Yori, one of the few female scientists that were of the Noufu clan, specializing in science and science fiction, rather than communication, human resource and development.

"Yori, its Tem, third group in the Oto invasion, we've got a Resident Evil scenario, what would you suggest?" Noufu Tem said, his sister Yori was on the other end.

"Seriously? An RE scenario?"

"Just get us something to do, I'm not the scifi addict in the family."

"Fine, fine, I'll see what I can do, get an update of the situation."

While the third group waited, they sent out some aerial scouts to assess the present situation, see how the area was faring, as well as how much of it would have to be razed to the ground. The rocs flew over the area, and what they found was worse than what they had originally found during their first run through.

The disease had spread, and the poison spread had evolved and spread, changed, and upgraded into something far worse. Whatever the original protocol the poison followed to spread would remain unknown to the unit, as they did not really care about that, they weren't doctors, they weren't planning on treating it, they planned on destroying it.

The plants were infected, and some of them had begun to mutate. The roc riders had found a few plants that had grown larger, spewing gas at anything that passed within spewing distance from them.

After finding nothing else new, like birds spreading the disease, the roc riders decided to return to the base, which was a few hundred feet above sea level. The information was immediately passed on to the communications guys, specifically Tem.

"Yori! New situation!" Tem called out through the mirror.

"What is it? I was about to piece together something that you could do," Yori said.

"Mutated plants, and a greater spread, plus a new way of spread," Tem said.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter," Yori said.

"So...?"

"Napalm the place, the entire area, nuke it, raze it to the ground, scorch the earth, then salt it," Yori said.

"So..you want us to make the entire place a dead zone?" Tem asked.

"Pretty much," Yori said, "But make sure that the mages put up protective shielding, have them use their imagination, it wouldn't do for you lot to have to be roasted due to negligence."

"Got it! Group three over and out," Tem said.

After the mages put up the shields, and scanned for any infected nearby, the unit split up into smaller teams, two mages to a team. The roc riders once again took to the skies as they would be incharge of guiding the ground troops while they did their scorch the earth thing. Since they were tasked into turning the whole place into a dead zone, the crocs were made to go to all the water sources and force the water molecules to break down, the process that they used was to dump as much acid as they could spare into the water.

The roc riders had a second job to do while in the air, they were do drop fire bombs on the land once the ground crew were done cleansing what they could. It was a good thing that the entire area was in the middle of what once was a big crater, probably made by a meteorite that crash landed there.

"This is base camp calling all units," Tem said over the radio, "I repeat calling all units."

"Roc riders awaiting orders," the leader of the roc riders spoke into his radio.

"Croc corps ready for vaporization," the head diver spoke into his radio.

"Flame belchers ready," the rest of troops announced.

"Operation Bleach is a Go," Tem said over the radio, "I repeat, Operation Bleach is a Go."

They moved with brutal efficiency, taking out anyone and anything that was no longer human, regular plant, or animal in sight. The rice patties that surrounded the village too were torched. When the soldiers finally reached the village itself, they torched the place as best as they could. Then got out of their as fast as they could.

"Roc Riders drop your load," a Noufu ordered, "Drop your load."

Once the fire bombs started falling from the skies, and when they finally hit the ground, the explosions were so strong that even though the sky was clear, people from miles around could see the explosions, the burning and bright blaze was amazingly clear. If people thought that Fire country had the best when it came to fire, well they were wrong, as the Rosuto forces were able to super power some explosives, as well as chakra element powered explosive shells, and a number of other things. All in all the scorching of the earth was a success, the only thing remaining to be done was to salt the earth.

"Mages!" an officer called out, "Have the skies rain salt on the area."

"Hai!" was the response of the mages.

When the earth was salted making sure that no vegetation or any form of life would be able to grow and survive there, the Rosuto forces prepared to move out and head over to the predesignated meeting place. For one final time, the mages did a scan or sweep of the area for the poison as well as any signs of any remaining possible dispersal methods, luckily they found none. Unluckily however they found something that all the life within the crater was camoflauging.

The revelation of what lay beneath the soil caused the Rosuto troops to move quadruple time, they had to get out of there before things got worse. The thing that the mages found was a creature that lived underground and had been infected, but the poison had been neutralized somehow leaving the creature as non-carrier, but instead had been mutated into something else. The poison had melded with whatever the creature was which ended with the thing becoming a giant acidic slime monster.

To be continued...