Yo..

Time for another chapter, and it's about time the turning point in this story begins. Thanks for all the reviews, though they could have been a little more.

Enjoy the chapter...

Chapter 29

Meet the Titans

Naruto patiently sat in his room, his eyes were currently fixed on his reflection in the mirror. He was fully geared up and in a few moments he had to embark on another dangerous campaign.

They were up against enemy who had destructive weapons, but he didn't know why but he had a feeling that the enemy was much more stronger than they were anticipating.

If those missiles were truly that much destructive than he would have to use his Mangekyo in order to save as much lives as he could.

Naruto knew people were going to die, he was not delusional about this fact. No matter how perfect the plan, there would still be casualties. But he was prepared for it, the situation was going to be worse than Shanxi or Shuri Castle, and he would have to keep his calm.

His sharp ears picked up the noises that were coming from the field where Kakashi's 2nd battalion and his men were anxiously waiting. He could easily feel fear, anxiety, nervousness, anger and hatred from almost all the shinobi.

A swift knock on his door brought him out of this dilemma, and a second later a young raven haired beauty walked into his room. She had shoulder length black hair, she was wearing her Jounin uniform and her Konoha headband proudly,

But the most fascinating thing about her were the dark ruby eyes that were currently staring at him.

"Captain Kurenai Yuhi, it's an honor to meet you," said Naruto respectfully, as the young woman just looked at him in shock.

"You're Commander Phoenix...?" asked Kurenai in surprise, she had heard great stories about this soldier but now she was completely shocked to see he was just a kid...just how was it possible.

"Don't sweat it...I know its hard to believe that I'm the real deal," said Naruto lightly, as he offered her a handshake which she accepted hesitantly.

"I mean no disrespect, but I certainly expected you to be a little older...Commander," said Kurenai carefully, if this was Commander Phoenix then he could easily kill her off in a flash...but it was hard to believe this 14 year old fought against an entire division and 2 Biju's, and even emerged victorious.

He was wearing his Anbu mask, so it was hard for her to estimate his identity...but she had a feeling, she probably knew this boy.

While Kurenai was busy digesting her shock, Naruto quickly pointed his finger at the small map that was placed perfectly on his desk.

"We will be hitting the beach exactly 3 hours from now, if we combine our forces we have 570 men on our side. There are various positions all along the beach, intel predicts that there is a missile facility a few kilometers inside the beach, the number of missiles there are 10," explained Naruto briefly, as Kurenai looked at the map briefly.

"Then we will just have to survive those 10 missiles...it won't be easy, but we will manage," said Kurenai seriously, however Naruto shook his head in negative.

"I wouldn't trust the intel if I was in your position..." said Naruto bitterly, as memories of Shuri Castle came flooding back in his mind.

"Why is that?" asked Kurenai curiously, the intel was usually right about such things.

"The last time I trusted the intel, I lost 25 of my best men and had to fight against two tailed beasts and an entire company of Iwa Anbu...while Intel estimated there were just a few idiots guarding a castle," said Naruto sarcastically, as Kurenai gave him a sympathetic look but it also made her understand the point.

"What do you need from your subordinates?" asked Kurenai faithfully and bowed in front of him, technically he was in charge of the mission and she was ordered to follow his command.

She watched curiously as he lifted her up and looked her straight in the eye, as his deep black eyes bore into her soul.

"Not as subordinates...but as comrades,"

His words really shocked her, what was so different about him? He was one of the strongest ninja of Konoha, but here he was showing humility and compassion to a soldier who he had met for the first time in his life.

Whatever doubts she had about him were erased, now Kurenai was sure she could trust this shinobi with the lives of her men.

"Hai" said Kurenai happily, and he put 3 small pieces of the map as she realized just what he had in mind.

"We will be attacking the enemy strong hold from 3 different sides. 1st company will attack from the north side and it will infiltrate the enemy lines and cut of the track that enemy would be using in case of retreat. 2nd company will be hitting the central position, while 3rd company will provide support by covering the 2nd company," explained Naruto briefly, as Kurenai understood the plan clearly.

"How many men should be there in each company? And who will lead them?" asked Kurenai curiously,

"1st company will have 250 ninja, 2nd company will have 200 ninja, while the 3rd company will consist of 120 ninja. I want the enemy to underestimate us, Mikasa Ackerman will be leading 1st company, she is my best soldier and can handle anything," assured Naruto as Kurenai agreed with his decision.

"Kurenai-san, you will be leading 3rd company, while I will lead the 2nd company," said Naruto fearlessly, as Kurenai quickly disagreed with his decision.

"With all due respect, you are the supreme commander. You need to stay back, there are many more ninja who can do this risky job," said Kurenai worriedly, as he gave her a kind smile.

"I appreciate the concern, but I won't stand behind while my soldiers face such a dangerous enemy. I am the commander and this is my decision, if I am going to die then I would like to die by the side of my soldiers," said Naruto sternly, and Kurenai dejectedly accepted his decision.

However a small invisible smile came on her face as she looked at him, maybe they had a chance of surviving and even winning if they trusted a good leader like him.

"This is bullshit, why do we have to fight beside these stupid Inuzuka?" asked a Hyuga in an annoyed tone, and the next second he was grabbed firmly by Hana.

"What was that, freak-eyes?" asked Hana angrily, how dare this mutt insult her clan.

"You heard me girl, you Inuzuka are idiots who just charge in recklessly. It's because of your clan that two of my friends died.." said the Hyuga angrily,

In another side of the ground a few other groups could be seen quarreling among each other, and the situation was getting worse with each second.

"Shut the hell up Nara...if not for the Uchiha clan, this war would have already been lost," said a young female Uchiha arrogantly, as the Nara in front of her scoffed disgustingly.

"Yeah, we all saw how brave you Uchiha were in the battle of Shizkmi, you got your ass handed back to you," said the Nara in a bored voice,

Mikasa watched in annoyance as these idiots quarreled among each other, after years of fighting in an endless war these ninja had lost any kind of patience and had instead started blaming each other.

"I heard these Blacklight are butchers...they even killed innocent children," said an old woman silently, and the next instant a kunai was placed on her neck by Genma.

"Say such shit again gramps, and I'll slice your neck off," said Genma furiously, how dare this bitch...after everything his friends had gone through, did their own people really had such a disgusting opinion of them?

"Tiger..." said Mikasa dangerously, however the boy just looked at her angrily.

"No one is trusting each other, how can we defeat the enemy if we can't even trust each other," said Rangiku disappointingly,

"It can't be helped, the war has really taken a toll on these guys and they are blaming each other, plus there is the fact of rivalries existing among different clans and their superiority complex," explained Izumo briefly,

Shizune just looked around sadly...did Kotetsu really die for such a thing? Comrades were supposed to trust each other...and yet here they were trying to slice each others throats.

The medic was quite surprised when the entire ground started shaking and many ninja instantly took each other's support in order to prevent themselves from falling from the ground.

Shizune was really shocked when the same people who were fighting each other had supported each other, even if it was unintentional.

"Where did your hatred go now?" asked a new calm voice, and a relieved smile came on her face as she spotted her captain standing on top of a small rock beside a pissed of Kurenai.

The regular ninja instantly took a step back in fear as they saw the Phoenix masked Commander appearing in front of them, the look in his eyes was of a disappointed person while Kurenai was looking at her men furiously.

"Go on, kill each other...it will be really fascinating to kill your comrades, hell it will make the enemy's job a lot more easier, don't you think?" asked Naruto sternly, and some of the ninja lowered their heads in shame.

"I'm really sorry for the behavior of my ninja...Commander," said Kurenai apologetically, but Naruto shook his head in negative.

Then without a word, the young Namikaze started walking towards a Hyuga and without a word handed him a kunai, as the man looked at him in shock.

"Kill me"

Those words shocked the man to the core and he instantly took a step back in fear, as Naruto's dark black eyes bore into the Hyuga's soul.

"I'm sorry...I cannot do this," said the Hyuga nervously, he was quite surprised when Naruto put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hyuga, what you are feeling right now is...understandable." said Naruto kindly, as the man averted his eyes from him.

Naruto turned around and looked at the faces of every shinobi, their eyes burned with anger, sadness, hatred...but more than that, all of them were tired of this pointless war.

"It's been a long war, and I know it has never been easy for anybody. I'm a shinobi too, and I too cursed everyone for the pain that I had to go through," said Naruto loudly, and Kurenai was a little surprised when everyone was listening to this boy...maybe from admiration, respect or even fear; he was keeping them in line.

"But a single boy stopped me...he fought for me, even though we were not family. He bled for me, even if he was not my brother...and he ultimately died for me without any remorse, he didn't owe anything to me and yet he called me his friend. I'm sure everyone of you have a comrade like that," said Naruto calmly, and a lone tear slipped from Rangiku's eyes as she knew who Naruto was talking about.

Naruto's stern gaze shifted to the Uchiha and Nara who were fighting and both the men were a little intimidated by the gaze he was giving them.

"Do you want to insult such comrades, then go ahead and kill each other. That is what the enemy wants...and this is what YOU ARE DOING!" yelled Naruto murderously, and Genma couldn't look him in the eye as he knew what Naruto wanted from him.

Mikasa watched curiously as Naruto stepped in front an young kunoichi, the interesting thing was that there were bandages around her hand- probably from a wound. However she was shocked when Naruto took out a kunai and plunged it deep in his left palm.

"Commander..."

Naruto ignored a couple of worried cries and raised his bloodied hand in front of the female kunoichi who was looking at him nervously.

"What color is it?" asked Naruto sharply, and he could see many of the ninja were keenly waiting for the answer.

"Red, sir"

"Does your injury hurt? Does it cause you pain?" asked Naruto seriously, and he received a weak nod from the kunoichi,

"If the color of our blood is same, if the pain we feel is the same, and if the country we fight for is the same then stop fighting among each other. No one is an enemy here, because all of us have been hurted by the enemy!" said Naruto authoritatively, and a small smile came on Anko's face as she saw many ninja realizing their mistake.

"Inuzuka..."

Hana saw Naruto looking at her seriously, and his eyes told her to have faith in herself and the ninja beside her.

"Nara..."

Kurenai looked at the few Nara in the force, and she could clearly see they were ready to fight as one with the other ninja.

"Uchiha..."

Naruto looked at his clansmen and to make his point clear, he flashed his sharingan for a second as the man now gave him a proud smile in return.

"Blacklight..."

The young commander's eyes shifted to Rangiku who clearly said 4 words silently "I believe in you".

"Hyuga...are NO MORE!"

Izumo watched happily as every ninja were shocked by his commander's words, the hatred and mistrust in their eyes were gone...and there was something in their eyes, which he had never seen before.

"Now there are only COMRADES!"

Kurenai's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when the entire force erupted into cheers and were praising their allegiance to the young boy in the center of the crowd. He really was...

"Are you seeing this Armin? You were right...he really is the savior of this world," thought Mikasa tearfully, today she really felt relieved on seeing Armin's sacrifice had not gone in vain.

She watched proudly as the man she loved jumped on a tall rock and punched his hand high in the air, as a victorious look emerged in his eyes that was drawing everyone to him.

"Yosh, let's defeat KIRI!"

BOOM!

He ran as fast as he could as again and again exploding tag rained down everywhere around him. As expected intel had been useless, and the enemy were far more in numbers and apparently had a ton of firepower.

"Get off this fucking beach!" yelled Naruto loudly, as a couple of kunai took down 2 of his men in a flash.

There was so much smoke and ash in the air, that he couldn't even see properly. Everywhere around him people were dying every second, it was like a nightmare. This really was hell and he didn't know how much more was in store for them.

Naruto saw Izumo and Genma hiding under a couple of corpses and he quickly rushed towards them.

"Let's go..." said Naruto quickly, as he signaled his comrades to follow him.

He had just ran a few meters away but his eyes hardened when he saw both of them were not moving from their position...they were scared like hell.

"Get your ass moving, you sons of bitches!" said Naruto furiously, and quickly pushed both of them to stand up.

"Fuck man, what do we do?"

"INCOMING!"

Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw a large weapon falling towards his position, and if his instincts were right then this was the missile they were warned about.

"Kamui"

BOOM!

The entire ground shook violently as a monstrous shock wave passed on the entire beach, the entire sky was burning with fire as the missile had exploded right on top of them...but fortunately the missile blasted in the air and was currently being absorbed by Naruto.

SLASH!

Izumo freezed in his spot when an exploding kunai landed beside Naruto and ripped him to shreds, the young boy couldn't even believe his commander...

"Get your ass moving, WOLF!" yelled another commanding voice, and Izumo was quite surprised when the real Naruto ran ahead of him.

"A clone?" asked Genma in shock, as Izumo just nodded dumbly.

Both the boys quickly got up and ran after Naruto as the enemy fired on them continuously, streams of blood and flesh were clearly flowing in the air. The most frustrating thing was they could not even see the enemy in so much chaos.

Naruto quickly parried his tanto with a Kiri ninja, his enemy tried to kick him in the balls but he again blocked it with his left leg and drove his sword clean through the man's neck.

His veteran eyes quickly spotted a bunker from where the Kiri ninja were silently firing on his men and he quickly performed a set of hand seals.

"Doton: Retsudo Tensho (Earth Style: Tearing Earth Turning Palm)"

"AHHHHH"

The entire bunker was ripped apart along with the enemy in it as sharp spears rose from the ground.

"Commander, over here!" yelled Hizashi loudly, and the Hyuga watched worriedly as the young boy slided towards him quickly.

"What's the situation Hizashi? We are getting fucked here!" said Naruto loudly, as another one of his comrades was ripped to shreds.

"The Kiri ninja are hiding in bunkers, probably to escape from the missiles they are firing at us. They are firing their weapons too quickly, I tried to capture the post but half of my squad was wiped out," said Hizashi angrily, and Naruto saw many bodies lying in the path between the bunker and their position.

"Owl, Bird, Swan...provide suppressing fire!" ordered Naruto, and Hizashi watched in wonder as Rangiku and two other Blacklight fired hundreds of blue arrows and kunai straight at the enemy bunker.

Naruto quickly gave a signal to Genma and soon the entire squad started following Naruto as he ran in the open field.

Rangiku's arrows were preventing the enemy from retaliating and this gave Genma the chance he wanted as the boy quickly performed a set of hand seals.

"Katon: Nenshou Misairu (Fire Release: Burning Missile)"

A long flame of fire was launched by Genma and it soon penetrated inside the bunker and terrified screams of the enemy echoed in the entire area.

"Hizashi, and everyone else on me!"

Naruto quickly jumped into the trenches of the burning bunkers, as many Kiri ninja came running out of the bunker in order to escape from Genma's fire attack.

PLUNG!

Without blinking for a second, he plunged his tanto deep in a woman's heart, as he grabbed the hand of another enemy and headbutted the ninja on the ground.

"Kaiten!"

Naruto was surprised when a tall woman jumped in front of him and marvelously deflected all the kunai and shuriken headed towards him. The young Namikaze was quite shocked when the Hyuga woman bent in front of him, and gave him a motherly smile.

"You'll be fine, son" said the woman kindly, as she patted Naruto gently and quickly went ahead.

"Who was that?" asked Naruto in shock, the kunoichi's reflexes were so quick even for a Hyuga.

"She's Himari Hyuga, my brother's wife. Let's get moving," said Hizashi seriously, as Naruto quickly got back up.

BOOM!

Both the ninja's eyes widened in horror when a loud blast occurred in the bunker which was a few hundred meters away, and Naruto quickly saw Hizashi running towards that position with a terrified look in his eyes.

"Fuck" cursed Naruto angrily, and followed after the Hyuga.

(With Mikasa's Company)

She stealthily observed the long open field ahead of her, there was no sign of the enemy forces. Mikasa knew at this very moment Naruto and his soldiers were being killed brutally, but she had to be calm.

The 250 ninja behind her were depending on her, and for the first time in her life Mikasa realized just what burden Naruto beared every single day of his life.

She realized every person in her company would be following her orders and many of them won't make it, and those deaths will be on her. It was a tough thing to be a leader, and her respect for Naruto increased a little more.

"What should we do?" asked Anko curiously, as Mikasa looked at her long time friend quickly,

"We don't know who is out there, this mist is really preventing us from seeing who's out there. There is only one way to know...I'm going ahead, rest of you stay in your positions," said Mikasa calmly, as a furious Anko grabbed her.

"Are you crazy? You're the commander, these men would shit themselves if anything happens to you...let someone else go," advised Anko stubbornly,,

"Being a leader also means taking the risk, I'm the fastest ninja in the entire force...I can handle myself. Snake, if the company goes in there blindly the enemy would rip us apart. This is an order.." said Mikasa sternly, and got up to move ahead.

She was quite surprised when Anko picked up her tanto and stepped beside her.

"What are you doing?" asked Mikasa sharply,

"If you are going to do something crazy, then I can't leave you alone out there," said Anko flatly, as Mikasa's eyebrows twitched.

"You fool value your life for once...Snake, you barely survived at Shuri Castle," said Mikasa angrily,

"There are somethings which I value more than my life"

These were Anko's final words before the girl quickly ran ahead in the mist leaving a shocked Mikasa behind. She quickly looked at the rest of the company and gave them a stern gaze.

"Stay put, Eagle you are in charge if anything happens to us," said Mikasa quickly, and quickly took off after Anko.

Iwashi watched worriedly as Mikasa disappeared in the mist, the tension was high and many of the ninja were anxiously waiting for further orders. He was furious at Mikasa for going in there alone, but his rational mind knew what she was doing was right, reckless but right.

If they blindly charged in then the enemy would rip them apart, and Mikasa was the best. Her sense of observation and instincts had let her survive this war without being wounded even once.

Besides, she had Anko with her and if there was one thing he knew about Anko- that kunoichi was one badass ninja.

"Eagle, I was right the enemy has set up traps in the sand, take the company and start moving from the left side. I have disabled the traps in that direction," whispered Mikasa silently on her communication device,

"Got it, but how did you know the traps were in the sand?" asked Iwashi quickly, as he gave the signal to the entire company.

"Because I've got Anko sitting right on top of one exploding tag...I need your help, now" said Mikasa urgently, and the boy's eyes widened in horror.

"I'm on my way...Hang on"

(With Naruto's Company)

"I can't die here..."

Tears fell freely from Hizashi's eyes as he heard those words from her mouth. This was not supposed to happen, what was he going to tell his brother now...because right in front of him was his brother's wife who was ripped in half.

A kiri ninja had blowed himself up and had taken her out...and now she was dying in his arms.

"Hang in there, you have to live for your daughters...Fight," said Hizashi weakly, as she gently grasped his hand.

She could see Naruto firing at the enemy forces with the help of his kunai launcher, people's screams echoed in the entire area. The sky was red in color, it was as if they were really in hell.

The young Hyuga matriarch coughed up a lot of blood and she knew this was it...

"Hizashi...take care of your brother," said Himari tearfully, and her vision started to get more dark.

"Hai.."

"And tell my daughters I-"

She could not say her last words as her breathing stopped and her hands fell lifeless on the ground. Hizashi painfully closed her eyes as more and more tears slipped from his eyes.

"Himari's down!" said Izumo loudly, and Naruto gave one last glance to the fallen shinobi.

"Acknowledged" said Naruto stoically, Izumo was quite surprised by his calm reaction...he was so different now.

Even Genma watched silently as Naruto fired his weapon at the enemy forces, the boy they knew would have bursted into a fit of rage on seeing so many of his soldiers die.

But this person standing in front of them was keeping his cool, and was only focused on defeating the enemy.

"Wolf, Tiger...we need to move now!" commanded Naruto seriously, and he quickly moved towards the devastated Hizashi.

The Hyuga looked at his commander blankly, Naruto easily saw he did care deeply about the fallen kunoichi.

"She was like a sister to me..." said Hizashi sadly, as he gently stroked her beautiful lavender hair.

"Hizashi, we need to move now...we cannot let the enemy pinpoint our position," said Naruto quickly, and he gritted his teeth when he saw the man had lost the will to fight.

"I can't go back out there...this is hell," said Hizashi defeatedly, but he was quite surprised when Naruto grabbed him by his neck.

"Everyone feels the same way you do...it's what you do right now, that makes a difference," said Naruto harshly, and dropped the Hyuga flat on the ground.

Naruto gave one last salute to the fallen Hyuga before quickly running out of the trench...leaving Hizashi to make his choice.

BOOM!!

Another powerful blast occurred a few meters beside Izumo and Genma as both of them along with some of the other ninja followed their leader as he quickly teared through the enemy defenses, killing every single person that came in his way.

(With Mikasa's Company)

"Oh, for Kami's sake you stupid woman..." scolded Iwashi angrily, as he spotted Anko sitting nervously on top of an exploding tag.

Somehow the girl had been successful in preventing it from exploding, however he also spotted the entire sand was laced with explosive tags everywhere.

If Mikasa and Anko had not went ahead, then many of their men would have been killed by walking straight into a trap.

"Get your ass over here, and help me idiot!" berated Anko angrily, as she saw the boy in deep thought.

"Sorry..." said Iwashi sheepishly, and ran after his stuck comrade.

"INCOMING!"

Iwashi and Anko freezed in their places when they saw a large missile heading right towards their position...

They were quite surprised when Mikasa jumped high in the air and performed a set of hand seals quickly..

"Futon: Shinkuha(Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)"

A devastating wave of wind was fired by Mikasa which hit the missile head on and quickly diverted its path.

BOOM!

The entire beach lit up with fire as the missile blast away from the company, the blast was so powerful that many ninja were knocked several meters away.

Mikasa was really tensed right now, the mist was everywhere and none of them could see a damn thing. The worst was that the enemy was toying with them, trying to take out each one of them at a time.

But suddenly she performed a set of hand seals quickly and slammed her hands straight on the sand.

"Raiton Rakurai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Thunderbolt Jutsu)"

Devastating lightning sparks struck across the entire area and a small smile came on her face as the mist slowly started to disappear.

But that happiness soon turned into fear when a person emerged from the mist with a large sword strapped on his back. And Mikasa didn't need another look to recognize just who she was up against.

"This is going to be fun.."

"Kisame.." said Mikasa murderously, and quickly took out her tanto.

(With Naruto's Company)

Naruto quickly sliced a ninja's head off, as Izumo parried a ninja behind him. His men had penetrated deep behind enemy lines and he knew any moment they would be reaching the missiles.

"Move forward!"

As soon as those words left his mouth a couple of ninja quickly ran ahead but Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he felt a monstrous amount of chakra.

"This is not possible...this much chakra," thought Naruto, he couldn't believe any human could have this much chakra.

Even a Jinchuriki could not possess this much chakra, unless they had the Nine..

"WAIT!" screamed Naruto hurriedly,

THUD

He was literally shocked when a powerful wave of chakra hit the entire field, and one by one all of his men fell flat on the ground. The pressure of this chakra was so strong that even Naruto himself started having trouble in standing properly.

Only his father was capable of such a feat...and it only meant one thing, the enemy that was emerging from the shadows was a Kage level ninja.

The sound of footsteps could be heard as woman slowly came in front of him, and this time he was truly shocked.

He knew this woman...but she was supposed to be dead.

"Kushina"

Author's Notes: Hope you guys liked it. I'd appreciate it if you guys leave some reviews, it helps me know your thoughts about the chapter and future expectations. You can even provide ideas.

Next chapter: Naruto and Kushina

Be happy and have a good life.