Chapter 4: Is a Good Offense

"Shikamaru, we need to set up defenses now!" Naruto told his friend urgently.

"I'm already on it, Shikamaru was in front of a small model of Konoha, frantically moving little model people all around it, "We need to set up scouts along the walls, and have response teams at the ready in all parts of the village."

"We've already started on that, but what about a battle strategy?"

"I don't know. I don't have anything to go on that would help me."

Naruto ran his hand through his hair anxiously.

"This is a disaster; who attacked the aliens while we were talking to them, and why would they do something that stupid?"

"I don't think that matters now," Sasuke said, "The aliens will think we have declared war on them for this. They're going to want to attack us back in retaliation."

Naruto nodded grimly. He got up to gather his friends, and join in the defense of Konoha. This was his village after all; he wasn't going to let it get destroyed by anyone, no matter what the situation was.

Outside, members of the Konoha 11 asked him what was going on.

"Naruto, what's happening?" Tenten came running up, "Sasuke and Shikamaru are rounding up everybody and sending them all over the village. What's going on?"

"We're preparing for an attack," Naruto said grimly, "Someone attacked the aliens while we were speaking to them, and now they're on the warpath. They're probably preparing already."

"What?" Choji exclaimed, "How? What happened?"

"I don't know, but we need to get ready; the aliens could be hear any mom-"

Just as Naruto was about to finish his sentence, 3, gold, blue-finned, metal machines flew overhead. They flew right over the town, and started to descend near Konoha's Third Training Ground.

"They're here!" Naruto and his friends quickly raced to the Training Ground.

By the time they arrived, the area was already engulfed in battle. Shinobi and the aliens were darting around all over the area; the whole place was in utter chaos. For a moment, they were struck by the grace with which the battle progressed, despite its lack of organized fighting. The aliens were very graceful in combat, just as the shinobi were. The reverie was broken however, as 2 of the aliens charged them. Tenten and Choji immediately rushed in and engaged the pair of them, making the chaotic scene even harder to follow.

Naruto waded into the battle, helping his fellow shinobi as best he could. This wasn't like any other fight though; these aliens were so much tougher, and they just would not stand still either. Through the crowd he saw Tenten in hand-to-hand combat with one of them, and Choji and Ino fighting another.

Tenten threw several kunai at her alien opponent, only to have them all bounce right its shield. Her taijutsu wasn't working either; the thing's armor was preventing her from landing an effective strike. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat this thing the way she was now; she needed a weapon at least. She quickly threw a volley of kunai with explosive tags attached to them to give her a bit of a reprieve. In the brief time it took for her opponent to recover she pulled out a katana, and prepared for another clash.

Naruto dodged to the side to avoid a punch from one of the alien zealots, and hit him in return. The blow didn't break the zealot's shield, but it did make it stumble backwards a bit. Naruto used the opportunity to land several more blows, each only landing on the shield, but still keeping the zealot at bay. Naruto went in to deliver a series of blows to break the shield for good, but the minute he closed in the zealot recovered and punched him in the gut. He stumbled backwards as the alien prepared to finish him off.

"Rasengan!" Naruto struck the zealot in the chest with his signature Rasengan jutsu.

The zealot went flying backwards, and smashed into a tree. Before he could get up, Sasuke jumped forwards, and plunged his sword into the alien's slender torso. With a mental cry, the alien vanished in a gout of what looked like blue flames.

'So they can die,' Naruto thought.

He looked around the battle; things were not right. Why weren't any of the aliens armed? Either they were grossly overconfident in their abilities (or grossly underestimating the abilities of their enemies), or they were holding back. The second option was a rather scary thought; they were already tough opponents, but when they were armed? Across the battlefield, he saw Kiba and Akamaru fighting another zealot. He recognized this one; it was the younger one who had led them through the base for their audience with their leader. His armor was different; it was a little thicker, and more ornate. Before he could run over to help them, another zealot attacked him and Sasuke.

Tenten's battle with the zealot had raged across the town. They had fought all the way out of the training ground, and were now dueling near the stadium. She tried to slash at the alien's shoulder, but as always the blow just glanced off the shield. She quickly had to duck to avoid the alien's counter, which ended up making a web of cracks in the wall next to her. She attacked twice more. The first blow did nothing, but the second seemed to give a bit more than the others. Wait! She hit the shield again. Was it just her, or was it growing weaker? She dodged to the side, and brought her sword down hard. The zealot staggered back as the sword struck his armor on the shoulder. Yes; the alien's shields were breakable!

On the training grounds, only three battles were left; all the other battles had spread out across the village. The only remaining duels were between Kiba, Akamaru, Choji, Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, and their respective 3 opponents. Ino and Choji darted all around their foe, but they just couldn't get through his defenses. Choji rushed towards the alien, but a swift open-hand blow sent him flying backwards. Ino was now fighting the zealot by herself. With a deep breath, she picked up a fallen kunai and prepared to duel with her foe.

Naruto dodged a swinging punch from the zealot he and Sasuke were fighting, as his friend tried to get behind the alien. A spinning kick denied that though. Across the field, he saw Kiba and Akamaru trying to bring the younger zealot down, but they just couldn't do it. As he watched, the zealot suddenly spun and kicked Akamaru, sending the dog flying into a tree. Akamaru crashed into the tree and slid down, hitting the ground hard. With a furious yell, Kiba tried to charge the alien that hurt his friend, but the zealot twisted around, and Kiba ran straight into an uppercut to the stomach. Without pause, the alien grabbed Kiba by the throat, flung him over his head, and threw him to the ground. Kiba hit the ground, and did not get back up. The young zealot turned to leave the training ground to rejoin the battle.

"Naruto, go after him!" Sasuke told his friend, "We'll handle things here, and join you soon as we can."

Naruto nodded, and ran after the alien.

Ino fought her hardest, but the kunai was short, and her opponent had a much greater reach than she did. Even unarmed, the zealot's range exceeded hers by a good 6 inches. She sliced at the alien, but she couldn't get close enough to do anything. Finally, she got inside his guard, and stabbed the kunai through his shield and into the armor that protected his chest. She paid dearly for this however, as a kick from the zealot's armored leg caught her hard right in the side. She flew to the side, and hit the ground hard on her shoulder. From the pain that flooded her left side, she knew at least 3 of her ribs had just been broken. Choji yelled in fury, and used an Expansion jutsu, making himself bigger. The zealot looked up at his foe, now bigger than he was.

Naruto finally caught up with his foe, a good half the village away by then. The young zealot turned to face him. Naruto ran towards him, a Rasengan in hand. The zealot jumped straight over him, and kicked him through a wooden wall on the way down. He turned to finish the Naruto off, but as he neared the human vanished in a puff of smoke!

'This terran is capable of making hallucinations?' Thanatos realized.

Too late he turned at the yell of his real opponent, and was sent flying all the way through the building, smashing into a courtyard on the other side. He got up groggily to see Naruto rushing towards him again, another Rasengan in hand. He jumped to the side, and watched the Rasengan tear through the stone wall like it was paper. It would appear he would need to use more than just his limbs to fight this one. To win this fight, he was going to need to use a weapon.

Back on the training ground, one of the aliens dodged to the left to avoid being crushed by Choji's massive fist. He twisted, and used the claws on his 4 fingers to gouge 4 long cuts in the back of his opponent's hand. Choji yelled in pain, and swatted at the alien in retaliation. The blow caught the zealot full in the front and sent him flying all the way across the river. The alien flipped over and used its hand to stop the slide, and glared at Choji. With that he turned around and ran into the city. The other zealot seeing this, swiftly caught Sasuke with a kick under the chin, and followed suit. Choji shrunk back down to normal size, then ran to check on his friends.

Across the village, Tenten fought her opponent for what seemed like hours without reprieve. She had brought down his shields, but his armor was still keeping her from landing a killing blow. Her heart sank as she took a glance down the road; Sakura and two other shinobi were fighting two more zealots. Sakura's fight soon passed out of sight, but the other two shinobi stayed where they were. As she fought, she watched the other fight nearby. The two shinobi were doing fairly well, but the alien was too.

Naruto continued to attack the younger alien relentlessly, using everything he had at his disposal. He cursed himself for not thinking of storing nature energy for sage mode beforehand. He used 4 of his shadow clones to attack the zealot, while he tried to rest a bit.

Thanatos knew the time had come, he pressed a button on his arm to signal the other zealots. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and activated his psionic blades. Like a windmill he tore through the human's pathetic copies, and charged in to take out the annoying little human for good.

Sakura saw the battle suddenly going horrendously wrong. As she watched from the building she was fighting from, all the aliens across the village were activating some sort of energy blade from their wrists. She stared in horror as one of the aliens below spun behind one of her fellow shinobi, and impaled him through the back. With a quick shove, the alien pushed the dying shinobi off the blade and charged towards another. Sakura turned back to her opponent, who was charging at her in the exact same manner.

She jumped to the side, and flung a kunai at the charging alien. The weapon bounced off his shield, and the zealot turned to face her once more. This time they charged each other at the same time, and clashed right in the center of the building's roof. In hand-to-hand combat the 2 fought up and down the rooftop, trying to get the better of one another. The alien cut Sakura across the shoulder, and she responded with a kick in the chest. Blow for blow they matched each other, neither one willing to give ground. Sakura noticed the zealot's height, and realized it could be their undoing.

She darted to the side, and with a spin, she tripped the alien and sent him crashing onto his back. He sliced at her, keeping her from hitting him again while he was on the ground, so she punched the roof instead. The zealot yelled as he crashed through 3 floors to the tile of the ground level below. She jumped down after him, and drew her fist back for a Cherry Blossom Impact. She caught the alien in the midsection and drove him into the ground, but halfway through the alien vanished in a flash of blue flames, and her fist slammed into the ground. She could still hear the dying yell of her opponent in her head though.

Naruto was evading the young alien's blades as best he could. He wasn't sure what they would do, but he wasn't keen to find out either way. He and the zealot had fought for so long, and the courtyard that was their battleground was completely destroyed as a result of this. He backed up to avoid another slash, but he backed up too far, and his balance was suddenly off center. The young zealot moved in for the kill, but Naruto smiled as his left hand shot forward with a Rasengan. The zealot tried to evade, but the attack hit him square in the right shoulder. At the same time though, Naruto felt a searing pain as the alien's other blade sank just under his right collarbone. Had the Rasengan not hit, the blade would have gone straight through his body.

Naruto sagged down a little, shocked at the deep wound the alien had inflicted. The young zealot closed in slowly, raising his arm for what was clearly meant to be a decapitation blow. Before he could though, a white-haired, masked ninja hit him with a flying kick, lifting the alien clean off his feet and smashing him into a low wall.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto gasped in relief.

"Don't worry Naruto," his teacher told him, "I'll handle this."

Thanatos slowly got up, and reactivated his arm blades. This masked human was fast, fast enough to match him. The human made a bunch of hand signs suddenly, and before he knew what was happening, they were breathing fire at him. He rolled to the side, and charged the fire-breathing human. Weird though, he had seen humans with devices that spat fire, but none that could do so without the help of a machine. These shinobi were indeed worthy foes.

The masked ninja saw him charging on his right, and jumped to avoid him, but he was too slow to evade his psionic blade; the blow cut him straight in half. The ninja vanished with a puff of smoke. This one could create hallucinations too! The real one landed behind him, and suddenly there was water all around them. The observers had seen enough though to give the Executor and his mentor a good understanding of the shinobi's fighting abilities, and so he pressed another button on his arm, signaling the warp prisms to retrieve all surviving zealots. He did this at the cost of being able to defend himself however, as a great water serpent created by the masked ninja struck him head on. The blow crushed his armor's teleporting system; he had no way out. Disgusted with himself, he instructed the warp prisms to leave without him, before the water smashed him into a building, causing him to black out.

The Praetor observed the masked ninja, his eyes narrowed. The human was strong, strong enough to beat his best student. That was unacceptable.

Tenten's opponent was distracted by a beeping from his arm. As the alien looked down at the light flashing on his armor, she saw her opportunity at last. She attacked twice, catching him by surprise and landed both hits. He attacked back, but she flipped and evaded his attack, before stabbing at him with her own. As the zealot shuffled backwards, she did a spinning slash to slice him in half. The alien reflexively raised his left arm to block, and the sword crushed straight through the armor and drew blood. He however, hit her in the stomach with an uppercut. Tenten sagged forward slightly as she lost her air, and the zealot drew his arm back slightly. Tenten gasped in shock and pain, looking down. The zealot had activated his arm's energy blade, and she stared at the weapon that was now going through her abdomen. With a flourish, the zealot pulled the blade free, turned, and walked away. Tenten collapsed to her knees, and keeled over onto her side. She watched as the alien turned into a bunch of blue particles as one of the golden ships flew overhead, and her vision turned black.

Author's note: In case of confusion, I play StarCraft 2 all the time, and am basing all SC2 characters off their respective in-game units.