Reviewers;

St3rfire: Well, he was sick and he was so nice to have reviewed the chapters he missed for me. I appreciate that of him so much. I'm glad that someone else reads the reviews too. I don't really want to spoil who wins, but I will say that one side will face a tragedy so someone Will Die, but I will not say who...I know, I know. I'm killing you with the suspense.

Czar Joseph: 'The Magic Wars have'...something like that pops into my head when you wrote that.

Duh Bomb: I know that you haven't reviewed yet, but I know you will, so thanks for reading and staying with me buddy.

AN: Hey everyone! So we're getting close! And now back to the battle we go!

Fire & Ice

Arc 3: Trust

Chapter 46: A Second Surprise

Out in the morning air, the sun did its duty to try to warm the atmosphere, but heat came from below, rapidly bringing about a heat wave in the upper sky and atmosphere. The morning air had soon turned to a crispy cloudy day, and down below, the battle still raged on, as a second army of one hundred thousand fiery soldiers began to make their way above the crest of the eastern hill and made their way onto the battlefield, as if being reinforcements to the rescue, but with the purpose of something much more devious.

Sakura watched from her position in front of the ornagers, watching and counting the approximate number of the enemy as they made their way down to the plains, only nineteen hundred feet from the lines where her soldiers were still fighting. Sakura scowled as she counted among her own troops, counting as fifty thousand troops were already in combat with the first army. She cursed under her breath as even with her own ten thousand troops, she only had thirty thousand to use against this new threat. Sakura had correctly assumed that Sasuke had hidden units, but she hadn't thought that it was more than ten thousand. And her initial plan to surround the flanks had failed since her wolf packs were in their own combat with Sasuke's own, the hidden howling and gnashing of teeth off somewhere to the south of the battlefield. No, she had to free up the remainder of her troops and strike fast and hard at this new approaching, get to Sasuke, and render him unable to fight. Only then would they win the day. So then, what to do?

Sakura looked to the right and left, counting the battalions she had, which were mainly made up of shock troops, her own cavalry units, and then the ninja units. So then, she had to use her specialized units for this to work. She had hoped to save them until Akhlys came onto the battlefield, but this could work as well as any other strategies could. Sakura signaled to the commanders through her magic and yells were heard as positions were reformed after inactivity, and Sakura motioned for the artillery commander as he ran over to her side and looked up at her.

"You signaled, My Lady?"

"Yes. Have the ornagers fire just ahead of my troops."

"My Lady, you could be hit." The commander warned, but Sakura waved off the concern.

"I have faith in you and your men, now please get it ready."

"Of course."

Sakura smiled as the man ran off and the ornagers angled themselves for the new angles, and as Sakura's horsemen got ready in their five arrow formations, ready to pierce into the enemy ranks, Layla trotted up beside her, and Sakura smiled as her longtime friend nodded her head. "We are ready, My Lady."

"Let's do this then." Sakura nodded to the trumpets and they blared wildly, as Sakura pulled out her sword and with it in her right hand, whipped her horse with the reins and kicked in with her feet, as the horse reared back and jumped forward, all in unison with the horses beside and behind it. The horses' hooves smacked upon the ground, as the charge built rapidly as archers hastily moved out of the way, as the cavalry charged down the hill, and as they hit the bottom, the riders slapped the reins harder, their spears dropping lower as they neared the battle lines.

The horses sped up, and trumpets blared again, as soldiers inside the very battle lines, parted thirty feet wide as the horses charged full tilt into the enemy, whose swords no longer had the reach of the spears that lay useless on the ground around them. Sakura's horse raced faster than the others, its magic moving to lessen the energy required to run as Sakura pulled another sword out of its scabbard along her horse's left side, and so with her knees locking along her horse's middle and dual swords in either of her arms, Sakura crashed into the bulging enemy ranks, followed quickly by those riders behind her.

Sakura slashed to either side of her, decapitating two soldiers in a single strike as her horse lowered its head, shoving a metallic point on its long nose into another soldier's side, before the soldier fell and became a part of an endless trample of hooves and boots underfoot. Still, Sakura's horse continued forward, surrounded on three sides by enemies as they yelled in defiance and attempted to charge forward, but the mass of horses and their momentum proved too much as the soldiers fell back from the charge.

As the seconds passed, it felt like hours for Sakura, as she bent her arms to slice and dice the enemy apart, hacking as far as her arms could reach. Once her sword grew chipped, she quickly slid it back into her scabbard and formed frozen kunai one after another as she zipped them forward as enemies fell and exploded all around her and her units, as they pressed ever harder through the lines. The explosions rocked riders out of their saddles and the charging line thinned out a little, but the charge continued until the last of the ten thousand horsemen were through the opening to the enemy lines.

As soon as they were, soldiers surged forward into the huge gaping dents left in the riders' wake and pressed even heavier against the enemy lines, as the enemy backed into each other, as a massive frenzy began to occur between the enemy ranks, and the lines turned into more of sectioned curves. After what was no doubt only a minute but what seemed like an hour, Sakura's charge sliced through the last of the enemies in the rear formation and exited into the open area before the second army.

Sakura breathed heavily from the charge, believing that she must have hit a hundred soldiers in that minute of adrenaline and magic induced energy. But her riders exited out the gaping entrance, leaving nothing alive beside them. Sakura sweated lightly across her forehead as she looked at the area behind her to smile as the remaining enemy of the first army was down to around eight thousand remaining, and they were now being surrounded in ever diminishing circles, as the soldiers freed themselves from battle for a minute of respite.

Sakura looked to her right, to the south, and saw Naruto breathing lightly with his troops moving around casually from their battle area, and Sakura sighed, relieved that he was looking so perfect so far. His units had been moving along the flank and the enemies remaining there was three…two…one…and the southern flank was secure. Damn, that man knew how to make a girl content in knowing that he was absolutely perfect in every way. Maybe not perfect, but to her...he was.

Sakura cast a glance to the left, and though there were still a hundred enemies to the northern flank, she knew that Kakashi's flank was secure for the moment as his ninja exited a few seconds later, and spearmen enclosed the remaining enemy in their shafts of death. Meanwhile, archers carefully made their way through the lines, using the newly safe lines through the enemy as a path to move themselves just behind Sakura's cavalry and special units. The Ornagers moved themselves down the hill and stopped just before the actual battlefield, as they couldn't traverse the bodies, weapons, and land at all.

Sakura pulled back on the reins as her horse neighed and turned a quick circle as she turned to face the enemy, and nodded to herself, at the sight of only spearmen from within the lines. While it was true that they also had swords, Sakura noticed that they also had heavier armor than the previous army, but if Sasuke's troops tried to move forward, they were rather slow and bulky, and so if Sakura waited, her archers and ornagers should be able to make a nice sized dent into their numbers.

But as Sakura looked back at the hill as the last of the spearmen moved towards her remaining army, she caught a glimpse of Sasuke and Akhlys, surrounded by his most loyal creations, and something bothered her. He was standing there when he could be leading this army. So then…he was waiting for her to meet him. He wanted the high ground, but she'd show him. She'd sweep his legs right out from under him and if he didn't surrender, shove her sword down into his stomach to the hilt. And Akhlys…well…she'd think of some way to kill a God.

Sakura looked behind her and saw her units rallying around her, and the other commanders, and looked at her riders. She had around eighteen hundred of them left in her formation, having lost two hundred in this last charge, but she knew by sight that the other four commanders of her troops weren't as lucky, and with these next enemies being spearmen, her horsemen would suffer, but she had to keep going; the archers were ready, and the ornagers were aligned correctly. She could do this, and push even further into Sasuke's lines.

Sakura saw that the enemy was closing in, and signaled for her artillery to begin to fire, as her archers pulled back on their bowstrings, their fingers bloody from the constant firing, and began to release them into the enemy's ranks. Sakura saw now that there was only two hundred yards, or six hundred feet left of space in which the enemy was fast approaching, and so, as soon as the horses and riders were ready, she raced forward, starting into a fast trot and pushing faster and faster into a full gallop. Her troops followed her deep into combat, as Kakashi and Naruto's units sped forward from their areas.

At a hundred yards, time slowed down as Sakura for the first time today pulled the face cloth over her nose and mouth, as she felt her lungs burning from the smoky ground, and cast her eyes over to Naruto, whose beautiful blue eyes shimmered as he nodded as his hair swished around his face, before she felt his magic pull on her wrist, where his seal still lay upon her and like that, he and his men disappeared from view, and the sounds of sudden cries of pain and despair sounded throughout the plains.

Meanwhile, to the northern flank, Kakashi and his troops kept their pace as they ran forward towards the enemy. Kakashi spared a glance down the lines towards Naruto's position as he saw the front line buckle under his early assault. Kakashi smiled, there was little doubt that the men he had given to Naruto were rather excited to be travelling so fast, but these men around him were the more experienced of his troops and as he gave the signal, they too increased their pace, and moved ahead of the horsemen near them to attack at the enemy lines.

Attached to every ninja were short swords connected to their wrists and upper arms, and as thin as needles, but after Sakura had infused her magic inside them, they were stronger than a halberd at full speed. At Kakashi's signal, hands carefully but quickly reached into pouches held at the ninja's knees and pulled out small purple balls of smoke, and as they reached the front line, the five hundred ninja threw as far as they could, and the balls flew forward as fast as the eye could see.

The spearmen lowered their poles at the last second as the ninja appeared at only ten feet from the many spear points, before their eyes glimpsed small tangerine sized ghost balls that zipped passed them. The balls moved above and straight at them, and suddenly, the world exploded in a purplish gold color. Men screamed though as they were suddenly weightless, above the battlefield, and dropping their weapons as they fell to the ground, each one within a foot of the next.

Kakashi's men watched as three of Sakura's foot soldiers ran next to them and shot their hands deep into the grass, as ice and snow shot forward creating a spiky terrain, cutting into the enemy for a few hundred feet into the enemy ranks, before the ground cracked all over and suddenly the enemy screamed as the ground fell away as a huge pit appeared twenty feet deep.

The men falling from the sky were the ones to fall into this pit, and the sound of smacking bodies on stone sounded over and over as Kakashi's troops began to spin under and around the spears to attack the enemy from differing angles. And slowly, the survivors of the fall began to get up, grunting as they did so, to make their path back towards the high ground.

But as they began to climb on another's shoulders, the piercing screams of birds of prey echoed from above and screeched as they flew down and released more blue orbs of ice, and as they cracked upon and around the pits, the soldiers yelled as icy cracks seeped into their skin, freezing them and their dead comrades in place along the pit floor. Meanwhile, up above and around the pit, Kakashi's troops began to hack away at the soldiers, just trying to hold out until the rest of the army got rested up, and joined them in combat once more. Already, arrows pierced in between armor, and Kakashi pulled out his swords from the confined space, not being able to see a friendly unit beside him and so he began to hack away, in search of a friend that may or may not be there.

For the time that it took for Kakashi's troops to attack, Sakura's cavalry charge had succeeded into making dents in the enemy lines and Naruto's troops had gone even further from the front lines, choosing to travel deep inside the lines. Soldiers from the main regiments had reorganized themselves evenly throughout the old battlefield and had begun to move forward towards the shock troops. Ornagers had begun to fire at the rear enemy lines, serving to weaken the resolve of the enemy, for though they were creations, they were made wary of fear and misery.

Deep inside the lines, Naruto sped under two soldier's armor, his hands tweaking in a curving slash as his swords pierced into the soft underside of cloth and fire, piercing the soldiers through the heart. Naruto quickly pulled his swords out and sped to the right, as the men exploded, and he used the brief distraction to attack another soldier across the neck, his blood running like liquid fire as the man exploded soon after as well.

Naruto looked back and watched as his men sped around the circle around them for a hundred feet in diameter, keeping the enemy focused on them while the horsemen ran next to them, paving the way as the fresh troops and soldiers filled in behind them, using this distraction to attack at the enemy while their backs were turned. Naruto was proud of his men so far, having only lost ten so far in the last two hours of battle. Naruto's swords of frozen ice were truly something else, as he ducked under a wild swing and his sword extended and became thinner to form a spear as he jabbed it into the enemy and flew towards another part of the battlefield, his other sword shrinking to form a dagger as he switched between his weapons.

Naruto saw one of his soldiers in trouble and so sped towards him, but he felt his head spin suddenly, a feeling that he had felt before, as his magic left him and he skinned his knees as he skidded to the ground, his weapons digging into the snow and grass, as he wheezed and choked for air. Naruto looked around the empty circle, wondering where he was, before he spotted him. An Ungifted agent had his hand forward and a dagger in his other hand, as he looked around himself as Naruto's men slowed down and began to fall back as the enemy sensed the change.

The Ungifted moved forward, staying low to the ground, and Naruto willed himself to move, as his arm moved an inch closer to the hilt of his blade, just out of reach. The agent moved closer, preparing to sprint. Naruto's fingers edged closer and closer, but each movement was more and more labored, but Naruto's fingers wrapped around his blade, just in time to watch as the Ungifted slammed his dagger down towards his neck.

(PIERCE!)

Naruto's eyes widened….in relief as a sword exited out of the Ungifted man's chest and Naruto's magic surged back into him and the men around him, as the enemy fell back once more. Naruto moved up a little stiff from the sudden loss and recovery, as a man's green armor moved forward and helped him up to his feet.

"Thank you for saving me…Lee."

"No problem, my youthful friend. Now, let us destroy this army of darkness! YOSH~!" Lee shouted as he sped off, his own speed almost as fast as Naruto. Naruto shook his head and continued forward. He still had a job to do, and he had to do it fast, as time was running out to get to Sasuke before Sakura.

Cries of pain and misery reached the ears as far as sound could travel as arms were hacked off, and explosions blew out the drums of ears, making them go deaf to the world, and to the east of the plains, Sasuke looked out at the enemy, frowning as he watched the last of his first army fall from their deaths or by casualty as Sakura's troops moved and began to attack the second army, and he bristled at the sight of this army beginning to collapse even faster than the first. He saw the troops angling their shields towards the explosions and grimaced. So then, it appeared that Sakura had truly helped to make armor for all of the troops underneath her.

No matter, Sasuke shrugged and turned to Akhlys beside him, his eyes conveying what he was asking as Akhlys smiled darkly and looked out onto the battlefield as she raised her hands. Black wisps of smoke surge out of her clothes and hands, and moved as fast as Naruto could travel across the battlefield, moving inside people's bodies as they breathed in the air they needed for battle.

Sakura coughed suddenly as images began surge inside her mind, of killing Sasuke's soldiers, to injuring Naruto, to yelling at her parents when she was four. She saw herself freezing people to death with blizzards, and killing crops as snow fell down in great heaps, and the look on Naruto's face when she exiled him from the land. Sakura shuttered and opened her eyes, as her horse neighed erratically, and looked around.

'Murderer…You will die here….Losing battle….your family misses you….Die, Die…..DIE!' the words echoed all across the battlefield, as Alliance soldiers dropped their weapons and screamed and wailed. Horses neighed and threw their riders, as artillery crews began to make mistakes and their own army began to be hit in the confusion with rocks and burning stones.

Birds of prey flew in endless loops, as the enemy pressed against them as the army began to turn and rout. Sakura looked to herself. She could see through this, this was Akhlys at work, moving inside them to show them that they were not worth anything and that this battle would change nothing. Sakura's hand surged with yellow fire as she concentrated on her anger and screamed as her hand shot upwards to the sky, as a flaring whistle sounded, getting all attention towards it, before it exploded in the air, the colors of quickly flashing purple, red, yellow, blue, and green forcing men to shake their minds off and look to Sakura.

"FIGHT!" Sakura screamed around herself, and redrew her blade once more and slashed a frozen enemy, before the commanders and strong willed soldiers yelled the order throughout the lines and fought back, charging back into the fray, with or without their weapons, throwing themselves against the enemy ranks, to grab their fallen weapons to fight another day.

Sakura signaled wildly for her birds to attack the hillside where Sasuke was, her eyes wide with fear and anxiety from her recent experience and as soon as she did, she saw Sasuke's smirk as he leaned forward in his saddle and brought his hand up to before his mouth. Black and red fire surged out of it and sped towards the birds, as they cawed and screeched as the flames overtook them, before the smoke covered them and a few seconds passed before the bodies of feathers fell to the lip of the hill.

Sasuke's eyes spun madly as he cut off his flames and brought down his hand, wiping his lips as if he was done eating a greased steak, as his eyes focused on the girl straight before him, surrounded by the armies of them both, and smiled. Sakura's eyes bore into his, and her anger flared. He had played her for a fool, those birds had been with her since the beginning and he had just murdered them. The area around Sakura began to freeze over, as enemies froze in place and her eyes grew darker, ready to end this battle, once and for all.

AN: Next Time, we'll see the inner and personal battles begin to take place. Please Review! I want to know!