Chapter 38 The Battle
A sound of marching feet filled the air as the army of cats marched though a large plain toward a small rise where thick woods marked the border between grass and Earth Country. In front of the woods was a line of defense if the cat broke though the line it would be a clean march to the main road heading into the Earth Village which was now the main base for the wolves. Standing at defense line was a large silver wolf with an old piece of black fabric over his one of his eyes. The cats where less than 50 yards away when they stopped in their tracks.
"The defenses are ready." said Kakashi as the pack leader Shikamaru walked up to him.
"Perfect." said Shikamaru as he looked out over the field. The huge army of cats where in the center with horses, bears and other species in support. "They are taking the bait."
"Yes, they will crash right into our lines and then you will hit them from the side with our main force." said Kakashi "I wish Anko was at my side during this."
"I am sure she was biting at the teeth to head out to fight." said Shikamaru "However she just gave birth to your son yesterday."
"She is a strong she-wolf." said Kakashi "How is Temari doing?"
"She is in charge of the defense of the pups and the old." said Shikamaru as he looked down "If this should fail she will pull everyone out and protect them."
"I see." said Kakashi as a load cry filled the air. Shikamaru and Kakashi looked up to see a large white bird.
"Is that one of Sai's birds?" asked Kakashi
"So it would seem." said Shikamaru "This is unexpected."
"How does this change things?" asked Kakashi
"It doesn't we will rip into the enemy and kill all those cats." stated Shikamaru as he turned his back on the battlefield.
High above the battlefield Naruto stood on the back of one of Sai's inc birds.
"That is a lot of people." said Naruto as he looked down at the massive number of cats, wolves, dogs and other creatures all ready for battle.
"And you will be all alone on the ground." said Sai
"Maybe after people are cured they will join me." said Naruto
"Maybe but you will be alone on the ground for the moment." said Sai
"Well if it saves even one life it will be worth it." said Naruto as the bird arced over the forest before lowering itself toward the ground.
"What is that?" asked Konohamaru as the tiger man stood beside his lord
"Naruto." growled Sasuke as the bird came in low letting a figure drop down in the middle of the battlefield between the cats and the wolves. What Sasuke was expecting to see was a fox form Naruto however that wasn't what greeted him. Standing there dressed in a jonnin outfight that seemed just a little too small for him was a mostly human Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze.
"What the?" asked Kakashi as he looked at his former student. A blonde fox tail moved from a hole in his pants and two blonde fox ears poked out of head, his finger nails where no longer claws but where sharpened and his eyes where silted like a fox.
Naruto took a deep breath as he looked out at the surprised faces of the cat army. A few seamed familiar as people he had worked with years ago but now there was nothing but hate in their eyes.
"Sasuke!" yelled Naruto as he stood there.
"So the little fox wants to fight one on one." said Sasuke to Konohamaru.
"Sir shall I order the army to attack." asked Konohamaru
"No….I will kill him myself." said Sasuke as he moved forward.
Naruto took a deep breath as he prayed that Sasuke would come forward maybe if he fought Sasuke one on one his army would stand there and watch. All the while the cure would be descending on them from above. His prayers where answered when a large black Panther man walked out of line of cats.
"You called Dead last." said Sasuke
"It ends now Sasuke." said Naruto
"Please like you could hurt me little fox." said Sasuke "I am surprised that you would face me in that form."
"I am human and I will fight as one." Said Naruto
"Please, human?" laughed Sasuke "Even if you look at least partly human you are still an animal, everyone is. All this virus did was bring out the animal that was already within."
"And you are going to be king of the animal people?" asked Naruto "Is that what you want for your life?"
"It is better than being an imprisoned human in the leaf with you coming everyday to cheer me up and try to show me the proper path." said Sasuke "So Tsunade and the pink bitch found a cure even if it isn't total?"
"It is the best they can do and I am happy to have this much of my humanity back." Said Naruto as Sasuke walked ever closer to him, the nearly eight foot tall Sasuke towered over the six and a half foot Naruto. From a quick glace it looked like a it would be a one sided fight, Sasuke had much larger muscles, height, weight and had razor sharp claws and a mouth full of teeth. However Naruto just stood their defiantly and ready to take on whatever came his way.
High above their heads Sai opened up the valve on the canisters letting the airborne version of the cure begin to spread across the battlefield. However due to the small amount of each cure Sai could carry there was no real noticeable effect on the armies maybe a few extra hairs fell but nothing more, the only one to even notice anything was yards away from the front lines. Temari was holding her and Shikamaru's youngest daughter Ami. She was the smallest and the weakest of their three pups and was slow in growing. Most pups are walking if not running by six months but it took Ami a year to just take her first steps. Maybe because she was so weak and need so much protection that she was Temari's favorite, she was always beside her and she was the first to notice that one of her teeth had fallen out along with a clump of her blonde fur fell off her leg.
"Temari is something wrong?" asked Anko as she walked up carrying a small silver pup in her arms.
"Nothing….just worried about my mate." said Temari
"I see." said Anko
Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke where just standing there looking at each other sizing each other up. Finally Sasuke's claws shot out of the covering inside his fingers, the claws raked across Naruto's chest as blood poured out of his chest.
"Too Easy." said Sasuke as Naruto fell down his chest covered with blood.
"Don't count me out yet." said Naruto as blood poured out of his mouth as he smiled. "Did you forget I am human?"
Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. The next thing he knew was Naruto's fist hitting the right side of his face sending him stumbling a bit.
"Damn you Naruto." said Sasuke as Naruto stood there in a stance toughing Sasuke. "You may have strength and size but I have speed and I can do this."
Naruto quickly ran you hand signs "Air style air bullet."
A stream of chakra laced chakra jetted though the air hitting Sasuke in the chest cutting apart Sasuke's chest, the black fur was now stained with blood. Even with the wounds that would have sent a normal ninja to the hospital and out of the fight Sasuke remained standing.
"So you can do some justus don't you remember we over ran the leaf in a little over a day." Stated Sasuke
"You did that for four reasons, first you had the element of surprise we had no idea what we were dealing with….now we do." started Naruto "Second you where already inside our defensives when you attacked, third you could turn us and you can't turn me and lastly you where faster and stronger than us however."
Right before Sasuke's eyes Naruto bolted across the field hitting Sasuke in the gut.
"When we turned back we kept the speed in strength." said Naruto as Sasuke tried to run his claws though Naruto's body only to miss him by inches as Naruto back flipped away Sasuke.
"Just for your information that was using no chakra." said Naruto
"I will crush you." growled Sasuke
"Bring it on pussy cat." said Naruto with a grin as he showed his pointed fox fangs.
Miles away from the battlefield Sakura stood beside Kiba waiting for any sign of Sai which would bring a report on Naruto. Suddenly Sai appeared out of the sky before landing in the clearing.
"I need a fresh change out." ordered Sai as the bird landed on the ground. Instantly Sai drooped the empty canisters of cure while Kiba and Sakura loaded new one's on.
"Sai how is Naruto-kun?" asked Sakura
"He is doing good." answered Sai as they finished putting on the second set of three cure canisters.
Meanwhile Sasuke kept trying to rip Naruto apart but any time he got close it was either just out of reach or nothing more than a clone.
"Fight me Naruto?" yelled Sasuke as Naruto once again slipped out of his reach.
"I am." said Naruto
"No….you are running." snapped Sasuke as Naruto grinned
"Really because I thought I was doing ninja 101, use your strengths against your enemies weakness." said Naruto as he ran up hitting Sasuke's right side before pulling back. "I am a lot faster then you."
"On two legs yes." said Sasuke as he got down on all fours looking more and more like a giant black cat then even a human cat hybrid. Suddenly Sasuke leapt forward at speeds that caused Naruto's eyes to widen as Sasuke jumped on top of him claws and fangs out. Naruto hit the ground hard as Sasuke landed on top of him his front claws digging into Naruto's shoulder and his back claws digging into Naruto's legs.
"I win." growled Sasuke as he opened his mouth to show his long cat fangs.
"No you don't!" yelled a second Naruto as he appeared out of the ground before slamming a kunai in the side of Sasuke's neck. Instantly Sasuke jumped back grabbing his know bleeding neck.
"A shadow clone?" asked Sasuke as he ripped the kunai out of his neck, due to the large amount of mussel around his neck it wasn't deep enough to cause death or even a fatal wound but it bad enough to cause a lot of pain.
"Ya. I planned to set a little trap." said Naruto as he stood up blood rolling down the deep claw marks in his arms and legs. "However saving my skin is more important."
Meanwhile Shikamaru and Kakashi along with pretty much every wolf, dog, cat and other creature were watching.
"For a human Naruto is doing pretty well." said Kakashi
"Yes, however do you notice that the right wing of Sasuke's army is now standing directly in front of the trap." said Shikamaru as Kakashi looked away from the battle and toward where a small patch of trees hid the wolf made path around the defensives and into the enemy flanks.
"If we strike now we could get half their army flat footed." said Kakashi
"More like a third but it would even the odds greatly." Said Shikamaru as he looked at Kakashi "When I lead the attack though the trees you charge down and hit them in the front. Hopefully Neji and his forces will see what we are doing and hit them too."
"We will end them here and now." said Kakashi
Hidden among the tall grasses just to the eastern flank of Sasuke's army was Neji and a group of three dozen wolves and four down dogs all waiting for the attack.
"Naruto is messing up the plan." growled Tenten as she lied on her stomic beside her mate and father of her five pups.
"He is a Naruto, he always cause trouble why should he be different now?" said Neji
Up above their heads Sai had reappeared carrying new fresh canisters of cure which he began to spread over the armies however he made passes over the large group of old and young cats and dogs which were camped behind the lines. As he flew he could easily see the wolves where on the move and where about to hit the cats.
"Not good, the cure needs to work faster." said Sai as he looked down at the large group of creatures and so far there was no noticeable changes.
Sasuke was still on all fours as Naruto jumped back his arms and legs where bleeding however his demon healing ability was slowly healing the wounds. Sasuke snarled at him as Naruto began to mold chakra in his one hand.
"It's been a while this in did this but it's worth a go." Said Naruto as a rasengan started to form in his hand.
Yards away from Naruto and Sasuke, Shikamaru and the a large group of wolves reached the end of the hidden path. They were now yards away from the cat army.
"Do it." ordered Shikamaru as a former rock ninja turned wolf pulled on a small string.
Out on the battlefield Naruto charged toward Sasuke with a rasengan in hand.
"RASENGAN!" yelled Naruto as he neared Sasuke's face. Suddenly the entire ground rocked as mounds of dirt flew up into the air as a chain of exploitations rocked the area around Naruto, Sasuke and the front lines of the cat army. Even high above Sai could feel the shock wave from the exploitation, because of his ninja training Sai could just tell these where paper bombs placed in a chain system. This was the first time Sai had ever seen animals use ninja weapons and it certainly changed the game.
Naruto coughed as the dust filled the air, his rasengan was gone the explosion had destroyed his concentration and caused it to designate. Out of the cloud of smoke the wolves can rushing toward the stunned cat army on three sides, now the single duel had turned into a battle.
Sorry for the long wait, I got caught up in writing another story I know it isn't a good excuse but I hope you can forgive me. Now until next time which will be a lot sooner than the span between the last two chapters. Thanks Wilkins75.