Note: I have been getting PM and reviews saying I need line breaks, I personal dislike stories that have those because they break the flow when I read. However some people do like them so I am going to try to find a middle ground where we can all be happy. So I have decided to put the first word after a scene change in bold, I believe this is a fair middle ground. I will be slowly going back though my earlier chapters and do the same thing.
Chapter 79 Demon Ape Country Part 1
Night had fallen over demon bear country, near the resort this was normally the time were couples would walk along the beach light up only by the stars and the moon. This wasn't the case this night since a weather front had moved just after midnight; the front had turned the once crystal clear sky into overcast with a light rain and wind.
"I really wish we were in bed and not here." stated Sakura as she and Naruto hid under a rocky outcropping located just a little bit off the main sandy beach area. They were just trying to stay dry until the last moment but they knew soon they would have to go out and cross the river "That way could thank you for what you did."
Naruto simply smiled as he knew what Sakura's thank you for asking her to marry him would be.
"I guess we will just have to wait until we get back to do that." explained Naruto
"It will just give me time to plan out what I am going to do to you when we get back." purred Sakura as she ran her hand from Naruto's shoulder down stopping at his hand.
"I am just sorry I didn't have a ring for you." said Naruto
"It's not traditional anymore for us to do that." stated Sakura
"We could make it a tradition?" asked Naruto "I mean there are a lot of former humans who are demons now."
"Rings don't really work well over claws." explained Sakura before turning her attention back to the task at hand. "So we cross here and head to some old city in Ape country and then we move toward the capital."
"Yes, there is a road which should speed up our trip to only two days." explained Naruto
"Wouldn't it be overgrown with trees after millions of years?" asked Sakura
"Well the roads outside of the main cities at home use seal repairing seals to stay clear, I am hoping that the Apes have the same thing and that they are still working." said Naruto as Sakura knew that home now mean demon fox country not fire country. "However if we have to move though the woods it would add maybe a half day added to each trip."
"Well we are just wasting time here." said Sakura as she stepped out from under cover as the rain, she channeled chakra to her feet allowing her to stand on the water as if it was land. For a moment Naruto just looked at her as the rain ran down her body.
"That is my mate." thought Naruto with a perverted smile.
"Let's get going." said Naruto as the two of them took off running across the fast moving river water, they both knew that if they slowed down before they reached the far shore there was a good chance of either sinking into the water or being carried off course. Due to the darkness the two of them had to stay close or risk getting separated and the river was wide and would take those hours to cross.
It was also well past midnight in the human world as Shizune ran into Kakashi's room. He was lying on a folding cot near the corner of the room. Like almost every other room in the hotel it had been stripped of everything apart from the internal plumbing system which didn't work anymore. She ran over to her commander only to suddenly have Kakashi's still sleeping hand snap forward and press a kunai against her throat.
"Kakashi its me." stated Shizune as Kakashi's hand pulled back as he sat up. Kakashi had only a pair of shorts and his mask on.
"What is happening?" asked Kakashi as he looked at Shizune. "Are we under attack?"
"A small boat just landed nearby." answered Shizune
"Demons?" asked Kakashi
"No, they seem to be humans." explained Shizune
"Alright wake everyone up and prepare for a fight, this may be an attack." ordered Kakashi as he moved and put a shirt on flowed by his now dirty and stained jonnin jacket. It only took a few minutes for everyone to get ready and soon Kakashi, Shizune and the six ANBU that they still had were in their preplanned defendable positions.
"What do we have?" asked Kakashi to the nearest ANBU
"Looks like Mist Ninjas." stated the ANBU as they looked at the small group of five ninjas who were gathered around a small beach side fire.
"Any sign of demons?" asked Kakashi
"No." stated the ANBU "Sir I think one of them is Ao, the personal advisor to the Mizukage."
"Already everyone cover me, let's see if what is going on." stated Kakashi as he moved across the beach and toward the fire.
"It's about time that you came to see what was going on Kakashi." stated Ao as the middle aged man with light blue hair turned and looked toward Kakashi. "And here I go through all the trouble of finding you with the Byakugan and I would have to be the one to come to you."
"Fist all of you show me some chakra." ordered Kakashi as everyone molded some blue charka, showing that they were humans.
"Happy?" asked Ao as Kakashi nodded his head.
"What is going on Ao?" asked Kakashi
"The civil war in the Mist is over." stated Ao
"Let me guess you lost?" asked Kakashi
"You always fear the worst, we won the 5th Mizukage is back in command." stated Ao with a smile "And just in time."
"In time for what?" asked Kakashi
"An opening has presented itself to turn this war around." stated Ao with a smile as Kakashi's eyebrow raised "We have a plan that may be the turn the tide and send the demons running for a change. But we need your help to do it."
While it was only a little bit past one in the morning in demon bear country to the west in the neighboring demon horse country it was nearing four in the morning. Even at this early hour Lee was just getting moving, like he did every morning when he was in the Leaf he would wake up extremely early to work out. As he sat up from the bed, like most demon horse his house was a nothing more than a really nice open tent with a fire pit located in the center to provide light and warmth. Over the months Lee had become used to demon horse culture, a culture that had groups of maybe a thousand to two thousand horses moving from city to city every few months. There entire homes were designed to be packed up and moved within two hours. The bed which consisted of only a soft mattress and a lot of blankets and pillows as he started moving away a hand shot out and grab his hand.
"It's too early come back to bed." stated the black hair mare who slept in the bed.
"But Kurotsuchi-chan we have to keep up the training both of us." said Lee as the former Rock ninja simply glared at her boyfriend, his hyperactive nature was a double edge sword it made for a lot of fun in the bedroom but it meant she had to deal with that hyper nature when she just wanted calm. A smile came across her face as she came up with a plan.
"If you really want to work out, I know something we can do." said Kurotsuchi as she pulled Lee back down onto the bed.
While the former message runner of the resistance was enjoying himself the commander of the resistance Kakashi Hatake was in a meeting with Shizune and Ao.
"So what is this plan to send the demons running?" asked Shizune as the three of them stood around a table.
"We have learned some interesting things from spying on the demons and from integrating some." stated Ao "First the demons aren't united the wolves and the felines hate each other and they will go to war against each other in time. We need to cause that to happen sooner rather than later."
"Have them fight themselves." said Shizune "The problem is we have learned that they have a treaty that would prevent them from doing that."
"Are you aware that almost half of the demon front line attacking forces are made out of either wolves or felines.' stated Ao "And that a large part of their military forces are staying back in their world in case of an attack."
"So most of their military unites are still in the demon world?" asked Shizune as Ao nodded his head "Then how do we defeat them? If we haven't even faced the bulk of their military how can we win?"
"By using their own hatred against them." answered Ao with a smile "There is a large demon feline force setting up a base on an island just off lightening country, if we can destroy most of the forces on that island we may turn the tide."
"How so?" asked Kakashi
"You see the main attacking groups are the Wolves, the Felines and to a lesser extent the Foxes and Snakes." explained Ao "The bears, horse and ants serve different support roles. As far as we know the wolves have never replaced the forces that they lost at your hands, they are keeping them in their own world so that they can attack the Felines later."
"So if we destroy a majority of the Feline force they may not replace them in fear of an attack on their homeland from the wolves." stated Kakashi
"That is our thinking." said Ao "But it will not be easy there will be thousands of demons on the island fortress."
"So what are you thinking?" asked Shizune "Because we can't take on a thousand demons at once. Not with the forces that are left."
"We have a few things going for us, first they think that the area around the fortress is pacified so their defenses have been lowered. Second we will attack them from the land and from the sea, your forces will storm in from the land while we attack from the sea. By doing that we will trap them between our forces and pin them down. Third is timing, we know that there is a royal wedding in a month a lot of them higher commanders will be there and those who stay will be parting."
"So we will be attacking a bunch of drunken demons with inexperienced commanders." stated Kakashi
"Yes, and once we hit them we fall back." stated Ao
"What about demon reinforcements?" asked Shizune
"The nearest force is a demon wolf camp. They will probably not rush to defend their enemies." stated Ao "However it gets even better."
"How so?" asked Kakashi
"On the same island just to the north of the fortress is a center were they are holding a bunch of unturned humans the ones from the villages which surrendered." explained Ao as he pointed to a spot on the map "Mostly the elderly or other people they don't want to turn into demons. The demons seems to be just waiting for them to die naturally instead of turning them."
"We can liberate them." said Shizune
"Having a bunch of elderly would only slow us down but they have warehouses full of supplies." explained Ao "Supplies that everyone could use."
"Alright, we will send a team to scout the area and plan a ground attack." said Kakashi
"Alright but I will tell you now, you will everything to bring this target down." stated Ao "We will be sending everything to this fight and so should you."
"Shizune get Neji on the radio his group is nearest." ordered Kakashi
"Kakashi he was about to break his group up so that they could live off the land better." said Shizune
"He will have to change plans we need his forces to have any hope of doing this." said Kakashi as Shizune went off to send the order.
"You do know that if we do pull this off we will only destroy their attacking forces, we still have thousands of demons in fire country alone." stated Kakashi as Ao nodded his head.
"Yes, but the demons will be forced to move from an offensive war to a defensive one." stated Ao "Besides it is the best move we have at the moment. We believe that sometime after the royal wedding they will move to finish off humanity."
"So if this fails it is all over." Stated Kakashi
In the demon world Naruto and Sakura had finally finished crossing the river as they stepped onto the shores of demon Ape country.
"You alright Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto as he turned and looked at the pink vixen.
"I am fine, now where is this road located?" asked Sakura
"Should only be about a quarter of a mile away from the city and the road." explained Naruto as the two of them started running down the beach. To their left was the river and to their right was the thick jungles of demon ape country. They could already hear the sound of the jungle animals coming from the brush and tree tops.
"This kind of reminds me of those rainforests in the Southern Tea Country." said Naruto
"Lets just hope it doesn't have as many insects." answered Sakura as they turned flowing a bend in the river, when they turned they finally saw the outskirts of the demon ape village. The two of them walked out of the jungle and onto the paved streets of the demon ape village. The village was nothing like either one of them had ever seen before. It had small neighbors were the houses where one or two stories each with a front and back yards. Rising out of the center of the city where larger buildings some of whom seems to have outer coverings made totally of glass. The two of them kept moving down the strangely intact streets, all round them they could see that the homes were abounded but they also were clearly being maintained. The yards were cut but yet the homes were darkened and there seemed to be no life around. The two of them kept walking toward the city center, all the buildings were darkened. To make matters even stranger as they walked down the streets the street lights would turn on only to turn back off as they passed them.
"Ok, I just have to ask are we sure that the Apes are actually dead?" asked Sakura as she looked up at the high rise buildings which now surrounded them on all sides.
"They were killed off during the war, the bio weapon which caused the infertility of the demons killed them off." explained Sakura as she looked around the darkened buildings "But I don't understand how the streets are so well maintained and there is still power."
"I don't know and there is now seal that could do all this." explained Naruto as they reached the center of the city. In the center of the city they found a massive park with a large stone building in the center. Coming out of the white marble building in the center of the park was two sets of train tracks which was heading deeper into demon ape country however there was no road heading out.
"So where is this road?" asked Sakura as Naruto looked down at the map
"I don't understand on the map it says there is a road which heads that way but all I see is a the railroad." said Naruto
"Well maybe we can find a more detailed map in there." offered Sakura as she pointed toward the large marble building.
"Worth a look." said Naruto as the two of them walked pass a line of stone pillars as they entered a large marble lobby. Almost instantly the lights turned on showing a lobby which was perfectly clean as if a cleaning crew had finished only minutes ago.
"Looks like a railroad station." Said Sakura as the two of them walked deeper into the building trying to find a map. They walked down a series of stairs until they reached the rails themselves. There was still a train sitting on the tracks but it looked nothing either one of them had they had seen before. This one had no smoke stacks or even clearly visible wheels. Instead the front of the train was slopped and angled. The lights on the train suddenly turned on as the doors opened up. Slowly Sakura took a few steps toward the train.
"You don't think it that is actually working?" asked Naruto
"Worth a look." answered Sakura as the two of them walked onto the train.
"Well it still works the problem is neither one of us know how to work this thing." said Naruto
"Welcome onboard." stated a voice from the speakers as both of them jumped into a fighting stance. "Please do not be alarmed. I mean you no harm; I am here to serve you."
"Show yourself?" stated Naruto as one of the screens turned on showing a strange looking logo of a fast moving train.
"I am not physically alive or even here." stated the voice "I am the Artificial Conductor of Rail Network better known as ACR. I am not surprised that you demon foxes are not familiar with me, I haven't had anyone on the network for several million years."
"So what are you?" asked Sakura
"I am an advanced Artificial Intelligence which is responsibility for running and maintaining the high speed rail network that run across the nation." explained ACR
"So you're a computer?" asked Sakura
"Yes, I am a one of many self aware computer I am capable of making my choices and running totally on my own." said ACR
"I knew that that the Apes were advanced but to make an AI is something out of Sci-Fi story." said Sakura
"I am one of several AI who run and maintain all the key areas of public need." stated ACR "I can take you anywhere in the nation."
"You can get us to the capital?" asked Naruto
"Of course." stated the computer as the doors closed and the train started to power up, to Naruto and Sakura's amazement the train seamed to lift off the ground. "Do not worry this is a high speed Maglev Train, you are totally safe."
"What is Maglev?" asked Naruto
"Maglev or Magnetic Levitation system is a system were magnetic located along the rails levitate the train and forces it down the rails." answered ACR as a map appeared on the screen their path became highlighted in green "Without wheels the amount of friction is lowered and overall speed is increased."
"How fast can this go?" asked Sakura as the train started moving down the tracks at an extremely high rate of speed, so fast that both her and Naruto took a step back to remain standing.
"The max speed is 270 miles an hour however we will only be going 200 miles an hour." stated ACR as Naruto and Sakura looked out the window as they left the city behind "You will reach the capital in thirty five minutes."
"Why do I have a feeling this is just the first surprise we will come across in demon ape country." said Naruto as Sakura nodded her head.
"On the bright side we will back sooner." said Sakura as the country side became nothing more than a blur.
Well I hope you liked this chapter, I wanted to make the demon apes society different then all the other demon society. So I decided to have them be the most technological advanced raced and that will become clearer in the next chapter when Naruto and Sakura enter the demon ape capital. Now I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75
