After the victory at the rail junction, the rebel army began to gain more and more support. Much of this support came from the actual Imperial Army itself, not happy with the way Cole had handled the situation. Regular civilians were flowing into the camps daily, adding more soldiers to the ranks. There were even soldiers from both the Dragon Empire and The Empire of the Knights, many of them fleeing their homes and joining the rebel army in hopes of finding a new life.
What also made people flock to the rebel cause was the fact that they had chosen an emperor of their own. Add to the fact that this emperor had won the first battle of the war, they were more than willing to follow him. What Naruto had started was the end of the old empire and the rise of a brand new one.
"Is everything set for the attack on Mansburg?" Matthew asked. While he was taking the role of emperor, he needed the famed sword to have a full claim to the title. His soldiers were determined to get it and hopefully kill Cole in the process.
"Our army is ready for the march," James said. "We just have one small problem. The garrison at Fort Cole and a smaller reinforcement army in the nearby village of Phylia. We need to take these out first." Matthew nodded and closed his eyes to think for a moment.
"Are there any volunteers willing to take the fort?" he asked as he opened his eyes. "We'll need to take it by both sea and land. We'd only be able to take one and begin taking the other before the main army arrives to try and stop us."
Despite what it seemed, Cole and Toneri's forces still outnumbered them by a large margin. Matthew had close to 86,000 soldiers in his army while Jeff had the larger force of 114,000 men, mostly due to his job of keeping Cole's main army off of Matthew's force until it was ready with enough men to outnumber Cole. Cole's personal army was around 112,000 men with Toneri still in charge of 95,000 of his Dragon Mercenaries and 90,000 regular Imperial soldiers.
However, Toneri had spread his men out in hopes of catching the rebels with the hopes that one of his groups can hold them in place for the others to arrive and crush them. Rebel spies and scouts had reported everything they could about the defenses and reported that Toneri had spread his men out too thin and too far to provide support, giving Matthew the opportunity to take Mansburg and deal a crushing blow to Cole.
It wasn't long before Captain Wilkes stepped up.
"My marines can take the fort by sea," he said. "We just need support with maybe one or two divisions on land to help keep the garrison from retreating."
"I'll assign General Seville's men to that task," Matthew replied. "The rest of us will march between the fort and Phylia and cut off their reinforcements. Are there any questions?" No one said a word as Matthew wrote down a letter to Jeff.
"Send this to Jeff," Matthew commanded to one of his aides. "As for everyone else, prepare to move out. We march at dawn." Everyone saluted and left the tent. As Naruto walked over to his, he looked north to the city.
"Shikamaru," he began. "I hope you can find a way to stop this battle. If anything, just make it to where we can march into the city with as little resistance as possible." He walked into his tent and retired for the night.
In Mansburg Royal Tavern, Shikamaru was looking at the maps with others. Toneri had assigned him to prepare the defenses of Mansburg and the surrounding area. While Toneri had told Cole the idea to split his army was his idea, in actuality, it was Shikamaru and Temari that had done it, giving all the information they could to rebel spies so they could break through and defeat Toneri.
"Are you sure this will work, Shikamaru?" Temari asked.
"I hope so," Shikamaru replied. "If he finds out we're doing this, it will mean all our heads rolling." The others nodded. One of them had already told Toneri off and was sent with one of the deployed regiments as punishment. When the battle was over, Toneri would kill him.
"Which position did he send Lee to?" Neji asked, worried about his teammate. Tenten was a wreck when Toneri charged him with treason and had him placed in one of the frontline regiments.
"I'm afraid he was placed in the force at Phylia," Shino stated. "And I believe in the path of the rebel armies advance."
As he finished, Tenten ran out of the tavern, the others following suite. They got outside just in time to see her mount one of the horses they were given and ride off, leaving a dust cloud in her wake.
"I hope she can make it in time," Kida muttered. "Let's hope that Hinata will be ok at town hall by herself as well."
"If Toneri tries anything," Kankuro agreed. "We kill him ourselves." The others all nodded and went back to their rooms, hoping the next day will come soon.
The next day, the rebels were awoken early and began their march. The Marines and Seville's forces had left the night before and by now, would already be attacking Fort Cole. Matthew was at the head of the army, leading his personal guard with Naruto and Takeru on his flanks. His entire force was ready for this encounter, having been bolstered by another 8,000 men from Jeff's army and an additional 10,000 from defectors to Cole's forces, now giving him a total of 104,000 men, but they were still outnumbers by Toneri's 185,000 army.
The rebel army marched on, coving enough ground to keep on the flank of the force attacking the fort. As they neared the crossroads, one of Seville's rides approached.
"General Seville sends his compliments," the rider said. "They've taken the fort with almost no casualties. The garrison surrendered after the navy blew a few holes in the wall. Most of the soldiers were criminals, but the regular soldiers joined with us."
"How many?" Matthew asked.
"Around 2,000," the rider continued. "All members of the 5th Imperial Guard regiment. With them is around five hundred cannons."
Matthew nodded, his face brightening up. Now he had more artillery than Cole and he was prepared to use that to his full advantage.
"Tell Seville and Wilkes to meet us one mile south of Phylia," Matthew began. "We can force Toneri out of the city by advancing on the nearest position." The rider saluted and rode off. Matthew continued the march, soon arriving at the rendezvous by afternoon, the army ready to rest. The rebels began to set up their camp as some scouts went out to gather more intel and supplies from the locals.
Unlike Cole, Matthew sent men out to purchase the supplies. If no one was willing to give them the supplies, they were left alone and the group would move on to the next house.
In the Imperial camp, Lee was sitting in the stockades that had been built. Many of the soldiers were militia from his home, but they had treated him bad to the point he could barely walk. He was about to doze off again when he heard the guards groan, all on the ground from kunai wounds. Lee looked and saw Tenten grabbing the key from one of the guards and go over to his cell.
"Tenten!" Lee exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm busting you out," Tenten explained. She opened the door and helped Lee out. They began to leave from the back of the camp, moving into the swamp east of the town. It was the only way for them to escape, as Toneri had not planned on any force coming from the swamp so he had left no guards on that side of his camp. To him, only a fool would even lead his men through a swamp.
As they began to head for the town, one of Toneri's soldiers spotted them.
"Prisoner escape!" he shouted. Tenten put Lee on her back and ran to Phylia, around ten of the camps guards ran after them. Tenten took to jumping onto the rooftops, not caring if people saw her. Her main goal was to get Lee to safety.
As she jumped down, she was soon surrounded by forty more of the camps soldiers. As they were about to kill them, gunshots were heard. Many of the camps soldiers were killed as others began to fall back, only to be attacked by the locals. Tenten sat Lee down as on of their rescuers rode up.
"Tenten!" They looked up to see Naruto. "Bushy Brows! What are you two doing here?" Lee smiled at Naruto.
"Glad to see you're still alive," Lee said, his voice still cracking from no food or water. Naruto waved over for a medic, instructing the medic to take Lee back to their camp. Tenten went back with Lee as naruto rode over to Matthew's tent.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Emperor Cunningham," Naruto began. "But we have some people in the medical tent you need to see."
Matthew nodded and followed Naruto to where Tenten and Lee were sitting. Naruto went in first, nodding to his old friends. He opened the tent for Matthew to walk in, allowing them to finally see the person who had beaten Toneri's forces at the rail junction.
"Allow me to introduce, Emperor James Matthew Cunningham," Naruto said. "He treated me well when I first arrived so there's a good chance he'll treat you the same. This is Rock Lee and Tenten." Matthew bowed to Naruto's friends as they were introduced.
"Naruto tells me that you helped him escape the village," Matthew began. "I'd like to say welcome, but we're pressed for time, we need to find a way to end this war, but we need the city of Mansburg before we can do anything else."
"We'd be willing to help," Tenten stated. "They seem to think that you'll only attack from the front. The swamp area is undefended." Matthew nodded as he thought the idea over. "There's something else. Naruto, Hinata is also at Mansburg, She really needs your help. By the end of the month, Toneri is going to force Hinata to marry him, even before she's eighteen."
Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the news. His whisker marks began to darken as his expression turned from shock to anger.
"We need to stop them before it's too late," Naruto said. "We need to attack their camp now and force Toneri's army out into the open. We can win like before"
"I have another plan," Matthew argued. Toneri most likely knows we're here now. Let's smash his men as they arrive onto the field. We can take out the camp and then as his men arrive, defeat them before they can get fully ready. Naruto, prepare your men. I need you to lead Seville and Wilkes to the swamp. If he thinks no army will march in it, let's give him a surprise."
The next few hours were busy as the rebels marched through the town and began their attack on the camp. Rebel forces maintained their formations as Toneri's forces scattered around trying to maintain order, but nothing was working. Toneri's forces were defeated and soon, rebel forces were in position as Toneri's main army, 150,000 men, arrived onto the field. Due to the size, only a few groups were able to form up for the attack.
Just as Matthew planned, Toneri's forces were soon being smashed. To be fair, he was still only sending up militia forces, but even when he had sent in an experienced regiment with them, they too fell victim to the rebel fire.
Toneri could only watch as his men were being defeated. As he was about to order the next group to attack, he heard the sound of gunshots to the rear. It was then that he realized that he had been outflanked. His rearguard had began to flee back to Mansburg as rebel forces came out of the swamp, surprising many more of Toneri's army. To make matters worse, the main army began to charge forward, scattering his already defeated army. Toneri fled the field, ready to kill Shikamaru for his failed strategy in the defense.
As the battle ended, losses for the rebels were close to 3,000 killed and another 7,000 wounded. Toneri had lost the fort, town, and close to 125,000 men were either killed, wounded, captured, or fled the field, hoping to make it to one of the other camps.
Tenten and Lee were waiting to hear what happened when Naruto walked in.
"We won!" he exclaimed. "I guess it was Shikamaru that helped weaken the defenses." Tenten and Lee nodded. "I bet Toneri isn't going to be happy when he gets back to Mansburg." They laughed at the thought of Toneri throwing a temper tantrum.
"There's also something else," Matthew said as he walked in the medical tent. "Cole has been dealt a major blow to his war effort. The road to Mansburg is now open for us to capture and wipe out the major bit of resistance in this area and hopefully bring about an end to this war much quicker."
"I also learned something else that might help us," Lee stated. "Toneri is also wanting the throne for himself. He had sent some men to bring some sword to him. It was at the camp that I was imprisoned at."
"You mean this sword?" Seville asked, walking up to them, the same sword in his hands.
"Yes, that's the sword," Lee replied.
"This is the sword that is needed to help chose the next emperor," Seville explained. "Allow me to present this to you, my Emperor," Seville presented the sword to Matthew. Matthew placed his hand on the hilt and lifted the sword. All of a sudden, a bright light emitted from the sword, filling the tent with positive feelings of victory, hope, and a new future. As it died down, Matthew placed the sword in its scabbard, now truly looking like an emperor.
"What's our next goal?" Naruto asked. "We need to take Mansburg as soon as we can."
"Rally the men," Matthew began. "At dawn, me march to the city. I want all artillery we have ready to shell the defenses. Force any remaining soldier loyal to Toneri out of the city and raise our banner on the town hall. Tomorrow marks the end of Cole's Empire ad the birth of a new one."
The others all saluted and smiled. From that point on, it seemed only good things could happen now.
Unknown to the rebel armies, Toneri had just arrived at Mansburg, his sword drawn as he neared where the others were staying. As soon as he walked in, he noticed that they were gone, except for Shikamaru, Temari, and Sasuke.
"You three are under arrest for treason to the crown of the Dragon Empire!" He exclaimed as his men marched in to arrest them. As Toneri was about to grab Shikamaru, Sasuke got in front and blocked him. "I'll kill you."
Toneri brought out his sword and swung at Sasuke. Sasuke blocked, as a fight broke out in the tavern. Many of the Imperial soldiers that were resting there saw what was happening and decided to end it. They grabbed their weapons and opened fire on some of Toneri's mercs. As the fight got worse, more men from both groups ran in and fought each other.
Toneri soon knocked Sasuke's sword out of his hands. As Sasuke stood in shock, Toenri swung and cut off Sasuke's left arm. As Sasuke cried out in pain, Shikamaru decided enough was enough.
"Stop!" He shouted. "I'll go with you. Just leave the others alone." Toneri nodded and had some men take him away along with all the Imperials that had attacked them.
"Shikamaru!" Temari yelled. "What are you doing?"
"Doing the right thing," he replied. "I'm sorry. This needed to stop." As Toneri walked out, he motioned for his men to bring the prisoners. As Shikamaru was about to be taken out, Temari ran up and attacked the guards, only to be captured herself.
Sakura and Ino ran over, trying to figure out what was going on. When they arrived, they saw their friends being taken away. Before they could stop them, Toneri had the prison cart race off, him at the head, going for the fortress prison in the center of the city. Sakura ran inside, only to scream as she saw Sasuke on the ground, his arm bleeding out. Sakura quickly got to work, doing her best to heal Sasuke.
"Don't you die on me," she said, Ino wiping the sweat from her forehead. This went on for a few minutes until Sakura had stopped the bleeding, allowing them to get him to a hospital that would treat the injury the rest of the way.
At Town Hall, Hinata was looking out, smoke in the distance from what she was hoping to be the rebel army advancing on the city. The closer they got, the sooner she would be free. All the reports that came in so far was that of retreat for Toneri's forces and that the rebels had wiped out most of his army. Now victory for Hinata gaining her freedom looked bright.
As she was about to go to bed, Toneri burst into her room.
"I've upped the date of our wedding," he said. Hinata froze, not sure what that meant. "Tomorrow night, you will be my wife, one way or another." he walked out, fear gripping her heart. She broke down in tears, now believing her fate would be doomed.
"Please hurry Naruto," she cried. "Please save me. I pray you can be here before it happens."
Neji heard the entire exchange from his room next to hers.
"If Toneri wants Hinata," he said to himself. "He'll have to kill me first. Naruto, you better hurry up."
Author: The rebels now have a major time limit. Will Hinata be rescued?
Naruto: She better be.
Author: Just wait and find out.