Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 94: Ambush and the Undead
As the armies of the five shinobi nations and the Land of Iron moved out there was another group that had left first that was already half way across the Land of Lightning. High up in the air the Ambush division were flying high on large Ink birds.
"This is a very useful skill Sai" Kankuro said admiring the bird he was riding on.
"Thank you Kankuro Teichou" the stoic Ink user replied.
"You don't have to call me Teichou, you know" Kankuro said.
"But you are the leader of the Ambush division. I am simply granting you the correct title. A book I read told me that people are often embarrassed by titles and that sometimes a nickname is a better way to communicate. Would you prefer to be called Makeup Boy?" Sai asked, causing Kankuro to choke and several others in the group to burst out laughing.
"It's not makeup it's War Paint!" Kankuro yelled in frustration.
(Turtle Island)
Naruto and Bee were currently working on attempting to finish Naruto's Bijuudama. But it was not going well. He could begin the creation but he couldn't maintain it's form.
"Kami this is hard" Naruto sighed after another failed attempt.
"Don't sweat it yo! Nobody has ever done anything like this before. Once it's done you'll be good to go" Bee rapped in response.
"Yeah, maybe I should work on something else to improve my control" Naruto sighed.
"Right'o. Try creating smaller versions of the Rasengan. The smaller the ball the better the control boy'yo" Bee said.
Naruto got to work creating smaller and smaller Rasengan until they could be created on his fingertips. The next step was to try the same thing with the Rasenshuriken. This was proving to be difficult as he had to use a chakra arm to focus the Fuuton chakra.
"Good work, you are proving that you're no slack jerk" Bee said.
"Well I have been able to reduce the size of the Rasenshuriken by about half, I'm still not happy yet" Naruto said.
"Don't sweat it. The Akatsuki will be running scared from your might, in time you will be given the order to flee on sight" Bee rapped.
"Thanks Bee, we still have time to perfect this. Besides I have always found it easier to learn something when there is a situation that calls for the jutsu" Naruto said.
"That will do for today Naruto. You need to rest, we could be called in at any moment yo" Bee rapped.
"Alright, but I think we will have a few days before the fighting starts" Naruto said.
Bee and Naruto left there training area behind the falls of truth to find Jiraiya and Yugito training in there hair jutsu. Yugito was using her hair like a sword to cut through trees and deflect kunai they made the genin throw at her.
"Wow, that's amazing Yugi-chan, looks like you are really getting the hang of Jiraiya sensei's hair jutsu" Naruto said as her approached.
"Yeah they're great. I don't know why you don't use them. It's like having a weapon that cant be lost" Yugito said happily as she effortlessly swatted two kunai from the air with her long ponytail.
"It's not really my style. Besides my hair is way too short" Naruto replied.
"You could always grow your hair out, like mine" Jiraiya said hopefully.
"No I don't think I will be doing that. We are already so much alike, last thing we need is to look exactly the same" Naruto said.
"Besides think of what it would do to his ego, to have a clone of him walking around" Yugito added.
"No fair, Gai has a clone, I want one too" Jiraiya said with a small sniffle.
"Naruto if you start wearing kabuki clothes and peeking on women in bath houses we are getting a divorce" Yugito said with a smile.
"I wouldn't worry about that, besides we aren't even married yet" Naruto chuckled.
"Then I will rush though the marriage, just so that I can divorce you" Yugito laughed out.
"I'll never get a clone" Jiraiya pouted sadly.
(Joint Shinobi HQ)
While the army began moving towards the giants graveyard the Raikage, A, along with Tsunade and Shikaku were sitting in HQ going over there plans when a messenger hawk entered the room.
Shikaku collected the message and scanned it. "Madara's forces are moving! This message from Anko's squad confirms they are heading towards the Land of lightning. At the current speed we will not be able to box them in and our forces will clash somewhere in between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Sound. Which could mean that Orochimaru's former hideouts could become valuable assets in this war" the Nara said.
"And Kabuto is helping them out, so he will make sure that Oto is taken quickly. That will be a key location we need to evacuate the villages in that area and move to keep not only the people safe but to stop Madara from turning them into defensive outposts" A said.
"We should send messenger Hawks to all the villages and counties in the area between the two armies, tell them what is coming there way" Tsunade suggested.
"I agree, we should get to work, if there are civilians in the area it will only serve to help Madara, he wont care about civilian casualties, but as the five great nations we can't afford to be seen as heartless or Evil" A said.
"Shikaku was there any other information on the scroll?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes Hokage-sama. It seem Anko has elected to stay behind in hopes of getting closer to the Akatsuki base in an attempt to finish off either Kabuto, Madara or both. She ordered her team to run the moment the first Zetsu began to move. They are about six hours run away from intercepting the Ambush Division if I'm correct" Shikaku said.
"I see, now the Ambush squad. Which is the division that is supposed to be backing them up?" A asked.
"Kakashi's division three are the closest team, at an ETA of four hours after the Ambush division intercepts the first wave of enemy ninja" Shikaku answered.
"Then we need to get a message to them to inform them to stop and set up the Ambush before they meet the enemy, in the Land of Sound. The will have a member of the Information squad with them that Inoichi will be able to contact them and tell give the divisions the latest intel" A said.
"I will go tell him to pass the message on at once" Shikaku said before exiting the room.
"This is the last hours of calm before the storm, we have to expect anything from the likes of Madara" A said.
"Yes he really is unpredictable. But that doesn't mean that we are at a disadvantage. We have several unpredictable cards we can play as well" Tsunade said with a smile.
"Yes Bee and Naruto are certainly that. And there will not be many better partnerships than those two working together" A replied.
"We will need them if we are to win this war. The fact Madara has such numbers all in reserve tells me that he has been planning this for some time. But he said himself that he is not strong enough to capture Naruto, he must have a plan to capture him" Tsunade said.
"We also know that he cant seal the Kyuubi until last or at least until he has seven of the Bijuu, that is why the Akatsuki left him alone for as long as they did. So as long as the other two are safe, so is he" A said.
"I would prefer not to find out if that is true or not" Tsunade said with a small smile.
"As would I. We can't afford to let the Akatsuki get their hands on a single one of the remaining jinchuuriki. We have no idea what will happen to the strength of his army should they capture one of the remaining jinchuuriki" A said.
(Ambush Division)
"We got an urgent message from HQ. Madara's forces are on the move, we wont be able to make it to our destination. Our new destination is the Land of Sound. We need to hold off the enemies advance until Division three comes to bail us out" a brown haired member of the Intelligence division informed Kankuro after receiving a message telepathically from HQ.
"How far will we be ahead of our back up?" Kankuro asked.
"It will be four Hours. Before Kakashi arrives. Three if we are lucky" the Intel ninja said.
"That's insane! There are only thirty of us. How are we supposed to hold off there advance for three hours" Sai said.
"We will have to find a way. Sai do you have the Hirashin kunai, we might need them" Kankuro said.
"Yeah I have three with me. But calling in Naruto and the others so early seems a bit extreme" Sai said.
"We might not have a choice, we need to hold off for as long as possible, if we don't do our job, we will loose valuable ground to the Akatsuki we cant let that happen" Kankuro said.
A weird sense of anxiety fell over the group as they flew over the land of frost.
'Man, I never wanted to have to fight in a war like this. What... what if this ambush division gets ambushed ourselves. And I am the only one to survive? They'll take me hostage, subject me to all kinds of torture... And when they are done, they'll mess up my mind and use me to fight my friends until I am eventually killed by Raikage-sama' Omoi thought. "Uh Kankuro Teichou do you mind if I ask you something.?" he said.
"Sure go ahead" Kankuro said.
"Well Teichou, we're almost the same age... is this the first war you'll fight in?" Omoi asked.
"Well three and a half years ago I fought in Suna's failed invasion of Konoha, but I would still say that this would be my first experience of a real war"Kankuro answered.
"Then aren't you worried?" the white haired chunin asked.
"I am, but it doesn't matter. We have a job to do and I want to make sure it gets done. How well we complete our task will have a direct influence on this war. And how many casualties we suffer. If you let it get to you we will fail. I want to protect me friends and family, the only thing I am thinking about and the only thing any of us should be thinking about is how to make this operation a success" Kankuro said.
They flew on until they were well inside the former Land of sound before coming in to land. Sai immediately went to work and created a large amount of ink mice and made them scatter. "They are setting up a perimeter. If the enemy approaches we will know before hand" he said.
"Good, now they may not be here yet, but we are now in enemy territory. I have no doubt that when the first wave of enemies arrives we will be forced back, so Sai I need you to send a some more ink creatures to find appropriate strategic area's to fall back to" Kankuro said.
"I'm on it" Sai replied before creating more ink mice.
"Good now we'll use this area as our main base and set up satellite bases nearby. Our first priority is to set up tripwires and time bombs. Set up entry points at two and six o'clock within a ten meter radius. Omoi you place explosive tag traps in every other direction and report back. Sai get back up in the air and keep watch. Ittan use your Doton techniques to dis us trenches then head to the placed further back and set up bases there. Tango, set up a chakra transmission antenna so we can get in touch with HQ and and the other divisions. Saji and Hoheto I need you both on sensor and guard duty" Kankuro said.
"I'm on it, with a sensor like me there will be nobody sneaking up on us, we have nothing to worry about!" Saji said.
"This is War Saji, don't let your guard down for a moment! If you do we are all going down. So pull it out of your ass and get to work" a jounin from Kiri said.
"Look I know I may not look like much, but they chose me for this squad to be the sensor because I'm one of the elite sensors from Kumo. So uh anything else that I should be on the look out for? Other than the obvious horde of attacking ninja" Saji replied.
"Anyone approaching. Kabuto is using one of Orochimaru's techniques. 'Impure World Resurrection' it resurrects the souls of ninja and in a sense brings them back to life in order to control them by binding their souls to corpses and no matter what kind of attacks you try they can't be killed.. We could face our fallen comrades or legendary ninja from the past. The only way we know to defeat them for sure is to seal the soul itself. Apparently not even killing the person who used the technique will stop them. One of our primary goals, like every other company is to capture Kabuto at any chance we are given. Then I am told that we will use illusions from our top genjutsu users to trick him into ending the jutsu" Kankuro explained.
"Well you have told a few of us what our missions are, but what about the rest of us?" a chunin asked.
"Help set up traps in the area. But I want Krii to stay behind to work on strategy. We were given a large quantity of Naruto's Elemental seals. Place them in the areas, around the base" Kankuro explained.
The first hour went by and the Ambush squad had set up their bases while waiting for the enemy to approach.
"This waiting is the worst!" Hoheto sighed as he directed a runner in from one of the smaller bases they had set up in the area.
"Any news" Kankuro asked.
"We haven't picked anything up. And so far there are no sightings from Sai or his scouts" the runner said.
"Wait something is wrong!" Saji said urgently before Kankuro could reply.
"What is it?" Kankuro asked.
"Something is messing up my sensor ability. It's a jamming jutsu!" Saji said.
"The enemy?" Kankuro asked getting ready for battle.
Suddenly a man jumped out of the forest and collapsed in the clearing in front of the base. "That's Muta Aburame from Anko's recon team!" Hoheto yelled and jumped off to check on him.
"Hoheto wait!, there are traps everywhere! Let me take care of him" Kankuro yelled but it did no good Hoheto made his way to the collapsed Aburame without disturbing the traps.
"Muta, are you hurt? Don't worry, Muta's beetles don't allow people to sense anything in the area" Hoheto said.
"We need eyes on what's happening. You Hyuuga-san tell me what you see" Kankuro said turning to one of the other Konoha ninja in the group.
"Right away. Byakugan... … There is something inside the jar on his back other than the Aburame clans bugs.
Suddenly Muta shot up and grabbed Hoheto almost like he was flying before charging right towards the group. 'The way he's moving... It can't be!' Kankuro thought. "Don't let him near us, he is being controlled by chakra strings" he ordered.
"There is a white lump of clay inside that jar!" the Hyuuga said.
"It's explosives! Stop him now!" Kankuro yelled.
"Clay then there is no other explanation. That's Deidara's clay... Doton: Mud Wall" Ittan yelled.
The earth rose and began to separate Muta and Hoheto at the same time as the jar on the Aburame's back exploded.
High in the air Sai saw the explosion. 'No way, what happened?' he thought before turning his ink bird around.
The smoke cleared to reveal Hoheto behind the wall but he was missing an arm. "Krii heal Hoheto and look alive people, we still have a few hours before help arrives!" Kankuro said.
"I couldn't save the Aburame... Damn it!" Ittan said sadly.
Omoi stood shocked at what he had seen. But he didn't even have time to register what happened when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. 'I guess there is no time to grieve for the fallen in war. There is only time for...' "Kumo Kenjutsu Style: Crescent Moon Cutter!" he yelled as he jumped into the air drawing his blade and swiping around above his head blocking two kunai and just narrowly missing his target.
A Suna ninja who had fallen on the floor looked up into the air and went wide eyed! "Oh shit there's another one" he yelled as he froze up unable to move, all he could see was his approaching death.
Just before he hit however the attack was sent rocketing into the ground by the timely arrival of Sai.
"Nice Sai. Great save!" Kankuro said.
"Oh boy did you see that explosion. That just proves that true art... Is a blast! But look, they're all still alive. so now what Yeah!" came the voice of Deidara, who was standing on a clay bird as he entered the clearing after the other Edo Tensei ninja.
"You! You're the one who attacked Suna and kidnapped Gaara. And I know you are out there Sasori, show yourself!" Kankuro yelled angrily.
"Oh it's you, a puppet master, that should be interesting yeah" Deidara replied.
"So you are an Ambush squadron too then... It must be pretty rare for the Ambush squads of both sides to meet like this" Kankuro said.
"So looks like whoever wins here will be able to carry out their sneak attack successfully. We were the first ones they sent out so this battle will set the tone for this war yeah and we can't loose, we wont loose. Because we are immortal" Deidara said. The moment he finished his sentence the man Sai knocked into the ground picked himself up.
"Sai! Is that you?" the young man asked.
"B-Brother!" Sai stammered.
"Run little brother! Look what they have done to me, I can't win!" he said.
"Sai don't listen to him! I won't let you force friends and family to fight each other. Sai I will take him!" Omoi said a look of determination coming across his face.
(Frost Country)
The army of the Joint Shinobi Task Force were moving fast across the country side and were beginning to split up.
"Reports are coming in! The Ambush squad has come into contact with the enemy! We need to hurry up" a sensor ninja in contact with Inoichi, yelled to Gaara who was at the front of the group along with the other leaders.
Gaara could here everything that was said. "Division's split off we need three fronts. The first group comprising of division four and five. We are going to head around to flank the enemy through fire country. Divisions three and one under the command of Kakashi Hatake head for the ambush squads location. And two and six head for the coast, to prevent them from attacking via the water, your commander will be Kitsuchi. Should we need to split again that will be decided by the current squad commander. Now everyone split now" Gaara yelled and the information passed all the way down to the base of the army.
The three groups split up leaving just Kakashi's group on the same path they had originally been on.
"We need to pick up the pace. The ambush squad needs out help. We can't afford to waste any time" Kakashi yelled before pushing off hard. 'They need my help and I will not let a single life that can be saved, be lost if I can help it' Kakashi thought.
End Chapter!
Well you are all going to hate me for the cliffy, but that's the start of the war. Hope you enjoyed it and I will try not to make the next chapter end in a cliffhanger. But no promises.