Chapter 46 Form Within

The sound of thousands of men moving around the camp was almost deafening on top of that was the sound of hundreds of horses and the constant sound of catapults fling stones against the nearby fortified sea side town. Multiple colored banners flew from tall posts as the 3rd samurai division and a small force of knights which had joined with them when their local lords bowed to them surrounded the fifth largest city in the land of Animals. The city of Arae was ruled by the White Ravens faction of knights and was a fortified wall town built around deep protected harbor where large ships used to dock to unload countless numbers of goods. The harbor had been closed for months ever since multiple old broken hulks where sunk in the harbor by the samurai. The city of Arae had been under siege for almost six months and it was a well-known fact that without any fresh supplies the city would surrender within the next two months.

Outside the city the besieging army had fallen into a reunite they would stand watch run some drills and maybe launch a few boarders at the wall with catapults. In the early days of the siege both sides would launch raids but now they were too tired. The only people doing anything of importance were the scouts for the Samurai who rode out daily from the hills to scout the area and collect supplies. The scout teams where based on top a line of low hills, which surrounded the city and separated a small coastal plain from the massive inland plane. On top of that wall the samurai army had spent a while building an earth and palisade wall twenty feet high to protect the sieging army from any attack from the outside. From those hills and the watchtowers on it people could see for miles and it was from there that a general of the samurai 3rd division made his command center.

"Any sign of those missing scouts?" asked the General as he stood on top of a large wooden watchtower which had be constructed for his personal use. From this location he could look out over his entire army below him in the coastal plain.

"We found the remains of two men yesterday." reported the head scout as the General turned and glared at him with his one good eye, his other had gone blind years ago.

"And was it the White Ravens?" asked the General

"No, from what we have been able to tell from the tracks the two men were attacked by a pack of wolves." explained the aid as the General's good eye narrowed at the news "We are sure sir."

"That is the ninth pair of scouts I have lost in the past week from wolves are you really telling me that?" inquired the General, for a moment the aid said nothing then finally he spoke up.

"Sorry sir, but the evidence says it is wolves coming down from the mountains to hunt." explained the aid "Some of the men have seen them when they ride up on the killed men. They say the wolves are massive, almost half the size of a horse."

"Still they are attack men in armor armed with swords, spears and arrows it doesn't make sense." Stated the general, as he looked out toward the inland plain, the whole area was miles and miles of grassland with the odd small forest.

"It was a harsh winter sir and our hunting parties have taken a lot of their prey from the woods." Offered up the aid as the General blinked at suggestion but did not say anything.

"Any word from the 1st?" asked the General

"They are marching toward the Sungai and should crush the Golden Phoenix siege within a few hours of their arrival." Reported the aid as the General slammed his fist down on a nearby table. "Sir, what is wrong?"

"Here I am sitting on my ass waiting for this city to surrender while he wins honors by destroying the Golden Phoenixes." Snapped the General as the aid nodded his head understanding. It was well known that the generals of the 1st division and the 3rd division hated each other. To make matters even more complex it was known that one of the two would be named to be the successor to the Supreme General and Ruler of the land of Animals. "If only those White Ravens decided to launch an attempt to break the siege, I could crush them and win more honors."

"Sir the nearest enemy force outside the city is at least a five day ride away from here." Reported the aid as suddenly the sound of alarm filled the air as the General turned his gaze away from the city and his main army toward the plains. For a moment, he could not see it however there from behind a small forest a red flare arched up.

"Enemy contact!" yelled a lower officer at the base of the watchtower as the General smiled, he knew that a red flare meant that an enemy force at least 100 men strong had been sighted each following flare meant an addition 100 men in the force and so on with each flare. The general held his breath as another red flare went up meaning that enemy forces of two hundred men were coming toward the wall.

"200 men, reported the aid, shall we send more scouts to confirm?" inquired the aid

"No, gather up the cavalry and prepare to ride out," ordered the General "This is likely a recon force for a larger force. We need to kill them and blind the mean force coming up."

"Yes, sir." confirmed the aid as they rushed down the stairs built into the watchtower and made their way across the field toward a stable. A few guards who were making fun of a blind beggar woman jumped to attention as their general came closer.

"Saddle up my horse and get ready to move." Ordered the General as he looked down at the dirty beggar woman who held a small wooden bowl in her dirt covered hands.

"Sir, can you please." Asked the blinder beggar woman with pity in her voice as the General narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"If you want some food go to the food tent." Snapped the General before going into the stable

Outside the walls, Neji Hyuyga held a smoking flare gun in his hands as he stood over the bodies of dead samurai scouts. Beside him on horseback was Naruto and in the distance a couple of knights stood over watch, however there were more horses then people. Tied up in groups of five with a single rider in each group were just over a hundred horses total.

"They should be here within the hour," reported Neji as he placed the flare gun into the hands of the dead samurai scout. "I just hope this plan works."

Flashback

"So once we know that the 1st Samurai division is trapped and burning in the forest we will begin the second phase." Reported Shikamaru as a large group stood around an even larger table. Spread out across the table was a truly massive map of the land of animals, stone icons almost a 8 inches high stood where the armies should be during the operation. "We will fire flares into the air drawing out their cavalry unites and likely the General."

"Why would the General leave his wall to come after two hundred men?" asked Neji knowing that the general leaving the wall was key to their battle plan.

"This General while intelligence and brilliant military planner is not the kind of man to sit long." reported Shino as the spymaster gave his personal option of the general of the third samurai division. "He is also hungry for glory so he will likely lead the cavalry himself."

"We need more than your belief." Snapped Naruto he hated this plan even more than the one where thousands of people were burned alive.

"Trust him." explained Hinata as she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "He may be anti-social and seams creepy from the outside."

"Not really painting me in a good light Hinata," rebutted Shino as he pushed up his sunglass.

"But, I trust him and so should you." Explained Hinata as Naruto relented to Hinata's advice but it did not put away his worries.

End Flashback

"Send those horses to the East for as long as you can," ordered Neji to the small boys sitting on top the lead horse in each group. "However once you see the enemy let the horses go do not put yourself at risk, we just need to lead them away."

"Yes, sir." confirmed the leader of the group as over a hundred horses took off to the east leaving a massive trail for the samurai to follow. Once the horses where gone only Naruto, Neji and a handful of knights remained. Slowly Naruto and Neji turned the horse's head toward the west where the main force was preparing.

"Take a look at that," noted Neji as he and Naruto rode side by side using the trees as cover from any samurai scout. On the Northern horizon a giant cloud of thick black smoke could be seen rising, both of them knew what was causing that smoke and what it meant.

"That is nine thousand men burning," reported Naruto sadly without looking up at the smoke however for a moment he thought he could smell roasted meat.

"It had to be done." reassured Neji to his friend

"I know, I saw Shikamaru's lose estimates if we faced the first in open combat, almost 25% causalities." explained Naruto as he finally looked toward the smoke "better them then any of our friends of family."

"If I can ask a question." Inquired Neji as Naruto looked into his friend's white eyes "Why did you give the command to Sasuke? He would be better used here and my byakugan could see through the smoke."

"All true." reported Naruto

"Then why?" asked Neji

"I wanted people to sleep at night," explained Naruto "If you or I set off the trap that burned all those men it would haunt our dreams but for Sasuke it will not weigh down on his soul.

"He is likely enjoying it," offered up Neji

Far to the North amongst the fire and smoke Sasuke Uchiha was grinning as he moved closer and closer to another samurai. This one was young maybe even on his first campaign; he shivered a bit in his armor as he reached behind his back and pulled a short sword. In one hand he held his long sword and in the other he held his short sword as Sasuke pulled his blood soaked sword out of the chest of a fellow samurai. All around them, the Granite Ninja force was tearing the rear guard of the Samurai 1st division into shreds. The Aldhard blades and armor of the ninjas was making up for being outnumbered by the samurai.

Sasuke spun his black Aldhard blade gracefully in one hand, sending some of the fresh warm blood to splatter up on the young samurai's armor. The Samurai's eyes widened in fear as the flames caused Sasuke to appear in silhouette.

"This is fun," laughed Kado as Sasuke grinned at the look on the young Samurai's face. "There is nothing like a slaughter to lighten my mood up."

Suddenly a look of determination appeared on the young Samurai's face as deep blue chakra covered the two swords. Sasuke knew from a glace what justu the samurai was using, it was a rather simple but effective Justus which increased the blade's ability to cut through armor and flesh.

"DIE!" yelled the Samurai in fear as he threw the short sword toward Sasuke's unarmored face.

"At least he isn't totally stupid." Noted Sasuke as he used his own sword to deflect the chakra covered sword away from his face with ease. As the sword went flying away from Sasuke toward his right, suddenly there was a deep scream coming from the direction the sword went flying. He spun his head into the source only to see deep red blood gushing out of a wound. Karin was covered with deep red blood and for a moment, his heart stopped as he thought the bloods was Karin. However the young man right beside her went down dropping his weapon as he went.

"Konahamaru!" yelled Karin as she threw a kunai into the neck of the nearest samurai before dropping onto her knees to help the badly wounded ninja. Sasuke wasted no time as he dashed forward and cut the young samurai's head off with one clean move. Once the samurai's head was gone, he moved toward Konahamaru, the fight had moved on and the field was littered with the bodies of dead and dying samurai.

"How bad?" inquired Sasuke before he got a good look at Konohamaru's injury, the samurai's sword had somehow gotten through the new armor and cut deep under his arm pit cutting halfway through the whole arm, blood was rushing out of the 19 year old young ninja.

"Bad." said Karin as she used her medical knowledge to hold back the blood rushing out the cut arteries. He knew next to nothing about medical Justus or the human body but it was clear that he was still losing a lot of blood.

"How did it get though the Aldhard armor?" thought Sasuke as he studied the blood stained body armor.

Flashback

"Alright listen up!" yelled Tenten as she showed her new design for the combat body armor that the ninja core would wear; it had been set up on a dummy for view. The upper body was an Aldhard chain mail shirt with plates and strips of thin pure Aldhard plates in the chest, back, shoulders and sides. The lower was slimier but with more chainmail to allow movement. The final touches where elbow and knee high long Vambraces and Greaves. "This is the new combat armor. You will all have a suit made to your requirements and under it all will wear Aldhard clothing."

"Doesn't look that stealthy." noted a former sand ninja in the crowed "With all the chain mail it will make too much noise."

"This is just for combat only, not stealth missions. The armor will keep you alive for other missions we will make Aldhard clothing but this armor is for war." reported Tenten as she went through the multiple parts. The plates would stop almost any normal blades and the chain mail provides protection and mobility.

"Alright first you put on the lower body." Explained Neji as he put on the lower armor for all to see, Tenten had made the armor for him. "Then you buckle the chain mail to the greaves using these leather straps. Next comes the top armor and you buckle the vambraces to the chainmail at the elbow. Lastly you put on the gloves, when all is done you are protected from neck to toe in Aldhard armor."

"The best armor in the world." added Tenten as she admired her work.

Flashback

Even Sasuke had been impressed by the armor but it had somehow failed Konahamaru. Sasuke scanned the armor for a failure hoping to see where the chainmail broke but it had not, instead the failure was not in the armor it was in the damn leather strap which attached the chainmail which linked the shoulder to the vambraces which started at the elbow. It had broken and the chainmail had moved up exposing an opening in the armor, the sword had gotten through this gap in the armor.

"Sasuke do I stop?" asked Karin as she looked up at Sasuke "I can't stop the bleeding not without another medical ninja; all I am doing is keeping him alive so he dies slowly."

"God Damn it." cursed Sasuke as he stood over Konahamaru his blood soaking into the dirt road.

Night had fallen over the land of Animals as the samurai which manned the wall which protected the sieging 3rd division. The sounds of drinking and feasting could be heard over the roar of fireworks as the spring equinox. Winter was over and spring had come again in the land of animals.

"Commander is it wise to hold a celebration?" asked an aid to the second in command of the Division.

"The General will be gone for at least three days and the men need to let some steam off after a winter as harsh as we just had." answered the second command as he handed toward the large fest hall, the sound of drunken singing could be heard through the wooden logs. "We have watchers on all the towers and we would see anyone coming a long way off."

"Sir I would like to put more men on the towers to keep an eye out, we didn't know about the enemy being so close until this morning." Stated the aid as the second in command simply glared at him.

"The General went ridding after 200 men and all the information says that the main White Raven body is over a hundred miles away from us." stated the aid "And that information is only two days old, could you cross a hundred miles in two days on horseback?"

"No sir, but what about the smoke?" offered the aid

"That was the 1st crushing the Golden Phoenixes, we should hear about it in a couple of days." Explained the Second in Command as he pushed open the wooden door to the feast hall. "Besides if there is anyone out there you need light in order to move around at night we will see their torches. Now I am going to go celebrate spring, you have the command until tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir." said the aid as he moved off toward the main gate where six samurai stood guard and a blind woman held out her wooden bowl.

"Please sir." Begged the woman as the aid looked down. The woman was dirty; her raven black hair was full of mud and dirt. If it was not for the dirt, smell and the skin rash on the side of her face she would be beautiful. "I haven't eaten in days."

"Go behind the kitchen, a cook should be able to spare you some left overs after the feast." Said the aid

"Where is the kitchen," asked the blind woman as she gripped a wooden staff as she pushed herself up to her feet.

"I'll have a guard led you toward it," explained the aid as he turned toward the nearest guard, however as he did he felt a sharpness run across his neck. Warm blood began gushing out of the cut across his neck, he tried to yell for the guards but as his knees gave out he saw the six guards around the wooden gate go down with kunai in their wind pipes.

"Kunai that is wrong, Knights don't use kunai." thought the aid as he gripped his throat as the blind woman stepped over him with two more kunai in her hands. Then with a deadly grace, she spun around hitting the guards in the watchtowers with pinpoint strikes. Once that was done she just stood there, that was when he saw that the veins around her eyes where bulging out. "Byakugan."

"Looks like I didn't cut deep enough." said the blind woman to him as she reached up and pulled the rash off her in a single pull, showing it was nothing more than stage make up. "Sorry about that, I meant it to be a clean quick painless death."

"No." said the aid hoarsely as the blind woman pulled a small needle out from a pouch under her covering and put it into his neck. Suddenly a sense of peace rushed over him as his heart slowed and all feeling left his body.

"This poison should make a peaceful end." Reported the woman as life left him. She stood up and ripped the dirty woolen brown rags, which hid her combat armor. With one quick movement, she undid the lock on the gate and pushed it open. Once opened she pulled the gate she pulled a flashlight with a green filter out from her pack and flashed it five times out toward the pitch-black plains.

Far out in the distant plains the combined cavalry unites of the Black and White Ravens sat on horseback in pitch-blackness. In the distance, they could see lights coming from the watchtowers on the samurai defensive wall. Fireworks light up the night sky behind the wall and all the thousands of men where not allowed to even lite a match in the pitch-black night. Suddenly five flashes of green light appeared from the main gate, moments later more flashes appeared from the other gates.

"Looks like Hinata and the other spies have taken care of the guards by the gates and opened them." reported Neji knowing that the plan was for them to first open the gates before eliminating the other guards on the watchtowers.

"Still no light what so ever." Ordered a man who only weeks ago had a full beard. He sat on top his long time partner the giant ninja hound Akamaru. "We don't know when they will clear the other towers."

"Agreed." confirmed Naruto "Lets move."

A howl filled the air as the wolf pack, which Kiba had convinced to join them as the beginning of his new ninja hounds. Naruto still had trouble looking at the giant wolves without a small amount of fear, the wolves where about half the size of a full-grown horse and horses did not have razor sharp teeth and claws. Also Kiba said the wolves could track, smell and see better in the dark then any ninja hound the Leaf had. On the downside the wolves where wild, already in the month that the pack had moved over to the island and Kiba's new clan building they had killed two of Shikamaru's new deer and three cows. The Wolves had been sent out to take down the samurai scouts and where now going to guild the cavalry across the dark plains without anyone of them using a light.

"Move out." Ordered Neji as their group of cavalry made their way toward the open gate. The horses pounded the ground as they advanced but the sound of fireworks, drunken laughter covered the sound, and within half an hour, the first group rode through the open gate.

Naruto was among the first through the gates as he jumped off the horse as the vanguard of knights moved toward the dining hall where the Samurai where drinking and toward the sleeping quarters.

"Hinata?" asked Naruto

"I am right here, Naruto-kun." said a soft loving voice as Hinata stepped out from the shadows of the stable. Naruto's heart lightened as he saw that she was safe and unhurt. "I could use a shower but other than that I am good."

"Only one more thing left to do." explained a nearby knight as he got off his horse, he and other knights pushed open the door to the giant 100 yard long dinning hall only to see most of the samurai passed out drunk or drunk on their feet. It was not even a fight as the Knights butcher the drunken samurai; it was a scene which happened in every dinning hall as the Black and White Ravens claimed the high ground. Down below the rest of the 10,000 strong samurai army plus their Knight allies partied unware that they were now trapped between the city walls and an enemy army on the high ground.

"Can we send in the next wave?" asked a knight to Neji who still sat on his own horse. He quickly activated his Byakugan and saw that all the Samurai where either killed or captured.

"Yes." ordered Neji as the knights moved out and flashed multiple red lights from flashlights. Within moments, the two nearest forests came flooded with light as the foot soldiers of the Black and White Raven knight factions began marching out form their hiding spots in the woods. By sunrise they would all be here and formed up for battle and the camp below would be full of hung over man not prepared for a fight.

"Naruto we have things handled here you can go." explained Neji as Naruto lowered his head a bit as he held onto Hinata for a moment.

"See you when in a couple of days," said Hinata sadly, as she kissed him on the lips before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hundreds of miles to the south west the real Naruto Namikaze opened his deep blue eyes just in time to have a wave of salt water rush over the ship railing and into his face. He spat a bit as the salt water entered his mouth.

"I know how you feel, I hate this." Said Sakura as she threw up over the railing as the waves battered the ship. All around them the storm raged, lightening filled the sky and cold southern seawater rushed over the rail.

"Sasuke has finished phased one and white and Black Ravens are in place to break the siege and destroy the 3rd division." explained Naruto as Sakura nodded her head even as the ship rolled in the dark ocean water.

Flashback

"This plan has three major operations taking place at once," explained Temari as she lied out the battle plan for all the Knights and Ninjas to see.

"First the Golden Phoenixes and a small ninja force under Sasuke will destroy the 1st division using a fire trap and take the key bridge at Sungai." explained Shikamaru as he moved the small stone statues around the map to show the location.

"Sungai will not fall in a day even if you destroy the first with this fire trap." stated Drake Elsmen as the Golden Phoenixes leader looked at the castle on the map.

"Which is why my Shadow Swords will open the gates of the Castle allowing you to take it with ease." explained the leader of the Shadow Swords Bryce of the Red Sword.

"The second operation is breaking the siege of Arae." explained Temari as she pointed toward the city located on the coast with a samurai army right outside its walls "That will be done with a night operation which will claim the high ground here. Then the combined forces of the Black and White Ravens will form up to break the siege."

"Even with our combined forces with the Knights they have there the Samurai will have us outnumbered." stated Lady Azo of the White Ravens as she looked at the map

"We will have the high ground and the element of surprise on our hands." added Lord Carac as the Black Ravens "And moving down the hills we will crush anything in our way against the walls of Arae."

"Add to that the sources I have make me believe that those Knights under the Samurai command will turn when they see that they are trapped." Stated Shino

"I still don't like it; the General of the third is possibly the most deadly general they have." added Lady Azo

"What if we remove him from the fight before we move into position?" offered Drake as the others looked at him "He is hotheaded and doesn't like sitting around in a siege, so we give him something to chase and take him out of the fight."

"I like it." Confirmed Lord Carac

"Now the final part of the plan is possibly the most risky." Added Shikamaru "Naruto along with the bulk of our ninja forces will join with the Green Dragons from the Land of Meteors and carry out an amphibious assault on the capital city of Alesia."

"You are going to take the Capital?" asked Drake stunned, they all knew how heavily defended the Capital and how deadly the assault would be.

"We are." confirmed Naruto

End Flashback

Naruto looked out over the stormy waters toward the lights of the city of Alesia, the capital of the land of Animals. Even from this distance he could see the four reinforced towers which controlled the opening of the harbor. Then there were the smaller stone watchtowers by the gates to the city and then right by the harbor was a castle however that wasn't all in the distance another much larger castle was being built this one in the style the samurai up North would use.

"Tomorrow will be a bloody day," said Naruto sadly as almost the entire force on ninjas and the whole fleet of the Green Sea Dragons moved toward the coast.

Well I hope you liked this chapter, next chapter will have not one but two fights in it. Now until next time I hope you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75