Chapter 5: Pausing for Breath
Hinata hammered on the blue barrier that trapped her. She growled in frustration at the unyielding wall, attacking the thing with everything she had. She even tried using several jutsus, but they all were absorbed by the blue wall. With an angry yell, she gathered all her remaining chakra for one final assault on her prison.
"It won't work," a voice told her gently.
She looked beyond to see one of the aliens walking towards her.
"Believe me, I've already tried," he continued.
He stepped into view, and Hinata realized it was the Praetor who advised Executor Selendis. Up close, she could see he was heavily scarred all across his body. A particularly vicious looking scar went from just above his left eye across his forehead, and down the right side of his neck. He also had another wide scar going from his left shoulder all the way down the back of his hand.
"Remnants of particularly violent battles," he explained, noticing her staring.
"You ordered your people to attack my village," she couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.
"Under direct orders from my superior officer, yes," he nodded at her, "Had I had my way, there wouldn't have been such bloodshed. It is a petty waste of life to me."
Hinata was surprised; she had expected him to accuse her of instigating the whole conflict. The Praetor seemed to understand her thoughts.
"You and your friends were merely curious, that is understandable," he said, "It only became a problem when your people attacked us, and killed two of my zealots. Had that not occurred, this would not be happening. This entire episode is regrettable."
Hinata sat down in her cell again.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" she asked him.
"My name is Praetor Xelios. I admit, your people intrigue me. I have met many humans in my travels, but none that are like you," he told her.
Hinata nodded. She remembered what the scarred alien had told her just earlier.
"What do you mean, "you've already tried"?" she asked him.
The Praetor gave a heavy mental sigh.
"It is a long story."
Hinata leaned back, "I've got time."
The scarred alien made an amused noise, and if he could smile Hinata was sure he would have.
"Very well then. When I was younger, I was a bit of a troublemaker; constantly pulling pranks and getting into all sorts of trouble. Unfortunately, I grew too bold, and I went a little too far, and I ended up getting arrested. I was stuck in there for 6 years, so I had plenty of time to think about what I was doing with my life. When I was released, I decided to join the military, and became a zealot. For the last 300 years I have fought under the command of several of our race's finest heroes, like Tassadar, and Artanis. Eventually, during what was known as the Great War, I was promoted to the rank of Praetor, and since then I have led the royal zealot bodyguard of High Executor Selendis, serving as her advisor and head of security."
"You said it was a long story."
"That is an incredibly simplified version of it."
Hinata laughed slightly. The two of them, alien and shinobi, sat and talked for hours.
In Konoha….
Naruto walked through the hospital, looking at all the beds occupied with wounded. There were so many of them Sakura and her medical ninja were having trouble getting around to them all. Sakura had warned him not to move around too much right after he had finished healing, but he was the Hokage; he had to see the aftermath of the battle. In one of the wards he saw Rock Lee and Might Guy standing over one of the beds. Lady Tsunade had temporarily come out of retirement to assist in the healing, and was kneeling over the fallen body of Tenten.
Lee and Guy turned when he entered the room.
"Naruto! We returned from the Hidden Sand once we had heard about what had happened," Lee told him, "We are sorry we were unable to arrive sooner to help."
"It's ok Lee," Naruto told him before turning to Tsunade, "How is she?"
Tsunade looked up at him.
"She'll live, but her wound is serious. It will be at least a week before she will be able to leave the hospital," she said, "We were pretty lucky; if the aliens had put more into that attack, there would be a lot more than just 3 casualties."
Naruto sighed heavily, looking down at his fallen friend. First the Ten-Tails, now this. They had already lost Neji; were they about to lose someone else to this conflict? How bad was this going to get?
"Do you know where everyone else is?" he asked.
"Well," Guy looked at him, "Ino is attempting to interrogate the alien you and Kakashi managed to capture. Kakashi and Shikamaru are with her right now."
Naruto nodded, and headed out of the building. If they were going to get anything out of the bastard alien that hurt Kiba and Akamaru, he wanted to be there.
When he got there, Ino was already in a tense mental battle with the alien. The alien glared at them, and strained against the chains that immobilized him. Ino flinched and shook her head; the alien's mental barriers were too strong for her to get through. The captive zealot turned his burning eyes to Naruto.
"You," he glared with hateful intensity, "You should consider yourself lucky. I would have easily killed you had your white-haired friend not interfered. I thought leaders were supposed to be strong, not so weak they need to use their elders as a shield to protect themselves."
Naruto felt anger flare up inside him at that statement.
"You couldn't have killed me if you had an entire legion at you back," Naruto shot back at him, "If my sensei hadn't interfered, I would have torn you to shreds. You should feel lucky to still be alive."
Ino sat down tiredly while the two of them glared daggers at each other from across the room. The alien turned to her, her movement drawing his attention.
"Aw, what's the matter?" he said spitefully, "Did one of my brothers fight a little too rough for you?"
It was Ino's turn to glare at the alien this time; this alien was a total asshole. What she wouldn't give to smack him across his hateful face with Sakura's monster strength. Kakashi stepped forward.
"What is your name alien?" he asked the captive, "Why are your people even here?"
The alien turned his burning gaze to the masked ninja. The hateful stare diminished slightly, replaced by the closest thing to respect they had seen on the young alien's face.
"You," he addressed Kakashi, "You seem to be the only one worthy of respect out of all the terrans in this settlement. I am Thanatos, a royal zealot tasked with guarding the life of my Executor. If it wasn't obvious to begin with, clearly we crash-landed here."
"Why are you attacking us?"
"You attacked us first. We were willing to just leave you in peace, but no, you had to send your white-eyed warriors to attack us. They killed two of our zealots in cold blood, without even giving them the honor of facing them in direct combat."
'White-eyed warriors?' Naruto thought to himself.
Finally he understood; at last he knew what had happened. The Hyuga were the ones who started this. It made sense now; they must have tried to rescue Hinata against his orders. Naruto grew angry again.
"The Hyuga did this!" Naruto hissed with rage, "They were the ones who went against my orders; they're the ones who started this bloodshed!"
"Hmph. Not a very strong leader are you?" Thanatos's spiteful tone was back, "Can't even control the people under your command."
Naruto's hands curled into fists, seething with rage. Kakashi put his hand on his student's shoulder gently.
"Enough, Naruto," he said gently, "We'll deal with the Hyuga another day. Right now, we do have a more pressing matter at hand."
"You're right Kakashi-sensei. Shikamaru, come with me."
Shikamaru and Naruto left the room. Thanatos looked over at Kakashi.
"He uses the term 'sensei' when he speaks to you. I assume it is an honorific term. What does it mean?" he asked curiously.
"The term means teacher, or mentor," Kakashi answered.
"I see," Thanatos nodded and fell silent.
Naruto headed over to his office, where Sasuke and Shikamaru were waiting for him. When he got there, the two of them were already standing over a map table, planning the village's defense. They looked up as he entered the room.
"Naruto, we've gotten defenses placed all around the village finally, but these aliens are incredibly strong. I don't know that we can hold them back if they decide to attack again," Sasuke told him.
"Well, I just learned something that might help us out," Naruto told his advisors, "the Protoss value bravery and valor, and respect worthy foes. If we can push back, and prove ourselves to be tough opponents, we might be able to regain their respect to the point that we can reopen negotiations."
"All we have to do is devise a way to effectively fight them," Sasuke said, "But they outclass us in so many ways, how are we supposed to find a way to even the playing field?"
"I think I can help with that," Shikamaru looked up.
"Anything you can come up with would be of great help right now," Naruto told his friend.
"The zealots are much stronger than we are, and have much greater reach thanks to their height. However, from what I've seen, they're not capable of ranged combat at all. If we can use our speed to our advantage, we could take them out from a distance, before they close in for an attack."
"That is a good idea," Sasuke nodded, "So, how do we use that information?"
"We can sit here and defend all year long, but against such powerful and technologically advanced opponents, that's not a viable option. If we stay on the defensive the Protoss will pick us apart slowly, until we're all dead," Naruto told them matter-of-factly.
"What are you suggesting Naruto?" Shikamaru asked him.
"If we do nothing, they won't stop until we have nothing left to defend. We must attack them back, before they have a chance to do so."
"The Protoss have had ample time to thicken their defenses though. How are we supposed to punch through them?"
"There's something that I have a theory about to help with that," Shikamaru said, "From what has been described of their base by Kakashi-sensei and Sakura, there's a singular pattern I've noticed. Near all of their buildings, there is a large crystal floating nearby. If I'm right, they serve some sort of significant function; maybe support or power generation. If we can take those crystals out, I'm willing to bet their base will lose some of its defensive potential. "
"Alright then. Shikamaru, begin drawing up a plan of attack based on what we know. Sasuke, gather up a solid group of battle-ready shinobi, and make sure we have steady defenses all across the village. It's time we took this back under our control."
Onboard the Gantrithor…
Hinata was in the middle of teaching Xelios how to play chess; the scarred alien was fascinated by the game. The strategy and foresight needed to play the game was tremendous, and anyone who could play the game well now officially had his respect.
"So, the knight can only move 3 squares in one direction, then one more in another, like the letter 'L' in your alphabet?"
"Right, and it is the only piece that can move through your pieces, but it can't go through opponent's."
Xelios nodded; there were so many rules to remember and follow in this game. Hinata was just about to start a practice game when another alien ran up to them.
"Praetor, observers just detected a large terran force massing at the bottom of the slope outside our base. A counter-attack is imminent."
"How many are there?" Xelios looked up at the zealot.
"Around 40 terran shinobi are gathered near the entrance. The white-haired shinobi with the mask is with them."
Xelios's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I see. Ready a warp prism; I will be leading the defense myself."
"As you will, Praetor."