The Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 32: End of an Era
Notes: map of the battle is uploaded here at www dot slideshare dot net / arun2110 / battle-of-the-crossing-v1
Disclaimer: If you like your… ah… I don't think I need to say it, do I?
Under the cloudy night sky, Jounin Shiranui Genma worried his back teeth with a senbon as he awaited the return of the loaned summon from its mission. He and his team were operating close to the main Earth and Grass army camp across the river, Ishikari-gawa, from 3rd Restoration Brigade. Their mission was to poison the two wells and the main water tank used by the enemy. The intent was to provoke a confrontation with the Fire army silently crossing the river at that very moment. The guiding thought, which Genma thought was a far stretch, was that if the enemy did not have a secure water supply for a long march, their commander might be tempted to stand his ground and fight out a battle in a place and time of the Col. Saigo Takamori, the commander of the 3rd Restoration Brigade choosing.
The mission required steadiness and nerves of steel, which description fit Genma to a tee.
"Genma."
"Yes, Raido."
"The loaned summon is back. It says that it has completed its mission."
"Poisoned both the wells and the main sump?"
"Not the main sump, Konoha-jounin, but the other two," the mouse summon replied.
"Your mission included the main sump as well," Genma pointed out.
"It is my considered opinion that poisoning the sump while evading detection is a fool's errand."
"I can't take that back to my superiors," Genma responded, the littlest of frowns marring his visage. "I have to know whether you made the attempt."
The mouse sighed in exasperation and shook its head. Humans could be stubborn about the stupidest things.
"Of course, I tried. And if I'd been half the mouse I am, I'd be main course on some Iwa chuunin's breakfast menu tomorrow morning."
"Ah."
"We done yet? Because if we are, I'd like to strike home. I can smell rat snakes nearby and this forest gives me the creeps."
"Thank you for your service and fair thee well, dear mouse."
"I hate these risky jobs," the mouse grumbled before vanishing. "And I don't know why I risk my life and limb for you ningen."
Genma turned to his team. Some summons were grouchy that way and there wasn't a thing one could do about it.
"Gently, lads. Let's get to the rendezvous."
xxxx
Colonel Saigo Takamori awaited his aide's return patiently at the mobile command post. The latter returned before long from his errand.
"Colonel, the shinobi scouts have crossed the river and anchored the cables on the opposite bank. They're establishing a secure perimeter for our engineers to work on."
"How long until the suspension bridge is ready?"
"Half an hour. Give or take ten minutes."
"Good. Order of crossing is the 43rd, 190th, 31st, 32nd and 44th. I'll be crossing over with the first wave. Lt. Colonel Beppu Shinsuke to remain behind and organize the crossing on this end."
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
By morning twilight, the temporary bridge was complete and the over strength regiment was across the river. The engineers' work weren't done with the bridge by a long shot, however. As good as the bridge was, if shit hit the fan, the 3rd Restoration Brigade were going to need something that would allow more men to cross at once. So, the engineers were currently busy at work expanding it.
Still, for all that could go wrong yet, it was clear lady fortune smiled upon the operation. There had been one casualty so far and even that hadn't been a fatality. One of the pikemen had slipped on the bridge and his pike had severed the right arm of the man before him. There was a moment of scare when the injured man screamed holy murder, but with the perimeter extended almost a mile out, the enterprise hadn't been in any real danger.
"We're three hours behind schedule, but that's the last of the lot," Shinsuke reported to his commanding officer, "but for a couple of squads of shinobi and engineers on the opposite side."
"Good job, Lt. Colonel."
"Then if you don't need me, I'd like to join my men."
"That's probably for the best. Dismissed."
xxxx
Brigadier Kan'in Kotohito was starting his morning ablutions and getting ready for the daily morning status meeting when his aide interrupted him with a scout troop leader and his commander.
"Sir," the aide said, "our poison testers say that the two wells supplying water to the camp are poisoned."
The Brigadier grimaced. This was the second time in the last month that the wells had been poisoned. It would be a day or two before the water was purified, but until then, it was back to tight water rationing, sweaty bodies, and sweatier and stinkier armpits.
"Further, the scouts have something to say that I think you should hear."
"Sure," Kotohito nodded, "At ease. What is it you and the corporal want to tell me, Sergeant?"
Sergeant nodded at the corporal.
"Go on, Shinji. Tell the Brigadier what you told me."
The corporal went to parade rest and stood a bit straighter.
"Sir, I was leading a patrol this morning near that copse of trees about two miles south east when I saw a marching body of troops under enemy colors."
"On this side of the river?" Kotohito asked to ascertain.
"That's right, Sir."
"Numbers?"
"They were in two columns. I did a rough estimation and arrived at 3000."
"They must have crossed over during the night," the Brigadier muttered to himself. He motioned the corporal to silence and gestured at his aide to come closer.
"Send messengers to the regimental commanders with my compliments. I want them and their staffs to assemble in the command post for a meeting post haste. I want the shinobi CO and his XO to attend as well." To the corporal and sergeant, he said, "Thank you, Corporal. You just might have saved all our lives. And thank you, Sergeant, for having the presence of mind to not waste time going through the chain of command with this. Now, if you'll stand by my side, we'll see what we'll see."
xxxx
It took a few minutes for the command staff to assemble at the brigadier's tent. By the time they arrived, Kotohito had formed an initial plan of action. It was imperative that he projected decisiveness and control to maintain his subordinates' morale.
"Everyone in?" Kotohito addressed the assembled officers. "I'd appreciate it if the commanding officers would sound off by regiment."
The COs called present.
"Good. I gathered you folks here because it appears we have an emergency on our hands. Saigo Takamori has crossed the river with his regiment sometime during the night. We estimate they'll fall upon us in another four hours."
"How did that happen? Why didn't the shinobi patrolling the river spot the crossing?" someone gasped out, their voice full of panic.
"It doesn't matter for the nonce how the shinobi missed them. Investigation as to the cause can wait. What matters now is that the enemy has crossed the river and how we're going to respond to their action," Kotohito harshly responded. Earth could win the day, but not if he allowed panic to spread through his ranks. Fire had surprise on their side and throw panic into the mix and that would be all she wrote for his combined command.
There were several calls of assent to Kotohito and the panicked voice fell silent.
"Good. We'll meet the enemy on the plain between the river and the camp with our right flank anchored by the Boso hills. A company from the shinobi battalion will secure the hills. The remaining two companies from the battalion can guard the other flank and act as a strike force. The first regiment will hold the center, and the third and seventh on the right and left flanks. Any questions, so far?"
There were none. In fact, the commanders were already scribbling movement orders on their scrolls.
"Send the order to your men to break camp and to prepare for a forced march. We'll march out in an hour."
xxxx
"Colonel, the scouts report that the enemy camp is abuzz with movement. It appears they are wise to us."
Takamori chewed on his rations and nodded.
"Have the columns spread out a bit more. We don't want them choking in each other's dust."
xxxx
Kotohito looked askance at the shinobi commander. The worthy knelt before him, worry writ on his face.
"I'm not sure I got you the first time."
"My patrols say they reported the crossing, but they received orders from the HQ to hold position and to observe. They're trailing the enemy as we speak."
"I assure you, Colonel Takahashi, that neither I nor my staff sent out any such communiqué."
"I know, Sir, which leads to the conclusion that our communication lines have been compromised."
"Or a spy ring has penetrated us so completely that they can act without impunity and we're none the wiser."
The Colonel cleared his throat. By highlighting the possibility of a compromised communication line, he'd hoped to gloss over the other possibility and avoid further loss of face.
"Yes, Sir. We'd accounted for that. For now, we've secured the intel and communications groups and are getting the information directly from the scouts at this point. If we had more time, we could vet them ourselves, but right now, we do not have the luxury of time and whatever we do will not impact the outcome of the approaching battle. I've sent word to the rear for counter-intelligence specialists to handle their processing. They should be here in another day or two."
"The fact that the penetration happened under your watch is a black mark on your record, but that you acted so decisively once it was exposed shows the lapse was merely one of failure of oversight and not something else. I'll inform my superiors so once the battle is done. Very well, Colonel, you're excused."
xxxx
The two armies were arrayed against each other on the field by 1000 hours. It was a bright, sunny morning with a healthy breeze from the south. Temperature was in the low seventies and there were spots of cloud in the sky.
The Fire army was made of 3rd Restoration Brigade under Col Saigo Takamori and attachments. It was 6100 strong with 5300 infantry, 300 shinobi and 500 catapulteers. The shinobi were the 49th Shinobi Battalion, under the command of Major Shiranui Genma (Jounin in the Hidden Leaf.) The artillery were the 190th Artillery Battalion. The infantrymen were civilian volunteers with a core leadership of samurai. Individually, they weren't as skilled as a samurai with a sword or a shinobi with chakra, but armed with numerous augmentations from recent advances in seals, they could handle their own for a while. In a battle against chakra monsters or skilled operators, they'd be vulnerable, but training samurai or shinobi to that level took a decade or more whereas their augmentations had boosted the infantrymen to their proficiency in less than a year.
About 500 of Col. Takamori's infantry were fresh reinforcements from the rear who were augmented with seals that combined even more advanced versions of Blessed seals of power with printed seals and rushed through training for operations on the Iwa front. These were shock troops and Takamori had attached them to the 1000 strong 31st battalion on the Fire's left flank. The entirety of Leaf shinobi complement defended this battalion against Earth- and Grass-nin who were operating on the Boso hills. Further, a battery of 10 heavy and 7 light catapults supported the 31st battalion. The left flank, the shinobi and artillery complements included, was under the command of Lt. Col. Beppu Shinsuke.
32nd battalion held the center of the Fire line. The 32nd was over strength by 400 with 1400 infantry. Major Hiro Onoda commanded it. 12 heavy and 20 light catapults had enfilade on the 32nd, though their primary mission was to support the 43rd and 44th battalions. 43rd and 44th battalions with no shinobi attachments, but 4 heavy and 25 light catapults held the right flank. The 43rd was 1100 strong and the 44th was 1300 strong. They were under the command of Major Korechika Anami. Before he was an infantry officer, Anami had been a Leaf jounin. He'd hung his kunai to join the 3rd Restoration Brigade when the unit was initially formed. Takamori put him in charge of the right flank and given him control of most of the fast loading and fast firing light artillery because that was where he expected the heaviest blows from the Earth and Grass shinobi to fall.
The Earth and Grass army was commanded by Brigadier Kan'in Kotohito. It was 15,000 strong with 14,000 samurai and attendants, and 1000 shinobi. Colonel Takahashi who was ranked as a Jounin in Iwagakure commanded the 12th Shinobi Regiment. 331st Shinobi Battalion with a strength of 300 shinobi held the Boso hills on the left flank under Takahashi's direct command. The 3rd Regiment of the Earth Army held the left flank proper with a company of Grass samurai for a total of 3500 infantry. Lt. Col. Toyoda Akira commanded it. The center of the line was held by the 5000 strong 1st Regiment and commanded by Col. Tokuji Sasaki.
The right flank was held by 5500 strong 7th Regiment and a detachment of 700 ninja from the 17th and 401st Shinobi Battalions. Overall command of this force lay with Col. Kuwayama Yeiichi with Major Osamu (Jounin in Iwagakure) commanding the shinobi complement. Osamu was a decorated veteran of the current war who was competent at his job and at leading men. Although he was not yet twenty years old, he had risen very fast through the ranks by virtue of his skills and ability. It was for this ostentatious reason that Jounin Takahashi put him in command of the two companies on the right while he commanded the lone company facing the Fire shinobi on the left.
Kotohito's army was significantly stronger on his left flank than on the right. This was per design. He aimed to use Major Osamu's shinobi in particular against the vulnerable infantry squares. Earth and Grass samurai would fall upon the disarrayed ranks of the infantry and when the right flank folded inward, they would turn the flank and trap the Fire army.
xxxx
Command Post, 7th Regiment, Right Flank, Earth and Grass Army
"The enemy has batteries of siege engines on the right and left flanks," the shinobi intel liaison of the 7th Regiment and member of the Kamizuru clan said to Col. Kuwayama Yeiichi.
"Siege engines? Whatever for?" Yeiichi asked, rhetorically. Of course, Earth Intelligence had learnt about Hi no Kuni's newfangled siege engines a long time back, but they hadn't been well studied by the intelligence community for want of resources. Traditionally, siege weapons were vulnerable to Shinobi, who could defend themselves against them quite easily, and had long since fallen out of favor except in the forts and city walls of little pissant states in the ass end of nowhere. It was a widely held belief by the Earth Command Staff that the siege engines and the addition of non-samurai class 'volunteers' into the ranks of infantry were a sign of Fire's desperation and an indication of a serious dearth of quality men of proper birth and station.
Then, mulling it over, because he did not want to be the commander who got caught with his pants down by the village idiot, Yeiichi said, "My compliments to the Samurai commanders but have the shinobi units increase dispersion a little. No point in unnecessarily risking casualties from boulders or burning jars of oil. My compliments to Jounin Osamu, ask him to expedite his preparations for the assault."
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
Command Post, Right Flank, Fire Army
"My eyesight is not what it used to be, but I think the enemy is ordering his troops to disperse a bit, Kanada," Major Korechika Anami said to his aide.
"You're correct, Major," Lt. Okubo Yue replied, squinting at the arrayed ranks of the enemy. "The shinobi look like they'd be about ready to launch an assault in another ten minutes."
"We can't have that, can we?" Anami replied. "Are the batteries set up?"
"Yes, Major."
"Good." He turned to the artillery commander, "If you would be so kind as to order your batteries to fire when ready, Aito."
"Of course, Major." To his signalman, he said, "Fire Plan A."
xxxx
Plan A was as simple as such things come. A single heavy catapult would use incendiary shells to discover range. Subsequently, once range was identified, the whole heavy catapult battery would fire for effect, a full salvo at the enemy. There were several types of shells for the catapults. Smoke, incendiary, FAE and fragmentation.
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Standing in the front ranks, Iwa Genin Akifumi had rather keen eyes and he squinted at the first of the catapulted shells arcing through the air towards his unit. He judged that the first shot was going to be fall at least fifty yards behind the last rank. Sure enough, the shell crashed into the ground and splashed fire in an oval about five meters long and two meters wide. The flames were a bit more intense than the katon jutsu he'd seen his jounin-sensei use and a lot more long lived, but there was plenty of time for his superiors to anticipate and react to them.
Someone jeered at the catapulteers for the obvious miss and others cheered. If the enemy could not even properly aim fire with their weapons, then this battle was going to be a walk in the park.
"Hold your ground," the chuunin commanding his section shouted. "Maintain ranks and silence. Do not begin the assault until you have your orders."
The second shell hit about two-dozen meters in front and slightly to the right of Akifumi. Again, the flames failed to impress and there were louder catcalls and jeers at the catapulteers. Their voices wouldn't carry the distance to the enemy, but it was the sentiment and the morale boost that it gave one's fellow warriors that counted.
The third shell landed slightly off center Akifumi's company. One of the dozen jounin – Akifumi didn't know which one – used an earth jutsu to watch the shell and to contain and ultimately, smother the flames. There were no injuries. The catcalls and jeers were loud enough to hurt Akifumi's ear at this point. He did not mind, however, because he was shouting the Iwa war cry himself.
xxxx
Command Post, Artillery Battery, Right Flank, Fire Army
"FO confirms the last one was on target. Calibrate catapults per FDC's instructions. First load FAE, followed by fragmentation. Load and sound off," the chief gunner ordered. "Light catapults to have a round ready for fire on the catapult."
Immediately, the catapult crews began the work of adjust their machines per the FDC's instructions. It was but a minute before the last of them sounded off.
"Catapult 3 ready to fire," the last catapult crew sounded off.
The FDC conveyed further instructions to arm the shells and the gunners dutifully attached arming seals to the shells and activated them.
"On my mark, fire for effect."
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Akifumi watched the incoming flight of shells without trepidation. His pre-battle jitters were a thing of the past and his morale was as high as it was ever going to get. The shells were useless against shinobi but for the chakra used to block them. In a few minutes, he and the others would be ordered into the assault. He could not wait to get his hands on the undefended Fire pseudo-infantry and they would suffer.
xxxx
The four shells were shot without a second of each other. They were complicated devices with a hollow shell of wrought iron that was half a centimeter thick. The handcrafted arming seals – there were printed seals on the newest shells in the inventory - were designed to supply a precise pulse of chakra into the hollow shell that would in turn activate other seals inside the sphere. One seal was designed to weaken molecular bonds in crystal and destroy the integrity of the metal wall. A hybrid storage and molecular bond weakening seal encapsulated a 14 kg cylinder of propane. There were 10 of the latter seals printed on little strips of paper and pasted at precise points on the inner face of the sphere. There was a spring-loaded launcher mechanism mounted on a gyroscope to fire little sparklers on parachutes. The gyroscope, the spring-loaded launcher and the sparklers were protected from the destabilizer seal with yet another seal.
The shell wall destabilizer and the storage seals were designed to fire simultaneously. In this case, they activated at a height of forty meters above ground. Four of the storage seals failed to activate because of misalignment. The launchers had been tested exhaustively, on the other hand, and they worked as advertised, shooting sparklers about fifteen meters into the air.
The gas cylinder walls collapsed as soon as the storage seal broke containment and four non-intersecting clouds of propane expanded rapidly in the air, mixing freely with atmospheric oxygen and forming an explosive cocktail. The clouds had close to five hundred kilograms by weight of propane in them and were separated by less than 100 meters each.
The sparklers ignited and slowly drifted towards the ground and the propane cloud. Roughly five seconds after the seals activated, the first of the sparklers met the cloud.
xxxx
Akifumi and the others stared questioningly at the portion of the sky where the shells had blown apart into little pieces without little poufts that posed no danger to the shinobi beneath. Was that a whole salvo of squibs?
A few recognized the danger from the sparklers and the invisible cloud – having seen or heard of Leaf ANBU use a version of this weapon in other battlefields – but with only a few seconds to act, there was no time to save everyone. They shouted a hasty warning to the unwary others to save themselves from the impending explosion. And before the sparklers reached the propane saturated explosive mixture, they used jutsu to borrow themselves into the ground, praying that the seal on their burrowed tunnels held.
The clouds of propane ignited nigh simultaneously, the heat from the first setting off the rest so quickly that to the observer, it looked as if the skies over the Iwa and Kusa shinobi had ignited in one massive, earth-shattering explosion. A mushroom cloud half a kilometer in diameter bloomed into the clouds. The shockwave knocked the infantry from the 44th Battalion, 3rd Restoration Brigade that were gathered six hundred yards away off their feet.
Akifumi did not get a chance to scream. He was directly under one of the clouds and was instantly carbonized. Around him, his nearest neighbors suffered the same fate. Further out, men and women and boys and girls were torn limb from limb, decapitated, and generally visited all manner of indignities that could be visited on the human body. All told, about two hundred genin, thirty odd chuunin and two jounin were killed or wounded in that single strike. The samurai of the 7th Regiment fared better, but being in the neighborhood and not the immediate vicinity of a thermobaric explosion isn't a kindness in any sense of the word. All told, four hundred samurai were killed from rent limbs, collapsed lungs and all sorts of horrors in the 7th Regiment. Another thousand lay wounded on the field.
xxxx
Command Post, Earth and Grass Army
"Holy shit, what the fuck was that?" Brigadier Kotohito spoke in surprise, a fair amount of fear leaking in his voice before he gained control of himself. The last thing he needed after the unfolding disaster on the right was to have his subordinates panic because he wasn't feeling all that steady at the moment himself.
xxxx
Command Post, Right Flank, Fire Army
"Did you plan for that?" Major Anami asked his artillery officer.
That worthy shook his head, his eyes fixed on the mushroom cloud. He appeared to be in shock himself.
"We'd tested the weapons, individually, of course, but never multiple ones simultaneously or in such close proximity," he responded in a little voice.
Anami shrugged. That was way too big a hammer to crack that particular bunch of eggs, but in war, too much wasn't nearly as much of a problem as too little.
xxxx
Command Post, Fire Army
"Kami, what the hell was that?" Col. Takamori wondered aloud.
"The next nearest thing to hell on earth, I shouldn't wonder, Sir," his aide responded.
The Colonel shook his head and chuckled at his unperturbed aide's tone. Provided he survived, the boy would go far if he could be calm in the face of such a shock as that explosion.
"Bloody hell. That was as bad as a bijumaru. I don't think we'd have to worry about that flank much anymore. They're in absolute chaos."
"So are our folks, Sir. Looks to me like our officers are having a bit of trouble falling the men into their squares again."
"That's as it may be, but the other side is wiped out. They'll take even longer to rally for an assault, if at all they can be rallied. Signal the 31st. My compliments to Lt. Col. Beppu Shinsuke, he is to begin the planned assault on the 3rd Regiment."
xxxx
Command Post, 31st Battalion, Left Flank, Fire Army
"Signal from the command post from Col. Takamori, Sir."
"Give it to me," Lt. Col. Shinsuke nodded, his gaze on the ranks of the enemy forces arrayed on the field against his searching for signs of unsteadiness after the holocaust on the right flank. He spared a moment to read the note and a smile lit his face. Turning to his left, he addressed the artillery CO, "Begin bombardment of the enemy lines."
"Yes, Sir. Do you want to use FAE on the opening salvo as well or shall we go with the prepared stonk?"
"We'll go with the prepared stonk. I want to use the new troops on those bastards to show them that our infantry are as dangerous as our artillery."
"Yes, Sir."
Nodding acknowledgement, the Lt. Col. addressed his staff. "Signal assault in fifteen."
"Yes, Sir."
"After what the artillery did on the right flank, I can't wait to see what those noble born thieves and rapists do when we open up on them."
xxxx
Command Post, 3rd Regiment, Left Flank, Earth and Grass Army
After witnessing firsthand the destruction of the two shinobi companies and the decimation of the 7th Regiment, Lt. Col. Akira, commander of the 3rd Regiment, Earth and Grass Army, didn't need to be a genius to figure out that the Fire artillery were a death sentence hanging over his men's necks.
"Signal Jounin Takahashi. My compliments to the jounin. He is to leave behind a small holding force to guard his position and advance on that catapult battery. His mission is to destroy the artillery at all costs."
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
The sight of men clamoring around one of the catapults sent a jolt of panic through the Earth and Grass line. The ranging shots – which were again incendiary – were almost enough to cause a rout. The line officers increased the dispersion between men to unheard levels – three or four yards between one samurai and the next – and used the harshest discipline, cutting down anyone that strayed from their ranks to ensure discipline.
The first shell was an undershot. The second overshot and the third veered too far to the left from a sudden gust of wind. The fourth was on close enough to be counted on target, though there were no casualties. But samurai shuffled nervously through the ranks. Men who would walk unflinchingly into certain combat and death flinch at the thought of being burned alive, after all.
A salvo of 10 shells arced through the air at the 3rd.
"Stand firm the 3rd," an officer shouted. Far better to die standing tall on one's feet and facing the enemy than to die running away from him. The honor of the regiment demanded nothing less.
The shells detonated.
xxxx
The shells were bigger and more powerful copies of the grenades used by Konoha ANBU. They were hollow balls with thin walls of wrought iron – all the better for fragmenting into shrapnel - with a powerful explosive seal that had a chakra storage module. The arming seal on the outside supplied the timer and detonator modules. The detonator module pulsed chakra in a specific sequence to detonate the explosive seal.
xxxx
Shards of razor sharp iron scythed through the ranks of the samurai, mowing down dozens. The wounded and the dying screamed for help. As officers tried to restore discipline and steady the ranks, a second salvo and then a third exploded overhead, adding to the mayhem and increasing the butcher's bill.
xxxx
Company Command Post, 331st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Jounin Takahashi read the missive brought by the messenger and then at the poufts of aerial explosions over the 3rd Regiment from his vantage point. Sighing, he shook his head. He could see the regiment wavering before him down on the plain and knew that whatever he did, the damage was already done today. But if he failed in his duties, it was perfectly possible that the paranoid Tsuchikage would order him quartered for treason.
"Jounin Akagi, you're to take first and third companies down the hill, bypassing the enemy shinobi positions and destroy the enemy's artillery battery at all costs. Go."
"All right, Takahashi, but I don't see us saving those poor bastards in the 3rd. Most we can do is exact revenge today."
"Then exact revenge we must. And while you do that, I'll keep our friends the hills engaged."
Akagi nodded and turned to shout orders for his command to leave their prepared positions and assemble.
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Fire Army
On emerging from the tunnel he'd hidden in, Jounin Osamu fought the impulse to empty his stomach contents. He'd thought he was as hard as they came, but the air was thick with the stink of burnt pork and the landscape was straight out of a slaughterhouse with dismembered bodies littered everywhere. His cursory glance for survivors showed him none.
With a deep shuddering breath, he looked around and cast his eyes on the other lucky souls burrowing out of their tunnels then. Some genin freshly emerged from tunnels milled aimlessly while others vomited their hasty breakfasts. The other jounin and chuunin weren't that much better either.
Osamu opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He cleared his throat and tried again.
"The enemy and revenge is that way. Get the genin pointed in the right direction," he ordered a nearby chuunin.
The chuunin looked him askance.
"Get moving, Chuunin," Osamu repeated in his best command voice and to reinforce his words, slapped the man.
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
331st Shinobi Battalion, Left Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Jounin Akagi looked at his command. Two hundred shinobi were a large enough number that he had to stand on a boulder to address them and raise his voice to be heard.
"Our mission is simple. We have to knock out the enemy artillery. But the simple become exceedingly complex in the whirlwind of war. We can't concentrate our numbers and attack their position because a lucky hit would put paid to our mission then. So, we're going to disperse. You will all operate as independent teams. Try to support each other as much as possible. Jounins and Chuunins, take command of your teams. I'll see you on the other side."
xxxx
Command Post, A Shinobi Company, Left Flank, Fire Army
"Genma."
"Yes, Neji."
"One of the Iwa jounin are addressing a crowd of about 200 shinobi," Jounin Hyuuga Neji reported.
"He isn't talking about your hair, is he?" Genma asked jovially, eyeing his subordinate.
Neji's face remained a blank mask. Genma shrugged internally. One of these days, he would get a reaction from the stoic Hyuuga.
"He is planning on taking a detachment down to the plain to attack the artillery battery."
"That would put a dampener on our plans, wouldn't it?"
Neji did not reply.
"Anything else?"
"They're planning to split into teams to avoid presenting a single target to the artillery."
Genma smiled.
"They are, are they? Well, we can't have them feeling unwelcome, can we? Pass the word. We'll go down to the hills and greet them."
"The battle plan?" Neji asked.
"Is no more. We've made contact with the enemy and as is only natural, he has fucked up our plans. So, let me repeat myself. Pass the word. We're going to get between the mad Iwa-nin and our innocent comrades in arms down on the plain. We have this one thing going for us. We have to run a shorter distance than them and we can beat them to the plain but only if we start now."
Neji nodded minutely. He knew as well as Genma that though Fire had decisively won the engagement on the right flank, the battle was far from won. If the Iwa shinobi overran the artillery position and fell upon the 31st after they'd committed to the attack on the enemy's 3rd Regiment, it was possible that they would rout the 31st and the Fire left flank would collapse. And all said and done, given the numerical disparity, a positive decision on the left was far more important to Fire than it was for Earth on the right.
xxxx
Command Post, 31st Battalion, Left Flank, Fire Army
As Lt. Col. Beppu Shinsuke watched, another salvo of fragmentation shells exploded over the heads of the 3rd Regiment. Close to a seventy shells had been launched so far and the enemy was staggering from the blows. Shinsuke estimated a thousand dead or wounded at this point.
"Sir, compliments from Jounin Genma. He reports that the enemy ninja are about to come marching down the hill?" Shinsuke's aide said.
"And what does Jounin Genma deign to do about it?" the Lt. Col asked.
"He's announced his intention to abandon his defensive position and move to block the enemy shinobi, Sir. But he expects the enemy to leave a force to pin him."
"Task the artillery to clear the force that is pinning him." A brief pause to organize his thoughts, "My compliments to the Jounin. Let him to make haste."
"Yes, Sir."
"And sound the advance. We've got those bastards in the 3rd Regiment by their balls and I have no intention of letting go at this point."
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Fire Army
The Iwa shinobi advanced into the fire. The shells were falling on them steadily now and they'd lost more to the deathly rain of iron, but they held because of Osamu. The Major did not even consider dispersing his nin at this point. The men needed the comforting and steadying presence of each other after the events of the day. Take that away and they would rout.
Still, he commanded a bare hundred at this point and many were walking wounded – some were expectant, but they were determined and death alone could stop them – but that was okay. They would soon be too close for the catapult to rain fire on them and then, it would be their turn.
xxxx
Command Post, Artillery Battery, Right Flank, Fire Army
"Enemy's entering range of the light catapults," the FO reported.
"Are the light catapults laid in?" the chief gunnery officer asked.
"They are."
"And the shells?"
"Fragmentation."
"Fire on my mark. Fire."
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Fire Army
It was once again a massacre. The difference between the light and the heavy catapults had to do with their range and not with the weight of shell they could fire. This meant, that when the light catapults joined the heavies, the fire had increased from 4 to 29. Further, the light catapults could be fired much faster than the heavy.
Men and women fell and died on their foot. Regardless, under Osamu's leadership, the line advanced. They'd slowed and with their dwindled numbers, they didn't have a hope of accomplishing their mission, but they were beyond duty and comradeship and stupidity now. It was at once infinitely brave and utterly insane.
xxxx
Command Post, 31st Battalion, Left Flank, Fire Army
Lt. Col. Shinsuke spared a glance to the rear. He wanted to be sure of the artillery's position before he passed the next order.
Sure enough, the catapult crews were manhandling the machines and keeping pace with the infantry. Surprisingly enough, they were maintaining their fire while leapfrogging their positions in ones and twos. Come tomorrow, Shinsuke was sure that the men would be bedridden from their exertions but by the kami, they were keeping up.
"Cease fire on the 3rd Regiment. I think they've had it. Shift fire to the 1st."
xxxx
331st Shinobi Battalion, Left Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Col. Takahashi cursed the gods and scurried to the next cover as a FAE shell exploded not too far from him. The enemy was firing a mix of FAE and fragmentation. The rate of fire wasn't all that impressive, but he'd already lost a dozen men. Worse still, while the shells were raining down on him, his men couldn't move fast enough to pin the Leaf-nin, who were falling out of their positions and advancing down the hill as fast as their legs could carry them to block Akagi's force.
Boom. Another FAE.
"Fuck."
xxxx
Command Post, Fire Army
"Signal the 32nd to advance," Col. Saigo Takamori ordered his aide. He'd been observing the flow of the battle and it was clear that at this point, the only thing that was holding the Iwa army in place was their untouched center.
xxxx
31st Battalion, Left Flank, Fire Army
Shinsuke sang a dirty ditty and made obscene gestures at the 3rd Regiment now that there was less than 300 yards distance between the front ranks. He stopped singing for a moment to pass a single order.
"Unleash the dogs of war."
With that command, he'd freed his shock troops to spread as much mayhem as men might.
xxxx
Command Post, 3rd Regiment, Left Flank, Earth and Grass Army
Lt. Col. Toyoda Akira could only stare flabbergasted as several hundred Fire infantrymen, all of whom oozed oodles of power, crashed into his wavering front ranks. Fear equals exhaustion on the battlefield and off it and his samurai had been scared within an inch of their life today by a foe that they could not touch or harm, but which could dismember them. At this point, they were in no position to defend against garrison troops much less shinobi. For those men felling his wantonly were no samurai.
The 3rd had lost more than a thousand dead and wounded so far in the day. They'd seen the bodies of their friends, brothers and officers violated and now, when they could barely focus their mind on a single thought, they were being attacked by elite troops who were fresh and raring to go.
It was too much. The line unraveled.
xxxx
17th and 401st Shinobi Battalion, Right Flank, Earth and Fire Army
One second, Osamu was shouting encouragement at his men – they were less than a hundred yards from the enemy front ranks now – and the next, there was a huge hole in his head and his body toppled on its back.
Someone screamed Osamu was dead and that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. The survivors retreated.
xxxx
Command Post, Fire Army
"Signal the 43rd to advance on the 7th regiment. The artillery battery is to shift fire to support the 43rd," Col. Takamori ordered.
"Yes, Sir."
xxxx
Command Post, Earth and Grass Army
Brigadier Kotohito shook his head. With the left and right flank gone, the battle was a lost cause. There was nothing to do but to retire from the field. If he tarried long, he would lose his entire army and then Iwa's position would become untenable.
The brigadier's thoughts ran to his short-term prospects even as he passed orders to save the remainder of his army. He was sure a date with a knife awaited him and after so one-sided and humiliating a loss, the idea of hara-kiri was positively enticing.
xxxx
Command Post, Fire Army
Takamori smiled beatifically. It had been less than half an hour since the battle started, but there was no doubt. He had to organize the chase of the retreating Earth army, but that could wait for a few minutes while he savored the feeling. Fire had won a resounding victory on the battlefield today and the entire Iwa front was wide open.
xxxx
Author's notes:
Thus ends one of the pivotal chapters in the story. Why pivotal? You'll understand within the next couple of chapters. :) I debated telling the battle as a side note because I wasn't sure I had the skill to portray a battle between different armies, but as I'd said, this was too crucial for me to skip it. And if I did, it would leave too many open questions when another important scene comes within the next couple of chapters that depends on this battle playing out the way it did.
Anyways, I hope I've done justice to the battle. I sore feel that I have not, though I'm very happy that I was able to write something like this at all. Gives me hope that I'll be able to finish my novel someday. :)
That said, this battle is important for a number of reasons. It is the first time since the war that started three years back turned hot that a Fire army has defeated an Earth army. Further, it is the first time that Fire and Leaf's new weapons and units have been tested in battle and the outcome has been a resounding victory.
Read and review, if you please. :)